SC - don't read... just a test

[Maddie Teller-Kook]

In a message dated 97-11-11 06:59:58 EST, you write:

<< did anyone post a recipe for candied ginger?  I've made it 
 but am interested in other peoples recipes for comparison.  My candied 
 ginger was so hot that you could barely eat it without crying! >>

One of the problems  with finding palatable candied ginger recipes is the
overlooked fact that "Candied Ginger" was not, according to the "History of
Food" a home-made confection but was a commercial imported product.

IMHO, sometimes we , as "modern" people tend to overlook the obvious with
regards to the actual lifestyles of the people of the M.A. Many of the
everyday sauces, syrups and confections were not produced at home but were
purchased from the appropriate vendors. As an example, we have ketchup,
mustard, and Oreo cookies today while in the M.A. assorted mustards,
greensauce, confections and tarts come to mind.

Breadbaking is another example. For the most part, it was against the law in
towns and cities to have your own oven and/or cooking facilities. Unless you
lived in a castle or large manner house you would have bought your dough/meat
from a purveyor of such items and them transported them over to the
baker/tart maker for preperation and cooking.

Granted that in the SCA it is assumed that we are all noblemen, I think that
it is rather absurd to assume that even those living in wealth would have had
all the food items they consumed prepared "on site". Granted that possibly on
special occasions one would whip up ones own mustard, I sincerely doubt that
making one's own candied ginger would have been on anyones list of things to
do in light of the fact that fresh gingerroot coulfd not possibly have
survided the journey to one's kitchen.

In light of the above, it would, IMO, be far more productive to look for such
recipes in India or the Middle East from whence this confection was imported
rather than in European sources where the presence of such a recipe would at
best have been a mere curiousity.

Ras




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