[Sca-cooks] Duke's powder

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

>Bear replied to me with:
>> As a guess, by 1529 the Portuguese were in direct trade with India, cinnamon
>> may have been harder to obtain than cloves.  One would need to find the cost
>> of the spices at the time to move that further than mere speculation.
>
>Okay, I think this is the most likely reason. However, the cinnamon already
>shows up in the recipes for both classes. I would think you'd show more
>power by have a multitiude of exotic spices. I had forgotten about this
>being a very late period recipe though and trade would have affected things.
>
>> Another possibility is the author preferred cinnamon to cloves.
>
>Then why use the cloves at all in this case.
>
>> Bear

Hello!  I'm going to suggest another reading of this:

Polvora Duque (Duke's Powder)
Cinnamon half an ounce; cloves half a quarter; and for lords only add
cinnamon, and a pound of sugar...

Instead of "and for lords add only cinnamon, not cloves", how about "and
only add the cinnamon if you're serving it to lords, otherwise just use
cloves".


 Lady Brighid's translation says: "and for the lords cast in nothing but
cinnamon,"
What does the original say?




Cindy