So, I knew that candied orange peel was Period (I learned about that from our first feast, courtesy of Lady Alianore!), but I wasn't sure about lemon. I saved the lemons from my weekend cheesemaking adventures in the hopes of practicing by making some anyway, but before starting I thought I'd research it. Guess what? Ta-da! It appears that it is.
Elisen-Lebkuchen - a specialty from the medieval city of Nuremberg. Spice cookies made with nuts, candied orange and lemon peel and spices.
http://www.dagmarsdesserts.com/winterholiday2010.html
(I know, that's hardly a source, but the name was a good tidbit to get me started....)
The main ingredients of Lebkuchen are:
Honey, flour, sugar, eggs, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, candied orange and lemon peel, marzipan, spices (cinnamon, ginger, aniseed, cloves, pimento, coriander, cardamom).
Although gingerbread has been baked in Europe for centuries, of all the European countries, Germany is the one with the longest and strongest tradition of baking flat, shaped gingerbreads known as Lebkuchen.
Lebkuchen were first baked in the city of Nuremberg in 1395 where the first Lebkuchen bakery was documented. During the Middle ages, the spices used for baking the gingerbread reached Nuremburg via the famous spice routes which were inspected by city-employed spice inspectors at the gates to the city.
http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/lebkuchen.cfm
Now, how to make it.... here's a start...
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/sweet-candied-orange-and-lemon-peel/Detail.aspx
But here's a medieval recipe! So it's orange and not lemon, but they're pretty much the same, right?
Le Menagie:
To Make Candied Orange Peel, divide the peel of one orange into five quarters and scrape with a knife to remove the white part inside, then put them to soak in good sweet water for nine days, and change the water every day, then cook them in good water just till boiling, and when this happens, spread them on a cloth and let them get thoroughly dry, then put them in a pot with enough honey to cover them, and boil on a low fire and skim, and when you believe the honey is cooked, (to test if it is cooked, have some water in a bowl, and let drip into this one drop of the honey, and if it spread, it is not cooked; and if the drop of honey holds together in the water without spreading out it is cooked;) and then you must remove your orange peel, and make one layer with it, and sprinkle with ginger powder, then another layer, and sprinkle etc., and so on, and leave it a month or more then eat.
http://mkcc.rhawn.com/MKCCfiles/SweetTreats.html
9 days, wow, I'd better get started......
Keeping in line with trying to use all the resources, I found that I could use the middle part for some lemon marmalade! Now of course starting from scratch those lemons would still have juice so I just added a sufficient amount of "fake" lemon juice for my amount of lemons.
http://homecooking.about.com/od/jellyrecipes/r/bljelly32.htm
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