From Libro della Cucina del secolo XIV, accessed at http://www.medievalcuisine.com/Euriol/recipe-index/nucato
Original:
Dele mele bullito co le noci, detto nucato. Togli mele bullito e schlumato, con le noci unpoco peste e spezie cottte insieme: bagnati la palma de la mano coll’acqu et estendilo: lassa freddare a dil a mangiare. E puoi ponere mandole e avellane in luogo di noci .
Translation: (from The Medieval Kitchen Recipes from France and Italy)
Of honey boiled with walnuts, known as nucato. Take honey, boiled and skimmed, with slightly crushed walnuts and spices, boiled together: wet the palm of your hand with water and spread it out; let it cool, and serve. And you can use almonds of filberts in place of walnuts.
Recipe
1 c honey
6 oz. walnuts (chopped to desired size)
1 t. Dutch spice mix, powder forte, or your favorite combination
This recipe is good as a chewier taffy or hard brittle. Heat the honey to the soft or hard crack stage (using a candy thermometer is easiest), mix in the nuts, and spread on prepared parchment paper. The version I heated to 305 F could remove your fillings; slightly higher created a more hard candy consistency.
Since I was out of powder forte, I used Dutch spice mix I had leftover from another project. I think almost any combination of cloves, cinnamon, ginger, etc. would be tasty.
