Llibre de totes maneres de confi ts : book on diverse ways of preparing confectionery - old catalan collection of recipes from the 14th century

Llibre de totes maneres de confits is an anonymous collection of Catalan confectionery recipes from the second half of the 14th century and one of the earliest among those produced in the Christian part of the world during the Late Middle Ages. The only known manuscript is at the Barcelona University Library in the codex entitled Dies fl os de les medicines, pressmark ms. 68. The book contains 33 recipes for various sophisticated desserts made of honey and sugar. The major part of the recipes are instructions on how to prepare candied fruit (chapters I-XVI, XVIII-XXVI and XXVIII-XXIX; 28 recipes in total), stewed fruit (chapters XVII and XXVII) and cakes (chapters XXXI-XXXIII). The name of the author as well as the circumstances related to its production and purpose remain unknown. The only trace that one could follow is provided in the words of the preface. As has been demonstrated by Joan Santanach i Suñol, they are far from credible since the author of the compilation relied heavily on other texts. The author of the Polish edition believes that the book was in fact written for people already familiar with the principles of culinary art and not for aristocrats to whom the anonymous compiler dedicates his work following a popular convention. Originally, the book may have been didactic in character and intended for future confectionary masters (e.g. apprentices). The text was published for the first time in 1946 in „Boletín de la Real Academia de Buenos Letras de Barcelona” by Lluís Faraudo de Saint-Germain. The modern Catalan edition of Llibre de totes maneres de confi ts, which is the source text for this translation and the Polish edition, came out in 2003 and was edited by Joan Santanach i Suñol. So far this collection has never been translated in its entirety from the Old Catalan into any modern language and the Polish version is the very first attempt. The text of the translation preserves the peculiar structure of the original with its numerous repetitions and inconsistent use of personal forms