Apples of Avalon with Honey and Spices
Apples gently cooked in honey and scented with cinnamon and ginger, tender and golden, served warm to close the meal softly.
Apples gently cooked in honey and scented with cinnamon and ginger, tender and golden, served warm to close the meal softly.
They say my isle is made entirely of apple trees—and they speak true. So, to end my feasts, I cook the apples in honey until they melt like wax in the sun, and I adorn them with cinnamon and a hint of ginger. Eat them warm, with your fingertips: they soothe the heavy stomach and leave the taste of my orchard in the mouth. Whoever tastes them, they say, dreams of returning.
- •Orchard apples — a few (base)
- •Honey — a good spoonful (sweetness and syrup)
- •Cinnamon — a little (spice)
- •Ginger — a pinch (spice)
- •Butter — a knob (tenderness)
Apples of Avalon with Honey and Spices
Apples gently cooked in honey and scented with cinnamon and ginger, tender and golden, served warm to close the meal softly.
Why this dish? Avalon, Morgana's kingdom, is called by Geoffrey of Monmouth "the isle of apples." What could be more fitting to close her banquet than apples candied in honey—the very fruit that gives its name to her enchanted isle.
They say my isle is made entirely of apple trees—and they speak true. So, to end my feasts, I cook the apples in honey until they melt like wax in the sun, and I adorn them with cinnamon and a hint of ginger. Eat them warm, with your fingertips: they soothe the heavy stomach and leave the taste of my orchard in the mouth. Whoever tastes them, they say, dreams of returning.
Ingredients (period version)
- Orchard apples — a few (base)
- Honey — a good spoonful (sweetness and syrup)
- Cinnamon — a little (spice)
- Ginger — a pinch (spice)
- Butter — a knob (tenderness)
Ingredients
- Firm apples (Reinette, Boskoop) — 4 (base)
- Honey — 4 tablespoons (sweetness and syrup)
- Ground cinnamon — ½ teaspoon (spice)
- Ground ginger — 1 pinch (spice)
- Butter — 20 g (tenderness)
- Water — 5 cl (syrup)
Method
- Core and cut the apples into thick wedges (or leave whole and cored for a more spectacular version).
- Melt the butter in a pan, add honey, cinnamon, ginger, and a little water.
- Add the apples and cook over low heat 15-20 minutes, turning them, until tender and coated with amber syrup.
- Let the honey reduce to a thick syrup, basting the apples.
- Serve warm, drizzled with the spiced syrup.
How it was made : Fruits cooked in honey and spices were among the medieval "issues of table," those end-of-meal sweets accompanied by hypocras and chamber spices. Since sugar was rare and costly, honey remained the main sweetener. The apple, quintessential northern fruit, was abundant in the orchards of Brittany and the British Isles.
The contemporary twist : Arranged in a dome with a veil of pulled syrup and an edible gold leaf—a nod to the "fairy" fruit of Avalon.
Sources : Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vita Merlini (c. 1150) · Le Ménagier de Paris (1393)
Morgan le Fay · Charactorium
