SC - Marshmallows

[Margo Hablutzel]

Master Adamantius said:
>I think I saw that. Actual marshmallow "sap" is a sweet, mucilaginous
>gum, somewhat translucent, but not the creamy white stuff you're
>thinking of. If eaten in period it was presumably taken for medicinal
>purposes.

And Marilyn Traber responded with:

>nope, they took the sap that oozez out, it is sort of whitish,
>like elmers glue. the doc at the smithsonian [....] said they
>were found in a jar in a tomb [....] they had been mixed with
>barley flour to a good formable paste, then rolled in barley
>flour to keep them from sticking.

Are you absolutely sure and are they absolutely sure that these
were even for *eating*? The description you give sounds quite a
bit like a paste that was used to treat pain. Gerard has tons of
recipes for plasters, ointments, unguents, and balms that involved
these same ingredients. The chapter on Marsh-mallow in his "Herbal
or General History of Plants" describes the addition of the plants
musilage to all oils, ointments, and plasters. And the last two
of those items were often made with flours of varying kinds.

jasmine, jasmine at infoengine.com
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