Confectionery in the English Renaissance
[1][2] In the mid-sixteenth century,[3] sugar became cheaper and more widely available to the general populace due to European colonization of the New World.
[2][4] Before the Renaissance era, confections typically consisted of exotic imports from the Mediterranean and the Middle East such as almonds, citrus fruits, rosewater, spices, and sometimes, sugar.
[1][5] Sugar became more common in Europe starting in the 1420s, after Portuguese colonies began to cultivate sugarcane and overtook imports from the Middle East.
This allowed for the increased production of sweetmeats as desserts, and the confectioner could expand his market to people beyond the upper classes.
[2] Originally associated with medicine, sugar's role as a main ingredient in confections and preservatives became more popular in the early Renaissance.
The Atlantic slave trade fuelled sugar production and imports into England and continued for centuries until its abolition in 1807.
Voyages were deadly due to torturous conditions on ships, and plantation work was laborious and slaves would often perish from the physical stress.
Marmalade in the Renaissance was a quince paste cooked in sugar, sometimes enhanced with rosewater, spices, perfumes such as musk, and fruit juices.
Syrups as a fruit preservative gained popularity with the lower classes once the price of sugar dropped in the late sixteenth century.
[4] Conserves were made "by pounding fresh herbs, flowers or fruits with sugar to form a thick, sticky mass."
Some popular examples include the conserves of red roses, marigolds, violets, chicory, rosemary, lavender, barberries, apricots, and oranges.
Ken Albala argues that this made sugar "a prime candidate for the miracle food category," being used extensively in feasts at court and praised for its medicinal value.
[1][8] The apothecary was the main purveyor of sugar-based concoctions until the confectioner began to sell sugar as a food instead of a medicine in the later Renaissance.
Cordial waters, adapted into dessert-like refreshments after the Renaissance, were alcoholic infusions considered as medicine for a wide range of maladies.
One such medicine for "Diseases of the Head" that was considered to cure maladies ranging from fits to epilepsy was called Marmelada Cephalica.
Caraway and aniseed comfits, quince marmalades, spiced waters, and cordials were also consumed post-banquet to soothe indigestion in guests who had likely overeaten.
It originated in court in the early 1500s and quickly became a status symbol among English nobility, often being served in the presence of important guests.
[3] Jumbals, "intricately knotted biscuits" of Italian origin,[4] would be shaped into letters and used to spell out topics the host wanted to discuss.
Recipe books from the period include how to make, for example, an imitation ham from sugar, berries, and flowers; artichokes and asparagus from marzipan; and "objects, such as coats of arms".
[11] Julia Reinhard Lupton interprets this scene as "a demonstration of the violation of humanist convivial ideals in courtly culture".
[12] John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi includes a scene where the title character's last words are "giv'st my little boy/ Some syrup for his cold".
[6] Wendy Wall focuses on syrup as a domestic symbol and relates it to noblewomen's common practice of making household medicines.
