sca-cooks kingdom feast

[Mark Harris]

Greetings,

I said earlier today that I thought carrots until late in period were
white not orange. After searching through my file food-msg, I found
two messages on carrots. It looks like I was probably wrong and they
were red as Adamantius suggested. Since one of these messages gives
what I think is a good indication that they were red and because the
other indicates other probably differances in fruits and vegatables
since then, I've pasted them below.

Stefan li Rous
> Tibor said:
> 
> >I gather that carrots have changed, as well.  I'm sure meat animals are
less
> >fatty and more meaty.
> 
> I remember carrots being discusses on the Riatlo several years ago.
> Apparently
> until a mutation very late in the Middle Ages carrots were white. (Yuck!)
and
> I imagine, smaller.

Carrots in the Middle Ages appear to have been, essentially, parsnips
with a red skin like a radish. I understand that the major cause of
their being as they are today is nineteenth-century hybridization.

Adamantius

===================================
From: storm at hlafdig.stonemarche.ORG (Arastorm the Golden)
Date: 23 Oct 91 16:01:04 GMT
Organization: The Internet

        We planted a "period apple tree" several years ago in a flush
of agrarian authenticity. It is producing now. In my opinion the
Gilliflour (which can be traced back to 1600, and was brought to 
this country by T. Jefferson) is no where near as good as...
         We live in apple country. A local farm grows 52 variety of
apples and I have tasted more than half of them. My favorite apples
(depending on use) include Cortlands, Northern Spys, McCoons, 
Granny Smiths and Red Delicious. It does not include Gillyflours.
The flavor is mild, too sweet, and the pulp is mushy. 
        Sometimes paintings show period fruits. Oranges used to be
half white membrane. According to National Geographic, beets were
solely a leaf crop until the last century. Carrots were also small
enough so that we should really not serve anything but "baby carrots"
at events.
        Remember, the reason that venison was prized was because the
herds were protected, and beef cattle were worked. Food ain't what it once
was, and for this we should be intensley grateful for the hard work
and dilligence of our ancestors.
        By the Way- has anyone got a source for the appropriate pine bark
to grind up and put in one's pease bread?   Arastorm


From: djheydt at garnet.berkeley.edu
Date: 1 Nov 91 03:08:36 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley

In article <24993 at sdcc6.ucsd.edu> sbloch at euler.ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch) writes:
>
>>Carrots were also small
>
>And, according to what I've heard, either white or purple.
>
So I've heard too--and yet the Menagier de Paris in 1393 or thereabouts
says, "Carrots are the red roots that they sell by the handful at the
market Les Halles, a half-sou a handful."

Dorothea of Caer-Myrddin
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