To Make Muskadine Comfits. is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for a classic sweet (candy) made from a blend of sugar, musk mallow, guar gum and rose water blended into a paste, rolled out and dried in the oven. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Stuart version of: To Make Muskadine Comfits.
TAke halfe a pound of Muske suger beaten and searsed, then take Gumtragacant, steeped in Rose water, and two graines of Muske, and so beat them in an Alabaster morter, till it come to perfect Past, then driue it verie thinne with a rowling pinne, and then cut it into small pieces like Diamonds, some cut with a rowle spoone on the sides: being thus cut, stoue them, and so keepe them all the yeare.
Though the date of the book puts it in the Stuart period, it was actually registered with the London Company of Stationers on 1st September 1602 and not published until 1608, which makes this a late Elizabethan book.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
225g sugar
1 tsp ground musk mallow seeds
1 tsp guar gum
60ml rose water
Method:
Combine the sugar, musk mallow seeds and guar gum in a mortar. Pound until smooth then begin working in the rose water a little at a time until you have a smooth, thick, paste.
Turn this out onto a piece of greaseproof (waxed) paper and roll it out very thin (if sticky, oil the surface of the paste). Set aside to air dry for a couple of hours then cut into small diamond-shaped pieces. Separate these out on a baking tray covered with greaseproof paper then place in an oven pre-heated to 90°C and dry out for 4 hours before storing.
