SC - Another Novice Recipe Challenge

[Gretchen M Beck]

Hi, Katerine here.  Drake Morgan responds to me:

>>Carrots are period, but were rare.  (How rare is indicated by the
>>Menagier describing them in detail to his young wife, in case she
>>didn't know what they were.)  Parsnips are another (hugely underrated)
>>option.  So are water parsnips (the primary candidate for "skirrets"),
>>but they're rare in the US at least.
>
>In all my modern herb books I cannot find 'skirrets' except one...which
>describes a herb with an edible root which was highly prized by the Romans
>and which has the botanical name:
>Sium Sisarum.  Any ideas anyone?

That could be it.  I'll keep an eye out, in case I trip over a source!

>Gerard has no mention of 'skirrets' but does mention 'skirrets of peru'
>which looks remarkably like the humble 'Spud'.  He mentions its serving
>Roasted in the fire and then either sopped in wine or served with Olive Oil,
>Salt and Vinegar "as you like it...". Yum.

Sounds neat; but nothing from Peru can be what the 14th C sources were
talking about.

>Also I can understand that carrot (daucus carota) is a white-flowered
>umbellifae, which have a reputation of being hard to identify from each
>other and contain in the familiy such plants as hemlock.  In collecting wild
>carrots, one would have to have a little nerve.

Don't know; but the Menagier was instructing his wife on how to recognize
them on sale in the market.

Cheers,

- -- Katerine/Terry


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