Comfits.

In the time before Jellybeans and Fruit Pastilles there were Comfits, a delicious confectionary also known as Sugar Plums.  Comfits took several weeks of painstaking dedication to make, and were often a good cook’s most closely-guarded secret.  There are several modern recipes for Sugar Plums – but here is an original version for those with the perseverance.  Your patience will be sweetly rewarded!

Ingredients

Damson plums

Sugar

  Painting by George Flegel (Public Domain)

Method

1. Wash the plums and remove their stones.
2. Sprinkle the base of a large cauldron or cooking pot with sugar. Arrange the fruit in layers, covering each layer with a good coating of sugar.
3. Press down the fruit with a wooden spoon. Place on the lowest heat on a stovetop (or at the edge of the fireplace) until the sugar dissolves without burning. Remove from the heat.
4. Cover with a lid to protect from insects. Leave undisturbed in the cool larder (not refrigerator) until the juice turns into syrup. This may take up to a week, depending on the outside air temperature.
5. Bring the fruit to the boil for one minute, then immediately transfer it to an earthenware pot. Cover tightly. Place back inside a cool larder for an additional week.
6. Roll each plum individually in sugar and place on a baking tray. Cover and leave overnight.
7. Repeat the process with each damson daily, for one week, until the fruit has absorbed as much sugar as possible.
8. On the eighth day cook for 30 minutes on the lowest oven setting possible, to dry out any remaining juice.
9. Again, coat each plum with sugar and leave overnight.
10. Repeat the 30-minute baking and sugaring process above for three-to-five additional days, until all the plums are completely crisp.
11. Store in a glass jar with an airtight lid.
12. Enjoy a delicious taste of the past!

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