I currently play in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), an organization specializing in recreating medieval and Renaissance time periods. I've been active in the Barony of TirYsgithr (Tucson) in the beautiful and sunny Kingdom of Atenveldt (Arizona) for about three years and dabbled in arts and sciences.

This year I thought I would go all out and compete in the contest for Baronial Arts and Sciences Champion which, when you win, is a title that you get to carry around for the next year.

One of my entries for this championship was Citrus Suckets. I got this "recipe" from The English Housewife, by Gervase Markham, which was first published in the 17th century, during which time I can only assume that this recipe was "easy" to follow.

Ingredients

3 oranges (or citrus fruit of your choice)
2 cups of water
2 tsp. barley malt
4 egg whites
5 lbs. sugar
1 gallon of water

Procedure

Combine 2 cups of water and 2 tsp. barley malt. Bring to a boil. Cut the peelings of the oranges into small pieces. Boil in malt mixture until tender. The peelings should be boiled enough to make them edible without removing all of their flavor.

Take the gallon of water and add four egg whites. Beat with a whisk until it foams. Add 5 lbs. sugar and beat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil this mixture until it begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and strain to remove any solid residue from the egg whites. Cook on medium heat until the liquid thickens to the consistency of a heavy syrup.

Take the prepared orange peelings and dip them into the syrup, then lay them separately on a tray to dry.

The finished product should resemble a hard candy.

Here follows my description of "What Actually Happened" when I tried to follow the recipe from the book:

First Try

The aforementioned procedure seems fairly simple to follow (I hope). But the real question is: How did I get from the old English recipe in the book to the modern recipe above? Well, here is the ugly story.

This recipe was definitely a case of trial and error. When you are perusing a book to make selections of recipes you would like to try, you just don't realize how much information is really being left out until you get right down to the act of trying to complete the recipe. I'll share some of my frustrations and break it down by sentences or pieces of sentences.

"Take curds, the paring of lemons, of oranges or pomecitrons, or indeed any half ripe green fruit," This part said to get some fruit (I chose oranges) and some curds (dairy curds, or so I thought). "and boil them till they be tender, in sweet wort;" What the heck is sweet wort? (See Note #1) Okay, need to add malt to my list of ingredients.

Now, on first reading, this first sentence is basically telling me to put some malt in some water and boil it. - How much? I don't know. Well, I'll try a teaspoon in two cups of water first. Let that dissolve and boil. Try a taste. Not enough malt. Add another teaspoon. Try another taste. That seems pretty good.

Then, I should add some curds (ha ha) and some orange peels and boil them until they are tender. - (Okay, let's just say that was totally disgusting.) Alright, let's come back to this later.

"then make a syrup in this sort: take three pound of sugar, and the whites of four eggs, and a gallon of water;" Hey, this is pretty neat, they're actually giving exact amounts and I don't have to guess how much to put in (yeah, right).

"then swinge and beat the water and the eggs together" Okay, this isn't too difficult. "and then put in your sugar, and set it on the fire, and let it have an easy fire." Fairly self explanatory.

"and so let it boil six or seven walms," Now what the heck is a walm? (See Note #2) Okay, boil it for 6 or 7 boils. Thanks for clearing that up.

"and then strain it through a cloth," Now let's see, I think I've got a pillow case I can use.

"and let it seethe again till it fall from the spoon," What do you mean, fall from the spoon? It falls from the spoon now. Great!

"and then put it into the rinds of fruits" Hmmm, that must mean to save some of the fruit rinds and keep them whole and pour the syrup into them. If that's the case, then what am I supposed to do with that gooey stuff I boiled in the sweet wort? Oh wait, there's a note (I notice three days later), maybe I should see what it says. (See Note #3) Gee, wish I'd known this three days ago when I was pulling out my hair trying to figure out what the finished product was supposed to be.

Well, my results are obviously not what they had in mind for this recipe. I'll try again after I've taken my frustration out on some inanimate object.

Second Try (same day)

Note to self, get a new garden hose.

Alright, obviously "curds" does not mean dairy curds. Maybe it's just another word for the parings. Let's try that. I'll make some more sweet wort and boil some orange peelings in it until they're tender (without the dairy curds). That's much better. I've still got the syrup, I'll just dip the peelings into it and see what I get. The syrup's awful thin. Oh well, we'll see. I'll dip the peelings in the syrup and set them aside until tomorrow.

The Next Morning

I don't know what these are, but I wouldn't call them "suckets". I'll take some to work and see what they think. They don't know what these are, but they wouldn't call them "suckets". Great.

Ever wonder why all the idiots want to drive their cars in front of you when you're really frustrated?

Third Try (2 days later)

Okay, today I'm gonna get this right, or someone's going to die. First, I need to thicken up the syrup. I boiled it for hours before and it didn't seem to thicken up. I guess I'll just add some more sugar. The rest of the 5 lb. bag should do. Now, I'll boil it some more. Ahhhh, it's thickening up nicely. After about an hour, it's just the right thickness (in my opinion, anyway).

I still have the peelings that I boiled in the sweet wort a couple of days ago. I'll cut them up into smaller pieces, so they're more bite-size. Dip them into the syrup then separate them on a tray. Hardening already (smile).

Good, no one has to die today.

"Take curds, the paring of lemons, of oranges or pomecitrons, or indeed any half ripe green fruit, and boil them till they be tender, in sweet wort; then make a syrup in this sort: take three pound of sugar, and the whites of four eggs, and a gallon of water; then swinge and beat the water and the eggs together and then put in your sugar, and set it on the fire, and let it have an easy fire, and so let it boil six or seven walms, and then strain it through a cloth, and let it seethe again till it fall from the spoon, and then put it into the rinds of fruits."

NOTES
1 (from the glossary) Wort - the liquor made by an infusion of malt in water, from which beer and ale are fermented; a general name for a plant
2 (from the glossary) Walm - boil
3 (from notes to pages) "To boil sugar to a candy height, you must boil it till it will draw as a thread betwixt your finger and your thumb."

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Markham, Gervase. The English Housewife. 1986, Canada: McGill Queen's University Press