A King's Confectioner in the Orient - Friedrich Unger, Court Confectioner to King Otto I of Greece (Hardcover, annotated edition)

This book, written in 1837 by Friedrich Unger, Chief Confectioner to King Otto I of Greece, is a remarkable window onto what is in many respects a lost world. Only a professional confectioner could have understood the techniques, equipment and ingredients sufficiently to leave a record so invaluable for recreating oriental confectionery. Moreover, Unger carried out his research at just the right time, before economic troubles, westernization, and the collapse of the guild system changed much beyond recall. Unger worked on his research for five years. His book is comprehensive and detailed, with recipes for 97 confections, some of which have disappeared entirely today. The light the book throws on relations between Turkish and European confectionery is of particular interest.