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Iced Fruits for Desserts
Any desirable fruit may be easily iced by dipping first in the beaten white of an egg, then in sugar finely pulverized, and again in egg, and so on until you have the icing of the desired thickness. For this purpose oranges or lemons should be carefully pared, and all the white inner skin removed that is possible, to prevent bitterness; then cut either in thin horizontal slices if lemons, or in quarters if oranges. For cherries, strawberries, currants, etc., choose the largest and finest, leaving stems out. Peaches should be pared and cut in halves, and sweet, juicy pears may be treated in the same way, or look nice when pared, leaving on the stems, and iced. Pineapples should be cut in thin slices, and these again divided into quarters.
This is a Victorian dessert garnish: fresh fruit coated in raw egg white and powdered sugar, then left to dry into a brittle shell. The coating is never cooked at any stage, which is why the recipe cannot be followed today.
- Raw egg white is the problemThe egg white here is applied uncooked to fruit that is served uncooked, and the sugar shell dries at room temperature rather than heating anything. Nothing in the process reaches a temperature that would deal with Salmonella, which can be present in and on shell eggs; repeated dipping also carries whatever is on the shell and the bowl through every layer.
- The drying stage makes it worseThe drying stage -- Building up "the icing of the desired thickness" means several coats of raw egg white and sugar on cut fruit. The original gives no drying times, but the finished pieces stand at room temperature until the shell sets. If you want frosted fruit, use a current recipe written for pasteurised egg product or a gum-based glaze.
- Pulverized sugarNineteenth-century "finely pulverized" sugar corresponds to what is now sold as confectioners' or icing sugar, usually with a little cornstarch added. Sugar was still often pounded and sieved at home from loaf sugar, though commercially ground powdered sugar was also available by this date.
- Why the citrus is pared so carefullyThe instruction to remove all the white inner skin is about the pith, which the recipe itself says is removed "to prevent bitterness"; it is also spongy enough to soak up the egg white rather than take a dry coating.
- Fruit choice tells you the purposeFruit choice suggests the purpose -- Whole cherries, currants and strawberries with stems, quartered oranges, halved peaches and pears, quartered pineapple slices: these are hand-sized pieces for a dish, and the recipe's own remark that pared pears "look nice" left on the stems suggests it was intended as much for appearance as for eating.
- No yield is givenThe original quantifies nothing, since it scales with however much fruit is on hand, and it gives no guide to how much egg white or sugar the several layers will need.