SC - Radishes in de Nola

[harper at idt.net]

I sent the question about "rabano vexisco"/"rabano vagisco" to a research 
listserv that I subscribe to at work.  As I hoped, I got an answer from a list 
member who is a professor of Romance Languages.  Below is his reply, which I 
have permission to quote.


Forwarded Message:
> From: 
>         "John P. Dyson" <dyson at indiana.edu>
>                                         Fri 3:28 PM
> 
>  Subject:
>         Re: ?Spanish radish
>      
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, 25 Aug 2000, Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
> 
> > I'm the patron here, so there's no rush.  I'm trying
> to determine what
> > kind of radish "rabano vexisco" or "rabano vagisco"
> is.  I found it in a
> > 16th century recipe for what looks to be a very
> interesting sauce --
> > grated root, mixed with vinegar and honey.  (Sweet
> and sour and spicy...
> > yum!)  I know it isn't the ordinary red radish.  An
> agricultural manual
> > of the same period says it has very large, wide
> leaves, and is seedless,
> > being propogated by planting pieces of the root.
> I'm wondering if this
> > is horseradish.  (Though there is apparently also
> something called wild
> > radish.)  I've checked all the sources I have access
> to, including the
> > 1726 edition of the RAE, and I'm Stumped.
> > 
> > Hoping that Dr. Dyson has a green thumb...
> 
> 
> Hi Robin,
> 
> The short answer is "I'm not sure," but we never let
> that stop us here.
> "Vexisco" would be "vejisco" nowadays but it doesn't
> seem to exist and may
> even be a misprint in the original. "Rábano vagisco"
> is a synomyn of
> "rábano rusticano" which is horseradish. One of the
> etymological sources
> (Corominas) thinks that "vagisco" is an alternate
> spelling of "gajisco"
> from "gajo" ("segment" --like those of a garlic bulb
> or an orange). I have
> never seen anything in the Raphanus genus or the
> Cochlearia species that
> was segmented in the root like that, however. "Rábano
> silvestre" (wild
> radish) is also known as charlock or jointed charlock
> in English.
> 
> If I were going to try to recreate the Nola recipe, I
> think I'd use
> winter radish (also called round black Spanish radish
> --R. niger). I have
> peeled and grated this one and added sour cream and a
> little coarse salt
> to the mix for a very simple and refreshing cold sauce
> that is not as
> fiery as one with horseradish. Very tasty with meat or
> seafood...
> 
> John Dyson
> Spanish and Portuguese
> Indiana University

Now, it seems to me that his recommendation of the black radish is based more 
on taste preferences than etymology.  However, he does confirm that "rabano 
vagisco" is horseradish, as I suspected.  I am going to make a small leap of 
faith that de Nola's "rabano vexisco" is the same thing as the "rabano vagisco" 
in Herrera's 16th century agricultural manual, ie., horseradish.  There is a 
precedent, as the 14th century Catalan confectionary manual has a recipe for 
horseradish preserved in honey syrup.

Tonight's dinner is roast beef with honey-horseradish sauce...

Brighid ni
Chiarain

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