Title: almond-cream-msg
Subject: A thick custard made similarly to almond milk used as a filling in period pastries and sotelties.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, nut, almond, cream, milk, sweet, soteltie

almond-cream-msg – 2/7/08

A thick custard made similarly to almond milk used as a filling in period pastries and sotelties.

NOTE: See also the files: almond-milk-msg, sugar-msg, pastries-msg, sotelties-msg, illusion-fds-msg, tarts-msg.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 22:40:17 -0400
From: Daniel Myers <edouard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Having played with this stuff before, I'm pretty sure that it's the
solids that you'd be working with.  Almond milk sets pretty well when
boiled, but is usually too runny to hold it's shape.  Draining it a bit
might help (got to try it now and see).

Note that almond milk is usually strained before use to remove the
larger bits, so I wouldn't expect anything too paste-like (of course, I
could be wrong here - another thing to try out).

Here's a picture of the "eggs" with sugar paste shells I tried making
once (just before the shells got all runny - both the draining and
roasting might have made it work out better).

	http://www.medievalcookery.com/images/eggs.jpg

- Doc

On Wednesday, September 24, 2003, at 09:18  PM, kattratt wrote:

> Ok folks Now that I have summed up the NY trip....
> I have a real cooking question....
>
> Here is the recipe.... Original.... See below...
>
> ORIGINAL RECEIPT:
>
> Take Eyroun, & blow owt that ys with-ynne atte other ende; than
> waysshe the schulle clene in warme Water; than take gode mylke of
> Almaundys, & sette it on the fyre; than take a fayre canvas, & pore
> the mylke ther-on, & lat renne owt the water; then take it owt on the
> clothe, & gader it to-gedere with a platere; then putte sugre y-now
> ther-to; than take the halvyndele, & colour it with Safroun, a lytil,
> & do ther-to pouder Canelle; than take & do of the whyte in the nether
> ende of the schulle, & in the myddel the yolk, & fylle it vppe with
> the whyte; but noght to fulle, for goyng ouer; than sette it in the
> fyre & roste it, & serue f[orth].
>
> - Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS.
> 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS.
> 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N.
> Trübner & Co., 1888.
>
> Ok now I know some of ya'll have seen that recipe.  Here is the
> Modern...
> Snipped.....
>
> MODERN RECIPE:
>
>    * 1 C blanched almonds
>    * 2 C water
>    * 1 C sugar
>    * 6 large eggs
>    * Yellow food coloring
>
> 1. Grind blanched almonds to a fine paste in a blender or food
> processor, adding about half a cup of the water, a tablespoon at a
> time, during the grinding. You might want to grind the almonds in two
> or three batches.
>
> 2. In a saucepan, combine almond paste with the remaining water and
> the sugar, stirring to blend smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and
> simmer, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes.
>
> 3. Pour and scrape the mixture onto a large, clean white cloth, such
> as a dinner napkin or tea towel, laid on a large plate or cookie
> sheet. Spread the mixture out and let it cool, Then gather up the
> cloth by the corners, and gently wring it out over a cup or bowel. Tie
> the cloth up like a bag, and hang up the mixture in the cloth over a
> cup or bowl for at least three hours.
>
> 4. Dish the almond cream into a lightly oiled bowl. Refrigerate until
> cold.
>
> 5. Separate out one third of the almond cream, and put it into a
> separate bowl. Stir in yellow food coloring a few drops at a time
> until it is the color of egg yolk.
>
> 6. Carefully poke holes into both ends of the eggs, a large hole at
> the wide end, and a pin hole at the narrow. Holding each egg over a
> bowl, blow through the pin hole, blowing out the yolk and the white
> into the bowl. You may refrigerate the yolks and whites for later use.
> Rinse out the empty egg shells with warm water.
>
>
> Here is my problem the modern recipe does not seem to tell you which
> to use... do I use the squeezed out juices that I drained out? (The
> "milk" so to speak) or do I use the almond paste that is in the towel.
>  I was thinking the paste that is in the towel. would be what is used.
>  Katrina was thinking the sugary milk run off....
> So my question is which is right?
> Any help is appreciated.
> Nichola

Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 22:46:20 -0400
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Also sprach kattratt:
> Ok folks Now that I have summed up the NY trip....
> I have a real cooking question....
>
> Here is the recipe.... Original.... See below...
>
> ORIGINAL RECEIPT:
>
> Take Eyroun, & blow owt that ys with-ynne atte other ende; than
> waysshe the schulle clene in warme Water; than take gode mylke of
> Almaundys, & sette it on the fyre; than take a fayre canvas, & pore
> the mylke ther-on, & lat renne owt the water; then take it owt on
> the clothe, & gader it to-gedere with a platere; then putte sugre
> y-now ther-to; than take the halvyndele, & colour it with Safroun, a
> lytil, & do ther-to pouder Canelle; than take & do of the whyte in
> the nether ende of the schulle, & in the myddel the yolk, & fylle it
> vppe with the whyte; but noght to fulle, for goyng ouer; than sette
> it in the fyre & roste it, & serue f[orth].

<snip>

> 1. Grind blanched almonds to a fine paste in a blender or food
> processor, adding about half a cup of the water, a tablespoon at a
> time, during the grinding. You might want to grind the almonds in
> two or three batches.
>
> 2. In a saucepan, combine almond paste with the remaining water and
> the sugar, stirring to blend smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat,
> and simmer, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes.

Note that you're adding into the instruction set the steps to make
almond milk (which the recipe seems to assume), but later suggest
that almond milk is not your final product... which the recipe _does_
specify.

I get the impression that the recipe wants you to make almond milk,
strain the solid almond fiber out, then boil the milk until it both
reduces and coagulates (presumably there's a protein component, if
perhaps not much), forming the almond cream you mention. You then...

> 3. Pour and scrape the mixture onto a large, clean white cloth, such
> as a dinner napkin or tea towel, laid on a large plate or cookie
> sheet. Spread the mixture out and let it cool, Then gather up the
> cloth by the corners, and gently wring it out over a cup or bowel.
> Tie the cloth up like a bag, and hang up the mixture in the cloth
> over a cup or bowl for at least three hours.
>
> 4. Dish the almond cream into a lightly oiled bowl. Refrigerate until 
> cold.

... basically taking almond milk and making almond ricotta out of it.

> 5. Separate out one third of the almond cream, and put it into a
> separate bowl. Stir in yellow food coloring a few drops at a time
> until it is the color of egg yolk.

Is saffron an issue for you or are you just in league with His Grace?
Either is fine with me, but I did notice that you seem to leave it
out (as well as the cinnamon, I believe). How come you're coloring
one-third of the cream instead of half? Just curious...

> 6. Carefully poke holes into both ends of the eggs, a large hole at
> the wide end, and a pin hole at the narrow. Holding each egg over a
> bowl, blow through the pin hole, blowing out the yolk and the white
> into the bowl. You may refrigerate the yolks and whites for later
> use. Rinse out the empty egg shells with warm water.
>
>
> Here is my problem the modern recipe does not seem to tell you which
> to use... do I use the squeezed out juices that I drained out? (The
> "milk" so to speak) or do I use the almond paste that is in the
> towel.  I was thinking the paste that is in the towel. would be what
> is used.  Katrina was thinking the sugary milk run off....
> So my question is which is right?
> Any help is appreciated.

I believe you strain the freshly made almond milk (removing most of
the solids in the process), boil it until it thickens, then drain
_that_ in the towel. See, if you drain the unstrained milk on a
towel, what you're throwing away is milk, and what you're saving is
more or less useless, fibrous pulp. It does have some use, but not
here. Whereas if you strain the freshly made milk, toss the pulp,
boil the milk until it thickens, and drain it on a towel (it may be
that, like some cream cheese recipes, you don't actually need to hang
it up in the towel, but just sort of spread it on the towel, which
absorbs excess moisture), then what you're saving is almond cream /
cheese, and what you're throwing away is a relatively clear wheyish
substance: basically water.

I think what you end up with using the method you had originally
outlined leaves you with an eggshell filled with a sort of
second-grade marzipan (I don't mean to be rude: it's just that if you
have the almonds to make such a paste, you'd be throwing away a lot
of their virtue in the process, so why do it?). I think it is the
intention of the original cook / author to produce something more
like a thick custard (actually something like an early form of
frangipane cream).

Adamantius

Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 23:40:31 -0400
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Also sprach me:
> I believe you strain the freshly made almond milk (removing most of
> the solids in the process), boil it until it thickens, then drain
> _that_ in the towel. See, if you drain the unstrained milk on a
> towel, what you're throwing away is milk, and what you're saving is
> more or less useless, fibrous pulp. It does have some use, but not
> here. Whereas if you strain the freshly made milk, toss the pulp,
> boil the milk until it thickens, and drain it on a towel (it may be
> that, like some cream cheese recipes, you don't actually need to
> hang it up in the towel, but just sort of spread it on the towel,
> which absorbs excess moisture), then what you're saving is almond
> cream / cheese, and what you're throwing away is a relatively clear
> wheyish substance: basically water.
>
> I think what you end up with using the method you had originally
> outlined leaves you with an eggshell filled with a sort of
> second-grade marzipan (I don't mean to be rude: it's just that if
> you have the almonds to make such a paste, you'd be throwing away a
> lot of their virtue in the process, so why do it?). I think it is
> the intention of the original cook / author to produce something
> more like a thick custard (actually something like an early form of
> frangipane cream).

Okay, since I happened to have a bag of ground almond meal on hand
for a quick and dirty almond milk, I made some using about 1 1/4 cups
ground almonds and about 4 cups of water. After blending and
straining out most of the larger particles (which I could have done
the "real" way by multiple infusions, but I decided I was in a slight
rush), I ended up with about three cups of good, thick almond milk,
about the consistency of heavy cream. (It was only 11PM; the night
was young!)

I brought this to a boil in a stainless steel saucepan and stirred in
pretty constantly with a wooden spoon, until the foam collapsed and,
eventually, it resembled a thick bechamel sauce, and finally, left
tracks from the spoon. Some residual grains of almond became more
apparent in the stuff as it thickened, but some of it may also have
been little curds. As it cooled it reached the consistency of a thick
batter.

I put a kitchen towel (should be a smooth fabric, _not_ terrycloth)
onto a large dinner plate, and simply spread out the "batter" onto
the towel, more or less like a pancake on a griddle. Soon after,
signs of liquid being absorbed and spreading across the towel became
evident, and the liquid in the towel seems to be clear and non-oily.
The cream pulls away pretty cleanly from the towel. It looks a lot
like incipient queso blanco or panir...

It's still draining and cooling, but my suspicion is that when it's
sweetened, the sugar will restore some of the smoothness and make it
seem less grainy.

Adamantius

Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 23:56:00 -0400
From: "Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Also sprach me:
> I put a kitchen towel (should be a smooth fabric, _not_ terrycloth)
> onto a large dinner plate, and simply spread out the "batter" oto
> the towel, more or less like a pancake on a griddle. Soon after,
> signs of liquid being absorbed and spreading across the towel became
> evident, and the liquid in the towel seems to be clear and non-oily.
> The cream pulls away pretty cleanly from he towel. It looks a lot
> like incipient queso blanco or panir...
>
> It's still draining and cooling, but my suspicion is that when it's
> sweetened, the sugar will restore some of the smoothness and make it
> seem less grainy.

The end result seems pretty much like ricotta, and as I suspected,
the sugar added seems to have the effect of a tenderizer and
stabilizer. It seems a _lot_ like the ricotta "buttercream" used to
fill cannoli, but with a fairly intense (but not so intense as if it
had been artificially flavored, which some marzipan now is) almond
flavor.

I didn't use any coloring or cinnamon, but am fairly convinced that
the strained almond milk, and not the strained solids, is being used
to make a "cheese" in the faux egg recipe.

Adamantius

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 10:21:23 -0400
From: Daniel Myers <edouard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On Wednesday, September 24, 2003, at 10:46  PM, Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus
Adamantius wrote:
> I think what you end up with using the method you had originally
> outlined leaves you with an eggshell filled with a sort of
> second-grade marzipan (I don't mean to be rude: it's just that if you
> have the almonds to make such a paste, you'd be throwing away a lot of
> their virtue in the process, so why do it?). I think it is the
> intention of the original cook / author to produce something more like
> a thick custard (actually something like an early form of frangipane
> cream).

The consistency of boiled almond milk is very much closer to that of
eggs than marzipan is.  I think that's the whole reason for the recipe.

- Doc 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
   Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
   http://www.medievalcookery.com/

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 15:03:19 +0000
From: "Olwen the Odd" <olwentheodd at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Nichola, this translation doesn't make any sense.
Frist off, the original says to start by blowing out and washing the
eggshells.  This is done first so the shells have time to dry out as the
excess water in them will make problems with the process.  Then the original recipe calls to start with almond milk, not the almonds.  Then you simmer
down the almond milk to thicken it.  I have done this and if you don't have
good thick almond milk to begin with then you may have to add a bit of
issinglass to make this work.  You then strain the thickened milk through a
cloth, just like in making soft cheese.  You ditch the 'whey' and use the
stuff in the cloth, adding sugar is done after that separation part because
it will change the consistency of the almond milk.  The stuff should still
be warm enough to melt the sugar and saffron/cinnamon.  Using powdered sugar
is ok but I find it more effective to use white sugar that has been put
through a food processor or ground in a morter.  The saffron should colour
the third removed and the addition of just a little cinnimon gives it the
more natural orangy kinda colour.  Putting the mixture into the eggshells is
sometimes a bit of trouble but that can be avoided by simply using a baby
ear/nose syringe for putting in the white and a basting syringe inserted
into the center of the white part and inserting the yellow 'yolk'.  Then
bake them gently, turning occasionally to keep the yellow more or less
centered.  They only have to bake for 15 or 20 minutes till the almond 
cream sets (insert toothpick to check).

Olwen

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 18:11:19 -0500
From: melissa m denison <baroness7 at juno.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: need help with a recipe. . .
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

This is one of my favorite really fun recipes. I've been working with it
for about 10 years now. First of all, I have tried both ways with the
"whey" vs the "paste." The whey is what will become the cream. Put the
paste in the garbage, use to make a "lighter" batch of milk, or put it in
the compost pile. Don't use it in the eggs. First, it's too chunky to go
in the holes very well and second, you've put all the flavor in the milk.
Take the "whey"/milk and cook it down until it is very thick, like cream.
Make sure to keep close tabs on it as it will both scald and boil over
just like real milk.

I made these last spring for a Lenten remove at a Coronation. I also made
a Jewish (lots of eggs needed) feast this summer. So myself and about 4
other people blew about 6 dozen eggs. Poke a large tapestry needle in
through both ends. Widen the hole at one end. Pierce the yolk with the
needle and "scramble" it in the shell. Then blow. You can freeze the
blown eggs so don't worry about how many you do at a time. As long as you
can keep blowing, keep going! Always make "spares" as you will have at
least a few casualties in the cooking process. I recommend using the
saffron & cinnamon to color & flavor the "yolk." It looks great and
tastes even better. Don't substitute food color for the saffron. Make
sure not to over fill the eggs or they explode. I also use the syringe
method of filling. I've tried using a spoon (figuring that they didn't
have syringes in the Middle ages) it works but it takes forever!

Have fun with this!

Diana MacLean
Calontir

Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 02:54:55 -0400
From: Alex Clark <alexbclark at pennswoods.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Need Help with a recipe...
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

At 09:18 PM 9/24/2003 -0400, Nichola wrote:
> Here is the recipe.... Original.... See below...
>
> ORIGINAL RECEIPT:
>
> Take Eyroun, & blow owt that ys with-ynne atte other ende; than waysshe
> the schulle clene in warme Water; than take gode mylke of Almaundys, &
> sette it on the fyre; than take a fayre canvas, & pore the mylke ther-on,
> & lat renne owt the water; then take it owt on the clothe, & gader it
> to-gedere with a platere; then putte sugre y-now ther-to; than take the
> halvyndele, & colour it with Safroun, a lytil, & do ther-to pouder
> Canelle; than take & do of the whyte in the nether ende of the schulle, &
> in the myddel the yolk, & fylle it vppe with the whyte; but noght to
> fulle, for goyng ouer; than sette it in the fyre & roste it, & serue 
> f[orth].
>
> - Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 &
> Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, &  Douce
> MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 
> 1888.

This is a variation on cold cream of almonds, for which there are detailed
instructions on pp. 91-2 in the same volume. Some of the explicit details
of how cream of almonds is made in the latter recipe are:

1. The almond milk is made with fresh water.
2. It's drawn through a strainer.
3. It boils once, then is taken from the heat.
4. Salt and a little vinegar are added after cooking, salt at once and
vinegar after a "forlonge wey or .ij." (the time it takes to go a
furlong--on the order of a minute, though of course YMMV)
5. It's drained in a clean linen cloth, which is damp before the 
draining
begins.
6. It's spread on the cloth with a ladle, not poured on from the pot.
7. The corners of the cloth are held out while the stuff is spread on it,
and then one rubs the bottom of the cloth with a ladle to draw out the liquid.
8. Then it is gathered in the cloth and it hangs for two or more hours.

  From this I suppose that it was meant to be cooked as little as possible,
after which every effort was made to see that only the thin liquid would
run through the cloth. The general theme in these instructions seems to 
be that this stuff is handled with care.

I recommend using a fine and evenly woven linen cloth, ideally undyed. If
you use vinegar, not much is needed; the hotter the almond milk is the 
more effective the vinegar should be.

I haven't spotted any answers to why use a third for the yolks when the
original called for a half. If one intends to imitate real eggs, the yolk
tends to be about 1/3 the volume of the contents, though it starts smaller
and increases with age by absorbing liquid.

Speaking of yolks, it might more accurate to aim for a lighter color than
is found in most modern eggs. Lots of modern hens are fed a pigment
(canthaxanthin, recently subjected to increased restrictions by the EU)
that gives some extra orange-yellow color to the yolks; the same is given
to farmed salmon to give them a wild-salmon color. It is alleged that
canthaxanthin can accumulate in the retina and affect eyesight.

In period, lacking syringes, they might have used something like a
funnel-tipped bag to fill the shells. I'd suggest filling the small end
first, then leaving a fair bit of air at the big end, just like a real 
egg.

Finally, a suggestion for the leftover almond fiber, especially if it isn't
too thoroughly wrung out: mix it with a bit of butter, some sugar, a bit of
egg (white, yolk, or both, whatever you've got), some flour and oatmeal,
and flavorings, to make cookies. I've done something like this a few times,
but don't ask me for a recipe--I make it up as I go along.

Henry of Maldon/Alex Clark

Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 14:40:34 -0600 (CST)
From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Darioles recipe
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Alex Clark wrote:
> At 12:35 AM 11/15/2003 -0600, Stefan wrote:
>> However, rather than almond milk I'm wondering if this relly does mean
>> almond cream as we discussed recently. . . .
>
> That's a good question. I've just now gone over a bunch of recipes and
> found each of the following types of filling:
>   1. wine, broth, cream, and egg yolks (2FCCB p. 47, p. 53, p. 5)
>   2. pike, almond milk, cheese, and eggs (or maybe thick almond milk
> etc.??) (2FCCB p. 47)
>   3. milk, fat from broth, and eggs (2FCCB pp. 55-6)
>   4. fresh curds with the whey wrung out, and egg yolks (2FCCB p. 56)
>   5. almond milk made with wne, minced fish, currants, and minced bread
> (Noble Book off Cookry p. 56)
>   6. cream of cow milk or of almonds, and eggs (Forme of Cury in  
> _Curye on Inglysch_, p. 141)
>   7. cream of almonds or of cow milk, and eggs (Ancient Cookery, p. 443)
>   8. fat cheese and eggs (ibid.)
>
> 2FCCB: Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, at
> http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/c/cme/cme- 
> idx?type=HTML&rgn=TEI.2&byte=3356093 .
>
> I had assumed some years ago that the Forme of Cury recipe could reasonaly
> be interpreted as meaning almond milk, the word cream having been  chosen to
> refer to cow milk and used only loosely with reference to the almonds. But
> it looks a bit different when compared with the Ancient Cookery recipe,
> which is the ost similar one that I've found. The latter links the words
> cream and almonds more closely to each other and then says that fat cheese
> can also be used.
>
> All of these recipes call for one or more out of cream, milk with added
> fat, almond ilk, or cheese/curds. So both almond milk and cream of almonds
> would give results similar to at least one of the other ingredients. In the
> Forme of Cury it's not so obvious that cream of almonds is intended,
> because it is called for as an alernative to cream of cow milk, which is a
> runny liquid rather than a curd. Since the almond ingredient in Ancient
> Cookery takes the place of either cream or fat cheese, it is less
> surprising that it is called for as cream of almonds.

Have you eer dealt with milk production first-hand? By this I mean
milking the cow (who is not a modern Holstein-Frisian), letting the cream
rise, skimming off the cream, etc. Real cream, the stuff that you get when
you skim milk that's been let rest after milking (it comes out of the cow
freshly homogenized), is less a runny liquid and more of a somewhat fluid
solid. If you let it sit long enough, it's more like the consistency of
sour cream than the stuff you get in cartons at the grocery store. It's
not a curd, but it's awfully thick.

My aunt and uncle had Jerseys, which are a lot closer to what they had in
period than modern Holstein-Frisians (the black and white factory cows who
produce tens of gallons a day). A Jersey will usually produce (IIRC) 5-
gallons of milk which is a lot higher in fat content, both milk and
butter fat, than commercial milk. The cream that we skimmed off the top
was very very thick.

Period cows produced richer milk and cream than what we get in the store.
Less of it, but richer. Modern dairy herds have been "improved" to produce
higher yields of milk with a lower fat content for financial reasons.

> To get back to saffron, the recipe types listed above that call for saffron
> are 1, 3, 5 & 6 (and optionally, implid by the list of possible colors, 8
> and probably also 7).
>
> Henry of Maldon/Alex Clark

Margaret, full of random trivia about cows today

Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 12:51:56 -0400
From: <kingstaste at mindspring.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Re: {Sca-cooks] Almond Milk
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

It doesn't really reduce, the solids clump together, then you drain the 'whey' out. 
Christianna

>>>
Oops, my mistake.  I did mean to say that one pound of almonds results in 
one gallon of almond milk, not two gallons! 

As for the cream, how much does it reduce as you're cooking it down to 
thicken? 

 -Helena 
<<<

Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 10:10:11 +1300
From: Adele de Maisieres <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Almond Milk
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Martha Oser wrote:
> In reading (re-reading, really) this entry, I note the comparisons of
> the almond "cream" to a custard, but that it is a kind of hard-set
> custard with an eggy texture.  Perhaps soft-boiled or poached egg
> texture?  There are other postings in the same entry that give it a
> similarity to fresh cheeses, such as queso blanco or ricotta.  This is
> what leads me to wonder, if one drains out enough of the whey after
> thickening the almond milk on the stove, and it gains this somewhat
> soft, cheesy texture, can it be used in a way similar to cream  
> cheese...

Welll... heating almond milk doesn't produce anything like curds and
whey.  It just getsa bit thicker.
-- 
Adele de Maisieres

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	almond-cream-msg	 of