[Sca-cooks] Re: Mastic was More from Paul....

[johnna holloway]

Stefan li Rous wrote: snipped
> > Mastic.>
> I still don't think that this is "a fairly common ingredient in
> Medieval Cooking". What kind of dishes does it tend to get used
> in?

Cindy Renfrow's Online Glossary at:
http://www.thousandeggs.com/glossary.html#M
gives the entry as follows:
mastic (French) = Mastic thyme (Thymus mastichina)
(Scully and Brereton et al. suggest the resin 'mastic'
(Pistachia lentiscus), and Scully suggests a mis-writing
 of macis meaning 'mace'.) (Viandier)

mastic thyme = A herb (Thymus mastichina).
Also called herb mastic or Spanish wood marjoram. (Viandier)

OED gives it as:
"A gum or resin which exudes from the bark
of Pistacia Lentiscus and some other trees (see 2).

It is known in English commerce in the form of
roundish, oblong or pear-shaped tears, transparent,
 and of a pale yellow or faint
greenish tinge. Formerly much used in Medicine.
 Now used chiefly in the manufacture of varnish.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xc. (1495)
 657 Of the rynde [of Lentiscus] comyth Resina,
 that hyghte Mastyk, and
 this gumme mastyck hath the name of mastigando: of chewynge."

Of the herb OED says
"(In full herb mastic.) The plant Thymus Mastichina (see marum). Obs.
1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccx. 544 Of herbe Masticke.
 The English and French Herbarists at this daie do call this plant
 Masticke or Mastiche."
In other meanings it is also denotes a color (yellow)
and it's "A liquor, used in Turkey and Greece, made
from grain-spirit or grape-juice, flavoured with gum-mastic.
(Cf. mastic-brandy and raki.)"

Hope this helps answer the question..

Johnna Holloway  Johnnae llyn Lewis