Robert May's Almond Butter

History

Robert May's Almond Butter appears in 'The Accomplisht Cook' (1660), one of England's most comprehensive Baroque cookery books. May, a professionally trained cook serving aristocratic households, included this amongst elaborate dishes for wealthy tables. Almond-based preparations were prestigious in 17th-century England, as almonds were imported and expensive. 'Almond butter' typically combined ground almonds with sugar, rosewater, and sometimes cream to create a sweet, thick paste or sauce, served with tarts or as a dessert element. Such recipes reflected England's taste for sweet almond confections inherited from medieval and Tudor cookery, continuing through the Stuart period before gradually declining in fashionable cookery during the 18th century.

Sources

• Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook, 1660
• C. Anne Wilson, Food and Drink in Britain, 1973
• Jennifer Stead's introduction to facsimile edition of May's Accomplisht Cook, Prospect Books, 1994
• Ivan Day, various works on historic English cookery and confectionery
• Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food, 1999