0:00:02 > 0:00:06Sweets. They're our guilty pleasure.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12Today, British confectionery is a £6 billion industry.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14But where did it all begin?
0:00:16 > 0:00:18We've asked four modern confectioners
0:00:18 > 0:00:22to go back in time to work their way through
0:00:22 > 0:00:24three eras that revolutionised their trade.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29From the birth of their profession four centuries ago,
0:00:29 > 0:00:33where they'll craft luxuries for Tudor aristocrats...
0:00:33 > 0:00:37- SHE GASPS - It's cracking, Cyn. It's getting worse - look.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40..to Georgian entrepreneurs storming the high street
0:00:40 > 0:00:42and tempting the fashionable middle classes.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Mould! Chocolate?
0:00:45 > 0:00:47- Jelly.- Both?
0:00:47 > 0:00:51And, finally, they'll work on the production line of a 20th-century factory,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54making affordable goodies for the masses.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56You're a cog in a wheel.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57I'm a chocolate dipper.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Our 21st-century confectioners will be learning to make the sweet treats
0:01:01 > 0:01:04of the past. They'll be using the ingredients,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07recipes and equipment of the time.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09It looks like a tapeworm.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11This is bum-clenching stuff.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14They'll experience first-hand the triumphs...
0:01:14 > 0:01:15THEY CHEER
0:01:15 > 0:01:17..and the trials of their profession.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20- Oh, that's hot.- Hot, hot, hot!
0:01:21 > 0:01:24And they'll be creating sugary masterpieces,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28which haven't been tasted for hundreds of years.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Oh, my God. That is amazing.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35But as well as making the treats of the past,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39our confectioners will be exploring the bittersweet story of sugar,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42an ingredient that transformed Britain,
0:01:42 > 0:01:47shaping our empire, bankrolling our cities, igniting our slave trade...
0:01:48 > 0:01:51The cruelty is just unbearable.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54..and changing the way we eat for ever.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56- Whoo! - THEY CHEER
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Andy Baxendale, Diana Short,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Paul A Young and Cynthia Stroud
0:02:15 > 0:02:18all work with sugar on a daily basis.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22But they are about to experience life as confectioners
0:02:22 > 0:02:24from 400 years ago,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28when sugar was a rare and precious commodity in England.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33We owe a huge debt of gratitude to everybody who went before and
0:02:33 > 0:02:36discovered the methods and discovered the ways of doing things.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40And so much we do in modern confectionery, we take for granted.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45They'll be working as servants at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48recreating original recipes from the 1580s -
0:02:48 > 0:02:51as printed English cookbooks began to mention sugar -
0:02:51 > 0:02:55through to the 1660s, when growing trade links were transforming
0:02:55 > 0:02:57the confectioners' world.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00I don't know anything but I'm really excited
0:03:00 > 0:03:02to find out what we're going to get stuck with, if you like,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05get stuck in and get dirty.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Sugar was an expensive luxury in this period,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11reserved for the upper classes.
0:03:11 > 0:03:12Over the next four days,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15our confectioners will be creating exquisite dishes to be served
0:03:15 > 0:03:18at an intimate aristocratic sugar banquet.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Wow. Oh, my goodness.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32You feel properly like you're back in Tudor times.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35I can hear the lutes already. THEY LAUGH
0:03:35 > 0:03:38- Shall we go to the kitchen? - Yeah.- Come on, then. - Yeah, let's go for it.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Our confectioners are entering a remarkable portal to the past,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48a kitchen which has some of the oldest working ovens and equipment
0:03:48 > 0:03:49in the country.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52- Wow.- Oh, my goodness.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55This is what I love, worn away by time,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57all the effort that's gone into chopping or...
0:03:57 > 0:03:59- Is that wood?- What does that do?
0:03:59 > 0:04:01It looks a bit disturbing.
0:04:01 > 0:04:02That's our stove.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04The heater. It's to let the air in,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06- so you can get it going.- Oh, right.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Stuff on there and it balances.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10Where do you think the oven is?
0:04:10 > 0:04:12- Oh, yeah.- I see the flue, but...
0:04:12 > 0:04:14But there's nowhere to bake.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17This kitchen has none of the modern gadgets they rely on,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and so will require all of their skills and intuition
0:04:20 > 0:04:21as confectioners.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Oh, there's the oven. Looks like my pizza oven.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29So much of it just looks so strange and counterintuitive.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Nothing looks like what it's supposed to be.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Only the upper echelons of society could afford to employ
0:04:35 > 0:04:37their own confectioners.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40As artisans working with such a precious commodity,
0:04:40 > 0:04:42they were highly valued.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Royal confectioners had their own department
0:04:45 > 0:04:47and were paid around £20 a year,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50triple the wages of an urban labourer.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Welcome to Haddon Hall,
0:04:53 > 0:04:54and welcome to your kitchen.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Thank you.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57I'm Dr Annie Gray,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00a food historian, and I'll be guiding the confectioners,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03together with social historian Emma Dabiri.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Well, this is your home for the next four days.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09It's a bit different to the kitchens you'll be used to.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11One of the primary things you'll notice is the lack of heating...
0:05:11 > 0:05:14- Yes.- ..which is clearly going to be a slight issue,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17given that sugar work normally requires things like, you know,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19heat and a dry atmosphere.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21But we can overcome everything.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25The kitchen's not the only thing that's unfamiliar.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30The hard cones of Tudor sugar are nothing like what they're used to working with.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35So, guys, this is the beating heart of the confectioners' world.
0:05:35 > 0:05:36- This is sugar.- Wow.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38- How does it smell?- Fantastic.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40It smells, it smells like actual sugar that you're used to, but...
0:05:40 > 0:05:43- It's really fruity. - ..that's where it stops.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46- And treacly.- Treacle, yeah. - Christmas pudding-y. - Christmas pudding.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48The earliest records of sugar in England
0:05:48 > 0:05:52are from the 12th century, when it was used sparingly as a condiment.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56As the trade routes of English merchants expanded across
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Europe and Africa,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01more sugar began to be imported from the cane fields of Morocco,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Madeira, Spain and Sicily.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07By the 16th century, 400 years later,
0:06:07 > 0:06:13confectionery had become a regular feature on the tables of the English elite.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15So, I don't know how much you guys know about sugar cane
0:06:15 > 0:06:19but as soon as it's cut, it's very quickly squashed and then pressed,
0:06:19 > 0:06:23and the juice that comes out is boiled and then crystallised.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26But, unlike modern sugar, which is made under quite strict,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28hygienic conditions, thankfully,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30this is quite a different prospect.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33This crude sugar was often very dirty.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37You might have been treated to such delights as bacteria, lice...
0:06:37 > 0:06:40- Oh.- Lovely.- ..soil or even hair.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46The English lust for sugar launched a new type of business.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49As early as 1544,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52London boasted two sugar refineries, processing barrels
0:06:52 > 0:06:57of cane juice into sugar cones to be sold to the wealthy.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00So, up until the 19th century,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03there are tons of different grades of sugar and that's because sugar
0:07:03 > 0:07:06was so incredibly expensive to refine.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09So the darker it is, the kind of lower quality it is.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12The whiter it gets, the higher grade of sugar it is.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13So, the first thing you're going to have to do,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17as professional confectioners, is to clarify your sugar,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20to get rid of all the impurities. And it's a task that would've been
0:07:20 > 0:07:22carried out on an almost daily basis in some cases,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25because you can't work with this.
0:07:25 > 0:07:26Now, we do know at Haddon,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29better grades of sugar were bought in from time to time
0:07:29 > 0:07:32but we're now in the late Tudor period,
0:07:32 > 0:07:34it's still hard to buy in those sugars,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36so let's start with the basics.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40You do have a recipe...
0:07:40 > 0:07:42- Oh, amazing.- Oh, my God. - ..taken from the original books.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46So, the first job is to decipher what they're actually saying.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49One of the key points about sugar is that not only is it very, very
0:07:49 > 0:07:53expensive as a raw material, but it's incredibly labour-intensive.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55So if you are able to display sugar,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57then you are showing that you can afford to buy it,
0:07:57 > 0:08:01afford to have the staff to process it, the time to process it.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Our confectioners are following rare original recipes.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08- Shall I start chopping?- Yep.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Early printed cookbooks were invariably written by men,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14as less than 10% of women were literate at this time.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17"The manner to clarify sugar and honey.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20"Good sugar, which is white and clear..."
0:08:21 > 0:08:24- That's not easy.- No. - You would get blisters.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29I've found a technique.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30It's like chopping wood. Look.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32- Yeah.- It comes off.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35It's so labour-intensive just getting the sugar.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Chocolatier Paul has turned his childhood passion
0:08:42 > 0:08:45for all things sweet into a career.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49He now runs three boutique chocolate shops in London.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53I love working with chocolate because it really fulfils
0:08:53 > 0:08:57every aspect of being a creative person.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00I think anyone who's given a cookbook that is from their parents
0:09:00 > 0:09:02or grandparents or great-grandparents,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04you have to value them a lot.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06It's all my mum's recipes,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10they're all handwritten, and the predominant recipes are sweet.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Like, every page.
0:09:15 > 0:09:16It's messy as well.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18- It is, yes.- This is precious sugar.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21Just as confectioners did more than 400 years ago,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25our team are using only the most primitive heat sources -
0:09:25 > 0:09:27charcoal-fuelled chafing stoves.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31But first they have to get them lit.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33I nearly set myself on fire.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Working with all of this around you, you know,
0:09:37 > 0:09:38it's not what we're used to.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42We're used to having close-fitting garments which don't get in the way,
0:09:42 > 0:09:43which don't float around,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and you just, you forget they're there, you know,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48and you turn and that's it, and suddenly you're caught.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Wow. There is our stove, look.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00They did not need to go to the gym back then.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02It's so physical.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04We think we work hard now, don't we?
0:10:04 > 0:10:07- No.- We don't have a clue, really.
0:10:07 > 0:10:08Without the clocks,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12scales and measuring jugs of their 21st-century kitchens,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15the confectioners are having to improvise.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17That looks about the size of a pint glass.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20- How are we doing?- We're good.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24One of the things you've clearly had to get to grips with is the lack
0:10:24 > 0:10:28of measurement, and you find various ways of measuring things,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30both time and weights, that you find in books like this.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Say, for example, you may well find a recipe
0:10:33 > 0:10:35that calls for a walnut-sized piece of butter,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38knowing that everyone knows what a walnut looks like.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40- Yeah.- Or something where you're stirring something
0:10:40 > 0:10:44for the time it takes to say an Ave Maria, knowing that everybody...
0:10:44 > 0:10:47- Ah, that's clever.- ..knows how long it takes to say an Ave Maria.
0:10:48 > 0:10:49It tastes lovely in the air.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55To clean the pulverised sugar, it must be boiled up in water...
0:10:56 > 0:10:59..and then beaten together with egg whites.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01- Keep beating, little rod.- I...
0:11:01 > 0:11:02THEY LAUGH
0:11:02 > 0:11:05My little rod is working very hard.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Paul is using a primitive Tudor whisk,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09basically a bundle of sticks.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14It's good, isn't it? That works. My little rod works.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15There's a lot of froth on the top.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17When the egg white sets,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19that will be the thing that we'll able to take off.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26This is a familiar technique to trained chef and chocolatier Diana.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Her grandfather was a chef at the Hyde Park Hotel in London
0:11:31 > 0:11:36in the 1940s, and the desire for culinary perfection is in the blood.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40I suppose I'm anxious about not being able to achieve
0:11:40 > 0:11:44what I would like to achieve in any given situation.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47I don't like things to go wrong and I get really antsy when things
0:11:47 > 0:11:49don't turn out right and I'm kind of like,
0:11:49 > 0:11:51"That's not good enough. I want to do it again."
0:11:51 > 0:11:55I like to eat nice things, so I like to make nice things.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58I think we will have to pop it back on,
0:11:58 > 0:12:00bring it back up to the boil again and then...
0:12:00 > 0:12:03- Quite a lot, isn't it? It's coming up.- Yeah.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05As a desirable commodity,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09sugar even influenced the early days of England's foreign policy.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12In the 1580s,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Queen Elizabeth I forged a controversial alliance
0:12:15 > 0:12:18with Muslim leaders, in defiance of the Pope,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20and traded arms and cloth for sugar.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26You can see that beautiful clear liquid underneath.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29It doesn't look that much lighter, but there is a lot of scum.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35The English word for sugar even comes from the Arabic sukkar,
0:12:35 > 0:12:40and in 1588, more than 450 tons of Moroccan sugar arrived in London.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46And the Queen and her loyal subjects weren't beyond stealing extra supplies.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51Port records from the end of the 1580s show that more than 500 tons
0:12:51 > 0:12:54of sugar a year were being brought back as booty
0:12:54 > 0:12:56from raids on enemy ships.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00- It's still really dark. - It's really, really dark.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02That is delicious, though.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04It's interesting that that's taken
0:13:04 > 0:13:07half a day just to make this much sugar that you can use,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10cos what it was before wasn't actually,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12it wasn't stuff you could use.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It wasn't usable, no. Time is money.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16- Absolutely.- It's never just the cost of the ingredients.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19It's your salaries, it's your time.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24- Yeah.- That is what goes to make this THE crucial ingredient.- Wow.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Sugar today is cheap and readily available.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29The average person in the UK eats the equivalent
0:13:29 > 0:13:32of 34 bags of sugar a year.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36In the late 16th century, average consumption was far lower -
0:13:36 > 0:13:37half a bag per year -
0:13:37 > 0:13:41but how much you got very much depended on your class.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47The less privileged members of society would have tasted sugar,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50but they would not have had regular access to it.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52It was just too expensive.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55It was usually kept rather ostentatiously in locked caddies and
0:13:55 > 0:13:57transported surrounded by padlocks
0:13:57 > 0:14:00so that thieving varmints couldn't get their hands on it.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03We know from their receipt, the Manners family,
0:14:03 > 0:14:04who owned this house,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08spent as much on a loaf of Madeira sugar as they would have paid
0:14:08 > 0:14:11a carpenter to construct an entire bridge.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18After half a day, the sugar is finally clarified
0:14:18 > 0:14:22and the confectioners can now start work on the dishes for their banquet.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31"Melt your sugar..."
0:14:31 > 0:14:33The first recipe is for comfits.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36"Half a pound of aniseed with two pounds of sugar
0:14:36 > 0:14:38"will make fine, small comfits."
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Seeds, such as aniseed, fennel or coriander,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45painstakingly covered with layer upon layer of sugar.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49We still eat liquorice comfits today.
0:14:50 > 0:14:51For a recipe this size,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55- this must have been such an important part of the sweet table. - Yeah, it would've been.
0:14:55 > 0:14:56Absolutely. And when you think about it,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59if sugar is so expensive, to coat it, you know,
0:14:59 > 0:15:00eight to ten times at a time, building up,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04- this is the sign of, "Look how wealthy I am."- Yeah.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Today, excessive sugar is known to be unhealthy,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10but Tudor confectioners believed it had healing properties.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Coriander comfits were served at the banqueting table to aid digestion,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18in the belief that they closed up the stomach
0:15:18 > 0:15:21and prevented vomiting after a massive feast.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Should we check the syrup and lift a little bit out?
0:15:26 > 0:15:29- No, it's still dropping. - Yeah, it's still watery.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31A lot more cooking, isn't it?
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Isn't it hard not having a sugar thermometer?
0:15:34 > 0:15:35It is so hard.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36Because you would just look at it.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Everything is so physical here, you know, you're judging things by eye,
0:15:40 > 0:15:41it's all your five senses,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43judging by eye, sticking your finger in and stuff.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Wealthy families could also buy in comfits from fairs
0:15:48 > 0:15:50and from traders in the big cities.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55One of the earliest of London's confectioners
0:15:55 > 0:15:58was a Spanish comfit-maker called Balthazar Sanchez.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05Sanchez fled to Protestant England for religious reasons.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Once here, he began to work for Queen Elizabeth I,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11an arch-rival of the Catholic Spanish.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15We can see the success of Sanchez's confectionery from this copy of
0:16:15 > 0:16:18his will. By the time of his death in 1602,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21he had amassed a large enough fortune to be able to leave hundreds
0:16:21 > 0:16:25of pounds to feed London's poor and to build almshouses for them.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28This suggests his business was so successful
0:16:28 > 0:16:31that he had entered into the hallowed ranks of the gentry.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35In the early days of the trade,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39very few confectioners enjoyed the wealth that Sanchez achieved.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42They might be highly valued craftsmen,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45but they were still dependent on their aristocratic masters.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47And they couldn't afford to make mistakes
0:16:47 > 0:16:50with the most expensive ingredient in the kitchen.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52- There we go.- Thank you very much.
0:16:52 > 0:16:53Thank you very much.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Are you ready?
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Paul and Cynthia are wrangling a balancing pan
0:16:58 > 0:17:01as they attempt to get just the right amount of sugar syrup
0:17:01 > 0:17:02on their coriander seeds.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Yeah, move that really quick or it will start to crystallise
0:17:07 > 0:17:09just in one block.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14It's not as easy as it looks. They're all clumping, aren't they?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17As it crystallises, it should separate, shouldn't it?
0:17:18 > 0:17:20That looks so much better.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22- It does.- I had a little panic.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Imagine how many hours, three hours, just...
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Yeah. I think if you've had to do this all day long,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30you'd need a stiff drink or two.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33A gallon of mead, please, at the end of the day,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35- and a back massage.- Yeah.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37With more than 50 coats of sugar required,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40the team will have to take shifts to make sure they have enough comfits
0:17:40 > 0:17:42for their banqueting table.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48As a bespoke wedding cake maker,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Cynthia is used to creating beautiful,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53artistic pieces under pressure.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56She grew up in Nigeria and is completely self-taught.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Cake making's, like, my heart's in it.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06It is very much linked to my childhood and baking with my mum.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09Being thrown out of your comfort zone
0:18:09 > 0:18:12to get to experience life basically
0:18:12 > 0:18:16through the life of my counterparts, but hundreds of years ago,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18you just want to see how you stack up.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Confectioners in the 16th and 17th centuries often worked hand-in-hand
0:18:30 > 0:18:31with the lady of the house.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36For aristocratic women, sugar work, be it medicinal or decorative,
0:18:36 > 0:18:40was seen as an art, along with music and embroidery.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45A perfect hostess's sugar banquet
0:18:45 > 0:18:48should not only delight the taste buds of her guests,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51but offer some unexpected bonuses.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55This is your next ingredient.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56Any idea what it is?
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- Ivy?- Holly?
0:18:58 > 0:19:00It's a plant which is known today as eryngo
0:19:00 > 0:19:03and it was quite common in recipes
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and used for a very, very specific purpose.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08They were the Viagra of their day.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11- Fantastic.- Yes.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13- Do you know how much is there?- Well...
0:19:13 > 0:19:15LAUGHTER
0:19:15 > 0:19:16Culpeper said of them
0:19:16 > 0:19:18that they "breedeth the seed exceedingly",
0:19:18 > 0:19:22and also that they were "very good for the spirit procreative".
0:19:22 > 0:19:24That's not at all euphemistic.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29Well, it is a far cry from my Catholic upbringing.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32But I am doing... It depends on how you play it.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36I'm doing what I can to foster marital relations.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Andy's not taking this lightly at all.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Andy is trying to get every last root from there.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Make a fortune on Wigan market with these.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50SHE CHUCKLES
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Sweets to boost libido might be new to Andy,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58but as a troubleshooter for the confectionery industry,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00there's not much he hasn't seen.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04To work in confectionery you have got to be fairly unflappable
0:20:04 > 0:20:07because of the nature of the stuff. You know, you're working with
0:20:07 > 0:20:10materials that are at high temperatures, especially the sugar.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12If you started flapping and it goes everywhere, you know,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16you're in trouble, so you've got to be quite cool, calm and collected.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21I love my job the most because of the pleasure it gives other people.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24When you give someone something that you yourself have made,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27to see the look on their face...
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Oh, absolutely gorgeous.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36To complement Andy's natural Viagra,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Paul and Diana are getting on with the Tudor cure for gonorrhoea -
0:20:40 > 0:20:42candied roses.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47Edible flowers were a regular feature on 17th-century tables.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49This is lightly beaten egg white,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52which we're just brushing onto the petals,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55and then we'll dip it into fine sugar.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58By the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign in 1603,
0:20:58 > 0:21:00better grades of white powdered sugar
0:21:00 > 0:21:03had started to become available to confectioners.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06England had become a major centre for refining sugar
0:21:06 > 0:21:08for the European market.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12We used to crystallise rose petals at home.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15My grandma grew roses. This is the simplest thing.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17It's like one of those things you do as a child that is a technique
0:21:17 > 0:21:21rather than a recipe, and you get something like, look,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23it's like a fairyland rose,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25and I was a little bit of a fairyland kid,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27I loved anything fairy tale.
0:21:27 > 0:21:28Shake the excess sugar off.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32There we go. And we're going to pop it close to the oven.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34It crispens up the petals.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41The roots are blanched.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47Sadly, there's nothing magical about Cynthia and Andy's eryngo.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50- What do you think it tastes like? - It tastes like...
0:21:50 > 0:21:51I'll tell you a second.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I mean, it's got a thick coat of sugar now on it.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Mmm, chop suey.
0:21:58 > 0:21:59THEY CHUCKLE
0:21:59 > 0:22:02It tastes like a root covered in sugar.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06It does taste like a root coated in sugar, doesn't it?
0:22:06 > 0:22:08You'd only eat that if you were desperate for it to
0:22:08 > 0:22:12- perform another purpose. - It's definitely medicinal. - Yes. Not for pleasure.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13You wouldn't eat that for pleasure.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16No, you wouldn't eat that for pleasure, definitely not.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32An aristocratic sugar banquet was all about showing off
0:22:32 > 0:22:33the elite's wealth and taste.
0:22:35 > 0:22:36So with three days left,
0:22:36 > 0:22:41the confectioners need to focus on some more spectacular dishes.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44- Right, ready for the next task?- We are.- Yes, we are.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Marvellous. The late Tudor and early Stuart banqueting course
0:22:48 > 0:22:49was a thing of beauty.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54The next fundamental part of it is to make a thing called sugar plate.
0:22:54 > 0:22:55There is a recipe.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00- Great.- This one is from a book by a man called Thomas Dawson.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03- Yes.- The main thing you'll need for it is this.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05- Oh, it's like a fingernail. - This is gum trag.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07- Is this gum trag?- Yeah.- Oh!
0:23:07 > 0:23:09We actually use this at the moment.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Like, if you were making sugar flowers and stuff,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14the really fine ones, you'd use that.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16So we use that, but from powder.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Gum tragacanth is a natural product, it's a resin,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21it's a sap that comes out of a plant.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25My hat off to whoever discovered that by adding something like this
0:23:25 > 0:23:27to icing sugar you could make something
0:23:27 > 0:23:30- that was utterly malleable... - Yep.- ..and utterly brilliant.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34The recipe calls for you to soak it in rose water, and it does need soaking overnight.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36- We do have some pre-soaked. - Wow!- You can smell it smells...
0:23:36 > 0:23:38- It smells...- It smells lovely.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41- It smells like a really good knicker drawer!- It smells lovely.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Turkish delight! Turkish delight.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45The crucial thing here is to know, I suspect,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47what you're making with your sugar plate.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50You are going to be moulding it, which is clearly the easy route.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53You are also, as Mr Dawson says,
0:23:53 > 0:23:54going to be making "plates, dishes,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57"cups and suchlike things, wherewith you may furnish a table".
0:23:57 > 0:24:01- How cool.- And for your centrepiece for your banquet,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05you are going to be constructing a small banqueting house made
0:24:05 > 0:24:09out of sugar plate, but this is going to be the start
0:24:09 > 0:24:13- of something beautiful.- OK. - I think it's going to be.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18In the 17th century, sugar sculpting was all the rage.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20One royal banquet at Whitehall
0:24:20 > 0:24:23boasted a complete sugar army of horses and soldiers.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27I added a bit more rose water, just for wetness.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31The recipe that Paul and Cynthia are using for sugar plate
0:24:31 > 0:24:33combines powdered sugar, egg white,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36lemon juice and the soaked gum trag
0:24:36 > 0:24:39to make a malleable dough that they can mould.
0:24:39 > 0:24:40We've cut a rectangle...
0:24:40 > 0:24:45- Yep.- ..for the sides of our house.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49So I want to get this done tonight so I'm going quite fast.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Cos I'm a bit concerned - we've got two days for it to dry out
0:24:52 > 0:24:55brittle hard so we can stick it together.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Let's cut our edges.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01The atmosphere is cold. It could...
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Just take a bit longer to dry.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Take a long time to dry, or it could stick.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09There we go. Two more to go, two ends and two roof.
0:25:09 > 0:25:10Yep.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Banqueting houses were where a select few guests could withdraw
0:25:22 > 0:25:23after the main meal,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26to enjoy the sugar course, and other pleasures.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31They were intimate spaces tucked discreetly in gardens or hidden
0:25:31 > 0:25:35on rooftops. The English love of sugar was so great that more than
0:25:35 > 0:25:3860 banqueting houses were built by the elite in this era.
0:25:41 > 0:25:42How are you feeling about this?
0:25:42 > 0:25:44I'm a bit nervous, because if you're thinking...
0:25:44 > 0:25:47- I am!- ..if you need a lot of them, you need to know it's going to work.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49- Yes.- Hit it hard.
0:25:49 > 0:25:50HE LAUGHS
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- Is it coming out?- It is coming out, but bits of it are sticking.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Oh! It's so delicate.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Oh, it's just catching that little edge, isn't it?
0:26:04 > 0:26:05Brilliant. OK.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09That is fan... I'm so pleased with that.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11- Look at that!- I am actually quite pleased with that.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12You've done a fantastic job with that.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- Pleased with that.- So how many do we need?
0:26:15 > 0:26:20- About 200.- Right, let's get going. We've got a lot of work to do.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23With even plates and bowls made of the sweet stuff,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26the Tudor aristocracy were England's first sugar addicts,
0:26:26 > 0:26:28with no idea of the damage it was wreaking.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Jelena Bekvalac is an expert in the study of skeletons and teeth
0:26:35 > 0:26:37at the Museum of London.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41This is the store where we keep about 20,000 individuals
0:26:41 > 0:26:44that have been found from archaeological excavations
0:26:44 > 0:26:46- within the London area. - How incredible.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49What I'm particularly interested in is their teeth.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54Yes, we've got two individuals here, which are really good contrasts.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57This male was excavated from a site at Spitalfields market.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01So this individual we know is from 1100 to 1200,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03- but as you can see... - The teeth are immaculate.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05The teeth are phenomenal.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Yeah. You'd be hard pushed to find teeth that good these days.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14I find myself sort of licking my own silver crowns quite surreptitiously.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17This male individual is from a later time period
0:27:17 > 0:27:21and dated to about 1595 to 1666,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23so several hundred years between them,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27but you can see that their teeth are in not such good condition
0:27:27 > 0:27:29at all as the medieval.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33So if we turn this over and show you, you can see inside better.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37You've got really nasty indications of decay,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39so really bad dental health.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42- Some missing teeth.- You can see here you've got the teeth that have
0:27:42 > 0:27:45then been lost early, which probably again was caused from decay.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49This molar here, you can see that really nasty hole.
0:27:51 > 0:27:52Writing at the time,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Shakespeare's plays were full of references to stinking breath,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00while European ambassadors reported that Queen Elizabeth I had lost
0:28:00 > 0:28:05so many teeth that nobody could understand her when she spoke.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09So can we tell from the state of his teeth how wealthy this individual
0:28:09 > 0:28:12might have been, and if he would have had access to sugar?
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Yes, from the context that we have from the archaeology, indicating
0:28:15 > 0:28:18that they would've had the type of status that would have enabled them
0:28:18 > 0:28:21to have then accessed sugar.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26People are eating it and we see that decline in people's dental health.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35The English loved sugar so much that they packed fruit dishes with it as well.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Marmalades and tarts were a staple of the sugar banquet.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46But some fruits are more familiar than others to
0:28:46 > 0:28:47our modern confectioners.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51- Oh, my gosh! Look at those. - What on earth's that?
0:28:51 > 0:28:55- Seen them before? - No.- No.- They are called medlars,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57or the open arse fruit.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00SHE LAUGHS
0:29:01 > 0:29:03- What?- Any arse in particular?
0:29:03 > 0:29:06- Dogs' arses.- OK.- That's what the French call them - cul de chien.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09And they are kind of rotten.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11When you read the recipe that you're about to do,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14you'll see it calls for rotten medlars.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16The term we tend to use now is bletted.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18They've been picked from the tree and they've been
0:29:18 > 0:29:20left somewhere cold until they soften,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22so you can see they are very, very soft.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24It's not the most attractive fruit you ever saw, is it?
0:29:24 > 0:29:26Well, it isn't,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29but the first time I tasted one I couldn't get over
0:29:29 > 0:29:31how exquisite it was.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33- Um... - ANNIE LAUGHS
0:29:33 > 0:29:35- It smells interesting.- Quite appley.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37It smells the way it looks.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39Have a taste of it.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41Do you mind if I don't?
0:29:45 > 0:29:47It's nice. Like baked apple.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54Once grown in orchards across England,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58medlars have been popular since medieval times.
0:29:58 > 0:30:03Andy is simmering them with sugar, cinnamon, ginger and egg yolks.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07And Cynthia has made pastry tart cases.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13But the temperature of the ancient oven will be very hard to judge,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17so she will be baking blind in every sense.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20Never quite done anything like this before, so...
0:30:20 > 0:30:22fingers crossed.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24It'll be fine.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32All of the confectioners are beginning to recognise
0:30:32 > 0:30:35the limitations of their primitive equipment.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37It needs to boil a bit more, doesn't it?
0:30:37 > 0:30:39- I know. These cauldrons, they just...- Let's pop the lid back on.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42By the time they come to the boil they need more fuel.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44- Yes.- It must have been a real challenge.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46The whole thing is boiling hot,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48handles are hot, but we need more fire.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50We need a lot more heat to get it to boil.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52It is wobbly. The pot is wobbly,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55so you have to be very, very careful, otherwise there will be
0:30:55 > 0:30:56a bit of scalding going on.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00- A bit!- So we're having to be very, very careful not...
0:31:00 > 0:31:03- I'm going to get a bit more and put it on the other side. - ..not to shake it too much.
0:31:07 > 0:31:08One out first.
0:31:10 > 0:31:11Oh!
0:31:12 > 0:31:15- Oops.- Doesn't that look like a cowpat?
0:31:15 > 0:31:19- It's really bad. - CYNTHIA LAUGHS
0:31:19 > 0:31:23It's like there's several layers of badness here.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25The ovens are quite tricky to control,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28so it's not cooked at a high enough temperature.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30It must've been a nightmare to work with.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36It's... It's gone awfully wrong, really, so...
0:31:36 > 0:31:39So you did it wrong?
0:31:39 > 0:31:41That is one way to interpret it.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44- Yes! - THEY LAUGH
0:31:44 > 0:31:45If you work at any sort of event,
0:31:45 > 0:31:47of which a banquet is certainly an event,
0:31:47 > 0:31:52you would've thought ahead and there is always a plan B, isn't there?
0:31:52 > 0:31:55Luckily, pastry cases often weren't eaten,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58they were just vessels for serving the fruit mixture,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01so Cynthia is improvising with a serving bowl.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08Yeah, mine's disappeared.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10- Lock and load.- Oh! - THEY LAUGH
0:32:10 > 0:32:13After a long day of struggling with primitive equipment,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17the confectioners are relaxing with yet another unfamiliar tool -
0:32:17 > 0:32:19engraved wafer irons.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Wafers were a staple of the banqueting table
0:32:22 > 0:32:24and were often used as the base
0:32:24 > 0:32:27for other dishes or dipped in sugared wine.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33- Would you like a knife, Andy? - It's still too soft.- OK.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35He's just going in there, nicking my heat.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37I need more heat.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39- Oh!- That one's ready.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Oh, that's exciting.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43I'm just going to give it a minute.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46- Ooh!- It's very difficult to make Tudor wafers, isn't it?
0:32:46 > 0:32:48Yeah, it's really hard to judge.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Oh, I can't see. Someone take that.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53- Smoke in my eyes.- It's smoky.
0:32:53 > 0:32:54Do you want to put yours on first?
0:32:54 > 0:32:57There's absolutely no way of knowing what's happening inside
0:32:57 > 0:33:00- those irons once you clamp them shut.- No, that's it.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03- I've got a wafer! One wafer!- Yay!
0:33:03 > 0:33:04Well done!
0:33:04 > 0:33:0720 minutes for a wafer is not good yield on your time.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10- But it's beautiful, isn't it? - It is.- Such detail.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13- They are beautiful. - Well done, everybody, well done.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15- Splendid.- Bravo!- Well done!
0:33:25 > 0:33:26As the 17th century progressed,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29England's trading links were spreading across the globe.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32Portuguese imports poured into the country,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36sugar from their cane fields in Brazil and luxurious citrus fruits.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Cynthia is making a recipe from Sir Hugh Plat's book
0:33:44 > 0:33:45Delights For Ladies,
0:33:45 > 0:33:50called To Preserve Oranges After The Portugal Fashion.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55The closest thing I'd say it smells like is Orange Tango,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58that's how intense. It smells artificial.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02The softened oranges have been soaked overnight in syrup
0:34:02 > 0:34:06and now are being mixed with sugar to make a marmalade.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11There's something really satisfying about doing this.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14It is just pulverising it with very little effort, actually.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16Do you want to taste that?
0:34:16 > 0:34:19- It tastes amazing. - Oh, let's have a little lick.
0:34:19 > 0:34:20Oh, my goodness!
0:34:22 > 0:34:25- That is gorgeous!- It's amazing.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27Wow! I can't wait to try them when they're done.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29- Yeah.- My goodness.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Everything they did seems so packed full of flavour.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36- It's flavour and colour first, isn't it?- Absolutely.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42Paul's back at the balancing pan on the next comfit shift.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45I have probably been doing these now over an hour and there are still
0:34:45 > 0:34:4850 more coats to put on here.
0:34:48 > 0:34:5150 more. So it is quite tough,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54but it is incredibly satisfying,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57and the smell, it must've been the most exotic smell they had,
0:34:57 > 0:35:01to have toasted coriander seeds coated in sugar,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04and I've never had a toasted coriander seed
0:35:04 > 0:35:07covered in sugar, so I can't wait to see what they taste like,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10but another 50 coats to get a tiny little seed,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14so I have got a lot of work to do.
0:35:14 > 0:35:15A lot.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23The Portuguese oranges are being stuffed with marmalade,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26ready to be coated with boiling sugar syrup.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Are you all right? It is chilly out here.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35Yeah, but I'm just feeling a little bit light-headed in there so...
0:35:35 > 0:35:38- Standing over the burner?- Yes. Yes.
0:35:38 > 0:35:39Yeah. Em...
0:35:41 > 0:35:44Carbon monoxide poisoning not a massive issue, generally for cooks now...
0:35:44 > 0:35:45Oh, so it's not just me, then?
0:35:45 > 0:35:48No, no, no. In the past, when you look at the kind of ailments
0:35:48 > 0:35:52that cooks suffered from, charcoal chafing stoves like this were one
0:35:52 > 0:35:54of the banes of cooks' existences.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57If you're stirring a hot stove all day, obviously inhaling it,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00respiratory failure was a real problem, and cooks did die from it,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02- often quite high-ranking cooks.- Really?
0:36:02 > 0:36:05- Wow.- So I think you probably did well to come outside.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07We don't necessarily want to replicate every aspect of the past.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09No!
0:36:10 > 0:36:13I think these need to come out, by the way.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Yeah, they're starting to just burn.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18How are you finding the recipes for this,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20and the fact that they're quite so vague?
0:36:20 > 0:36:22I'm OK with this cos, you know,
0:36:22 > 0:36:26growing up, you don't have set recipes.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29My grandma will say, "Take a handful of something and put it in there."
0:36:29 > 0:36:33My grandma's five-foot-one with tiny hands and I am five-eight with huge hands.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Whose handful of sugar is the handful of the person cooking.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38So that's about as much instruction as you get,
0:36:38 > 0:36:43so I'm comfortable, you know, you have a gut feel and you go with it.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Oh, my God!
0:36:52 > 0:36:54Absolutely stunning.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56- Do they taste all right? - They're really tart
0:36:56 > 0:37:00and really sweet and really strong,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03and they make me feel more alive than I think I've done all day!
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Producing delights like these oranges relied on imports
0:37:11 > 0:37:13of expensive foreign sugar.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20With a seemingly insatiable demand among the upper classes,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23the English urgently needed their own supply,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26and they finally acquired the perfect source.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33In 1625 they'd seized Barbados,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36which would become the first Caribbean island where they
0:37:36 > 0:37:39would set up sugar plantations.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43When the fledgling colony started to grow sugar for export in the 1640s,
0:37:43 > 0:37:47most of the labour was provided by white people.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50These were mostly Irish who worked in the fields side by side with the
0:37:50 > 0:37:55enslaved Africans who were starting to be imported here in their thousands.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59Gradually, forced labour from Ireland was replaced by the slaves,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02torn from their homeland against their will
0:38:02 > 0:38:04to work in the sugar plantations.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12This tortured history is particularly poignant to me
0:38:12 > 0:38:15as somebody who is part Irish and part Nigerian.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Most of the slaves were taken from west Africa,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22many of whom came from what is present-day Nigeria.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25While the Irish undoubtedly suffered terribly,
0:38:25 > 0:38:29it is those of African descent who still endure the legacy
0:38:29 > 0:38:33of marginalisation, exclusion and racism that was bound up
0:38:33 > 0:38:35in their enslavement.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40By 1700, there would be over 50,000 slaves on Barbados.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46The sugar plantation had become the ultimate business model,
0:38:46 > 0:38:51feeding what would become known as the triangular trade.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54European goods were exchanged for African slaves,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58who were shipped to the West Indies to work the plantations,
0:38:58 > 0:39:02and finally the resulting sugar was sent back to Europe.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Sugar would make England rich,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07but at a horrific human cost.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Hugh Cumberbatch supervises a rum factory
0:39:14 > 0:39:19on one of the oldest surviving sugar plantations in the Caribbean.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24What we are doing here is how it was done from the time of slavery until now.
0:39:24 > 0:39:25They're harvesting by machete.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30People tied the canes in bundles and transported them either
0:39:30 > 0:39:33to the factory or to the mill directly.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35Got it?
0:39:35 > 0:39:36Yeah, I'll have one more.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40What would it have been like for a slave
0:39:40 > 0:39:42who was harvesting the sugar cane crop?
0:39:43 > 0:39:48Back then, the fields would have been covered, say,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52with slaves using the machete.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55There were a lot of activities in the field to get the canes reaped
0:39:55 > 0:39:59as quickly as possible, and as much as possible.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04You had to work, you were a property, per se.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07The master, he bought you.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12There was no other options. You were bought to work, you had to work,
0:40:12 > 0:40:14despite whatever.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16And literally with people being worked to death?
0:40:16 > 0:40:22To death, yeah. Or in some cases, beaten to death.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Sugar imports into England soared,
0:40:24 > 0:40:29and prices fell by 70% between 1640-1680,
0:40:29 > 0:40:33as the free labour of the slaves fed the supply of the country.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44The world of the English confectioner was completely transformed by the conquest
0:40:44 > 0:40:46of the Caribbean islands.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49The kind of brunt of that is borne by the Africans
0:40:49 > 0:40:52that the British shipped in order to produce this sugar.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56- Yes, yes.- Considering sugar is so prolific,
0:40:56 > 0:40:58we're all addicted to it, we love it, it's there.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02- Absolutely.- But it's a sweet story usually...for a sweet substance.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04Not brutality.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07- Exactly.- We have here one of the very earliest accounts
0:41:07 > 0:41:10of plantation life.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12"The planters buy them out of the ship.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15"They choose them as they do horses in a market.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18"£20 sterling is a price for the best man Negro
0:41:18 > 0:41:22"and 25, 26 or £27 for a woman.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24"The children are at easier rates."
0:41:25 > 0:41:29One of the big problems that the slavers
0:41:29 > 0:41:32ran into in the early days was that of suicide.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Lots of the people chose to kill themselves.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Of course, yeah, than face that fate, yeah.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Not only that fate for themselves, but also for their children as well.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44- Absolutely.- So I have another little excerpt.
0:41:44 > 0:41:45- Heartbreaking.- It is.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50"They believe in resurrection and that they will go into their country
0:41:50 > 0:41:52"again and have their youth renewed,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55"and lodging this opinion in their hearts,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58"they make it an ordinary practice, upon any great fright,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02"or threatening from their masters, to hang themselves."
0:42:02 > 0:42:07So obviously the plantation owners are deeply, deeply enraged,
0:42:07 > 0:42:12so one of them devises a disincentive.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15"And he calls one of their heads to be cut off
0:42:15 > 0:42:17"and fed upon a pole a dozen foot high,
0:42:17 > 0:42:21"and having done that, called all his Negroes to come forth
0:42:21 > 0:42:24"and march about this head and bid them look on it.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27"He then told them, how was it possible
0:42:27 > 0:42:30"that body could go without head?
0:42:30 > 0:42:33"Being convinced by this sad yet lively spectacle,
0:42:33 > 0:42:35"they changed their opinions,
0:42:35 > 0:42:39"and after that, no more hung themselves."
0:42:40 > 0:42:42CYNTHIA SOBS
0:42:42 > 0:42:45It's, it's... It's speechless.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Our jobs are using sugar every day.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52The cruelty's just unbearable. It's...
0:42:53 > 0:42:55It's not just then...
0:42:57 > 0:42:59..what it has led to.
0:43:01 > 0:43:02It...
0:43:04 > 0:43:07It's the entire legacy of race.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10- Yes.- Like, all of the racism, all of the stereotypes about black people,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13all of that comes from this period.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17And it's just, it's just money.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19I mean, that simple act, as well, just says, you know,
0:43:19 > 0:43:24how much money was at the heart of everything.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28I think it was just greed. I don't think it was sugar itself.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32It makes me feel very uncomfortable
0:43:32 > 0:43:35about where my job has come from, in a way.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42Plentiful sugar was not the only Caribbean crop that would
0:43:42 > 0:43:45transform the world of the confectioner.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54When English troops captured Jamaica from Spain in 1655,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57they gained access to a precious commodity that had previously been
0:43:57 > 0:44:01monopolised by the Spanish Empire...
0:44:01 > 0:44:02cocoa beans.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05SHE GASPS
0:44:05 > 0:44:09- Uh-oh.- Look what she's got, look what she's got!- Treats.- Absolutely.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12So you're going to be making a very, very early chocolate recipe.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15It comes from a recipe book which was translated from the Spanish
0:44:15 > 0:44:18by a man called Captain James Wadsworth.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23He felt the need to tell his potential audience about the virtues
0:44:23 > 0:44:25of chocolate. Because, like so much, once again,
0:44:25 > 0:44:27it was linked very much to medicine.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29He started by saying,
0:44:29 > 0:44:34"Doctors, lay by your irksome books, and all you petty-fogging rooks,
0:44:34 > 0:44:38"leave quacking, and enucleate the virtues of our chocolate."
0:44:38 > 0:44:40So he's really bigging up the chocolate.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44- Yeah.- "Nor need the women longer grieve who spend their oil,
0:44:44 > 0:44:45"yet not conceive,
0:44:45 > 0:44:51"for 'tis a help immediate if such but lick of chocolate."
0:44:51 > 0:44:54Our confectioners have blocks of bitter, coarsely ground cocoa beans,
0:44:54 > 0:44:58quite unlike the sweet, smooth chocolate of today.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00- 14 chillies.- Yeah? Chuck them in.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02One, two...
0:45:02 > 0:45:06Incredibly, it would take more than 200 years to invent solid
0:45:06 > 0:45:08chocolate bars that were good enough to eat.
0:45:08 > 0:45:13In the 17th century it was hot chocolate that was all the rage.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Then three cods of logwood.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Three cods?
0:45:19 > 0:45:21The Spanish roots of this recipe are evident
0:45:21 > 0:45:23from the inclusion of logwood,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25which comes from the Campeche tree,
0:45:25 > 0:45:27which is native to Mexico.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29I don't know what a cod is. Is cod a length?
0:45:29 > 0:45:32It doesn't have much flavour, but it does go incredibly...
0:45:32 > 0:45:34It doesn't seem to be bringing out any colour.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Maybe it does when it's boiled.
0:45:37 > 0:45:38Ready? Chocolate going in.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41Stir continuous, so it doesn't burn on the bottom.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46- Oh.- Spicy. Oh, my God.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48It smells so intense.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51It smells lovely. Can you remember the first time you either saw or tasted chocolate?
0:45:51 > 0:45:55As a child, my dad would take me with him to London,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and he would make pilgrimage to a posh chocolate shop on Bond Street,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01buying himself chocolates,
0:46:01 > 0:46:03I hasten to add, not to buy me chocolates.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06And I remember sort of going in and seeing all these glistening chocolates
0:46:06 > 0:46:07in rows and rows and rows.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10And the smell when you walked into that shop
0:46:10 > 0:46:11was like something else.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18A tad more. Oh, wow, look at the colour of it.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20- Wow.- You can see the red, actually.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22- Yeah, you can. - You can see that red now, yeah.
0:46:22 > 0:46:23Definitely.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27The confectioners are using a molinet,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30a 17th-century chocolate whisk, to froth it up.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33Oh, my goodness me.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37- That is gorgeous. Look at the colour.- That looks so beautiful.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40Oh, my God. That is amazing.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44- Ooh, I just got a kick of chilli. - It's got a lovely kick.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48- It's like hot ganache, isn't it? - Yeah.- Perfect.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01In 1661,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Hannah Woolley became the first female cookery writer to
0:47:04 > 0:47:05be published in England.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09As the third day draws to a close,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12Paul and Diana are following her recipe for marchpane,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15the old name for baked marzipan.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18"To make marchpane according to the best art...
0:47:18 > 0:47:19"Two pound of Jordan almonds,
0:47:19 > 0:47:23"blanche them and beat them very fine in a stone mortar."
0:47:23 > 0:47:26We are skinning the almonds, so it comes off really, really easily,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29but when they've been in there the optimum amount of time,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31they will literally just slip out,
0:47:31 > 0:47:33whizz across the kitchen when you're doing this.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36I used to have to do this every year when my dad was making cakes.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39He used to make Dundee cake
0:47:39 > 0:47:41and I would have to skin the almonds for him.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43That's satisfying.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45There's a song in there somewhere.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48THEY HUM GREENSLEEVES
0:47:52 > 0:47:53We can rock.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01I don't know the rest of the words!
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Moulded marchpane could be used to construct castles,
0:48:08 > 0:48:11chess boards and other playful pieces for the banqueting table.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15It does taste beautiful with rose water,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17which is not used as much now in marzipan.
0:48:17 > 0:48:18It just tastes of almond.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24But there's a small technical problem with one of the moulds.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27I'm freeing up her nipples, because they got...
0:48:28 > 0:48:33..clogged with icing sugar, which is no good at all.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38I'm going to roll it and hope that we can get that off in one piece.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42- There she is.- Oh, wow!
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Wow. This is the first time I've ever had to work on boobs
0:48:46 > 0:48:49- this close up in my life. - DIANA LAUGHS
0:48:49 > 0:48:52And they are epic, aren't they?
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Well, yeah. See what you're missing out on?
0:48:55 > 0:48:56Cheeky!
0:48:56 > 0:48:57Beautiful.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59- Great.- Ready for the oven.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07- And finally, Lady Dorothy, that's what I'm calling her. - Lady Dorothy!
0:49:07 > 0:49:10There we go. Lady Dorothy going in.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15It's like someone's had a chew on the end of that...
0:49:15 > 0:49:19Confectioners used dyes sourced from around the globe to decorate
0:49:19 > 0:49:21their sugar plate and marchpane.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26While blue azurite, a rather toxic pigment, was shipped from Germany,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29saffron was grown in Essex.
0:49:29 > 0:49:30There's saffron.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32That will make a beautiful yellow.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35Yeah, but I think that's used to grind that.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38No, I think this is going to make a colour, I think.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40- You think?- I'm going to grind this down...
0:49:40 > 0:49:42- OK.- ..and add some egg white to it and see if it will...
0:49:42 > 0:49:45- Let's see what happens. - Yeah, but I've no idea what it is.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Oh, look, look, the colour that's coming out.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53- Oh, look!- Is it cochineal? I wonder if it's cochineal.
0:49:53 > 0:49:54It is, it is, it is.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58- So it's beetles. - It's dried beetles...
0:49:58 > 0:50:00- CYNTHIA GASPS - It is!
0:50:02 > 0:50:04The vivid red of the cochineal beetles,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07harvested from prickly pear cacti,
0:50:07 > 0:50:09came to English kitchens from Peru and Mexico.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14I bet it's really natural and lovely.
0:50:14 > 0:50:15- It tastes delicious.- Yeah?
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Just like eating a really nice green salad.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21- It's like a wheatgrass shot. - Yeah, exactly.
0:50:23 > 0:50:24Here comes the Madonna.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27Lady Dorothy - how is she looking?
0:50:27 > 0:50:28- Oh, she's beautiful.- Beautiful.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31Great. Let's turn her the right way.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33She was ripe.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36I'm really pleased that the oven has dried the embellishments,
0:50:36 > 0:50:40the relief, so that we can get detail and decoration onto it.
0:50:41 > 0:50:42- High-five.- I'm pleased.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44A Tudor high-five, that was!
0:50:44 > 0:50:47DIANA CHUCKLES
0:50:56 > 0:50:59It's the day of the banquet,
0:50:59 > 0:51:01and the moment of truth for their sugar plate,
0:51:01 > 0:51:03which has been drying for two days.
0:51:05 > 0:51:06Fingers crossed.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10Oh, my God... Oh, my goodness, look at that! That is brilliant.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13- That's held perfectly.- You just earned your keep for the day.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Brilliant. I only had an hour's sleep worrying about that.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19Seriously. Wow, we've got to paint it, though.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25Feathers were a perfect tool for the detailed artistic pieces.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27Totally outside my normal remit.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30I don't normally get involved in such an intricate level,
0:51:30 > 0:51:33but I have to say, it's very satisfying.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36We want the elephant to look like the most exotic,
0:51:36 > 0:51:40amazing creature that's ever come out of some strange land
0:51:40 > 0:51:42- that nobody's ever seen. - This needs a gold trunk.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44Yeah, a gold trunk.
0:51:47 > 0:51:48- That's nice.- Lovely.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55The centrepiece is the sugar plate banqueting house, and Cynthia,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58who's used to working with moulded sugar for her wedding cakes,
0:51:58 > 0:52:00is taking charge.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02Everything crossed this works...
0:52:02 > 0:52:05Do you know, as soon as Cynthia put the back of the house on...
0:52:06 > 0:52:09..my heart started beating faster. It looks like a house.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Phew. I'm excited like it's Christmas Eve, honestly.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15All my thoughts are going towards the roof at the moment,
0:52:15 > 0:52:17I'm not worried about the house itself.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19I'm just thinking about the roof.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21Does this fit? It looks like it's going to fit,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25- but there is a crack in the back, so we have to be very... - Oops, sorry, Andy.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Confectioners would have used props to hold up their centrepieces,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31which were built for show, not always to be eaten.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35If this breaks completely, then we can't use it.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38So the crack is just here.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42Cynthia's just mortaring it up with more icing.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Yeah, at this point it would move so slowly,
0:52:45 > 0:52:47that even though it might look fine,
0:52:47 > 0:52:49it's just moving like literally millimetres,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51and then if it's going to go, it'll all go suddenly.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55- And crash on the board. - And we don't want that to happen.
0:52:55 > 0:52:56- No pressure, Cynth!- No pressure.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58CYNTHIA CHUCKLES
0:52:58 > 0:53:01We do not panic.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03We've definitely got some movement here.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06- Yeah.- I don't know which one it is. - It's both of them.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09- Both of them need holding up. - Gravity's annoying, isn't it?
0:53:09 > 0:53:11SHE GASPS
0:53:11 > 0:53:13It's cracking, Cynth, it's getting worse, look.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15And this one's moved as well.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17You know what? Let's take these roofs off.
0:53:17 > 0:53:18- These are going to go.- Are you sure?
0:53:18 > 0:53:21So, guys, this now has two pieces.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23Guys, this roof's cracked in half.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25I think we should take that roof off.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Fearful of collapsing the entire structure,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30the confectioners have abandoned the roof for the time being.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33I don't think we've achieved enough,
0:53:33 > 0:53:37and not always getting the result that we anticipated.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40I'm just worried it's going to look really rubbish.
0:53:42 > 0:53:43After three days of panning,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47Paul is adding cochineal to the sugar syrup in a last-ditch attempt
0:53:47 > 0:53:50to improve his comfits.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53I am a bit tense, because in the bottom a lot of the seeds
0:53:53 > 0:53:56are popping out of the sugar,
0:53:56 > 0:53:59and I'm really wanting a smooth, even ball.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04It must take hours and hours, even days and days and days, of practice,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06to get an even coating.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10I wanted them to be better, a lot better.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23The confectioners have spent four days as highly skilled servants
0:54:23 > 0:54:28to the aristocracy, but will their final dishes be up to scratch?
0:54:29 > 0:54:32- Oh, my goodness.- Wow.- Look.
0:54:32 > 0:54:33It's extraordinary.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35The peacock is fabulous.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37- Your comfits, as well. - Sugar flowers.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39- My favourites are these ones. - They don't taste very English to me.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42- No.- They taste like a really, like, highly spiced and flavoured,
0:54:42 > 0:54:44like they'd be from India or something.
0:54:44 > 0:54:45- Yeah, very exotic, aren't they?- Yeah.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49- Do you know what? I would honestly consider to start making those and experimenting with them.- Yeah.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51I don't know why I got attached to them,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54I don't know if it was just the process, the colour, the taste, the smell,
0:54:54 > 0:54:57but I think we're all attached to something.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00This is called eryngo, and it's a root out of the garden.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04- OK.- It's supposed to have Viagra-like properties.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06- I'm quite into that.- Really?- Mm.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08- Wow.- Oh, hang on.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11The more I chew...
0:55:11 > 0:55:13It gives me like a real sense, though,
0:55:13 > 0:55:18- that they possibly had a very, very different palate to ours. - Sense of taste.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Now, we do have one critical element lacking.
0:55:21 > 0:55:22- The roof.- Yeah.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25I don't think without a roof you can pass this off,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27so you've got to put something on top.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32Just know that it will only fall once.
0:55:32 > 0:55:33Right.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36No, it's not moving, it's not moving.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Please, do not touch it.
0:55:38 > 0:55:39I need to get it together.
0:55:42 > 0:55:43Aah!
0:55:45 > 0:55:46I think we're all right.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51- Can they come in now, please? - Really super quickly!
0:55:51 > 0:55:52I'll go and get the guests.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Over the course of the 16th and 17th centuries,
0:55:59 > 0:56:03ever-expanding trade routes brought new and precious ingredients into
0:56:03 > 0:56:05confectioners' kitchens,
0:56:05 > 0:56:10as they became indispensable servants, creating ever more ambitious dishes.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12Wow, that's incredible.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15Mm.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Wonderful. That's just like eating pure sugar.
0:56:20 > 0:56:21Intense orange.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25The explosion of sugar production,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28enabled by the slave plantations of the Caribbean,
0:56:28 > 0:56:30fed the national addiction,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32fuelled the country's growing economy
0:56:32 > 0:56:36and changed the diet of the English for ever.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48- Confectioners, you smashed it. They absolutely love it.- Yes!
0:56:50 > 0:56:51Fantastic!
0:56:51 > 0:56:53- Excellent.- Brilliant.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55And the roof is still on the building!
0:56:55 > 0:56:58- THEY CHEER - Yes!- Brilliant, we did it.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03Really lovely. It's super sexy. Everyone was eating with their fingers. Honestly...
0:57:03 > 0:57:04- Fantastic.- Just a job well done.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08Probably the most exciting thing I've done in a very, very long time.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12They were a lot more adventurous than I think we are these days.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14- Intense flavours. - I was going to say...
0:57:14 > 0:57:15Really, really strong flavours.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Intense flavours, yeah. Those oranges and the rose water,
0:57:18 > 0:57:20everything dialled up maximum, wasn't it?
0:57:20 > 0:57:22And the biggest thing I'm surprised about is the colour.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Look, we're not exactly flamboyant, but all the food is flamboyant.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28Absolutely.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31It's been wonderful watching you approach everything with such
0:57:31 > 0:57:35enthusiasm, but what have you actually loved about the period?
0:57:35 > 0:57:39There comes across in the recipes a respect for the confectioners' own intuitions.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42I definitely found it very soothing.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46It takes you away from the normal day-to-day worries and anxieties.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49With all the labour-saving technology and equipment that we have today,
0:57:49 > 0:57:51actually we're more stressed
0:57:51 > 0:57:53and we're under more time pressure today than
0:57:53 > 0:57:55we were doing it by hand.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57So I think Tudor confectionery rocks!
0:57:57 > 0:57:58It rocks.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02With sugar becoming rapidly more available,
0:58:02 > 0:58:05its association with extreme wealth and privilege faded,
0:58:05 > 0:58:08and sugar banquets became a thing of the past.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13Next time, our team will run their own high-end
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Georgian confectionery shop in Bath,
0:58:16 > 0:58:20as they move out of the homes of the elite and onto the high streets.