To Candy Pippins To Looke As Cleare As Amber

This recipe hails from the late 17th century, a period characterized by newfound fascination with sugar work and elegant sweetmeats among the English gentry. Preserving and candying fruit was at the height of fashion in upper-class households, both as a means of displaying wealth—sugar was a luxury—and as an outlet for aesthetic culinary creativity. The recipe is taken from 'V.a.630', a manuscript dating from between 1675 and 1686, likely compiled by or for a household keen on keeping up with contemporary culinary trends. Such manuscripts often included a mix of practical and sophisticated recipes, reflecting the era’s growing interest in both preservation and presentation.

In the 17th century, cooks making this recipe would have used an earthenware platter for the first baking stage and a bodkin (a slender, pointed tool) to pierce the fruit. An open-hearth or small brick oven, maintained at a steady, gentle heat, would serve as the heat source, while a wire lattice or racks (sometimes fashioned by bakers as 'nods') would be employed to support the fruit for drying. Sugar was sifted by hand with fine sieves, and rosewater was a staple flavoring distilled or purchased by affluent households.