Marion’s Etrog and Ginger Stollen
Event: 12th Night 2020
Location: Roanoke, VA
Competition: Winter Cakes Challenge
Result: I won! Wasn't expecting that!
Final recipe version: Candied fruit- Mark 2, Stollen- Mark 3.
Being Jewish, what most people consider winter baking is a little outside of my realm of experience. Stollen was an awesome way to go about changing that and playing around with flavors. In my mundane life, I happen to have an awesome boss from Amsterdam who was all too enthusiastic about helping me do some research on this and we found several (as yet unverified) sources talking about the use of citron in Dresdner stollen and thus this journey began.
Citron is another name for the etrog, Citrus medica. Etrog is a thick-skinned citrus fruit used symbolically during the Jewish festival of Sukkot. The etrog represents a variety of things, such as the heart through which we have understanding and wisdom as well as a person who both studies Torah and performs good deeds (related to it having both a smell and a taste unlike its other counterparts in the ceremony). Though originating in Asia, some even suggest that the etrog may be the fruit plucked from the Tree of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.
The etrog followed Jewish populations throughout the world, as an integral part of the fall harvest festival. Widely cultivated in the Middle East and Italy, due to the tree’s sensitivity and need to be in a coastal climate, its thick skin makes this fruit very stable for export to colder climates like Germany, and etrogim became a prized commodity for trade. Major economic and religious disputes on the monopoly of the etrog markets created some surprisingly tense drama between different groups in the Jewish population. Some believe that only one form of etrog, the bumpy skinned form with a recessed stem, is the halachically correct form. Others accept a less expensive and hardier, smooth-skinned grafted etrog as well. Needless to say, those with economic ties to the scarce supply of the non-grafted etrogim saw the new grafted type as a threat to their monopoly on the market and helped politicize the somewhat tame rabbinical dispute. One fruit, SO much drama.
From a culinary perspective, etrogim present a few unique challenges. The fruit is almost entirely pith, almost an inch thick, and the small amount of flesh is very bitter. But with patience, the pith has a bright citrus flavor with some fascinating floral notes. For the stollen, the citron was candied using a recipe found through Medieval Cookery from 16th C England, using soaking and boiling to temper the intense bitterness of the fruit, then candied with wildflower honey. Etrog can also be added to liquors and is commonly used in perfumes- its smell is beautifully balanced between lemony notes as well as white flowers.
Stollen presented another challenge, specifically to document. Stollen itself originally dates back to 1329 and a baking competition in Naumburg, Germany, however in a very different form than we know it today. The first stollens were consumed during a time in the Christian calendar in which dairy was forbidden. Additionally, many of the fruits we associate with stollen would have been prohibitively expensive for the common person. Stollen as we know it most likely originates with the aristocracy seeking diversion in their foods, though there is little evidence of an actual papal dispensation directly related to stollen as some suggest. Dresden is known for its stollen festival, which commenced in the late 15th century, continued through the mid-1800s, and was reinstated in 1994. Stollen in period was most likely a very dense yeasted cake, heavily enriched with butter and sugar, as attempted here. My recipe is adapted from one I found online, with changes to the fruit content, the use of my live starter Sherman instead of instant yeast, different spices to more closely mirror flavor combinations that would have been used at the time, and higher moisture to make it cakier.
The other ingredients used were selected both for their regular use in both stollen and period baking, but also because they pair well with the flavors of the etrog. Etrog needs some acid and spice added back to it since those are largely missing from its preparation. The ginger compliments the florality of the etrog nicely, without overpowering it with sweetness. Rum is not period-appropriate, however, I don't know nearly as much about period liquors as I do modern ones, so I used what I already owned.
I'd never tried candying fruit before this, but now I'm mildly obsessed. The candied etrog turned out excellently. There was some trial and error, but it was well worth it. To keep with period practices, I used honey to candy my etrog and my ginger. It didn't crystallize like sugar would but the honey accentuated the secondary flavors of the etrog beautifully and balanced out the spice of the ginger as well. I dried the first batch in the oven and ultimately decided for the second batch to adapt the method for drying to use the refrigerator. I found that the drying effect was evener.
As stated in the summary above, it took 3 batches of the actual bread to get it right before making the batch I actually presented. For Mark 1, Sherman must have been off his game because that loaf was DENSE. There were also some issues with the fruit absorbing the rum. The original recipe called for 2 oz of rum, and that just wasn't enough. In Mark 2, Sherman was doing much better so the texture came out closer to what I wanted but still a bit dense. I used 4 oz of rum on this batch as well and got somewhat more success. Because the texture was better, I was able to get a better grasp of the balance of flavors and decided ultimately to add more ginger to the mix, as it was getting lost. In Mark 3, I changed the proportions of liquid to dry in the starter, resulting in a wetter dough overall and was much more pleased with the texture. It was closer to what I wanted in a yeasted cake, instead of just a dense bread. The addition of extra ginger and spices really opened up the loaf (side note, I am now sold on baking with cardamom, despite the amount of work it takes to get seeds out of the pods).
Candied Etrog and Ginger
Ingredients:
4 etrogim
8 oz. fresh ginger
Water
Honey
Halve the etrogim and remove the inner flesh. Then chop the pith into slices.
Boil the slices until tender, then soak in a water bath.
Refrigerate the etrogim for 8 days, changing out the water each night.
Drain the etrogim and pat dry. Chop into bite-sized pieces.
Put in a pot with honey and water, using a 1:1 ratio to cover the pieces about ⅔ of the way.
Boil together for 15 minutes. Cool overnight then repeat the boiling the next morning for 30 mins.
Drain the peels and leave to dry (I dried them in the refrigerator for 2 days).
Peel and slice the ginger into discs. Repeat process, skipping the 8-day soaking.
Marion’s Etrog and Ginger Stollen
Ingredients:
½ cup dark raisins
½ cup dried sour cherries, chopped
½ cup candied etrog, plus 2 tbsp. extra chopped very very finely
½ cup candied ginger, plus 2 tbsp. extra chopped very very finely
⅓ cup blanched and peeled almonds, chopped
4 oz. dark rum
50 grams fresh starter
1 cup of milk, warmed
½ cup sugar + 3 tbsp.
3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup rye flour
1 egg
1 tbsp. honey
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground mace
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 cup butter+ ½ c both melted
Make the dusting sugar. Using the 2 tbsp. finely chopped etrog and ginger, mix with ½ cup sugar.
Soak the raisins, etrog, ginger, and almonds in the rum overnight.
Feed the yeast with milk and 3/4 cup all-purpose flour. Let rest in a warm area for 1 hour.
Mix together remaining flour, 3 tbsp. sugar, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and mace.
Add 1 c melted butter, honey, egg yolk, and mix. Rest 20 mins.
While mixing add the starter ⅓ at a time. Mix until smooth.
Let rise for 1 hour in a warm area or until doubled in size.
Punch down, add the fruit, and knead a second time, then rest for another hour.
Cut the dough in half and shape two loaves. Form a vaguely rectangular shape, then fold ⅔ over ⅓ of the dough lengthwise. Rest for 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 350 and top the loaf with butter.
Bake 45 to 50 mins until golden. Cover with aluminum foil if necessary.
Remove the loaves from the oven and cool on the tray for 5 mins. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Brush the loaves with melted butter and top with flavored sugar.
Bibliography
Dawson, Thomas. “a Goodlye Secret for to Condite or Confite Orenges, Citrons, and All Other Fruites in Sirrop.” The Second Part of the Good Hus-Wiues Iewell Where Is to Be Found Most Apt and Readiest Wayes to Distill Many Wholsome and Sweet Waters. In Which Likewise Is Shewed the Best Maner in Preseruing of Diuers Sorts of Fruits, & Making of Sirrops. With Diuers Conceits in Cookerie with the Booke of Caruing., quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A69185.0001.001/1:3.85?rgn=div2%3Bview.
Greenspan, Ari, and Ari Z Zivotofsky. “The Extraordinary History of the Etrog.” The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com, 1 Jan. 1AD, www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/The-extraordinary-history-of-the-etrog-2179.
Heinzelmann, Ursula. “Stollen.” The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, by Darra Goldstein, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 657–658.
Heinzelmann, Ursula. Food Culture in Germany, “Special Occasions,” Greenwood Press, 2008, pp. 143–145.
Lebovitz, David. “Stollen.” David Lebovitz, 24 Apr. 2018, www.davidlebovitz.com/stollen/.
