![]() The fruit also needs to be dry, so this rules out any fruit so large it needs to be sliced.Ĭhoose your favourites from: green/red/black grapes, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, strings of redcurrants, blueberries, blackberries, physalis, dried apricots, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, almonds. Personally, I would recommend choosing fruit that is slightly sharp, just to prevent an overload of sugar. If you have a sweet tooth, then it gives you free rein to pick and choose almost anything. When choosing your fruits and nuts, it is important to consider how they are going to taste with the caramel. Perhaps they used honey to help them out back then? I tried several times to go ‘old school’ with just sugar and water, but the caramel always crystallized too quickly to get more than just a few pieces dipped. I have changed very little in this recipe: I’ve added some weights and measures, to help with getting the sugar to the correct stage and added a little liquid glucose to keep the caramel from crystallizing. A similar recipe in a slightly later manuscript, ‘Coromella’ 1805-1860, MS2203, Wellcome Collection Whilst you can do orange segments, I feel that against the scale of the other fruit, they’re a bit big, and that small orange segments (satsuma, mandarin, clementine and the like) would be more suitable. Other fresh fruits such as grapes, physalis, blueberries, nuts and even dried fruit such as apricots will last 3 hours before starting to become sticky. Very moist, juicy fruit such as strawberries and cherries (not pictured) will only last 2 hours before the shiny caramel coating starts to break down. Nowadays we have the luxury of fruit out of season, which can make for a very colourful display, however, some fruit are more suited than others. Since oranges are in season during the winter months, I believe this is perfect dish to serve up during the festive season. Although I have used several different fruits in the top image, the fruit recommended in the recipe is ‘a Cheney Orange’ (China Orange), aka an eating orange (as opposed to a Seville bitter orange). The method used to ‘carnival’ fruit is to dip it into a clear caramel. Carnival Fruit 1650-1750, MS8097, Wellcome Collection Straddling the 17th and 18th centuries, the handwriting is surprisingly modern: neat, well punctuated, with a pleasing layout, it is a joy to read, and I regularly have to remind myself just how old it actually is. ![]() THIS manuscript, however, is an absolute delight. I’m not going to name and shame it, but my dears… The handwriting. Now I’ll freely admit I am very fickle with my favouritism, and I have been reminded this week of just how special this manuscript is, mainly due to a completely different manuscript I’ve been working on. It comes from one of my favourite manuscripts at The Wellcome Collection. So simple, so eye-catching, and almost 400 years old.
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