SC - Beets redux...

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/24/99 11:49:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time, lcm at efn.org 
writes:

<< Any ideas what
 kind of beet these were?  >>

These were one of many cultivars available to the modern gardener. Other beet 
cultivars include red and yellow striped, concentric red and white bands when 
slice crosswise, white, and golden. 

Since this beet discussion has come up, I have been doing a little reading 
and have revised my opinion about whether beetroots were used in the MA's. I 
now think they were used BUT were still not all that commonly. Platina does 
mention beets as a root in the third chapter of De Honesta but the only 
recipe he has using beets is in the sixth chapter where it is included as am 
ingredient in 'Green Sauce.' That example clearly indicates the leaves and/or 
stems are meant by the term 'beta' since the use or the red beetroot would 
result in a brown sauce and not a green sauce.

Other than the isolated case of the possible use of the root in the late 
period recipe for the tarts posted earlier this week, I found no tart recipes 
including beets as an ingredient that would suggest an interpretation of 
their use in tarts in a form other than greens.

There are several isolated recipes which might be interpreted as the root but 
they were rare and in some cases very ambiguous. A phone call to a 
horticuluralist that I know is interested in historical horticulture offered 
the intriguing opinion that medieval beets were rounded at the top and then 
tapered to a point resembling an over sized squat carrot rather than the 
ball-like form we normally associate a beet with in the current middle ages. 
He has promised to try to find me the source of this info if he can. 

If he is accurate in his interpretation and you have garden space or access 
to a good green grocer, the variety Cylindra would be a good modern 
substitute for beetroots in period recipe when their use clearly indicated, 
IMO.

Ras
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