SC - pickled vegetables and fruits

[Phil & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Looking through the pickled-food-msg file in my Florilegium, I find that
> a number of the recipes don't seem to name specific vegetables. However,
> I did find the following ones mentioned:
> 
> Lemons, oranges, raisins, pears, cabbage, walnuts, white radishes,
> currants, carrots, turnips, mushrooms, onions, cucumbers, lentils, chard.
> 
> Many of these appear to be a mix of vegetables at once called compost
> and not just a single vegetable at a time.

Well, you know, it's an interesting thing. There's an English recipe for
compost in The Forme of Cury, which appears to make a product pretty similar
to the pickled nut recipe in Le Menagier de Paris, except it uses a slightly
smaller variety of fruits and vegetables, all more or less in season at the
same time. 

The recipe in Le Menagier is, well, disguised, I think, as several recipes in
sequence, but it is, I think, one long, complex recipe. How closely it is
expected to be followed is in question, but basically the process seems to
call for making a nut pickle, then when something else on the list, that is
ready for harvest or market two weeks later, is available, it is cooked and
added to the original pickle, and so on. It seems likely the pickle is stored
in a stone crock with a lid, and items would be dipped out of it about as
frequently as they are added, but as autumn progresses the variety of the
pickle grows.

And, BTW, this stuff really does keep well, especially refrigerated. Of
course, before we worry too much about the fact that Le Menagier's bride
wouldn't have had refrigeration, we should consider the effects of storing a
wet pickle in a porous stone or earthenware jar in a larder or cellar, in
autmn. Maybe not 35 - 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but possibly not too far from it,
either.  

Adamantius
Østgardr, East
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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