Need Ideas for Candied Angelica and Canteloupe

[Lindacakes]

One of the the things I hauled back from a recent trip to Paris was candied fruit, in particular, candied fruit very hard to get here -- angelica and canteloupe.

I got the angelica because I like it in cannoli with fresh riccotta and chocolate shavings. I have plenty, so I'd like to try some other things.

For the melon, I'm clueless. I'm thinking melon and blueberry muffins.

Help!

[Lindacakes]

Also, I have a tube of chestnut cream, if you want to play with that.

[lapin d'or]

I have just bought some candied cantaloupe melon to use chopped up in a nougat recipe along with toasted nuts. The flavour is quite fruity, texture not chewy, so I hope it will work well. I didn't want to use glace cherries as I cannot get good ones easily.

I was also thinking of putting some candied melon in gingerbread muffins but the melon flavour might get a little drowned as I tend to make these quite spicy.

I would use the angelica along with a mix of other chopped candied fruits in tutti frutti ice-cream. Haven't had that for ages!

Jill

[Lindacakes]

Nougat . . . creamy, buttermilky, that's an excellent idea. I'll think about that one.

Have you tried Vine Tree Orchards? I'm pretty happy with their candied fruit. I've also candied my own cherries, which you might try when they are in season. They're darker and tarter but much tastier than the commercial ones.

Tutti fruitti ice cream! Never had it, never realized it had candied fruit. That's an excellent idea!

[Lindacakes]

Lapin, where do you get your candied fruit?

[lapin d'or]

Lindacakes, I live in rural Devon in the UK. I buy quite a lot of my stuff mail order but local healthfood shops sometimes come up with good stuff which was how I bought the candied melon.

I think there are many variations on the ice-cream, and one book I have soaks the candied fruit in maraschino liqueur but here is a link for general idea of how it goes tutti frutti recipe.

I think you can get away with stirring your own marinated fruit mix into a good plain bought vanilla ice-cream (not too sweet).

This was much more popular when I was a child, I rarely see it now. Time for a revival!

[ludja]

I love your idea of the candied angelica in the cannoli filling; it sounds terrific. I also use sweetened ricotta with candied fruits and sometimes anise flavoring as a filling for cream puffs.

I've been looking through Carol Field's The Italian Baker; she has lots of interesting breads and rolls in the "Celebration Breads" chapter that use candied fruits.

[highchef]

Angelica is supposed to be something of a relief to people who drink too much.

[Kerry Beal]

Of course the ultimate use of the melon confit is to make calisson d'aix, and someday I'm going to figure out how to do that.

I used up all the melon confit I brought back from Nice last trip in my various attempts.

[beccaboo]

I grow angelica to candy it so I can decorate my Lebkuchen with it. I make them flower-shaped, with a candied cherry half in the center and blanched almonds and angelica diamonds for the petals. Of course, Lebkuchen time is a ways away....

[Lindacakes]

Is Angelica hard to grow? Candying it yourself is an excellent idea -- there is one mail order place I've found for it. I took a cannoli class at ICE, which is how I discovered the angelica. It really works well with ricotta and chocolate. I really, really like this cream on a bowl of strawberries and bananas. Maybe even better than in a cannoli shell.

Thanks for the tip on the Carole Field book -- I'm always looking for ways to use candied fruit, because I always have loads left over at Christmas.

[beccaboo]

Is Angelica hard to grow? 

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I started mine from seed--I planted a lot of seed, and ended up with three plants. The angelica I've seen at nurseries is usually a different genus, not 'archangelica.'

They're supposed to be biennial, but I've managed to keep mine around for 9 years so far by vigilantly cutting the flowers off whenever they appear.