[Sca-cooks] period sugar, peaches

[Mark.S Harris]

Madelina asked:
> When did brown sugar come into use?

That answer depends greatly upon where you are talking about and
whether you mean brown sugar as it is made today, sugar with molasses
added back in, or sugar that has simply not been purified to the pure,
white stage.

Molasses doesn't appear until late or post period. They simply
processed it more and exported the more pure form, even if probably
not as white as white sugar is today. Since transport was a big part
of the cost, why transport the cheap molasses portion? Molasses
appears when sugar growing areas are created closer to Europe and
sugar has become so cheap that the sugar market is flooded. I don't
think sugar shows up very much on desserts and such until the 14th
or 15th century.

For more details on sugar history, the types of sugar in history and
today, check this file in the FOOD-SWEETS section of the Florilegium:
sugar-msg        (115K) 10/20/00    Sugar and other medieval sweeteners.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/sugar-msg.html

> Personally, I like a bowl of sliced
> peaches, swimming in cream, sprinkled with brown sugar and just a hint of
> cinnamon.  I really only like honey as a sweetener on peaches when I'm
> having it in oatmeal.

You might be rather disappointed then if you were suddenly transported
back to the 9th or 12th century in Europe as honey was one of the
few sweeteners available. And it wasn't cheap then, either. So unless
you were fairly well off you might not have gotten honey very often.

> Ideally, though, the peaches should be sweet enough
> on their own.

Anyone have any idea of whether period peaches were sweet? Since I
imagine they were picked ripe and not green for shipment, perhaps
they were sweet. Or are sweet peaches a recent hybridization? Of
course this is in referance to fresh peaches. Do pickled peaches
still taste sweet? Or does the vinegar and such in pickling take
away some of the sweet taste?

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net