[Sca-cooks] A redaction of Platina's Hemp Dish

[ruadh]

http://www.ecomall.com/biz/hemp.htm
a good list of Links to Hemp products. seeds and Oil and woven.
Canada can grow hemp for fibre use. some states are relaxing their outdated
laws, and finally recognising the difference of hemp to cannabis. Until the
30's their were many Hemp farms in the states.
Hemp was a more period used 'cloth' than linen, and often mistaken by
historian as linen. Ask a weaver. Ru

----- Original Message -----
From: "Underground Cooks Collective" <undergroundcook at operamail.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 1:13 AM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] A redaction of Platina's Hemp Dish


> Some dishes from period sources are rarely going to be attempted by modern
> cooks. These include, for obvious reasons, Platina's two recipes involving
> hempseed. Taking advantage of a small quantity of seed which recently made
> itself available, we recently decided to produce a version of his
"Cibarium
> Cannabinum" (Hemp Dish) (VII:49).
>
> Millham's translation is as follows:
>
> "Make a hemp dish for twelve guests 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 breadcrumbs in a mortar, moisten it with lean stock and
stir
> it into a pot through a seive. Then, when it has been placed on the
hearth,
> stir it frequently with a spoon. When it is almost cooked, put in half a
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 the _baricocoli_ of the people of
> Sienna, for an extraordinary dish has been made from many ordinary things,
but
> it is also difficult to digest and creates squeamishness and pain."
>
> Our version, with quantities unfortunately constrained by the available
seed:
>
> hemp/cannabis seeds: 2/3 oz
> ground almonds: 2/3 oz [1]
> soft breadcrumbs: 2 tbsp
> meat or vegetable stock: 3 tbsp
> sugar: 1 1/2 tsp
> ginger: 1/8 tsp
> saffron: 3 threads, powdered
> rosewater: 1/8-1/4 tsp [2]
> 1/8 tsp cinnamon, pinch cloves and pinch mace for spice mix, or your
favorite
> poudre douce
>
> Wash the seeds and boil them [3] until they split open (a bit over half an
> hour in our case, but may very depending on the seeds). Place the seeds,
> almonds and breadcrumbs into a mortar and pound until the seeds are well
> crushed.
>
> Mix in the stock, put the mixture into a fine seive and press it through
the
> seive into a pot. This may take a bit of work, as the mixture is fairly
thick.
> [4]
>
> Gently cook the mixture until it thickens up (around 15 minutes). Stir in
the
> sugar, ginger, saffron and rosewater and cook for another few minutes.
> Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle lightly with sweet spice mix
before
> serving.
>
> This gives a pleasant-tasting, smooth dish, almost reminiscent of a mousse
in
> texture, though heavier. The tasters did not notice the squeamishness or
pain
> alleged to accompany it.
>
> [1] If you like pounding away with your mortar and pestle, whole almonds
are
> presumably intended in the original.
>
> [2] We incautiously used 1/2 tsp, which was far too much and tended to
obscure
> other flavours. 1/8-1/4 tsp would probably have been about right,
depending on
> personal taste.
>
> [3] We deliberated on what cooking method to use, and decided boiling was
most
> likely to burst the seeds as required.
>
> [4] We believe that this step is intended to separate out the outsides of
the
> seeds, giving a much smoother dish. For this reason, we think that using a
> blender instead of a mortar and pestle is not a good idea, as it may chop
up
> the outside of the seed fine enough that it can get through the seive. We
> actually used a two-step process with a coarse and a fine seive, but this
is
> probably unnecessary if you have a big enough fine seive to start with.
>
> Production would probably be easier if one had more seeds available, as
> procedures were a little fiddly with such small quantities and we really
only
> got enough for a small dish for one person.
>
> Platina's other hemp recipe (VII:67) is fairly similar, with the seeds
again
> being pounded with almonds, moistened and cooked with sugar and rosewater.
It
> specifies a longer cooking time than we used, but does not start with
cooked
> seeds. It's interesting to note that hemp seeds count as an "ordinary
thing".
> Does anyone know of other recipes using them (aside from the versions of
these
> two in Martino, whence Platina copied them)?
>
> We're interested in suggestions for substitutes for hempseed, as this dish
is
> well worthy of being served more widely. Those living in areas where
> cultivation of industrial hemp (low-THC cannabis) is legal might be able
to
> get access to seeds of that variety and thus be able to serve a fully
> authentic version of the dish, but it would be useful to know of other
grains
> which might serve as well.
>
> Disclaimer: The posession and consumption of hempseed may well be illegal
> where you live. The quantities required to get a reasonable amount of this
> dish may be enough to attract svere penalties. In addition, this is
probably
> an inefficient means of ingesting THC if that's what you're actually
after.
>
> The Underground Cooks' Collective
>
> (Our apologies for the anonymity, but it's probably wiser not to publicly
sign
> names to this...)
>
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