MERINGUE, UNITED KINGDOM

17TH CENTURY

 

Meringue is a light, airy, and sweet cookie-sized dessert. They are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside that seems like it will melt in your mouth. (YUM!) In order to achieve that texture meringue cookies require preparations such as beating ingredients until foamy and fluffy, and cooking for a longer time under a lower temperature until meringue becomes dry on the outside. [1]

 

Although the term, Meringue, actually first appeared in a French cookbook written by François Massialot in 1692, interestingly there was an earlier recorded English manuscript book in 1604 by Lady Elinor Fettiplace, who gave a recipe that can be easily recognizable as a Swiss meringue. She called this recipe “white biskit bread.” [2] This explains why Sweetooth credited this dessert to UK as the place of origin while Lady Elinor Fettiplace lived in Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire) [3]

 

BASIC INGREDIENT:

Egg white, powdered/confectioner’s sugar

 

Optional: vinegar, cream of tartar, cornstarch, gelatin

 

For more detailed history related to Meringue, visit inmamaskitchen.com