Editing Custard (section)

== History ==
[[File:Egg custard tart by Stu Spivack.jpg|right|thumb|Custard tarts]]

Custards baked in pastry ([[custard tart]]s) were very popular in the [[Middle Ages]], and are the origin of the English word 'custard': the French term [[croustade]] originally referred to the crust of a tart,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Alan |editor1-first=Tom |editor1-last=Jaine |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001 |title=The Oxford Companion to Food |date=2006-01-01 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-280681-9 }}</ref> and is derived from the Italian word [[crostata]], and ultimately the Latin {{Lang|la|crustāre}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Skeat |first=Walter William |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924008779690#page/n145/mode/2up |title=A concise etymological dictionary of the English language |publisher=[[American Book Company (1890)|American Book Company]] |year=1911 |location=[[Oxford]] |lccn=11035890 |ol=16525337M |ref=Skeat}} Page 125.</ref>

Examples include ''Crustardes of flessh'' and ''Crustade'', in the 14th century English collection ''[[The Forme of Cury]]''. These recipes include solid ingredients such as meat, fish, and fruit bound by the custard.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hieatt |first1=Constance |title=Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century (including the forme of cury) <!--London, EETS SS 8, 1985--> |last2=Butler |first2=Sharon}}</ref><ref name="AustinT">{{Cite book |title=Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books <!--London, EETS OS 91, 1888--> |date=1964 <!--Harleian MSS 279 and 4016--> |editor-last=Austin |editor-first=Thomas}}</ref> Stirred custards cooked in pots are also found under the names ''Creme Boylede'' and ''Creme boiled''.<ref name="AustinT" /> Some custards especially in the [[Elizabethan]] era used [[Calendula|marigold]] (''calendula'') to give the custard color.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DeBaggio |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_KPgxEglHAC&q=calendula+colored+custard+marigold&pg=PA183 |title=The Encyclopedia of Herbs: A Comprehensive Reference to Herbs of Flavor and Fragrance |date=September 2009 |publisher=Timber Press |isbn=9781604691344}} Page 183.</ref><ref name="rodale">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htGD3Y7WNxwC |title=Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs|isbn=9780875969640|last1=Kowalchik|first1=Claire|last2=Hylton|first2=William H.|date=15 January 1998|publisher=Rodale }}</ref>

In modern times, the name 'custard' is sometimes applied to starch-thickened preparations like [[blancmange]] and [[Bird's Custard]] powder.