SC - poppy seed oil

[Kerri Canepa]

Stefan,

>I am planning on trying the saffron wafers in "Food and Drink in Medieval
>Poland" tomorrow. In the recipe it calls for poppy seed oil to coat the
>wafer iron.

Ooh, let me know how the wafers turn out. I haven't had a chance to play with
that recipe yet.
>
>All I could find today, in my large specialty store Central Market, and
>my regular HRB grocery was olive oil (lots of olive oils), seseme oil,
>walnut oil, almond oil and some more modern ones (I assume) such as
>safflower oil, peanut oil, sunflower seed oil and some others.
>
>I bought some almond oil because I thought my first choice, walnut
>oil might lend too much nut taste. As this oil is in direct contact
>with the wafer, the taste may matter. Can anyone tell me if poppyseed
>oil has much of a taste and if so, what it is? Should I use olive oil?
>I have no idea if these different oils have different smoke points
>and whether it would matter in this application.

I've never used poppy seed oil or walnut oil for that matter. I would think that
they would impart a slight flavor but if the wafer is flavored with saffron and
sugar, then I doubt the oil is going to make that much of an impression. Also,
you don't need to use much oil at all or it drips out everywhere. Depending on
the olive oil (the more "virgin" and lighter in color it is, the less strongly
flavored), you could try it. 
>
>The wafer iron does have a non-stick coating. Should I just omit the
>oil?

That or experiment; do some without and some with oil. It sounds like you have
an electric pizzelle maker so I don't think you need to worry too much about the
smoking point of oils. It's something I have to take into account since I'm
using a hand held over the stove pizzelle maker with less heat control.

Using my pizzelle maker I found that after a certain point, no fats were
necessary to keep the wafer from sticking. I may have been partially due to the
high heat I kept it at, but I couldn't really say for sure.

As an aside, this quote from _Food and Drink in Medieval Poland_
>Metal wafer irons are mentioned 
>in several medieval sources and on occasion they are 
>depicted, but none have survived intact.
I can at least address. While visiting Buonconsiglia Castle in Trento, Italy,
there was an iron wafer maker on display (with, of course, no identifying notes
or anything) with an heraldic design carved into it. Since the castle had
continuous inhabitants until well into the early 19th c, it could have been from
any number of time periods. Since the heraldry was of the fellow who was a big
honcho during the Council of Trent times, it's likely the iron is from the early
to mid 16th c. Yeah, it's not medieval but it is authentic.

Kerri
Cedrin Etainnighean, OL
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