SC - hemp beverages and food

[Stefan li Rous]

> >     I was rummaging about on the net, and came across this one. Talk about
> > your unusual beverages, this one pretty much takes the cake! BTW, I'm
> > informed that this recipe is actually pre-period, not that I'm suggesting
> > this should be served at an event, mind you . . .
> > 
> >     Sieggy

Okay, I don't think I have any beverages based on such plants, but I do
have recipes for such food items in the Florilegium.  What? the Florilegium
have referances to unusual items?

For those interested, check these files:
hemp-msg          (34K)  5/11/00    Use of hemp in period. In ropes, as
an 
                                      intoxicant, clothing. Recipes.
smoking-msg       (18K)  4/ 1/99    Period smoking of tobacco and other plants.

Oh, and these are European recipes, not Indian. Here are some from Platina:
These were posted to this list a while back.
- -- 
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 ****

> Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 11:43:44 -0500
> From: "Knott, Deanna" <Deanna.Knott at GSC.GTE.Com>
> Subject: SC - Hemp recipes!
> 
> On Right Pleasure and Good Health
> Platina
> 
> A critical edition and translation of De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine
> by Mary Ella Milham
> 
> Book VII, part 49
> 
> Hemp Dish
> 
> Make a hemp dish for twelve guests in this way: cook a pound of well washed
> hemp until it splits open.  When it is cooked, add a pound of almonds.  When
> it has been pounded with bread crumbs in a mortar, moisten it with lean
> stock, and stir it into a pot through a sieve.  Then, when it has been
> places on the hearth, stir it frequently with a spoon.  When it is almost
> cooked, put in a half pound of sugar, a half ounce of ginger, and a little
> saffron with rose water.  When it is cooked and apportioned on serving
> dishes, sprinkle with rather sweet spices.  I think this is very similar to
> baricocoli of the people of Siena, for an extraordinary dish has been made
> from many ordinary things, but it is also difficult to digest and causes
> squeamishness and pain.
> 
> Book VII, part 68
> 
> For Hemp
> 
> Leave hemp seed in water a day and a night, then throw away what floats on
> top as useless.  Pound this with well cleaned almonds, and when it is
> pounded, soak in pea juice.  Add a bit of sugar and rose water, and cook all
> together, mixing well, for four-fifths of an hours.  Cassius Hemina reacts
> badly to this food, than which nothing can be more harmful, he claims.
> 
> Book VIII, part 57
> 
> Hemp Balls
> 
> In a mortar, grind hemp seed well, so cooked that it shows its hulls split,
> with cleaned almonds.  When it is ground, soak in fresh water, and pass
> through a sieve into a pot.  It is necessary that it boil a little with a
> bit of salt and sugar, and pepper should be added, if that also pleases you.
> Let it boil again for a little while.  You will prepare slightly toasted
> bits of bread, and put this food into serving dishes; spread out the bits
> themselves as if they were on a board.  Make three or four layers of them.
> Finally, sprinkle spices, especially the sweet variety, sparingly.  This is
> completely to be fled from, for it nourishes badly, arouses squeamishness,
> generates pain in the stomach and intestines, and dulls the eyes.
> 
> BTW, from all the research I have done, sterilized hemp seeds are legal in
> the United States as a food product.  I don't know where to get them, but
> that is what I have heard.
> 
> Avelina