comfit an archaic English word for an item of confectionery consisting of a seed, or nut coated in several layers of sugar, equivalent to the French dragée. In England these small, hard sugar sweets were often made with caraway seeds, known for sweetening the breath (hence ‘kissing comfits’). Up to a dozen coats of syrup were needed before the seeds were satisfactorily encrusted. Comfits were eaten as sweets, and also used in other sweet dishes: for example seed cake was made with caraway comfits rather than loose caraway seeds as in the 19th century.
