Introduction
This
is a re-creation of a recipe from The Good Huswifes Jewell (England, 1585
& 1597) by Thomas Dawson, entitled “To make Iombils, a hundred.” Previously, I recreated May's 1665 recipe for Jumbles, available here.
The original text of the recipe from 1585 and 1597 is
as follows:
Take
twenty Egges and put them into a pot both the yolkes & the white, beat them
wel, then take a pound of beaten suger and put to them, and stirre them wel
together, then put to it a quarter of a peck of flower, and make a hard paste
thereof, and then with Anniseede moulde it well, and make it in little rowles
beeing long, and tye them in knots, and wet the ends in Rosewater, then put
them into a pan of seething water, but euen in one waum, then take them out
with a Skimmer and lay them in a cloth to drie, this being doon lay them in a
tart panne, the bottome beeing oyled, then put them into a temperat Ouen for
one howre, turning them often in the Ouen. (Dawson,
1585 & 1597)
The
original recipe calls for the following ingredients:
20 eggs
1 pound sugar
¼ peck of flour
Aniseed
Rosewater
Looking
at other historical recipes for jumbles, the seasoning for jumbles can include
almonds, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, aniseeds, and/or rosewater. Based on
my research, anise seeds appear to have been the most popular of the above
seasonings. Markham, Dawson, Woolley, and Washington’s recipes all called for
aniseeds. Based on a taste test that was done at Kingdom Twelfth Night 2020, using
only ½ teaspoon of anise seed for this recipe was subtle and preferred by those
who do not typically like anise. However, using 1 tsp of anise resembles the
taste of a springerle cookie and appears to be more historically accurate.
Anise originated from Greece and Egypt, but was cultivated in England. It was
believed to be a digestive aid, as well as good for freshening breath.
(Sannieb)
“White
bread was so highly valued…English wheat is naturally ‘soft’, that is to say,
it has a low gluten content.” (Sim) Only the wealthy could afford this off-white
flour. “The best flour produced in this period was an ‘off-white’ flour, rather
than the pure white flour produced today by industrial roller milling. The best
‘extraction’ rates that could be achieved is thought to be around 80%.” (“Medieval
Flour & Pastry”) “Medieval wheat was a winter crop, and was bred from
ancestral wheats such as einkorn, emmer, and spelt.” (Piebakere) Einkorn wheat
“is known in taxonomy as either Triticum boeoticum (wild wheat)” and “is the
oldest wheat known to scientists…the first domestication of wild einkorn was
recorded approximately around 7500 BC.”. (“The History of Einkorn”)
Sugar
first became domesticated around 8,000 B.C. in New Guinea. By 1550, there were
over 3,000 sugar mills in the New World. (Dickson) Sugar was made and shipped
in conical molds called sugarloaves. “The highest grade of these sugars were
the fine, white sugars.” (“Elizabeth's sweet tooth”) Scissors were used to cut
the mold. The cut pieces were then grated down with similitude to the sugar we
know today. This is why I chose to use cane sugar for this recipe. For the eggs,
according to the University of Reading and Historic Royal Palaces, “twenty eggs
in 1596 equates to 10 medium modern eggs.” (Sannieb)
Procedure
First,
I did my math conversions, as well as lowering the recipe down to ¼ the
original recipe. “In Great Britain the peck may be used for either liquid or
dry measure and is equal to 8 imperial quarts (2 imperial gallons)…The peck has
been in use since the early 14th century, when it was introduced as a measure
for flour.” (“Peck”) “In other recipes a peck of flour means a volume
measurement of 2 gallons, which would weigh only 8 to 10 pounds, depending on
how settled the flour is in the measure.” (“Peck of Flour”) Per the original
recipe, a quarter of a peck of flour is needed, making it ¼ of 8 pounds which
equals 2 pounds. Two pounds of flour equals 7.25 cups, divided by ¼ equals 1.81
cups or approximately 1 ¾ cups (to make measuring with measuring cups easier).
One pound of sugar equals 2.26 cups, divided by ¼ equals 0.56 cups or
approximately 1/2 cup. According to the University of Reading and Historic
Royal Palaces, “twenty eggs in 1596 equates to 10 medium modern eggs.”
(Sannieb) One quarter of 10 medium modern eggs equals 2.5 eggs. It’s difficult
to cut an egg in half, I chose to increase this to 3 eggs.
My interpretation of Dawson's recipe:
1 3/4 cup Einkorn wheat flour
1/2 cup cane sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp aniseed (Pimpinella anisum)
Rosewater for the ends
Preheat
the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the eggs and sugar. Mix in the flour,
saving the aniseed for last. Allow the dough to rest for about 30 minutes. Roll
and shape the dough like a pretzel on a floured board. Wet the ends with
rosewater. In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Poach the knots for a few
minutes. They will instantly sink to the bottom of the pot. Then, use a utensil
to free them from the bottom and they will float. After another moment, remove
the knots from the water. Then, lay the knots on a towel to dry. Once dry, bake
the knots for about 9-10 minutes, turning them over after about 5 minutes.
Yield: approximately 24 cookies
Results
Previously,
I had made variations of May’s 1665 recipe for the Tri-Baronial Twelfth Night
2020 and Kingdom Twelfth Night 2020. I found these 1585 recipe cookies to taste
more like the springerle cookies that we know today. The 1665 recipe was more
flavorful with butter, sack, and cream added to it, but less authentic to
pre-16th century English culture when compared to the 1585 recipe.
While
testing out this recipe, I discovered the hard way that the water should be
boiled and not simmered, as shown below.
Simmered dough (above)
Boiled dough (above)
Works Cited
Alden,
Lori. "Fortified Wine." The Cook's Thesaurus. 1996-2005.
"All
Jumbled Up." Turnspit & Table. 9 February 2015.
substitute.
10 December 2019.
Anachronists
Cookbook. "Renaissance Era 'Sugar-Cakes'".
Bellis,
Mary. “History of the Oven From Cast Iron to Electric.” ThoughtCo. 6
April 2018.
15 January 2020.
Bertelsen,
Cynthia. "Jumbles: Cookies That Travelled Across An Ocean and Through
Time."
Brears,
Peter. Food and Cooking in 17th Century Britain. English Heritage. 1985.
Page 11.
Dawson,
Thomas. The Good Huswifes Jewell. London, 1585.
10 December 2019.
Dawson,
Thomas. The Good Huswifes Jewell. London, 1596.
Dawson,
Thomas. The Good Hus-wiues Iewell: Part 2. London, 1597. Early
English Books
Dickson,
Sam. “Tudor England.” 18 January 2016.
“Elizabeth's
sweet tooth.” A History of Royal Food and Feasting.
Goodman,
Ruth. How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life. Liveright
Herrick,
Robert. The Hesperides & Noble Numbers, ed. Alfred Pollard, vol. 1
(London and New
York:
Lawrence & Bullen, Ltd., 1898), 217.
Hess,
Karen. Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery. Columbia University Press:
New York.
15
January 2020.
Hughes,
Glyn. "The Lost Foods of England." 2017.
https://books.google.com/books?id=oNs6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=jambals+the+english+huswife&source=bl&ots=d6QseILQwz&sig=ACfU3U09KNfSpRJ6WiPDye8QmOzjNxP9ig&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtoYTeyJfmAhUFsJ4KHXaUBvIQ6AEwDXoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=jambals%20the%20english%20huswife&f=false.
Page 129. 10 December 2019.
biscuits/.
10 December 2019.
May,
Robert. The Accomplisht Cook, Or, The Art and Mystery of Cookery.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22790/22790-h/cook1.html#secIX.
#270.
10
December 2019.
May,
Robert. The Accomplisht Cook, Or the Art and Mystery of Cookery. 1665.
https://books.google.com/books?id=7dhopy-AJ98C&pg=PA270&lpg=PA270&dq=jambals+robert+may&source=bl&ots=4_c8QEhh2v&sig=ACfU3U2cywZ8m_Rp3HA5Ho-oj9d4KbUBxw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiEt5_gvZfmAhVWnJ4KHZ2mC78Q6AEwBXoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=jambals%20robert%20may&f=false.
Page 270.
10 December 2019.
15
January 2020.
Mytton-Davies,
P. A Practical Guide to Repair and Maintenance of Houses. Spon Press:
London.
2001.
P. 148.
30
January 2020.
Piebakere,
Eulalia. “All About Medieval English Grains.” 28 May 2015.
Polka,
M., Z. Salamonowicz, M. Wolinski, and B. Kukfisz. “Experimental Analysis of
Minimal
15
January 2020.
Rain,
Patricia. "History of Vanilla." The Vanilla Company. 26 February
2009.
"Saffron
Jambals." The Fresh Loaf. 15 June 2011.
Schmidt,
Stephen. “What, Exactly, Was the Tudor and Stuart Banquet?” August 2019.
Sim,
Alison. The Tudor Housewife. Sutton Publishing. 1996.
Smith,
Eliza. The Compleat Housewife. London, England. 1727.
Thomas,
Melita. “Tudor dining: a guide to food and status in the 16th century.”
8 December
Wilson,
Bee. Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat. 2013.
10 December 2019.
Woolley,
Hannah. The Queene-Like Closet or Rich Cabinet. 1672.
