Manuscript Location

Folger Shakespeare Library, Manuscripts

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1670-ca. 1720

Description

This book of approximately 150 written pages is in two or three principal hands and a number of minor ones. The recipes are predominantly medical, with some culinary and household recipes randomly mixed in.

The culinary recipes were current by 1670, but some were written in the early eighteenth century, as indicated by four dates that appear in the back of the book: 1711 (page 138), 1714 (page 142), 1717 (page 145), and 1718 (page 149). The culinary recipes include many for fruit preserving (such as cherries and apricots, page 28), many for little dessert cakes (biskets, almond cakes, jumbles, and lemon puffs), and several for pickles (such as "To pickle Gilleflowers," page 111). There are also a number of recipes for fruit wines, fruit brandy, metheglin, and possets. Instructions are given for red, blue, green, and yellow inks (pages 113-114). The sources of some receipts are noted, including, "Culpepers dispensatory Powder for the woorms," "My Lady Doyls Receipt for Orrang Jomball's," "Mrs Bamfields Receipt for A Rupture," and "A Choice Receipt for A Consumption ... from D: Mrs Parrott."