SC - Grapes VERY LONG for the gentle who missed the thread
ChannonM at aol.com
ChannonM at aol.com
Mon Nov 15 16:53:58 PST 1999
In a message dated 11/15/99 9:49:26 AM Eastern Standard Time, troy at asan.com
writes:
<< I'm inclined to favor the idea that
the statement should read, must is made from raw grapes >>
<<It does seem to be fairly frequently used as a sweetener, though,
and I doubt very much that must, a fairly heavy, unfiltered grape
juice/mash is used as verjuice was used later.>>
Have you considered that there may be more than one type of must? The passage
from Anthimus is expanded upon by Grant; and I quote his book pg 124,
The best must was made from grapes picked when no more that the size of chick
peas (cf. Corpus of Latin Glosses 3.579.10), before the rising of the Dog
Star in July, and when still covered in the first bloom (cf. Corpus of Latin
Glosses 3.579.12). Thehse grapes were pressed to produce a dry red and rather
bitter juice (Pliny Natural History 12.130-2). Dioscorides (On Medical
Substances 5.5) specifies that must should be made from the juice of unripe
Thasian or Aminean grapes. In medicine must could be used in the treatment of
many maladies, from faintness to weak digestion (Pliny Natural History
23.53, cf. 14.77-80)
I think that there is support for recipes being prescriptions for health, the
root of the word is significant in this consideration:
imperative of recipere to take back, take in, receive. See Receive.] A
formulary or prescription for making some combination, mixture, or
preparation of materials; a receipt; especially, a prescription for medicine.
As such, there may be significance that a sour grape juice is used over
vinegar. The 13th and 14th C French used both significantly, yet we don't say
that if they want sourness that they would use one vs the other- they just
used both. Why is it? I would like to do further research into the medicinal
uses of both and then we could possibly justify why. It has been put forth
that a great deal of early French cooking is connected to Galen's theories
(see Scully for one), likewise Roman cooking was greatly influenced by this
Physician to Marc Anthony(if memory serves me).
More to think about. Boy, I do I have a lot to think about. To bad I don't
have the time to go with it. ;)
Hauviette
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