SC - Rhubarb in Period

[Donald W. Lewis]

Here is a page that shows many cases of rhubarb being used through
history.
 http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-history.html



Donald MacGregor

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	David Dendy [mailto:ddendy at silk.net]
		Sent:	Tuesday, October 05, 1999 12:31 PM
		To:	SCA Cooks
		Subject:	SC - Rhubarb in Period

		Quite some time ago someone was inquiring about the use
of rhubarb in period
		cooking, and if I recall correctly the consensus was
that it was a
		post-period innovation, as "pie-plant".

		This may be correct for western Europe, but I was just
re-reading a summary
		of a mid-13th century Arab cookbook, the "Kitab al-Wusla
ila l'Habib" (in
		Maxime Rodinson, "Recherches sur les documents arabes
relatifs a la
		cuisine", in REVUE DES ETUDES ISLAMIQUES, vol. 17
(1949), and a number of
		recipes using rhubarb are listed. In Chapter V (Chicken
recipes), three
		recipes for "poulet a la rhubarbe' (chicken with
rhubarb) are given, and in
		Chapter VI (Dry dishes, fried, rissoles, etc.) two for
"viande a la
		rhubarbe" (meat with rhubarb). In a note on the section
on Cold Relishes
		("bawarid" in Arabic), the editor quotes Najib ad-din
as-Samarqandi (a
		medieval Arab physician, if I recall correctly): "Les
bawarid sont des
		legumes verts cuits que l'on met dans des liquides
acides comme le vinaigre,
		le verjus, le [jus de] sumac, le jus de pommes, le [jus
de] rhubarbe et le
		lait caille (persan "mast")." (which, roughly
translated, is "Bawarids are
		chopped green vegetables which are put in acid liquids
like vinegar,
		verjuice, sumac [juice], apple juice, rhubarb [juice],
and yoghurt.")

		So it seems clearly that at least by the 13th century
rhubarb was being used
		in Middle Eastern cookery, as an acidulant or souring
agent. It would surely
		be the stalks, as today; the leafs are fully of oxalic
acid, which causes
		horrible pain if ingested, so it's not the leaves; and
the root is a
		pugative, so it won't be the root.

		Unfortunately, Rodinson gives only the summary of the
cookbook, with only a
		few full recipes, not including any of the rhubarb
recipes.  If there is
		anyone on the list who can read medieval Arabic, it
might be possible to get
		a copy of the cookbook (at least one copy, in the
British Museum, has been
		microfilmed) and translate them (and there are a couple
of recipes for spice
		mixture I'd dearly love translations of, as well).

		Any other examples?

		Francesco Sirene
		David Dendy / ddendy at silk.net
		partner in Francesco Sirene, Spicer / sirene at silk.net
		Visit our Website at http://www.silk.net/sirene/

	
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