A Queens Delight Part 4

_Conserve of Sage._

Take new flowers of Sage one pound, sugar one pound; so beat them together very small in a Marble Mortar, put them in a vessel well gla.s.sed and steeped, set them in the Sun, stir them daily; it will last one year.

_The Vertues._

It is good in all cold hurts of the brain, it refresheth the Stomach, it openeth obstructions and takes away superfluous and hurtfull humours from the stomach.

_Conserve of flowers of Lavender._

Take the flowers being new, so many as you please, and beat them with three times their weight of white Sugar, after the same manner as Rosemary flowers; they will keep one year.

_The Vertues._

The Brain, the Stomach, Liver, Spleen, and Womb it maketh warm, and is good in the Suffocation of the Womb, hardness of the spleen and for the Apoplexy.

_Conserve of Marjoram._

The Conserve is prepared as Betony, it keepeth a year.

_The Vertues._

It is good against the coldness, moistness of the Brain, and Stomach, and it strengthneth the Vital spirits.

_Conserve of Peony after the Italian way._

In the Spring take of the Flowers fresh half a pound, Sugar one pound, beat them together in a good stone Mortar, then put them in a gla.s.s, and set them in the sun for three months, stirring them daily with a wooden Spathula.

_The Vertues._

It is good against the Falling-sickness, and giddiness in the head, it cleanseth the Reins and Bladder.

Touching Candies, as followeth.

_To Candy Rosemary-flowers in the Sun._

Take Gum-Dragon, and steep it in Rose-water, then take the Rosemary flowers, good coloured, and well pickt, and wet them in the water that your Gum dragon is steeped in, then take them out, and lay them upon a paper, and strew fine Sugar over them; this do in the hot sun, turning them, and strewing Sugar on them, till they are candied, and so keep them for your use.

_To Make Sugar of Roses._

Take the deepest coloured red Roses, pick them, cut off the white bottoms, and dry your red leaves in an Oven, till they be as dry as possible, then beat them to powder and sea.r.s.e them, then take half a pound of Sugar beaten fine, put it into your pan with as much fair water as will wet it; then set it in a chaffing-dish of coals, and let it boil till it be sugar again, then put as much powder of Roses as will make it look very red stir them well together, and when it is almost cold, put it into pailes, and when it is throughly cold, take them off, and put them in boxes.

_To Candy Pippins, Pears, Apric.o.c.ks or Plums._

Take of these fruits being pared, and strew sugar upon them, as you do flower upon frying fish; then lay them on a board in a Pewter dish, so put them into an Oven as hot as for Manchet; as the liquor comes from them, pour forth, turn them, and strew more Sugar on them, and sprinkle Rose-water on them, thus turning and sugaring of them three or four times, till they be almost dry, then lay them on a Lettice Wire, or on the bottom of a sieve in a warm Oven, after the bread is drawn out, till they be full dry: so you may keep them all the year.

_To Candy or clear Rockcandy flowers._

Take spices, and boil them in a syrup of Sugar, then put in the flowers, boil them till they be stiff, when you spread them on a Paper, lay them on round Wires in an earthen pan, then take as much hard Sugar as will fill your pan, and as much water as will melt the sugar, that is half a pint to every pound; then beat a dozen spoonfuls of fair water, and the white of an Egg in a bason, with a birchen rod till it come to a Froth, when your sugar is melted and boiled, put the froth of the Egg in the hot syrup, and as it riseth, drop in a little cold water; so let it boil a little while, then sc.u.m it, then boil it to a Candy height, that is, when you may draw it in small threads between your finger and your thumb: then pour forth all your syrup that will run from it in your pan, then set it a drying one hour or two, which done pick up the wiers, and take off the flowers, and lay them on papers, and so dry them.

_To Candy Spanish Flowers._

Take the Blossoms of divers sorts of flowers, and make a syrup of water and sugar, and boil it very thick, then put in your Blossoms, and stir them in their boiling, till it turn to sugar again, then stir them with the back of a spoon, till the Sugar fall from it; so may you keep them for Sallets all the year.

_To Candy Grapes, Cherries or Barberries._

Take of these fruits, and strew fine sifted sugar on them, as you do flower on frying fish, lay them on a lattice of wier in a deep earthen pan, and put them into an Oven as hot as for Manchet; then take them out, and turn them and sugar them again, and sprinkle a little Rose-water on them, pour the syrup forth as it comes from them, thus turning and sugaring them till they be almost dry, then take them out of the earthen pan, and lay them on a lattice of wire, upon two billets of wood in a warm Oven, after the bread is drawn, till they be dry and well candied.

_To Candy Suckets of Oranges, Lemons, Citrons, and Angelica._

Take, and boil them in fair water tender, and shift them in three boilings, six or seven times, to take away their bitterness, then put them into as much Sugar as will cover them, and so let them boil a walm or two, then take them out, and dry them in a warm Oven as hot as Manchet, and being dry boil the Sugar to a Candy height, and so cast your Oranges into the hot Sugar, and take them out again suddenly, and then lay them upon a lattice of Wyer or the bottom of a Sieve in a warm Oven after the bread is drawn, still warming the Oven till it be dry, and they will be well candied.

_To Candy the Orange Roots._

Take the Orange Roots being well and tenderly boiled, petch them and peel them, and wash them out of two or three waters; then dry them well with a fair cloth; then pot them together two or three in a knot, then put them into as much clarified Sugar as will cover them, and so let them boil leisurely, turning them well until you see the Sugar drunk up into the Root; then shake them in the Bason to sunder the knits; and when they wax dry, take them up suddenly, and lay them on sheets of white Paper, and so dry them before the fire an hour or two, and they will be candied.