This is a great, simple recipe from the past. With all of those fresh berries in season, enjoy your summer colonial style!
I personally wasn’t familiar with flummery, and seeing this recipe in Felicity’s Cooking Studio cookbook piqued my interest. I decided to do some research on it and found that flummery is described as a sweet, starchy set-jelly dessert. My personal description of it, is a cross between jam and modern-day JELLO. It was popular during the 17th to the 19th centuries. Flummery was originally made by soaking oatmeal overnight in water and then boiling the liquid with sugar. Things such as rosewater were added for flavor. The American colonists used this dessert at the end of an elegant meal. Often they made it clear and then added color by using spinach juice, syrup from blue violets and other edibles. Flummery was sometimes placed in a mould to chill. The word has also been used for other semi-set desserts.
To try other Felicity recipes visit Felicity’s Spiced Nuts and Felicity’s Liberty Tea.
For this recipe you will need: 3 cups of raspberries, 3/4 cup cold water, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 6 tablespoons of cornstarch. (The complete recipe is at the bottom of the page)

Felicity has all of her ingredients ready to make raspberry flummery.
In a saucepan, cook the raspberries and water on medium heat until the berries are soft. Mine took 5 minutes. I chose a pan with high sides because of juice spatter.
In a separate bowl, blend the sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Once berries are soft, slowly add the dry ingredient mixture to the berries. Stirring well, cook on low for 10 minutes, or until thick. It should separate slightly before morphing back together when stirring.
The flummery will be extremely hot and will stick to anything it touches, please be careful. Spoon the flummery into glass dishes and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
You can serve the flummery as is, but it becomes so fancy with a little topping! I added a dollop of whipped cream and garnished with some leftover raspberries and mint leaves from my herb garden. This is a great cool dessert for those warm summer evenings. I hope you try it!

Sharing Raspberry Flummery with Elizabeth
Raspberry Flummery ~ American Girl
(This recipe has been adapted from Felicity’s Cooking Studio)
*This recipe requires adult supervision, the flummery will be boiling hot and sticky!
Ingredients
- 3 cups of raspberries (rinsed well)
- 3/4 cup cold water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- whipped topping or cream (optional)
- raspberries for garnish (optional)
- mint leaves for garnish (optional)
Directions
- In a saucepan, cook the raspberries and water on medium heat until the berries are soft.
- Cover and stir occasionally.
- In a separate bowl, blend the sugar, salt, and cornstarch.
- When berries are soft, slowly add the dry ingredient mix and stir.
- Cook on low for 10 minutes, or until thick.
- Spoon the hot flummery into glass dishes, chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Garnish with whipped topping, fresh raspberries and mint leaves (optional)
I also tried this recipe for the first time over the summer. It’s AMAZING!!! So, so good! We ate it as it’s intended but it also was really nice as a sort of spread on Samantha’s blueberry muffins! Yum yum!
It is yummy! That’s a great thought! I’ll have to try it on a muffin next time!