SC - Haggis??

[marilyn traber]

Adamantius wrote:
>Hullo, the list!
>
>In my neverending battle for Truth, Justice, and Stirring Up Trouble, I
>ran across this and thought I'd share it with da cooks on da list...

>Now, bearing in mind that the plant that we call rape today, whose seeds
>we use for rapeseed (canola) oil, and whose leaves and stalks we seem to
>use for animal fodder, has little or no bulbous root, what do people
>think of the chances we've been making armored turnips all these years
>when the dish is actually supposed to be armored turnipy, cabbagey,
>mustardy greens and stalks? Does anyone out there have an accessible
>copy of Gerard's or another near-period herbal, which might specify
>exactly what part of the rape plant was commonly used for food?
>
>Thanks in advance for any light anyone can shed on this bulbous
>mystery...
>
1. I don't have an herbal, but we do have the Oxford English Dictionary.

According to the OED, rape was used to mean both the turnip (Brassica rapa)
and the coleseed  plant (Brassica campestris oleifera), from which rapeseed
= cannola oil is made.  "There has been much confusion between rape and
coleseed, either plant being known under both names... The older writers
usually distingush the turnip and rape by the adjectives round and long
(-rooted) respectively."  Rape in the sense of turnip seems to have been
replaced by the word turnip during the 16th century.

2. There is a reference in the OED to a 15th-c. recipe that starts out
"take rapes and scrape hom wel...", which certainly sounds like the root.
Also, the 15th-c. recipe for Rapes in Potage (see Miscellany) gives as
alternatives to the rapes pasternakes (i.e. carrots or parsnips) or
skirrets, which are root vegetables.  But I cannot think of any recipes for
rapes which really sound like greens recipes--as I can for beets, for
example; Le Menagier's beets recipes sound as if he means greens.

3.  I have used turnip greens (when I could get them) in some period
recipes calling for mixed greens, but I cannot think of any recipes
specifically calling for them.  Can anyone else?

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook


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