Title: An Early Apple Tart - England, 1381
Categories: British Medieval Dessert Pie Fruit
Yield: 9 -in pie

4		Apples
4		Pears
1	c	Water
1	tb	Sugar
2	tb	Flour
1/2	c	Chopped dried figs
1/2	c	Raisins
1	ts	Cinnamon
3/4	c	Sugar
1	tb	Lemon juice
1/2	ts	Nutmeg
1/2	ts	Ginger
1/4	ts	Saffron
		A little red wine or rum
1 1/2	lb	(9") flaky pastry

"Peel and core the apples and pears and slice them thinly. Put the cores and skins in a saucepan with the water and a little sugar Leave to boil until reduced by about a third. Meanwhile, make the pastry. "Toss the fresh fruit in a bowl with the flour, then add the sugar and the dried fruits and dates, steeped with the lemon juice and spices in a little red wine or rum. Roll out the pastry and line a 9-inch pie dish with it, reserving enough for the lid. Fill the pie with the mixed fruit and strain over [the filling] the juice from the cores and skins. Cover with the pastry lid and bake at 350f for about 30 minutes."

From _Ancient Cookery,_ (1381): "For to make Tartys in Apples: Take good apples and good spices & Figs and raisins and Pears and when they are well braid colour it with safron well and do it in a coffin and do it forth to bake well."

_Seven Centuries of English Cooking_ Compiled and updated by Maxime de la Falaise Grove Press, London, 1992 Typos by Jeff Pruett.

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