SC - Re: cider

[Vincent Cuenca]

>
>Does anyone on this list happen to know whether Italians drank cider in
>period?

Italians I don't know about.  Hard-cider production in the Asturias and 
Cantabria regions of Spain, IIRC, goes back to the Roman era, and cider is 
still a popular beverage in northern Spain.  (Neat party trick: hold a glass 
by your waist, and a bottle of cider above your head.  Pour the cider into 
the glass without spilling.  This is the traditional method of pouring cider 
in Asturias; this supposedly aerates the beverage.)  I don't know if the 
Italians would have considered cider to be an appropriate beverage, 
particularly if it soured quickly.  You could try a couple of apple recipes 
from De Nola, who cooked for the King of Naples:

Pomada (Sauce with Apples)

Take apples that are tart and sweet; and cut each one into fourths, and peel 
them; and remove the cores and then put them in cold water and if they are 
very tart give them a boil and then take blanched almonds and grind them 
well; and put the apples in the water and grind them with the almonds very 
vigorously; and when this is all ground together thin it with good chicken 
stock and force it through a strainer, and put it all in the pot you will 
cook with; and take fine white ginger and peel it so that it is all white; 
and cut it into little pieces about half the size of dice; and let them soak 
overnight in rosewater that should be fine; then take whole cinnamon and tie 
it with a thread along with cloves and scald them in hot broth, and when 
they are scalded set the pot with the apples on the fire; and add a good 
amount of sugar; and when it is more than half cooked take the ginger and 
the cloves and the soaked cinnamon and put it all in the pot, and if it does 
not taste enough like ginger add a little ground ginger until it does taste 
of ginger; and when it is cooked add rosewater to the pot and prepare the 
serving dishes; sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on them if you wish.

Mirrauste of Apples

Take the sweetest apples and peel off their skins, and cut them into 
fourths; and remove the cores and the seeds, and then bring a pot to boil 
with as much water as you know is needed, and when the water boils add the 
apples and then take well toasted almonds; and grind them in a mortar, thin 
them with the broth from the apples, and force them through a strainer with 
a large piece of bread soaked in the broth from the apples; and all this 
should come out very thick: and once it is forced through add a good amount 
of ground cinnamon and sugar; and then set it on the fire to cook and when 
the sauce boils remove it from the fire; and add the apples that should be 
well drained of their broth, but watch that the apples are not scalded, so 
that you can prepare serving dishes of them; and once they are prepared 
scatter sugar and cinnamon over them.

Let us know how it all turns out!

Vicente
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