SC - Ice

[Decker, Margaret]

>  
>  << One quick question:  Does anyone on the list have any references to
> how 
>   medieval cooks kept things cold, since the invention of the refrigerator
> 
> was 
>   not to come about for many, many, many years?   >>
	I lived in a house from 1948 to 1952 that had a spring house. Water
flowed through a sunken area about 5' long 18" wide and 2" deep at the
shallow end to about a foot deep at the deep end. the water was about 1/2 an
inch deep at the shallow end except in the spring when it would over flow,
and about 10" at the deep end. My mother kept milk, vegetables and butter in
it except during the coldest part of the winter and I can remember it
freezing over the top on a couple of occasions. Since this was Colorado and
the source of the water was a glacier, the water remained cold all year
round. I'm sure I have read about similar spring houses in Germany but I
don't remember the source. It might be worth further digging to find out if
this idea was used in period. Margarite