SC - Rosewater

[Bonne of Traquair]

I wrote regarding more and less concentrated rosewaters:
>>if used in
>>the quantities sometimes called for in the middle ages recipes, not
>>only will you go broke, but the dish will so reek of rose scent that
>>I'd bet not many people will eat it.

Cariadoc asked:
>What medieval recipe were you thinking of that specifies the quantity


I don't know of any that specify the quantity, but sometimes the quantity is 
implied.

The recipe under discussion in another thread will serve.  I know of two 
times to wash butter: at the end of the churning process--to remove any 
remaining whey or other impurities prior to use or to salting.  And later to 
clean out the salt used to preserve the butter and get it back to a usable 
state.  You mix and mash a quantity of water into the butter, so that the 
water dissolves the salt and then clap the water back out again in order to 
get back to a buttery consistency.  If you are using rosewater as Plat 
mentions, rose scent and taste will remain behind.  IMO even if Plat is only 
using this process to flavor and not actually to clean out salt, he'd still 
intend for wash to mean wash, not sprinkle.

Other than that, I beleive others have spoken about recipes that say 'add 
rosewater' to a fairly dry mix, and then do something to the resulting paste 
or batter. A partial teaspoon of rosewater won't change the mix into a paste 
or batter, you'd need in the range of a partial cup. Not recalling specific 
instances, I'll hope someone else speaks up.

Personally, this morning I mashed a few drops of the concentrated stuff into 
a stick of butter, with a tablespoon of sugar. This is good! Had nobody done 
this before at feast? In places where the populace is more conditioned 
toward acceptance of period food it could take over from honey butter pretty 
quickly.

Bonne

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