Orchard and Soft Fruit Recipes

Part of the mission here on Orchard Notes is to find and share interesting methods for cooking with and preserving fruit; after all, what’s the point of growing as much of it as we can, if we don’t get to eat it in as many wonderfully tasty ways as possible?

I’m particularly intrigued by historical orchard and soft fruit recipes and the preservation methods that previous generations applied to surplus harvests. See below for upwards of a hundred recipes from cookery books of bygone ages, as well as a few modern recreations of historical fruit recipes, either made by myself or guest writers.

If you know of any interesting sources for recipes that use orchard fruits please do let me know, either by leaving a comment at the end of this page, or by email of you prefer.

Likewise, if you decide to try out any of the recipes yourself, please do send me an email with a description of your methods and results – the more photos the better, I’d really love to see them – or just leave a comment on the relevant orchard recipe post.

Modern Dishes & Recreated Historical Fruit Recipes

• Apple Ginger – or a version thereof, cooked by me from Gertrude Mackay’s 1913 recipe.
• Apple Lemon Pudding – cooked by me, from Catherine Esther Beecher’s 1848 recipe.
• Damson Ice Cream – made by me, inspired by Frederick Nutt’s 1790 version but modernised for improved taste and texture.
• Essex Pudding – cooked by me, from Eliza Acton’s 1845 recipe.
• Medlar Cheese and Medlar Jelly – made by me, two excellent preserves from one batch of fruit.
• Mini Baked Apples, with Flapjack Stuffing – made by me, a quick and easy pudding that makes great use of smaller apples.
• Norfolk Biffins – my first attempt at turning ‘Norfolk Beefing’ apples into preserved, baked biffins. (Spoiler: didn’t quite work out the way I’d hoped…)
• Ordsall Hog Pudding – cooked by Jo Green, a variant on William Kitchiner’s 1823 ‘Nottingham Pudding’ recipe.
• Pear-Stuffed Baked Squash – cooked by me, inspired by William Hanbury’s 1770 recipe-suggestion.
• Spiced Pear Pie – cooked by Brigitte Webster, based on Thomas Dawson’s 1594 baked pear recipe.

I’ve also done a little digging into the evolution of Summer Pudding, from its nineteenth century origins through to the present day.

Historical Fruit Recipes

Click on the name of any of the 140 (and counting) recipes below for more details. Scroll down for a list of source documents.

c.420 – Liquamen ex Piris (Liquamen from Pears) – Palladius, Opus Agriculturae
c.1390 – Comadore | Tart de Brymlent – Anon, from The Fourme of Cury
c.1440 – Apple Muse and Apple Moyle | Chardewardon or Chare de Wardon | Fygeye | Quynade – Anon, from The Austin Manuscripts / Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books
c.1500 – (Apple) Fryturs – Anon, from Gentyll Manly Cokere
c.1550 – Applemoyse – Anon, from A Proper New Booke of Cokerye
1591 – Apple Pomages – ‘A. W.’
1594 – Apple Pescods | Chewets in Lent – Thomas Dawson
1615 – Quinces Preserved in Cider – Gervase Markham
1615 – Apple Pufs – John Morrell
1623 – Pruen Tart | Warden or Quince Pie – Gervase Markham
1636 – Marmelade of Quinces or Damsons | Preserved Dry Pulp of Cherries – Sir Hugh Plat
1653 – Preserved Goose-Berries | Preserved Medlers | Syrupe Gresta – Thomas Jenner
1658 – Apple Cream | Paste of Pippins – Sir Théodore Turquet de Mayerne (?)
1662 – Gooseberry Fool | Preserving Quinces – ‘W. M.’
1665 – Preserving Green Fruits | Quodling Pie | Taffety Tart | Tart of Hips | Tart of Medlers | Warden or Pear Tart – Robert May
1667 – Water of Fruits – John French
1669 – Marmulate of Pippins | Marmalute of Red Currants – Sir Kenelm Digby
1673 – Apple Cream – François Pierre La Varenne
1675 – To Coddle Codlings Green | To Pickle Green Figgs | To Pickle Bog-Berries and Hogg-Haws – William Rabisha
1678 – Currant Vinegar – John Worlidge
1682 – Melon Tart in Slices | Pippen Composte – Giles Rose
1696 – Apple Florentines – William Salmon
1701 – Paste of Plumbs – ‘A Lady’
1708 – Black Caps | Pippin Tansey | Stewed Pears – Henry Howard
1723 – Apricock Cakes – John Nott
1729 – Apple Fritters | Gooseberry Tansey – Eliza Smith
1732 – Verjuice – J. S. via Richard Bradley
1732 – Minc’d Pyes – Charles Carter
1733 – Apples the Portuguese Way – Vincent la Chapelle
1734 – Apricot or Quince Cakes – Mary Kettilby
1737 – Codlin or Pippin Jelly – M. L. Lemery
1742 – Welch Apple Pye | Pickling Codlins Like Mangoe – Mrs Eales (?)
1742 – Rhubarb Tarts – Hannah Glasse
1747 – Apricot Pudding – Hannah Glasse
1750 – Scald-berry Puddings – William Ellis
1755 – Quiddany of Pippins – Elizabeth Clelland
1759 – Apple Fritters a la Bavarre – William Verral
1760 – Apple Froise – Sarah Harrison
1761 – Orange Marmalade | Pippin Knots – Edward Lambert
1764 – Plumb Porridge – Elizabeth Moxon
1767 – Pickled Mellons – Ann Peckham
1767 – Summer Cyder – J. Williams (?)
1769 – Green Caps – Elizabeth Raffald
1769 – Devonshire (Minced) Pye – E. Taylor
1770 – Pumkin and Spiced Apples – William Hanbury
1778 – German Fritters | Green Codling Pudding | Quince Pudding | Verjuice | Vinegar Balls – Charlotte Mason
1783 – Prune Pudding – John Farley
1784 – Apple Pie With Potatoes – Susanna MacIver
1790 – Damsons, Wet & Damsons, Dried | Damson Ice Cream – Frederick Nutt
1796 – Flummery (two ways) – Susannah Carter
1802 – Pippins With Rice – John Mollard
1808 – Pippin Pudding – Mary Eliza Ketelby Rundell
1810 – Baked Apple or Gooseberry Pudding | Gooseberry Wine – Esther Copley
1823 – Boston Apple Pudding | Nottingham Pudding – William Kitchiner
1824 – Bilberry Wine – Benjamin Maund
1827 – Bishop – Richard Cook
1832 – Apple Florentine – ‘E.H.B.’
1836 – Pulpton of Apples – John Mollard
1838 – Gooseberry or Apple Fool – Esther Copley
1843 – Baked Pears – William Goodman
1845 – Bishop (Oxford) | Black Caps Par Excellence | Essex Pudding (Cheap and Good) | Queen Mab’s Summer Pudding – Eliza Acton
1846 – Berry Pudding – “Mrs Corneloius” (Mary Hooker)
1848 – Apple Lemon Pudding – Catherine Esther Beecher
1852 – Swiss Pudding – Lady Maria Clutterbuck
1854 – Raisiné Composé – J. C. Loudon
1855 – Saxe-Gotha Pudding – Eliza Acton
1855 – Fruit Puddings – Alexis Soyer
1862 – Bishop (A la Prusse) – Jerry Thomas
1864 – Summer Pudding – Cre-Fydd
1865 – Pommes à la Vésuve | Apple Chocolate | Salade de Pommes a la Contrabandista – Georgiana Hill
1866 – Apple and Tapioca / Sago Pudding | Minnie’s Fruit Pudding – J. C. Croly
1868 – Apple Pudding – Anon, from Four Hundred Household Recipes
1871 – Apple Pie Which is Digestible – Dr. Alvin Wood Chase
1875 – Apples and Jelly | Frosted Peaches – Marion Harland
1877 – Apple Snowballs – Mrs S. S. Wigley
1879 – Apple Dumplings, Boiled and Baked – Mary Jewry
1881 – Orange Apple Jelly (Excellent) – Anon, from Cassell’s Household Guide…
1882 – Racket Club Pudding – Juliet Corson
1887 – Apples, Coddled – Maria Parloa
1887 – Apple Snow – Nellie Willey
1890 – Apple Bavaroise – Theodore Francis Garrett
1891 – Compote of Apples – Mary J. Lincoln
1894 – Apple Meringue – Ladies of State Street Parish
1902 – Apple Balls – Adelaide Keen
1904 – Apple Farcie – Martha Pritchard Stanford
1907 – Apple Slump – Riley M. Fletcher Berry
1913 – Apples à la Parisienne | Apple Christmas Pudding | Apple Ginger | Apple Macedoine | Oxford Apples | Stuffed Apples to Serve With a Roast | Sweet Cider Frappe – Gertrude Mackay
1913 – Apple Beignets – Lucy H. Yates
1915 – Gooseberry Cream Without Cream – Mrs Brian Luck
1916 – Apples, Scalloped – May Byron
1921 – Apricot Maizena Mould | Casserole of Quinces | Fig Preserve Dainty – Jeanette C. Van Duyn
1955 – Hot Apple Soup (Apfelsuppe) – Ann Knox
1975 – Squash-Apple Bake – The Old Fort Settlers

Historical Fruit Recipe Source Texts

The links below are to online versions of the original texts from which the recipes listed above are drawn.

• Acton, Eliza – Modern Cookery in All Its Branches (1845 edtn.) | Google Books
• Acton, Eliza – Modern Cookery, For Private Families (1855) | volume 1 Google Books | volume 2 Google Books
• ‘A Lady’ – The Whole Duty of a Woman, Or A Guide to the Female Sex, From the Age of Sixteen to Sixty, etc. (1701) | Google Books
• Anon – A Proper New Booke of Cokerye (c.1550) | uni-giessen.de
• Anon – Four Hundred Household Recipes (1868) | Google Books
• Anon – Gentyll Manly Cokere (late C15th) | godecookery.com
• Anon – The Austin Manuscripts (c.1440) | Archive.org
• Anon – The Forme of Cury (c.1390) | fulltextarchive.com
• Austin, Thomas – Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books (1888) | Archive.org
• ‘A. W.’ – A Book of Cookrye, Very Necessary for All Such as Delight Therein (1591) | jducoeur.org
• Beecher, Catherine Esther – Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-book 3rd edtn (1848) | Google Books
• Berry, Riley M. Fletcher – Fruit Recipes (1907) | Archive.org
• Bradley, Richard – The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director (1736 edtn) | Google Books
• Byron, May – May Byron’s Vegetable Book (1916) | Archive.org
• Carter, Charles – The Compleat City and Country Cook: or, Accomplish’d Housewife (1732) | Google Books
• Carter, Susannah – The Frugal Housewife, Or Complete Woman Cook (1796) | Google Books
• Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. – Cassell’s Household Guide to Every Department of Practical Life, vol 1 (1881) | Google Books
• la Chapelle, Vincent – The Modern Cook, Vol 3 (1733) | Archive.org
• Chase, Dr. Alvin Wood – Dr. Chase’s Recipes; Or, Information for Everybody (1871) | Google Books
• Clelland, Elizabeth – A New and Easy Method of Cookery (1755) | Google Books
• Clutterbuck, Lady Maria (Dickens, Catherine) – What Shall We Have For Dinner? (1852) | Google Books
• Cook, Richard – Oxford Night Caps, a Collection of Receipts for Making Various Beverages (1827) | Google Books
• Copley, Esther – The Cook’s Complete Guide on the Principles of Frugality, Comfort, and Elegance (1810) | Google Books
• Copley, Esther – The Housekeeper’s Guide (1838) | Google Books
• Corson, Juliet – Meals for the Million, 3rd edtn (1882) | Archive.org
• Cre-Fydd – Cre-Fydd’s Family Fayre (1864) | Google Books
• Croly, J. C. – Jennie June’s American Cookery Book | Google Books
• de Mayerne, Sir Théodore Turquet (? – attributed to) – Archimagirus Anglo-Gallicus (1658) | Google Books
• Dawson, Thomas – The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin (1594) | Archive.org
• Digby, Sir Kenelm – The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight, Opened (1669) | Google Books
• Eales, Mary – The Compleat Confectioner (1742) | Google Books
• ‘E.H.B.’ – contributor to The Year Book of Daily Recreation and Information, Ed. William Hone (1832) | Google Books
• Ellis, William – The Country Housewife’s Family Companion (1750) | Google Books
• Farley, John – The London Art of Cookery and Housekeeper’s Complete Assistant (1783) | Google Books
• French, John – The London-Distiller (1667) | Google Books
• Garrett, Theodore Francis – Garrett’s Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery (1890) | Archive.org
• Glasse, Hannah – The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, second edition (1747) | Google Books
• Glasse, Hannah – The Compleat Confectioner (1742) | Google Books
• Goodman, William – The Social History of Great Britain During the Reigns of the Stuarts (1843) | Google Books (vol 1, vol 2)
• Harland, Marion – Breakfast, Lunch and Tea (1875) | Google Books
• Harrison, Sarah – The House-Keeper’s Pocket Book, and Compleat Family Cook (1760) | Google Books
• Hill, Georgiana – How to Cook Apples, Shown in a Hundred Different Ways of Dressing That Fruit (1865) | Google Books
• Hooker, Mary – The Young Housekeeper’s Friend (1846) | Google Books
• Howard, Henry – England’s Newest Way in All Sorts of Cookery (1708) | Google Books
• Jenner, Thomas – A Book of Fruits and Flowers (1653) | Google Books
• Jewry, Mary – Warne’s Model Cookery and House-Keeping (1879) | Google Books
• Keen, Adelaide – With a Saucepan Over the Sea (1902) | Archive.org
• Kettilby, Mary – A Collection of Above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick, and Surgery 5th edtn. (1734) | Google Books
• Kitchiner, William – The Cook’s Oracle 5th edtn. (1823) | Google Books
• Knox, Ann – Austrian Cooking (1955) | Archive.org
• Ladies of State Street Parish – Fish, Flesh and Fowl, A Cook Book (1894 edtn) | Archive.org
• Lambert, Edward – The Art of Confectionary (1761) | Google Books
• La Varenne, François Pierre, trans. I. D. G. – The French Cook, 3rd ed. (1673) | Google Books
• Lemery, M. L. – The Complete Family-Piece and Country Gentleman and Farmer’s Best Guide (1737) | Google Books
• Lincoln, Mary J. – Mrs Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book (1883) | Google Books
• Luck, Mrs Brian – The Belgian Cook-Book (1915) | Archive.org
• Mackay, Gertrude – Two Hundred and Nine Ways of Preparing the Apple (1913) | Archive.org
• McIver, Susanna – Cookery and Pastry (1784)| Google Books
• Mason, Charlotte –  The Lady’s Assistant for Regulating and Supplying Her Table, 4th edition (1778) | Google Books
• Markham, Gervase – Countrey Contentments, or The English Huswife (1623) | Google Books
• May, Robert – The Accomplisht Cook 2nd edition (1665) | Google Books
• Mollard, John – The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined (1802) | Google Books
• Mollard, John – The Art of Cookery, New Edition (1836) | Google Books
• Morrell, John – A New Book of Cookerie (1615) | uni.gessen.de
• Moxon, Elizabeth – English Housewifry (1764 edtn.) | Google Books
• Nott, John – The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary; Or, The Accomplish’d Housewifes Companion 1st edtn (1723) | Google Books
• Nutt, Frederick – The Complete Confectioner 2nd edtn. (1790) | Google Books
• Old Fort Settlers, The – Johnny Appleseed Almanac (1975) | Google Books
• Parloa, Maria – Miss Parloa’s Kitchen Companion (19th edtn, 1887) | Google Books
• Peckham, Ann – The Complete English Cook; Or, Prudent Housewife (1767) | Google Books
• Plat, Sir Hugh – Delights for Ladies (1636) | Google Books
• Rabisha, William – The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected, Taught and Fully Manifested (2nd edtn. 1675) | Google Books
• Raffald, Elizabeth – The Experienced English House-keeper (1769) | Google Books
• Rose, Giles – A Perfect School of Instructions for the Officers of the Mouth (1682) | Google Books
• Rundell, Mary Eliza Ketelby – A New System of Domestic Cookery (1808) | Google Books
• Salmon, William – The Family-Dictionary; Or, Household Companion 2nd edtn. (1696) | Google Books
• Smith, Eliza – The Compleat Housewife, or the Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion (1729) | Google Books
• Soyer, Alexis – A Shilling Cookery for the People (1855) | Google Books
• Stanford, Martha Pritchard – The Old and New Cook Book (1904) | Archive.org
• Taylor, E. – The Lady’s, Housewife’s, and Cookmaid’s Assistant (1769) | Google Books
• Thomas, Jerry – How to Mix Drinks, Or, The Bon-Vivant’s Companion (1862) | Google Books
• Van Duyn, Jeanette C. – Canning, Preserving, Pickling and Fruit Desserts (1921) | Archive.org
• Verrall, William – A Complete System of Cookery (1759) | Google Books
• Wigley, Mrs S. S. – Cookery and Home Comforts (1877) | Google Books
• Williams, J. (printed for) – Primitive Cookery, or the Kitchin Garden Display’d (1767) | Google Books
• W. M. – The Compleat Cook (1662) | Google Books
• Worlidge, John – Vinetum Britannicum: Or a Treatise of Cider and Other Wines and Drinks 2nd impression (1678) | Google Books
• Yates, Lucy H. – The Gardener and the Cook (1913) | Archive.org

Historical Cookery and Recipes Online

These websites provide archives of historical recipes, or are run by cooks and historians who reproduce historical recipes in a modern kitchen.

• British Food: A History – Dr. Neil Buttery’s blog and podcast explores the fascinating world of historical British and World food.
• Deja Food – Mary-Anne Boermans celebrates 700 years of delicious British Food.
• Feeding America – online collection of American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century.
• Gode Cookery – Medieval recipes translated for modern cooks.
• Medieval Cookery – Research, cookery resources and recipes from the middle ages.
• Monk’s Modern Medieval Cuisine – Modern recreations of medieval recipes, by Dr. Christopher Monk.
• Paul Couchman, The Regency Cook – Modern recreations of historical recipes and discussion of historical cooking methods.
• Savouring the Past – 18th and early-19th Century Cookbooks.
• Tasting History – Max Miller’s hugely entertaining and highly informative YouTube Channel; weekly historical recipe try-outs.
• Tudor Experience – Brigitte Webster, author of Eating With the Tudors, discusses Tudor recipes, food history and more.