HERB - Crystallized Ginger

[Gaylin Walli]

Grania wrote:
>I take a little bit straight when I have an upset stomach and it really
>calms it down.  .  A lot of people use it like a candy treat.  I think it
>tastes a little bit too close to eating soap.

The stomach calming I understand. I've used it as a digestive as well.
I don't understand the soap reference, though. No criticism to you,
of course! The same thing has been said to me before.

SCA Cook's discussed this at one point. One person, IIRC, summed
up the discussions by saying that, in their opinion, American palates
had long associated floral smells with perfume only and that the
odor or bouquet of flowers and plants with a "heady nose" often
struck people as "soapy" beacause of the fragrances put into soap
by American manufacturers. Other cultures did not necessarily
have the same reaction (e.g. the French with their incorporation of
Lavender in spice mixes).

Things that taste like soap to me, oddly, are not those with
flowery scents, but instead those items with a waxy texture
that turns to slime. I ate far too many bars of soap as a child...

Somewhere I think I have a recipe for shortbread that uses
crystallized ginger. If I can find it here at work on my computer
I'll send it along.

jasmine, jasmine at infoengine.com
============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.