SC - SC-green beans?

[Phil & Susan Troy]

Mike and Gail Young wrote:

> Could anyone tell me if green beans are period.  I have a recipe for green
> beans and almonds that was served at a feast I attended once but I am
> trying to do documentation on a feast I am preparing.  Any help would be
> greatly appreciated.
> Lady Gwyneth Blackrose
> Gail Young
>

Through most SCA period, the legumes generally available to Europeans were fava
beans, chick peas, lentils, and various types of peas. New World beans (the
haricot bean, of which our green bean is a type) seem to occur in period
recipes only in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, at best, and I'm not
aware of green (in other words, immature) haricots being eaten in the shell or
pod in period.

On the other hand, baby fava beans in their shells, fresh green fava beans,
shelled, and baby peas in their peascods, all do seem to have been eaten in
period, generally boiled very briefly and eaten with butter, butter and
vinegar, or vinegar and oil. This would generally be considered a simple sallat
of green beans or peascods. And, in season, a very commendable one. BTW,
shelled fava beans still have a leathery husk on each individual bean, and it's
kind of a pain to remove, which is why the beans must be young if they're going
to be eaten fresh. That, and the fact that the shells or cods have an inner
lining to which many people are allergic. But, if you're prepared to go through
the hassle, peeled green favas are great, and even are sometimes eaten raw.

All that being said, if you were to serve beancods of unknown provenance at
your feast, it wouldn't be the end of the world. If someone were so crass as to
leave persona to kvetch about the green beans not being period, you can simply
refer them to the farmer, and/or point out that pointing out that things aren't
period isn't period.

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com


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