Historical Orchard Recipes

‘Essex Pudding‘, made by me from Eliza Acton’s 1845 recipe, in August 2021

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 any of the 75 (and counting) recipes 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.’
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
1653 – Preserved Goose-Berries – Thomas Jenner
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
1902 – Apple Balls – Adelaide Keen
1904 – Apple Farcie – Martha Pritchard Stanford
1907 – Apple Slump – Riley M. Fletcher Berry
1913 – Apple Beignets – Lucy H. Yates
1916 – Apples, Scalloped – May Byron
1921 – Apricot Maizena Mould | Fig Preserve Dainty – Jeanette C. Van Duyn
1955 – Hot Apple Soup (Apfelsuppe) – Ann Knox
1975 – Squash-Apple Bake – The Old Fort Settlers

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
  • Byron, May – May Byron’s Vegetable Book (1916) | Forgotten 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
  • 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) | Forgotten 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Stanford, Martha Pritchard – The Old and New Cook Book (1904) | Forgotten Books
  • Taylor, E. – The Lady’s, Housewife’s, and Cookmaid’s Assistant (1769) | Google Books
  • Van Duyn, Jeanette C. – Canning, Preserving, Pickling and Fruit Desserts (1921) | Forgotten 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