SC - FRANKISH BRAISED BEEF

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

PART THREE

Phillipa asks:
>2> What is spiknard and costmary?  And never having tasted either what can I
>use to replace these flavors?

The root is the part that is used. There are several plants go by the 
name "spikenard", so you'd have to keep alert. Here's what else i've 
been able to find about Spikenard.

- --- SPIKENARD ---

1. INDIAN SPIKENARD:

It has a long somewhat mythic history as an ancient Biblical scent. 
Apparently it also has a reputation as an aphrodesiac...

Botanical name: Nardostachys jatamansi and Nardostachys, Family Valeriananceae

Other Names: Nard. False Indian Valerian.

The following details come from
http://www.therapure.com/yleo/spikenard.htm

Aroma Characteristics: A peaty, earthy, animal-like fragrance 
reminiscent of goats.

History: In India, Spikenard was highly regarded as a perfume, 
medicinal herb, and as a skin tonic. It was also prized in the Middle 
East during the time of Christ, and there are several passages in the 
Bible referring to spikenard. In the Song of Solomon spikenard 
appears in Chapter 1 verse 12, and Chapter 4 verses 13-1: "While the 
king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell 
thereof." Spikenard is also the herb used by Mary of Bethany to 
anoint the feet of Jesus before the Last Supper: "then took Mary a 
pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of 
Jesus" (John 12:3). In a passage of the Gospel of St. Mark, another 
woman anoints the head of Jesus with spikenard: "And being in Bethany 
in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a 
woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; 
and she brake the box, and poured it on his head" (Mark 14:3).

Roman perfumers used the essential oil of spikenard to prepare 
nardinum, a scented oil of great renown during ancient times. The 
Mughal empress, Nur Jehan, also deployed spikenard in her 
rejuvenating cosmetic preparations.

The oil is known for being helpful for allergic skin reactions, and 
according to Victoria Edwards, "The oil redresses the skin's 
physiological balance and causes permanent regeneration."

 From another webpage:

History: Spikenard is one of the early aromatics used by the ancient 
Egyptians and is mentioned in the Song of Solomon in the Bible.  It 
is also the herb that Mary used to anoint Jesus before the Last 
Supper.  The oil was also used by the Roman perfumers in the 
preparation of nardinum, one of their most celebrated scented oils, 
and by the Mughal empress Nur Jehan in her rejuvenating cosmetic 
preparations.  It was also a herb known to Dioscorides as 'warming 
and drying', good for nausea, flatulent indigestion, menstrual 
problems, inflammations and conjunctivitis.  The perfume is actually 
in the lower hairy stems (the Indian name jatamansi refers to the 
shaggy hair, or 'ermine tails', covering the stems).

Several other pages describes the fragrance as a heavy sweet-woody, 
spicy-animal odour, somewhat similar to valerian oil.

2. AMERICAN SPIKENARD

It is hardly likely that this is what is used in a Medieval European recipe.

Botanical Name: Aralia racemosa (LINN.), Family: N.O. Araliaceae

Vernacular Names: American Spikenard. Spignet. Life of Man. 
Pettymorell. Old Man's Root. Indian Spikenard. Indian Root.

Part Used: Root.

 From Mrs. Grieve's Herbal:
Description---The much-branched stem grows from 3 to 6 feet high. 
Very large leaves, consisting of thin oval heart-shaped, double 
saw-toothed leaflets. Small greenish flowers in many clusters - 
blooming later than Aralia medicaulis (for which it is often 
substituted), July to August. Has roundish red-brown berries going 
dark purple. Root-stock thick and large, spicy and aromatic. Fracture 
of cortex short, of the wood also short and fibrous. Odour aromatic, 
taste mucilaginous, pungent and slightly acrid. Transverse section of 
root shows thick bark, several zones containing oil. The plant grows 
freely in the author's garden.

- --------

So there are two different Spikenards. I can't tell you from personal 
experience what the most significant differences are. Some vendors do 
not make clear the distinction between the two. So it helps to know 
the botanical name.