SC - Dried Currants

[Philip & Susan Troy]

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 2/27/99 8:33:27 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> snowfire at mail.snet.net writes:
> 
> << So the word "rayson" means "dried" or something?
> 
>  Elysant >>
> 
> rayson equals rison which is indeed the name used for a dried grape.
> 
> Ras

raisin < M.E. & O.F. reisin < L.L. racimus < L. racemus, meaning a
cluster of grapes

Small dried grapes (presumably dried on the bunch) were brought from the
Mediterranean Basin to places like England, where they were known as
"raysouns of Courance", or some variant thereof. 

Possibly larger dried grapes came from elsewhere, and weren't considered Corinthian.

It's very unlikely that the currants referred to in the medieval English
recipes are referring to anything other than dried grapes, for a variety
of reasons among them being:

1. English cookery of the period calls for a lot of dried Mediterranean
fruit, such as plums, figs, dates and raisins, as well as raisins of
Corinth. None of these are local items, and they are there both for the
romance of their imported status and also for their sweetness, something
the English seemed to prize more than the French, the Italians, and the Germans.

2. While red and black currants do seem to have existed in the British
Isles, Britain is really not a terrific place for drying fruit, given
its climate. I believe there are a few references to drying apples, but
not many, and I've seen no references to berries having been dried. I
suspect they're more likely to have been either eaten fresh or made into
country wines.

I have no idea why red and black currants are called currants; my
dictionary suggests they are so named due to their resemblance to the
small, dried "Corinthian" grapes. If this sounds implausible, I'll pose
a modern example of this type of equivocation: ever see the Python
routine about the self-defense against fresh fruit course? John Cleese,
as the instructor, uses the term "red currant" and "raspberry"
interchangably, having his students charge at him with deadly
raspberries, using a Bengal tiger, as I recall, to defend himself. He
says the great advantage of the tiger in unarmed combat is that 'e eats
not only the fruit-laden foe, but also the red currants.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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