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Though the night when “visions of sugar plums danced” has passed, Christmas candy is still plentiful in my house. Christmas is a time of celebration, and celebration most often brings sweet treats. A little investigation shows that traditions of candy go way back.

It seems humans have always had a taste for sweet things. First honey, and later, sugar. Sugar from cane was first cultivated in India, and was kept as a closely guarded secret until Darius of Persia invaded in 510 BC and discovered the ‘reed that gives honey without bees’. Then in 642, Arabs invaded Persia and learned about sugar. As the Arab empire spread through Africa, the Middle East and Spain, so too did the growth and cultivation of sugar. Crusaders in the 11th century brought knowledge of sugar to Europe, where sugar was regarded as another exotic (and expensive) spice.

When Europeans invaded the New World, they discovered the climate in the Caribbean was very good for growing sugarcane. Even though there were over a hundred sugar refineries in Great Britain by 1750, sugar was still a luxury item partly because it was so highly taxed. (The Sugar Act of 1764 angered the Colonists so much that it was repealed in 1765, and contributed to the revolt against the Stamp Act of 1765.)

The earliest candies were comfits, which are seeds or nuts coated with layers of hardened sugar syrup. These first candies were medicines, prescribed by doctors or apothecaries to  treat stomach troubles. (Perhaps this is why candy came to be associated with Christmas — after all, indigestion is common after a hearty Christmas dinner.)

Clement C. Moore’s famous poem strengthened the connection between Christmas and candy with his talk of sugarplums. I always thought sugar plums were candied or sugar-coated plums, but it turns out they aren’t plums at all. As early as 1608, a sugarplum was something sweet or agreeable in nature, not just something to eat.  In the 17th through 19th century, sugarplums were small, flavored candies or comfits, (Some favorite fillings included cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, almonds, walnuts, and fennel.)

Making comfits was often the work of apothecaries since the layering process took time and skill, but colonial housewives made their share of sweet treats. One such treat is candied orange peel.

Like sugar, oranges originated in India, though oranges were known much earlier than sugar cane. By the 1st century, Chinese farmers were cultivating orange groves. Romans brought oranges to Europe around the same time. But these were all bitter oranges which are good for flavorings, marmalades, and perfumes. The sweet orange was brought by Portuguese traders from the Tamil Kingdom in India to Europe in the 16th century. They were quickly brought to the New World. As early as 1513. Ponce De Leon planted orange trees in Florida to help prevent scurvy among the sailors. In today’s world, oranges are one of the most popular fruits, second only to apples. However, in the 18th century, oranges had to be imported from the West Indies and so, like sugar, they  were a luxury for most American colonists.

Many of the cookery books from the 18th century contain recipes for preserving fruit. One very popular way was candying, or boiling the fruit in a sugar syrup. In that way fruit could be enjoyed even in the winter when it was no longer in season.

John Townshend’s The Universal Cook Or Lady’s Complete Assistant  (printed in London, 1773) has a fairly simple recipe for candied orange peels.

Having steep;d your orange peels as often as you shall judge convenient, in water, to take away the bitterness; then let them be gently dry’d and candy’d with syrup made of sugar. (261)

Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats is older, with more erratic spelling. This manuscript hand-written in the 17th century and was in Martha Washington’s possession from 1749- 1799, and was transcribed and annotated by Karen Hess in 1981. This recipe provides a bit more direction.

To Candy Orring Pills

Take Civill orringes & pare them very thin, then cut them in little pieces, & lay them in faire water a day & a night, & shift them evening and morning, then boyle them, & shift them when the water is bitter into another water, & continew this till the water & boyling hath made them soft & yt theyr bitterness be gon. Then dreyne ye water from them, & make a thin sirrup, in which boyle them a pritty while. Then take them out & make another sirrup a little stronger, and boyle them a while int yt. then dreyne ye sirrup from them, & boyle another sirrup to candy height, in wch put them. Then take them out & lay them on plats on by one. When they are dry, turne them & then they are done. (284)

(Note: All of the early recipes I found for candying oranges used bitter (Seville) oranges. Since modern cooks mostly have sweet oranges, it is not necessary to boil the peels in as many water baths to remove the bitterness.)

A modern cook can use the simpler method for candying orange peels:

• 1 ½ c water
• 1 ⅓ c sugar
• 3 oranges

Score each orange in quarters, and remove the peel. Slice the peels ⅛ to ¼ inch wide.Bring to a boil and simmer these in clear water 10- 15 minutes. Drain and rinse. Mix water, sugar and the boiled orange peels. Simmer for 40-45 minutes, until the water is nearly gone, but before the sugar turns to hard crack stage.

Lay the peels on a flat surface to cool and dry before eating.

I can’t guarantee that candied orange peels will aid digestion, but they surely are a sweet treat for the New Year.

Sources:

Hess, Karen (transcriber and anotater). Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

Rupp, Rebecca. “What are Sugar Plums Anyway?” The Plate. National Geographic. December 23, 2014.  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2014/12/23/visions-of-sugarplums/

Townshend, John. The Universal Cook Or Lady’s Complete Assistant . London: S. Bladon, 1773)

Ask a dozen people about mincemeat and you’ll like get one of two answers. Some will fondly remember how their mother or grandmother made mincemeat pies. Most of the rest will say, “Huh? What’s in that anyway? Does it really have meat in it?”

The answer is … complicated. Modern mincemeat is a spicy mixture of mostly apples and raisins. But if you go back a ways, mincemeat was indeed a pie made with chopped meat.

Some of the earliest recipes for mincemeat I have found date from the 14th century. These heavy, elegant pies were inspired by the Crusaders, bringing home ideas of new, exciting spices like cinnamon and nutmeg from the Middle East. It was common in the Middle East at that time to serve meat sweetened with fruits and spices.  It became popular in England to recreate these exotic dishes, especially for elegant feasts meant to impress the neighbors in the holiday season.

These medieval mincemeat pies could be made from any type of meat, including mutton, veal, pork or venison. Some recipes even call for fish in a mince pie to serve on fish days when the church forbade eating meat.  The mixture usually called for prunes, currants, raisins, and/or dates.

These pies were baked in a coffin, which is a thick, heavy crust, often rectangular shape. (Note: coffin comes from the French word for chest–like the modern word–coffer. The  word ‘coffin’ was used to mean a pie crust from as early as the 14th century. The meaning of a box for burying a dead person came later, from 1520.) Meat pies in the Middle Ages were meant to be kept for months, with the thick crust helping to preserve the pie.

One more confusing note in the history of mincemeat is the word ‘meat.’ Although the earliest mincemeat pies did have chopped veal, pork, or other meat in them, the word ‘meat’ didn’t mean what it means today. Originally, in Old English, ‘meat’ meant food, any type of food. It wasn’t until the 13th century that the sense of the word narrowed to mean flesh meant for eating. Even as late at the 15th century, vegetables might be called ‘grene-meat.’ So the name mincemeat, could easily refer to all the chopped ingredients in a mincemeat pie.

Like meatloaf today, mincemeat over the years has had many variations, in the spices used, the type of fruit, and the crust. By the 18th century, crusts were flakier and apples and raisins were usually included in the recipe. It wasn’t until the late 19th and early 20th century that mincemeat lost the meat. As late as 1941, some mincemeat recipes still cared for meat (usually beef). 

The real change came in 1898 when dried or canned mincemeat (such as Nonesuch) was developed. This mixture of apples, raisins and spices was one of America’s first convenience foods. As with many pre-packaged, prepared foods, people lost track of what exactly was in that jar or box of mincemeat.

Unfortunately, as popular tastes changed, pies were more commonly relegated to the dessert course. Homemade pies have given way to more store-bought desserts. Gradually, the taste for mincemeat has declined. Most people I talk to are leery of a sweet meat and fruit mixture.

But old-fashioned mincemeat is definitely worth trying. The recipe I’ve included here is from 1833. (Mrs. Child, The American Frugal Housewife. Dedicated to those who are not ashamed of economy). The modern version I developed makes 4-5 pies, but can be easily cut in half.

And if you still don’t want meat in your pie? That’s okay. You can omit the meat and make a spicy, apple and raisin pie –perfect for the Holiday season.

1833 Recipes: Mince Pies.

Boil a tender, nice piece of beef–any piece that is clear from sinews and gristle; boil it until it is perfectly tender. When it is cold, chop it very fine, and be very careful to get out every particle of bone and gristle. The suet is sweeter and better to boil half an hour or more in the liquor the beef has been boiled in; but few people do this. Pare, core, and chop the apples fine. If you use raisins, stone them. If you use currants, wash and dry them at the fire. Two pounds of beef, after it is chopped; three quarters of a pound of suet; one pound and a quarter of sugar, three pounds of apples; two pounds of currants, or raisins. Put in a gill of brandy; lemon-brandy is better, if you have any prepared. Make it quite moist with new cider. I should not think a quart would be too much; the more moist the better, if it does not spill out into the oven. A very little pepper. If you use corn meat, or tongue, for pies, it should be well soaked, and boiled very tender. If you use fresh beef, salt is necessary in the seasoning. One ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves. Two nutmegs add to the pleasantness of the flavor; and a bit of sweet butter put upon the top of each pie, makes them rich; but these are not necessary. Baked three quarters of an hour. If your apples are rather sweet, grate in a whole lemon. (66)

Pie Crust.

To make pie crust for common use, a quarter of a pound of butter is enough for a half a pound of flour. Take out about a quarter part of the flour you intend to use, and lay it aside. Into the remainder of the flour rub butter thoroughly with your hands, until it is so short that a handful of it, clasped tight, will remain in a ball, without any tendency to fall in pieces. Then wet it with cold water, roll it out on a board, rub over the surface with flour, stick little lumps of butter all over it, sprinkle some flour over the butter, and roll the dough all up; flour the paste and flour the rolling pin; roll it lightly and quickly; flour it again; stick in bits of butter; do it up; flour the rolling pin, and roll it quickly and lightly; and so on, till you have used up your butter. Always roll away from you. Pie crust should be made as cold as possible, and set in a cool place; but be careful it does not freeze. Do not use more flour than you can help in sprinkling and rolling. The paste should not be rolled out more than three times; if rolled too much it will not be flaky. (69)

Child, Lydia Marie.The American Frugal Housewife. Dedicated to those who are not ashamed of economy. Boston, Carder, Hendee and Co. 1833.

Paste for Tarts
One pound of flour, three quarters of a pound of butter, mix up together and beat well with a rolling pin.

Glasse, Hannah. The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy. Alexandria: Cottom and Stewart, 1805. 121.

Modern Recipes: Mincemeat for 4-5 pies

1 ¼ c. shortening (or suet)
21/2-3 lb beef roast (chuck roast is fine)
3 lbs apples (about 9 medium apples)
2 lbs. Raisins ( about 5 cups)
1 ¼ lbs. Sugar (about 2 ¾ c.)
½ c. brandy
¼ c. lemon juice
2 T. cinnamon
4 t. Cloves
1 T. nutmeg
1/4 t. Pepper
1 qt. Apple cider

Freeze the shortening, and dice while still frozen. Keep cold.

Cover beef with water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the meat tests 170 degrees. (The amount of cooking time will vary with the thickness of the beef. Let cool, then dice small. Be careful to remove all gristle, but leave in any hard fat (which is like suet.)

Peel, core and dice the apples.

Mix beef, apples, and shortening with the remaining ingredients. Fill unbaked pie shells (3-4 cups of filling per pie.)  Cover with pie crust. Cut vent slits. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Pie Crust: for 2 pies

4 c. flour (approx. ½ lb.)
1⅓ c. shortening (or butter)
1 t. salt
10 T. cold water

Mix the flour and salt. Rub or cut the shortening into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. Add water. Mix lightly. Gather the mixture into a ball and press solid. Cut into 4 pieces (two for the bottom crusts two for the top crusts.). Roll each out to a circle. The circles for the bottom crusts should be about an inch larger than your pie plate. Carefully place one circle in each pan. Add the filling, and cover with the top crust. It helps to wet the edge of the bottom crust before placing the top crust on the pie. Pince the edge all around to seal the pie.

September is the harvest month–the time to gather the abundant bounty from our summer gardens . And nothing demonstrates abundance quite so well as zucchini squash. It’s so easy to grow that even a complete amateur gardener can produce more zucchini than any family can reasonably eat in one season. Zucchini grows well in almost any soil, survives drought and neglect and even produces when choked by weeds left by the lazy gardener.  But zucchini is a relative newcomer to the panoply of summer squashes. It is a hybrid variety of Cucurbita pepo (all summer squashes belong to this family), developed in Italy in the second half of the 19th century. The first records of zucchini in America are not quite a hundred years old, dating from the 1920’s.

So this summer, I decided to explore the summer squashes more likely to appear on Colonial tables. Of course all squashes are native to the Americas, where they have been eaten since prehistoric times. The word ‘squash’ even comes from the native word ‘askutasquash’–which means the fruit eaten green or immature (that is, summer squash).

The earliest European explorers noticed native-grown squash, though they often thought of this novel food as varieties of cucumbers or melons.  Good things travel fast and so by the 16th century, squash was commonly found in European gardens.

Squash hybrids easily, sharing traits with neighboring squashes, which explains why there are so many varieties. One of the earliest mentions of summer squash I found was in 1562, in Fuch’s Vienna Codex. He described what he called cucumer paniformis, so named because the pale green squash resembled a scalloped-edge baking pan. You might recognize this as patty pan squash.

The patty pan squash was one of Thomas Jefferson’s favorites. He said they were “one of our finest and most innocent vegetables.” (seed packet)  Patty pan squash were grown in Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello, in the gardens of enslaved African-Americans, and in kitchen gardens throughout the colonies.

This popular colonial-era squash had many different names based on its distinctive shape, including buckler squash, for its resemblance to a buckler-type shield. One of the most interesting names I came across was cymling (pronounced sim-lin) and also spelled symnel, simlin, or cimlin. The Oxford English Dictionary lists the earliest recorded use of this word for pattypan squash from 1648, in Beauchamp Plantagenet’s A Description of New Albion. Symnels or simnels were a Lenten cake, made for Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent. The day originated as a day to return to one’s ‘mother’ church, although in recent times it has become more like the American Mother’s Day. So how does a name for a cake get transferred to a squash? It turns out that simnels are a circular cake, with small round balls of almond paste decorating the circumference. Indeed, that’s a good description for a large pattypan squash.

Recipes from the 16th through the 18th centuries use pattypan squash in soups and stews. The most common suggestions are for boiling it and serving it with butter or cream. Pattypans were often harvested and eaten while they are very small, the size of large walnuts. The pattypan squash I used were larger, ranging from the size of an apple to the size of eight inch layer cake (because, like zucchini, pattypan squash seem to grow into giants overnight).

The following recipe comes from The Virgina Housewife (p. 110)

Squash or Cimlin

Gather Young squashes, peel, and cut them in two, take out the seeds, and boil them till tender; put them into a colander, drain off the water and rub them with a wood spoon through the colander; then put them into a stew pan with a cup full of cream, a small piece of butter, some pepper and salt–stew them, stirring very frequently until dry. This is the most delicate way of preparing squashes. (p. 110)

This original recipe calls for peeling the pattypan squash. I found that it is very difficult to peel because of the irregular shape. In the days of modern appliances, peeling the squash is unnecessary. Placing the boiled, unpeeled squash in a food processor and processing it for 2 minutes produces a sauce just as smooth as the colonial method of forcing the cooked squash through a colander.

My modern recipe for Pattypan Squash Puree:

3-4 large pattypan squash                                                                                                                       ¾ c. cream                                                                                                                                              3 T. butter                                                                                                                                                 Salt and pepper to taste

Wash the squash. Remove the seeds and stem ends. Cut into chunks. Cover with water and boil for twenty minutes, or until tender. Drain well. Puree in a food processor for two minutes. Add cream, butter, salt and pepper to the squash and simmer another ten minutes or until the mixture is as dry as you like it. The pureed squash can be eaten as a side dish. It also makes an excellent soup base.

I’ve eaten pattypan squash many times, but I’d never grown it before. Using seeds from The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, I planted seven hills of cymlings.

They all grew.  They all produced a prodigious number of pale green scalloped edge squash.

Obviously, pattypans are just as abundant as zucchini. Anybody want some?

Sources:

Cymling or Pattypan Squash. Seed packet from The Thomas Jefferson Center For Historic Plants. 2016

Curcurbits. Colonial Williamsburg. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2018. Colonial Williamsburg: That The Future May Learn From The Past

Randolph, Mary. The Virginia Housewife Or, Methodical Cook. T. E.H. Butler and Co. : Philadephia, 1860.

Simnel. The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. 1971.