[Sca-cooks] Re: molasses and Columbus & ships

[johnna holloway]

Greetings.

I finally dug out my copy of THE LOG OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS as
 translated by Robert H. Fuson in 1987.

Yes, apparently Columbus had molasses on board, only the source
is not any of the places that have been mentioned.

On the way out, Columbus ended up at the Canary Islands to await
 repairs to a rudder on the Pinta. On Monday September 3rd,
 the ship's log reads:

"Some of our provisions have already been assembled, such as
salt, wine, molasses, and honey, but others are being prepared
and will not be ready for loading until tomorrow and Wednesday."

The other provisions included salted fish, dried meat,
 and some fruits which were loaded on Tuesday. On Wednesday,
 they loaded the ship's biscuits. They sailed Thursday, September
6th, 1492 for the west.

Was this uncommon for ships to take along Molasses? I don't know,
 but perhaps if they were leaving from a port where molasses was
available, then it was included. And of course, the Carnary Islands
had their own local sugar cane and processing facilities.
Spain had conquered the Carnary Islands in 1480 and sugar cane
plants and processing were brought into the islands shortly
thereafter. The Portuguese had earlier done the same thing with
Madeira. Columbus would take sugar cane plants with him on his
second voyage and establish sugar cane production in the New
World at that time. (See Chapter 29 in FOOD A CULINARY HISTORY.)

Sincerely,

Johnnae llyn Lewis

Johnna Holloway








Decker, Terry D. on Mon, 16 Jul 2001 16:29:50 -0500 wrote about

    Remembering some of the problems we have had finding references to
molasses
use, I've come across an interesting reference in Columbus' diary.
Begining in folio 12v42 and continuing to 13r1, there is the following
reference (without the proper accents):

"y tambe los madava dar p[ar]a q comiesen quado ve nian en la y miel de
acucar."

This has been translated as, "And I also ordered them given food, in
order
that they might eat when they came to the ship, and molasses."

The "miel de acucar" appears to be a variant of "miel de az=FAcar" or
"honey
of sugar."

>From this translation, it appears that Columbus' expedition carried molasses
and used it as one of their trade goods.  This suggests that there may
have
been a wider use of and more commerce in molasses than has been
considered
in previous discussions.Spain was a sugar producing nation,
molasses would have been available to Spanish mariners.
 So was the molasses unique to Columbus, was it an
irregular practice to carry molasses on ship, or was molasses common to
Spanish vessels of the day?

Bear

Later, Decker, Terry D." wrote:
>
> No, the specific reference is to Columbus meeting and questioning natives.
> In at least two places, Columbus writes similar passages, one where he
> provided his guests with food and honey and one where it is food and honey
> of sugar.> Honey of sugar is modernly translated as molasses and in previous
> discussions on the list we have considered other options.  While rum may
> have been manufactured this early, references to it start appearing in the
> mid-17th Century.  In any event, wine and water appear to have been the
> beverages during Columbus' first voyage.
>
> Bear
>
> >
>