114 Strawberye [Strawberry Pudding] Pleyn Delit  Hieatt, Constance B.; Hosington, Brenda; and Butler, Sharon

 

Take strawberys & waysshe hem in tyme of zere in gode red wyne; ban strayne borwe a clobe, & do hem in a potte with gode almaunde mylke. Alay it with amyndoun oper with be flowre of rys, & make it chargeaunt, and lat it boyle; and do berin roysonys of coraunce, safroun, pepir, sugre grete plente, pouder gyngere, canel, galyngale; poynte it with vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put Perto; coloure it With alkenade, & droppe it abowte, plante it with be graynes of pomegarnad, & Pan serve it forth.HARL 279.1-:123

This recipe has been much maligned, beginning with Mead's expression (in his book published in 1931) of sheer horror at the idea of so treating strawberries. Nowadays we are more likely to use whipped cream as the basis for a strawberry dessert, but that was not an option in the 15th century, and in fact the base of thickened almond milk gives excellent results-as long as you don't overdo the spices.
 
 

Strawberry Pudding
 

Imperial	Metric	Ingredient
2-4 oz	100 g	ground almonds
1 ¼ cups	3 dl	water
1 pt	0,5 l	fresh strawberries (if you must use frozen berries, thaw first, and use any juice to replace some of the water)
1/4-1/2 cup	1 dl	red wine
2 tbsp	2 tbsp	rice flour
1/3 cup	1 dl	sugar
pinch each	pinch each	pepper, ginger, cinnamon, salt (??? Salt or Saffron look original recipe)
1 tbsp	1 tbsp	butter (or lard)
2 tsp	2 tsp	red wine vinegar
2 tbsp	2 tbsp	dried currants

 
 

• First, draw up an almond milk with the almonds and water (see introduction, xxi).
• Hull and pick over the strawberries. Put in a bowl and pour the wine over them.
• Mix gently with your hand or a wood or plastic spoon; then pour off and discard the wine.
• Blend or process the berries with the rice flour, sugar, spices, and almond milk.
• Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stir­ring constantly; let it boil about 2 minutes to thicken, then remove from heat and stir in first the butter, then the vinegar and cur­rants.
• Pour into a large serving bowl or individual dishes and allow to cool.
• Chill before serving.

If you are as much of a perfectionist as apparently was the 15th-century cook from whom this recipe comes, you may beef up the colouring with red food dye and/or garnish with pome­granate seeds, but it really is not necessary. And one doubts whether the latter were ever actually used any pomegranates are not usually available in strawberry season.