Heathen Peas – 14th Century Sweets

Tobias and I had a sort of lecture, for want of a better word, in our church last Wednesday, on the 14^thcentury, as there is a medieval fair in a neighbouring community this weekend, which many attend. To add interest we served “Heidenische Erweiz”, Heathen Peas, based on Peter’s interpretation of a German mid 14th century recipe – go there for more information.

“If you would like to make peas from Bohemia, take almond kernels

and beat them very small and mix with a third as much honey.

and mix well with good spice, so it is at its best.

this food can you give cold or warm.”

I made some slight alterations to the recipe. As I was tired and running out of time, I used almond meal instead of grinding almonds myself. I suppose the meal was a bit finer and drier than freshly ground almonds would have been, so I had to add a bit more honey than the recipe said. It turned out very well indeed, I think. I took a lesser amount of black pepper than of ginger, and it seemed to be a good mix – even little B loved it.

I spread the hot mixture on an oven paper and let cool.

I had planned to do the simple version, and just cut squares, but I don’t think I’d boiled the mixture long enough, so it was still rather sticky. I decided to make “peas” from the soft mixture after all. To prevent them from sticking to each other I rolled them in almond meal. It both looked and tasted very nice, and was quite popular at the lecture.

So there you go, 14^th century sweets.

2 thoughts on “Heathen Peas – 14th Century Sweets”

Kleidung um 1800 1 September, 2013 — 06:25

Thank you very much for trying, modifying and sharing this recipe. Sounds really delicious, so far I've tried some medieval recipes for sweets like pears pudding and marcipan (almond paste) and I'll certainly will try this one, too!

It's always fun to be able to get an idea of how the past has tasted 🙂

Sabine

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