Frothy syllabub in glassware with grated nutmeg garnish on wooden surface, showing traditional Restoration-era cream and wine dessert

Restoration England · England

Hannah Woolley's Syllabub

Name: Hannah Woolley's Syllabub
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: England
Ingredients: 480 ml double cream; 240 ml sweet sherry or white wine; 60 g caster sugar; Zest of 1 lemon; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; Grated nutmeg for garnish

From The Queen-like Closet · Hannah Woolley · 1670

Verified from original source

A frothy Restoration-era drink made by whipping cream with wine and sugar.

Historical note: Take a quart of Cream, and put to it a pint of Sack...

History

Hannah Woolley's syllabub exemplifies a fashionable 17th-century English dessert, traditionally made by mixing wine or cider with cream, often sweetened and flavoured with citrus. Syllabubs appeared in elite households from the 16th century onwards, served as frothy confections for special occasions. Woolley's 1670 recipe reflects the genre's peak popularity among the gentry and aspiring middling sorts. Earlier versions involved milking cows directly into ale or wine to create foam; by Woolley's era, whipped cream methods dominated. The dessert declined in the 19th century but survives in modern British cookery as an elegant, lemony cream pudding, though rarely with the wine-based drama of its Georgian ancestors.

Sources

Hannah Woolley, The Queen-like Closet, 1670
Elizabeth David, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, 1984
Ivan Day, Royal Sugar Sculpture (historical confectionery research)
C. Anne Wilson, Food and Drink in Britain, 1973
Oxford English Dictionary entry for 'syllabub'
Jennifer Stead, Georgian Britain: Food, Drink and the Georgians (essays in Petits Propos Culinaires)

Serves

Prep

15m

Cook

Difficulty

Easy