To make a Jelly of Almonds as white as Snow. is a traditional Stuart recipe for a classic sweetmeat-style dessert of a wine-based almond cream thickened with gelatine that's set in emptied egg shells of orange peels before being served on a dish. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Stuart version of: To make a Jelly of Almonds as white as Snow.
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Original Recipe
To make a Jelly of Almonds as white as Snow. (from Robert May's Accomplisht Cook 1660)
To make a Jelly of Almonds as white as Snow.
Take a pound of almonds, steep them in cold water six hours, and blanch them into cold water, then make a decoction of half a pound of ising-glass, with two quarts of white wine and the juyce of two lemons, boil it till half be wasted, then let it cool and strain it, mingle it with the almonds, and strain them with a pound of double refined sugar, & the juyce of two lemons, turn it into colours, red, white, or yellow, and put it into egg shells, or orange peels, and serve them on a pye plate upon a dish.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
450g blanched almonds
1l white wine
juice of 2 lemons
4 leaves of gelatine (substituted for the isinglass as this is far commoner)
450g caster sugar
juice of 2 lemons
spinach juice for green colouring
saffron for yellow colouring
red food colouring (sandalwood would have been used, but this is toxic)
empty egg shells or orange peel, as moulds
Method:
Place the gelatine in a small bowl of water and set aside to infuse. Pound the almonds in a mortar until you have a smooth paste (add a little of the lemon juice to them every now and then to prevent them from oiling. Mix the almond paste with the remaining lemon juice and white wine. Set aside for 30 minutes then extract the resultant almond milk by passing through a fine-meshed sieve.
Place the almond milk in a pan and add the sugar. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves then drain the gelatine, add to the sweetened almond milk and heat, stirring constantly, until the gelatine dissolves.
Take off the heat and set aside to cool until it just begins to set. Divide the mixture into four portions. Leave one plain then add spinach juice, saffron and red food colouring to the other bowls so that you have white, green, red and yellow mixes.
Use these to fill emptied-out eggs or empty orange peels so that you have egg-shaped or orange-shaped jellies. Set aside to harden then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Peel the jellies, arrange on a dish and serve.
