Amydon (Wheat starch)

Amydon is "Fine wheat flower steeped in water; then strained, & let stand untill it settle at the bottome; then drained of the water, & dried at the Sunne; used for bread, or in brothes it is very nourrishing. A Dictionarie of the the French and English Tongues, London, 1611

This is an excerpt from Liber cure cocorum [Sloane MS 1986]
(England, 1430)

Amydone. Take wete and stepe hit dayes ix. Þus chaunge þy water yche day be dene. Brys hit in a morter ry3t smalle, Sethe hit with mylke and water with alle. Þorowgh a herseve loke þou hit sye, And let hit stonde and setel bye. Poure oute þe water, in clothe hit lay, Tyl hit be drye þou turne hit ay. Þys is a lycour as men sayn, Þer of I schalle speke more in playn.

This is an excerpt from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books
(England, 1430)

For to make amydon. Nym whete at midsomer / and salt, and do it in a faire vessel / do water therto, that thy whete be yheled / let it stonde ix days and ix ny3t, and eueryeday whess wel thy whete / and at ye ix days ende bray hit wel in a morter / and drie hit to3enst ye sonne / do it in a faire vessel / and kouere hit fort, thou wil it note.

This is an excerpt from A Noble Boke off Cookry
(England, 1468)

To mak amydon take whet and step it in water x dais and change the water eury daye then bet yt smalle in a mortair and sethe it with water and mylk and sye it throughe a clothe and let yt stond and setelle and pour out the water and lay it in a clothe and turn it till it be drye.

This is an excerpt from Recipes from John Crophill's Commonplace Book
(England, 1485)

Amydone. Take whete & step it ix days & chaunche the water every day twyes brose it in a morter rythe smal tempre it up sithen with melk or water sye it thorow an harsine let it stonde stylle til it be stable poure out the water ley it on a cloghet turne it til it be bon drye.

This is an excerpt from Thomas Awkbarow's Recipes (MS Harley 5401)
(England, 15th century)
[based on a concordance]

To make Amydon. Recipe whete & stepe it ix dayes, & change þe water every day twyes; than bray it in a morter right small, & clens it throgh a haryn syve, & lat it stonde tyll it be sett; þen put onto þe morter & bray it in a clothe to it be dry.

Dishes Made with Amydon

This is an excerpt from Libro di cucina / Libro per cuoco
(Italy, 14th/15th c. - Louise Smithson, trans.)
The original source can be found at Louise Smithson's website

I - Amidono of starch. If you want to make starch dish for 12 people, take two pounds of almonds and one pound of amido / starch. For instructions to make amido see notes. And half of sugar and take ? of peeled pine nuts and half a quarter (1 / 8th) of cloves, and take the almonds well peeled and well crushed, and temper them with clear water well boiled and separate the milk and set it to boil, of that that remains raw put to soften the starch. When the milk has boiled enough, temper the starch and put it into and mix thick for serving, and put in enough sugar, and dust with scrapes of sugar and cloves and whole pine nuts. And if you want to make it for more persons or for less, make it like this to this same recipe and it is a perfect food.

This is an excerpt from Libre del Coch
(Spain, 1520 - Robin Carroll-Mann, trans.)

38. WHEAT Starch. You will take starch which is very white and clean and grind it in a mortar. And then take well-peeled blanched almonds and grind them by themselves; and when they are well-ground, blend them with hen's broth and strain it through a woolen cloth. And when the almond milk is strained, blend what remains of the milk with the starch, and put it in your pot and cook it and cast sugar on it; and when it is more than half cooked, cast in the almond milk which is thicker, and cook it until it is well-thickened. And when it is cooked, remove it from the fire. And let it rest a little while, covered with a cloth, and cast sugar upon the dishes.

This is an excerpt from Libre del Coch
(Spain, 1520 - Robin Carroll-Mann, trans.)
The original source can be found at Mark S. Harris' Florilegium

240. WHEAT STARCH. Starch is made in this way. Take the starch which is fresh, and clean, and white; and for six dishes take a pound of starch, and a pound of sugar, and a pound and a half of almonds, and a pound of rosewater; and then cast the starch into a pot which should be well tinned; and half an ounce of whole cinnamon with it; and then cast in the rosewater and let it soak in that water; and then grind those peeled almonds in a mortar, and strain them with lukewarm clean water; and after straining them, cast half of the milk into the pot and cast in eight ounces of sugar, and blend them well with a spatula of wood; and then let it go to the fire to cook, and stir it constantly in one direction, and if it has need of milk, cast it in little by little until you know that it has enough; and taste it for flavor to see if it lacks anything; and if it lacks something, cast it in; and taste it for the flavor of salt and for everything; and if you see that it makes water it is not cooked; and when it does not make any [water] then it is cooked, and remove it from the fire.

And if by chance it tastes of smoke, take a little bit of very sour leaven, and tie it in a clean cloth; and when you cook, put in this leaven so that it boils vigorously with it; and with this, smoke is removed from such foods, etc.