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 a recipe below for more details. Scroll down for the list of source documents, alphabetically by author.

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
1669 – Marmulate of Pippins – Sir Kenelm Digby
1701 – Paste of Plumbs – ‘A Lady’
1708 – Black Caps | Pippin Tansey | Stewed Pears – Henry Howard
1729 – Apple Fritters – 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
1784 – Plumb Porridge – Elizabeth Moxon
1769 – Green Caps – Elizabeth Raffald
1770 – Pumkin and Spiced Apples – William Hanbury
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.’
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 – Marion Harland
1879 – Apple Dumplings, Boiled and Baked – Mary Jewry
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
1955 – Hot Apple Soup (Apfelsuppe) – Ann Knox

Modern Versions of Historical Orchard Recipes

  • 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.
  • 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 – 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
  • Anon – A Proper New Booke of Cokerye (c.1550) | uni-giessen.de
  • ‘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
  • 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
  • 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 (vol 1, vol 2)
  • 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
  • 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
  • Markham, Gervase – The English Huswife (1615) | foodsofengland.co.uk
  • Mollard, John – The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined (1802) | Google Books
  • Morrell, John – A New Book of Cookerie (1615) | foodsofengland.co.uk
  • Moxon, Elizabeth – English Housewifry (1764 edtn.) | 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
  • Verrall, William – A Complete System of Cookery (1759) | Google Books

Historical Cookery and Recipes Online