The custard tart began its life in the Middle Ages in Britain and took its name from 'crustade', meaning a tart with a crust. It took many forms and is still with us in many shapes and sizes. In the Middle Ages the custard was flavoured with any number of spices and flavourings: almond, honey, cinnamon, lemon, vanilla or orange water as well as dried fruit or meat such as chopped pork. Later on in the sixteenth century, the custards were flavoured with a fruit puree - apples and pears were common - and even later a fruit puree provided the bedding for the custard on top. The heyday of the custard tart was during the early part of the twentieth century when black and white films saw a fashion for custard-tart throwing. In some of the Keystone Studios' earliest films, it was not unusual for 1,000 custard tarts to be thrown in one scene and there developed a special kind of screen tart with a robust military-quality pastry and a runny custard with a high splat capacity.