I’m intrigued by historical orchard recipes and the preservation methods that previous generations applied to surplus fruit. I’m posting the more interesting, unusual and/or easily re-creatable ones that I come across here on Orchard Notes.
If you know of any interesting sources for recipes that use orchard fruits – the more historical the better – please do let me know.
Likewise, if you decide to try out any of the recipes below, 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.
Historical Orchard Recipes here on Orchard Notes
Click on the name of a recipe below for more details. Scroll down for a list of source documents.
c.1390 – Comadore – Anon, from The Forme of Cury
c.1440 – Apple Muse and Apple Moyle | Fygeye | Quynade – Anon, from The Austin Manuscripts
late C15th – (Apple) Fryturs – Anon, from Gentyll Manly Cokere
c.1550 – Applemoyse – Anon, from A Proper New Booke of Cokerye
1591 – Apple Pomages – ‘A. W.’, from A Book of Cookrye, Very Necessary for All Such as Delight Therein
1594 – Apple Pescods – Thomas Dawson
1615 – Quinces Preserved in Cider – Gervase Markham
1615 – Apple Pufs – John Morrell
1636 – Marmelade of Quinces or Damsons – Sir Hugh Plat
1662 – Gooseberry Fool | Preserving Quinces – W. M.
1665 – Preserving Green Fruits | Quodling Pie | Tart of Hips | Tart of Medlers – Robert May
1669 – Marmulate of Pippins – Sir Kenelm Digby
1673 – Apple Cream – François Pierre La Varenne
1675 – To Coddle Codlings Green – William Rabisha
1701 – Paste of Plumbs – ‘A Lady’
1708 – Black Caps | Pippin Tansey | Stewed Pears – Henry Howard
1729 – Apple Fritters | Gooseberry Tansey – Eliza Smith
1732 – Verjuice – J. S. via Richard Bradley
1737 – Codlin or Pippin Jelly – M. L. Lemery
1742 – Welch Apple Pye | Pickling Codlins Like Mangoe – Mrs Eales(?)
1755 – Quiddany of Pippins – Elizabeth Clelland
1759 – Apple Fritters a la Bavarre – William Verral
1761 – Pippin Knots – Edward Lambert
1764 – Plumb Porridge – Elizabeth Moxon
1767 – Pickled Mellons – Ann Peckham
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 – Charlotte Mason
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
1823 – Boston Apple Pudding | Nottingham Pudding – William Kitchiner
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 – Essex Pudding (Cheap and Good) – Eliza Acton
1854 – Raisiné Composé – J. C. Loudon
1865 – Pommes à la Vésuve | Apple Chocolate | Salade de Pommes a la Contrabandista – Georgiana Hill
1868 – Apple Pudding – Anon, from Four Hundred Household Recipes
1875 – Apples and Jelly | Frosted Peaches – Marion Harland
1879 – Apple Dumplings, Boiled and Baked – Mary Jewry
1881 – Orange Apple Jelly (Excellent) – Cassell’s Household Guide…
1887 – Apples, Coddled – Maria Parloa
1890 – Apple Bavaroise – Theodore Francis Garrett
1891 – Compote of Apples – Mary J. Lincoln
1894 – Apple Meringue – Ladies of State Street Parish
1907 – Apple Slump – Riley M. Fletcher Berry
1913 – Apple Beignets – Lucy H. Yates
1955 – Hot Apple Soup (Apfelsuppe) – Ann Knox
Modern Versions of Historical Orchard Recipes here on OrchardNotes.com
- 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.
- 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 Dawnson’s 1594 baked pear recipe.
Historical Orchard Recipe Source Texts
- Acton, Eliza – Modern Cookery in All Its Branches (1845 edtn.) | 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) | foodsofengland.co.uk
- Anon – The Forme of Cury (c.1390) | fulltextarchive.com
- ‘A. W.’ – A Book of Cookrye, Very Necessary for All Such as Delight Therein (1591) | jducoeur.org
- Berry, Riley M. Fletcher – Fruit Recipes (1907) | Archive.org
- Bradley, Richard – The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director (1736 edtn) | 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
- Clelland, Elizabeth – A New and Easy Method of Cookery (1755) | Google Books
- Copley, Esther – The Housekeeper’s Guide (1838) | Google Books
- Dawson, Thomas – The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin (1594) | foodsofengland.co.uk
- Digby, Sir Kenelm – The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight, Opened (1669) | foodsofengland.co.uk
- 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
- Garrett, Theodore Francis – Garrett’s Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery (1890) | Archive.org
- 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
- Hill, Georgiana – How to Cook Apples, Shown in a Hundred Different Ways of Dressing That Fruit (1865) | Google Books
- Howard, Henry – England’s Newest Way in All Sorts of Cookery (1708) | Google Books
- Jewry, Mary – Warne’s Model Cookery and House-Keeping (1879) | Google Books
- Kitchiner, William – The Cook’s Oracle (1823 5th edtn.) | Google Books
- Knox, Ann – Austrian Cooking (1955) | Archive.org
- Ladies of State Street Parish – Fish, Flesh and Fowl, A Cook Book (1894 edtn) | ForgottenBooks.com
- 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
- Mason, Charlotte – The Lady’s Assistant for Regulating and Supplying Her Table, 4th edition (1778) | Google Books
- Markham, Gervase – The English Huswife (1615) | foodsofengland.co.uk
- 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) | foodsofengland.co.uk
- Moxon, Elizabeth – English Housewifry (1764 edtn.) | Google Books
- Nutt, Frederick – The Complete Confectioner (1790 2nd edtn.) | 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
- Rundell, Mary Eliza Ketelby – A New System of Domestic Cookery (1808) | Google Books
- Smith, Eliza – The Compleat Housewife, or the Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion (1729) | Google Books
- Taylor, E. – The Lady’s, Housewife’s, and Cookmaid’s Assistant (1769) | Google Books
- Verrall, William – A Complete System of Cookery (1759) | Google Books
- W. M. – The Compleat Cook (1662) | Google Books
- Yates, Lucy H. – The Gardener and the Cook (1913) | Archive.org
Historical Cookery and Recipes Online
- Feeding America – online collection of American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century.
- Foods of England Project – historical English food and drink, plus an online library of source texts.
- 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 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.