Bisketello is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for a classic sweet snack or biscuit of a sugar and egg white paste bound with gun tracacanth, lemon juice and rose water that's flavoured with musk and caraway seeds and which becomes hollow when baked. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Elizabethan version of: Bisketello.
21. To make another kinde of bisket, called biskettello.
TAke halfe an ounce of gumme Dragagant, diſſolue it in Rosewater with the iuice of a lemon and two graines of muske, then ſtraine it through a faire linen cloth with the white of an eg, then take halfe a pound of fine ſugar being beaten, and one ounce of carroway ſeedes, beeing alſo beaten and ſearced, and then beat them altogether in a mortar till they come to paſte, then rol them vp in ſmall loaues about the bignes of a ſmall egge, put vnder the bottome of euerie one, a peece of a wafer, and ſo bake them in an Ouen vpon a ſheete of paper, cut thē on the ſides as you do a manchet, and pricke them in the middeſt: when you break them vp they will bee hollow and full of eyes.
Modern Redaction
Gum Dragagant (also known as gum tracacanth) is a natural mucilaginous substance produced by one of several low spiny shrubs of the genus Astragalus, among them A. gummifer. A. eriostylus, A. adscendens, A. brachycalyx, and A. microcephalus (plants that are found in the mountains of Asia Minor and neighboring lands). It exudes through natural fissures and incisions in the plant stems and was valued during Medieval and Elizabethan times as a thickener and a glue for foods as it is odourless and nearly tasteless. However, only a small portion of it is soluble and it has to be soaked in water for several hours so that the soluble portion can thicken the water. It is used pharmaceutically today to impart firmness to pills and lozenges.
Ingredients:
15g gum tracacanth (or 1/2 tsp xanthan gum)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbps rosewater
1/8 tsp musk (or your favourite flavouring)
1 egg white
225g caster sugar
30g caraway seeds, ground and sifted
Method:
Combine the gum, lemon juice, rose water and musk (or other flavouring) in a small bowl. Cover and set aside for 2 hours to allow the gum to dissolve.
Pass the mixture through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean bowl and whisk in the egg white.
Sift the sugar and ground caraway seeds into a bowl then work in the gum and egg white mixture until you have a smooth paste.
Take portions of this mixture, about the size of an egg and roll into balls. Arrange on a greased baking tray then place in an oven pre-heated to 150°C and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the coating is crispy.
Allow to coo land serve. You will have a candy coating with a hollow middle.
