[Sca-cooks] Mahlepi

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Kiriel <Robyn.Hodgkin at affa.gov.au> wrote:
>I recently found Mahlepi at a local food supplier.  I couldn't resist buying
>a small packet because of the lovely scent that it has, even though I had
>no idea what I would use it for.

It is also written mahleb and mahlab. It is used rather the way
vanilla is - in sweets and pastries. Its flavor is rather mild or
subtle, at least in my experience, and maybe my mahleb was stale. I
have a box of mahleb flavored pudding mix (starch of some sort,
sugar, mahleb - cook with milk or water) - it's Levantine (probably
Lebanese, but also used in Syria).

>I am just curious as to if there are any medieval/renaissance recipes using
>this spice around, as I haven't noticed any. Mind you, I am concentrating
>on my period (16th C) central europe.

I don't recall running across it in "period" recipes. The place to
look for it, in my opinion, would be "Medieval Arab Cookery". I'll
try to remember to post if i run across it there.

Anahita