SC - Byzantium

[Stefan li Rous]

Thorvald said:
> And another almost-smoking reference, from Dictionnaire de L'AcadÈmie 
> franÁaise, 1st Edition, 1694:
> 
> "Verjus. s. m. Le jus, le suc qu'on tire de certains raisins, quand ils 
> sont encore tout verds."
> 
> Verjuice. masculine noun. The juice, the juice that one extracts from
> certain grapes, when they are still entirely green. (my translation)

<snip of some wonderful, though not unquestionable data showing
that verjuice grapes meant a particular type of grape>

> An aside: In modern French wine harvest talk, a 'verjus' is a grape
> that looks ripe but isn't.  The people harvesting should detect
> these and avoid picking them, which isn't always easy when they 
> are paid by the quantity they pick.  As a result a sorter has to 
> look the grapes over later and reject the 'verjus' since they'd 
> lower the quality of the wine.  During the harvest it seems that 
> 'verjus' are often thrown at other harvesters during horseplay.

If they look ripe, but aren't, how do you differentiate them from
the grapes that are ripe and useable for wine.
 
> Second aside:  The finest Dijon mustard is apparently made using 
> verjuice, not vinegar.  This usage is said to have begun in 1752.

Where does this info on the first usage of verjuice in mustard
sauces come from? Personally, I think this sounds rather late.
However, maybe the use of verjuice in mustard sauces coincides
with the interest of verjuice in food items in general. Perhaps
before this time, verjuice was considered too precious to be used
in mustard sauces?

- -- 
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****