Observations on Marmalade.

(from my iPad, with apologies for the formatting; normal service will be resumed as soon as possible)

Marmalade is a wonderful topic. We have considered it before on this blog, in a number of posts, but new insights just keep popping up. As we have discussed previously, marmalade was originally made from quinces, but before too long the word applied was applied to a thickish, dryish conserve made from any fruit.

Cheese is also a wonderful, inexhaustibly topic. Again, in previous posts we have learned that ‘cheese’ can also be used to describe dishes pressed into a mould, as is cheese.

What this means is that fruit ‘marmalade’ and fruit ‘cheese’ can be essentially identical – as in the recipes we have had previously for Marmalade of Damsons and Damson Cheese.

I was delighted recently when I came across the following recipe, which puts a lovely spin on both of the broader concepts of marmalade and cheese.
Cheese Marmalade.

Take any marmalade, and boil a few teaspoonfuls of it with a pint of cream, adding a little preserved lemon-peel, dried and chopped fine. When slightly warmed, cover it with some rennet, and pound a little white sugar over it.
Cassell's household guide (1869)

A good find so often begets a good question, does it not? Riddle me this one. What is the purpose of the rennet on top of the warm cream? Are we to assume the rest of the cheese-making process? The pounding of a little sugar on the top sounds like a garnish, rather than an ingredient, suggesting that this is the finished dish. Any ideas?

http://theoldfoodie.blogspot.com/2005/11/marmalade-madams-and-maladies.html
marmalade of damsons
http://theoldfoodie.blogspot.com/2006/10/solace-of-ripe-plums.html
damson cheese
http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2008/09/georgian-dinner.html

Quotation for the Day.

Marmalade in the morning has the same effect on taste buds that a cold shower has on the body.
Jeanine Larmoth