Fig Tapioca
1/4 cup tapioca 1 1/2 cups water 1/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 cups fig marmalade 1/2 teaspoon lemon flavoring 3/4 teaspoon orange flower water A few grains salt Soak the tapioca in the water one hour or overnight. Put it into a double boiler, add the salt, and cook till transparent. Then stir in the sugar, fig marmalade, and flavoring. Serve cold with cream.
A simple stovetop tapioca pudding sweetened almost entirely by fig preserve. The only real variable is the tapioca itself, which has changed more than anything else in the list.
- Which tapiocaThe hour-or-overnight soak tells you this is small pearl tapioca, not the instant or "minute" granules sold today. Instant tapioca needs no soak and will turn to paste if treated this way; look for small pearl tapioca and follow the soaking as written.
- Cook to transparency, not to a clockThe pearls are done when no white opaque center remains; the recipe deliberately gives no time, and a double boiler is slow, so expect anywhere from a quarter of an hour to well over an hour depending on the pearls. Pulling them early tends to leave gritty specks that are slow to soften once the sugar goes in.
- Add sugar last, as directedSugar slows starch swelling, so stirring it and the marmalade in before the pearls are clear can leave you cooking longer for a looser result.
- Fig marmaladeIn this period the term generally covers a thick fig preserve, close to what is sold now as fig jam or fig preserves. A cup and a half is more than a standard 12-13 oz jar, so allow for a second jar or a 16 oz one; if yours is very sweet, you can cut the added sugar below the 1/3 cup called for.
- Orange flower waterStill sold, and still potent. Three-quarters of a teaspoon is right for this quantity; brands vary in strength, so add half and taste before committing the rest.
- Lemon flavoringThis means lemon extract, not juice. Grated lemon zest can stand in if you would rather avoid extract, though the exchange is approximate and worth adjusting to taste.
- Setting and servingThe pudding thickens considerably as it cools, so chill it thoroughly; pressing plastic wrap onto the surface will stop it skinning. The finished quantity is around three and a half cups. The recipe asks only for cream, without specifying how it is served.