Medlars (wasRe: SC - Poisonous Tomatoes?)

[Jenne Heise]

> So far as medlars are concerned, they are available in markets in 
> Europe. And they could be sold here before they were bletted and kept 
> by the buyer until they were bletted--or transported before, held by 
> the store, and sold after. Persimmons are probably a closer 
> equivalent than tomatoes--and are commonly sold, at least around 
> here. As you probably know, they are very fragile when ripe and very 
> astringent when unripe.

While there are many reasons why a particular product might be used or not
used, the US grocery and truck vegetable mass market industry really had
better be considered as a special case. While I am sure that there are
examples of suppliers artificially restricting a market and thus the
tastes of the consumers in the middle ages, I would be wary about
generalizing an comparison between the US grocery availability and
availability in any local in Europe in our period outside those
special cases.

Now, you could make a case that since a large part of the seed market in
the British Isles was actually controlled by the Dutch in the later part
of our period, if the Dutch did not sell tomato seeds as edibles perhaps
that would account for the lack of use in the British Isles (presumably
the Jewish consumers mentioned in the OED quote were getting theirs
shipped or the seeds shipped from relatives or trade contacts in Southern
Europe).

 -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"I do my job. I refuse to be responsible for other people's managerial 
hallucinations." -- Lady Jemina Starker