To Make Cassia

This recipe originates from 'The Lady Cravens receipt-booke,' a handwritten collection attributed to Elizabeth, Baroness Craven, dating between 1702 and 1704, during England’s early 18th century. Lady Craven was part of the English aristocracy, and her receipt (recipe) book was a snapshot of privileged domestic life, reflecting both fashionable tastes and exotic ingredients of the time. The recipe’s use of sugar and so-called 'Indian Earth' speaks to both the globalization of ingredients and the medical beliefs of the era—sweets were not only treats but often considered medicinal. Such recipes were shared among noble families, attributed to their social circles, and written down as treasured household knowledge.

In Lady Craven's kitchen, this recipe would have been made using a heavy brass or copper skillet (pan), a hearth or open fire for heat, and simple tongs or spoons for stirring and dropping the syrup. To test the candy stage, the cook relied on visual and tactile cues, such as how a drop of syrup set when dropped in water or on paper. Fine, thin paper—often just writing or cooking paper—was used to drop the finished candy on, serving as an early form of modern baking parchment.