Catholic Recipe: Sugarplums
Also Called: Candied Fruits
In the fourth century when the desert in Egypt sheltered many hermits, most famous was Macarius the Younger. He did not become a hermit until the middle of his life. He had been a sugarplum merchant, and that is why he became the patron of pastry cooks and confectioners. His own product, sugarplums, a term once used only for candied fruits, is today a synonym for sweets of any kind.
DIRECTIONS
Cover sugar with enough water to dissolve, and let boil to a syrup. Place fruit in a pan and pour syrup over it. Turn fruit lightly by shaking pan until all parts are coated. Set to cool, and when this is done pour off syrup and set pan on its side so that the liquid may be well drained off. Should be prepared two days in advance so that glaze will form.
In our day sugarplums are more apt to be replaced by glacéed fruits.
Recipe Source: Feast Day Cookbook by Katherine Burton and Helmut Ripperger, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1951
