[Sca-cooks] A little note on Potatoes & tomatoes

[Mastercahankyle at cs.com]

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Greetings to the list

I researching for the feast I am cooking next June, I have acquired some new
books.  The one I found on TRADITIONAL SPANISH COOKING has a history of Spain
and Spanish food in the opening section. I found some information which is
interesting.

It states that Columbus brought Sweet Potato plants back to Spain since they
were growing there by 1493. The white potato was discovered around 1530 by
Pizzaro's men near Quito, Ecuador. These potatoes were cultivated by monks in
Seville by 1539 and are said to arrive in Ireland around 1586, possibly from
ships of the Spanish Armada wrecked on the Irish coast.

On Columbus's fourth voyage in 1502, he discovered the cocoa bean in
Nicaragua and brought it back to Spain. It wasn't until 1519 that Hernando
Cortez tasted it prepared as a drink that Spain and Portugal enjoyed a
century-long monopoly on chocolate, which became exceedingly popular.

Tomatoes were brought from Peru and Mexico to Spain in 1520 and passed on to
the kingdom of Naples, which came under Spanish rule about that time. The
Italians were early pioneers in the use of the tomato in cooking while other
Europeans shunned it for 200 years.

The avocado ( aguacate in Spanish) was first described in 1519 by a Spanish
explorer who discovered it in Columbia. A chronicler of Cortez, around 1519,
reported seeing turkeys in Mexican markets and said they were cooked daily
for Montezuma's table.  All of this enriched the Spanish diet, which by the
16th century was the most varied in Europe.

Among the books mentioned in the bibliography were several Spanish books
(Cocina Gallega, Historia de la Gastronomia Espanola, Cocina
Espanola-Gastronomia e Historia, to mention a few) and several other books
among which are "The Story of Spain" and "Life and Food in the Basque
Country".

I did noticed there were only 5 recipes for potatoes and they were either
fried in olive oil or boiled with other vegetables. They were either used
with garlic cloves or onions and always with parsley.

Just thought you would like to know.  Also there was another comment made
that many recipes were handed down from mother to daughter and were not
written down.

Baron Master Cahan Kyle, OP
Clan Kyle

BTW: Clan Kyle was screwed royally by the Land Autocrat of Pennsic XXX. We
did not get any of our choices and were placed out at N22 by the North Gate,
so IF any of you feel like walking that far. stop by for a visit. Do to being
a gimp, the Pennsic Autocrat has basically confined me to camp.