SC - Substitute for verjuice

[LrdRas]

In a message dated 97-10-09 01:45:06 EDT, you write:

<< Using a mix of mostly orange juice and 
 some lemon juice is one substituion I have seen for verjuice.
  >>

Verjuice is , IMHO, the juice extracted from crabapples or, more commonly,
unripe (green) grapes. After extraction it is allowed to undergo a natural
fermentation process and is then pottled or crocked. It really bears no
resemblance to citrus juices in flavor.

It would be my recommendation to not use the orande/lemon juice mixture as a
substitute for verjuice on the grounds that in the tasting process the
complexity of flavors produced by the citrus family is very much different
from that which is produced by either the pomes or the vinas.

OTOH, the complexity of flavor produced by the pomes and vinas for the most
part contain many characteristics that are common to each thus allowing for
the substitution of verjuice made from either crabapples or unripe grapes.
Using either of these verjuices in any given recipe would produce a product
that only a trained palatte could discern with difficulty. The average person
would most likely not notice any change in the taste. 

The use of citrus as a verjuice substitute would, IMHO, produce a dish that is
so radically different in flavor with the end result being a dish
unrecognizable when compared to a dish using pome/vina dirived
verjuice............

Just a tho't, :-)

al-Sayyid Ras
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