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

[A F Murphy]

And thank you, too.

Anne

johnna holloway wrote:

>
>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
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