A Fruit Dish | Mysite

WINNER OF THE HIERONYMUS BOSCH FRUIT DISH COMPETITION

Hieronymus Bosch Inspired Fruit Dish

By Ceara of Novgorod.

I attempted a fruit dish of Apicius pickled plums with a shortbread bird coming out of it. This was inspired by the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. I specifically looked at the bird (crane maybe) partially inside the apple or cherry in between the man’s legs in the pond in the center panel and the lumpy owl sitting on/in the fruit on top of the two people dancing. I chose the pickled plums because they had the same red hues as used in the painting, and I chose the shortbread because it’s flavor and texture compliment the plums.

Recipes:

Shortbread*: 1 ¼ Cups all purpose flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, ½ cup butter. Mix together with fork till crumbly. Form into balls or bird shapes with hands and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 325F for aprox 20 minutes. Cool on rack. Once cooled, paint to look like bird with food coloring (I like amera-color airbrush food coloring).

Pickled Plums**: Plums, 2/3 Cup Sweet white wine, 1/3 cup honey. Wash plums, cut in half, remove pits, and place in glass container with lid. Heat wine and honey to boiling and pour over scrubbed plums. Let age in fridge at least 3 weeks. (preferably 1 month).

I chose to arrange them in a glass for ease of eating, and because that is likely how I would serve such at a feast.

Eaten as such: by breaking the shortbread up with a spoon to be enjoyed on the individual plum halves.

*Shortbread

Short bread started as early as 12th century Ginger breads, which started as a honey and bread crumb cookie/cake/biscuit. Slowly as the middle ages continued the bread crumbs became replaced with flour and fat was added in. By Elizabethean times the bread crumbs were replaced with flour, and sugar and butter replaced the honey. Sometimes called Sherwsbery Cakes or Petticoat Tallies (petticoat tails). The spicing varied from recipe to recipe. For example Mary Queen of Scotts was said to be fond of them with caraway.

**Apciius Pickled Fruits 1: Plum Redaction

Honey & New Wine pickleing/preservation:

Period recipe (Apicius Book 1, Chapter12) “[21] TO KEEP QUINCES:PICK OUT PERFECT QUINCES WITH STEMS AND LEAVES. PLACE THEM IN A VESSEL, POUR OVER HONEY AND DEFRUTUM [2] AND YOU’LL PRESERVE THEM FOR A LONG TIME.(defrutum is new wine, spiced, boiled down to one half of its volume)[22] TO PRESERVE FRESH FIGS, APPLES, PLUMS, PEARS AND CHERRIES SELECT THEM ALL VERY CAREFULLY WITH THE STEMS ON [1] AND PLACE THEM IN HONEY SO THEY DO NOT TOUCH EACH OTHER”

My Reading of the recipe, line by line: “To keep Quinces: Pick out Perfect Quinces with stems and leaves. Place them in a vessel, pour over honey and defrutum and you’ll preserve them for a long time.” Obviously they were preserving/pickling quinces. Quinces are a hard fruit similar in consistency to an apple or pear. Leaves are non-toxic and sometimes used in herbal medicint;

What I did: Plums, 2/3 Cup Sweet white wine, 1/3 cup honey. Wash plums, cut in half, remove pits, and place in glass container with lid. Heat honey and wine to boiling and pour over scrubbed plums. Let age in a cool place (fridge) for at least 2 weeks.

Why I differed from period: I chose plums as quinces were unavailable in my local groceries at the time of testing. They are an uncommon fruit and not often available. I specifically chose the sweet white wine, because I had a bottle of it open in my refrigerator. I did not have any sweet reds in my cabinet (all were sharper such as Shiraz).

Results: These were amazing. Sweet and a little sharp flavored. They would make an excellent end of meal treat. I think they would pair well in a sweet dish, such as on top of a honey custard.

Bibliography:

Adamson, Melitta Weiss 2000; Daz Buch von gutter spise (The Book of Good Food): A Study, Edition, and English Translation of the Oldest German Cookbook; Krems

Anthimus, (Mark Grant Translation) 1996; On The Observance of Foods, Prospect Books

Apicius, (Project Gutenberg Translation); https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29728/29728-h/29728-h.htm

Austin, Thomas 1888 (1996 unaltered reprint); Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books: Harleian MS. 279(ab1430) & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450) with Extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55; Oxford University Press

Bayard, Tania 1991; A Medieval Home Companion: Housekeeping in the Fourteenth Century; Harper Collins

Beebe, Ruth Anne 1976; Humbles & Shrewsbery Cakes: A Collection of Elizabethan Recipes Adapted for the Modern Kitchen, David Allen Godine Publisher

Grewe (Rudolf) and Hieatt (Constance B.) 1991; Libellus de arte coquinaria: An Early Northern Cookery Book; Arizona State University

Hagen, Ann 1992; A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption; Anglo Saxon Books

Hagen, Ann 1995; A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Production and Distribution; Anglo Saxon Books

Hess, Karen (Transcribtion) 1981; Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery; Columbia University Press

Hou, Xiangchuan (H.C.)1981; Egg Preservation in China; Food and Nutrition Bulletin Volume 03, Number 2 (UNU, 1981, 44p)

Landsberg, Sylvia 1995; The Medieval Garden; Thames and Hudson

Redon (Odile), Sabban (Fancoise), and Serventi (Silvano) 1991; The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy; The University of Chicago Press

Sun (Naxin), Liu (Huiping), Zhang (Xiaowei), Wang (Hongni), Liu (Shaojuan), Chen (Pei), Yu (Weijie), & Liu (Kai), 2018; Physical, Chemical Properties and Structural Changes of Zaodan Pickled by Vacuum Decompression Technology; Korean Journal of Food Science and Animal Resources. April 2018, V.38(2) 291-301.

Van Arsdall, Anne 2002; Medieval Herbal Remedies [The Old English Herbarium and Anglo-Saxon Medicine]; Routledge

The New York Food Museum; http://www.nyfoodmuseum.org/_ptime.htm