(Not to be confused with the beef dish 'Sanders or Saunders')
Chips of Sanders Wood
Image: www.pennherb.com
A powder containing santalic acid made from the red sandlewood tree, Pterocarpus santalinum, used as a red colouring in ancient cookery.
'The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin' 1594 by Thomas Dawson, (Huswife 1594)has; "To boyle a leg of Mutton with Lemmons ... when they be well boyled, season it with a litle vergious, sugar, pepper grose beaten, and a little sanders" and 'The Accomplisht Cook ' by Robert May, 1660 (Robert May 1660) has; "Take some of your Marchpane paste and work it with red sanders till it be red"
Still manufactured in India, the tree is now endangered so that production is severely restricted.