SC - Period veges

[david friedman]

Charles ragnar discusses period veggies (and fruits):
>some of the things that _ARE_ period:
...
> Carrots (but they weren't orange. They were white or purple.)

I have seen this said, too.  But Menagier de Paris (late 14th c.) describes
carrots as "red roots that you buy in the market" (I am quoting by memory,
not exactly).  Given how the word red gets used (red hair, for instance)
this could be either literally red, like a beet, or orange.
...
> Beets. (Did people eat beetroot?).

As far as I can tell, no.  Every time I find a reference to beets, it seems
to mean greens.  Maybe beetroot got developed into something big enough to
be useful after our period?

> broad beans,

In addition to various European recipes for dried beans, there is an
interesting Islamic recipe for green fava beans with a name that means
"pistacio dish"--and no pistacios in it.  Turns out the cooked green favas
come out almost exactly pistacio color.

> Eggplant (aubergine),

I know lots of good Islamic recipes for this, but no non-Muslim European
ones.  Does anyone else?
...
>But think about what's where when. bananas are now grown in Iceland, but
>I don't think that was as common in 1200...

>From our Miscellany:  "The Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti, an Italian
manuscript of the fourteenth century (based on an Arab work of the eleventh
century) mentions bananas as something which "we know of .. only from texts
or tales from merchants from Cyprus or pilgrims from the Holy Land.
Sicilians ... know them well." It is clear from the accompanying picture
that the artist had never seen a banana. "

And add to the list strawberries and raspberries/blackberries.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook


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