[Sca-cooks] A few of the things disallowed by the current MK A&S rules

[Mark.S Harris]

I was just now updating a single file (raw-fruit-vg-msg) in the
Florilegium and ran across a few items that I think are disallowed by
the current Middle Kingdom A&S rules. Here are the items and some
period descriptions of them.

Lettuce:
> Lettuce (?) cools and to those who eat it boiled
> it makes better blood, and it maskes you sleep,
> whether eaten raw or boiled, and it is good to
> those whom the sun has caused injury to the head
> or who have an inflamed stomach

Melons:
> Of Melons he says "For this reason some mix in pennyroyal and onion with
> vinegar so that its natural force of cold is tempered, but when melon is
> served with the rind removed and the seeds thrown away, it soothes the
> stomach and gently softens the bowels." There is no mention in this entry
> to cooking melons. p. 19

Quinces:
> Quinces: "raw and ripe quinces are given with advantage to those with
> dysentery, or who are choleric, or who are spitting blood." p. 30

Cherries:
> Of sweet cherries, he says: "If they are eaten in the morning, fresh and
> with their pits, they move the urine and the bowels" p. 18

Some of these sound awfully "medicinal" to me.

Hmmm. I thought we had some opposition to cordials at A&S contests a
while back, "because they were only drunk medicinally in period". If
you could find the period medical statments about cordials, or perhaps
even such statements about wine or beer, whether that would hasten the
re-writing of the MK A&S rules? :-)

I know! I know! We should spray paint the foods with possibly
hazardous materials in them, such as the melon recipe above,
bright, flourescent orange so that people can be discouraged
from tasting them before reading the documentation.

Or perhaps we will see "No period blades may be entered in the A&S
contest, since these are likely to be sharp and someone might pick
them up and injure themselves. Only those made of rubber and rattan may
be entered."

Stefan li Rous