[Sca-cooks] No sugar - too much spice.

[James Prescott]

At 18:03 -0400 2001-05-10, Jenne Heise wrote:

> Well, anything is possible, but given that spices were not packed in
> sealed containers, but in boxes and bags... well, I'd be doubtful. It
> would also depend on what you are comparing. Are you comparing the period
> spices to modern spices bought from a specialty shop that keeps fresh
> stock? Or from a grocery, a pharmacy, a dollar store, what?

Both.  Someone may know how long it has _actually_ taken for spices
to get from tree to shelf to customer for a modern specialty spice
shop.

I sure don't know, and I'd _LOVE_ to know.

Ditto for an ordinary supermarket where, to be honest, most regular
SCA cooks (no one on this list, of course!) shop for their spices,
if they aren't still using the baronial jar of cinnmon purchased in
1987.


Were _all_ medieval spices packed only in boxes and bags?  Did they
ship nothing in sealed containers, or otherwise protected?


Thorvald