Nonpareils
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the paste
Pound the orris-root in a mortar and sift it into a large shallow pan.
Mix the syrup with the orris-root powder to form a thick paste.
Roll the paste into small grains or tiny balls.
Coat and dry
Gradually charge the balls with syrup until a sugar coating forms.
Sift often to remove sugar dust and imperfectly formed comfits.
Dry the Nonpareils in the stove after completing the syrup charges.
Repeat the charging process over the next few days.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Florence orris-root
- Forms the powdered base that the syrup binds to and gives the comfits their scent.
- Syrup boiled to the 'pearl'
- Binds the powder into a paste and builds the thin sugar coating layer by layer.
The step that matters
Gradually charging the balls with syrup. Adding syrup in many small portions lets each layer dry and crystallise before the next, producing an even coating. Adding too much at once makes the balls stick together or grow lumpy.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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