[Sca-cooks] Cinnamon

[Stefan li Rous]

Amanda Blackwolf said:
> Ok, so I've been looking at recipes till my eyes cross (and reading in some
> of the original texts also--hey that useless class in early British Lit came
> in handy after all, LOL) and a vast number of recipes call for cinnamon.
> Now, I have fondness for breathing. (Imagine that!) Cinnamon interferes with
> particular addiction, LOL! Being allergic to cinnamon means I can't have my
> favorite mundane foods, nevermind period foods. At the investiture of our
> new Baron & Baroness, I couldn't eat a significant portion of the feast (but
> my lord husband assured me it was wonderful, but definitely to laden with
> the offending spice for me to eat.) There was plenty for me to eat, as her
> Excellency can verify! Is there a reason so much cinnamon was used? Is there
> a substitute spice that could be used?

Most of what I know about allergies is stuff I've learned from this
group. However, there are two types of cinnamon, true cinnamon and
cassia. Both were used in the Middle Ages. Do you know if you are
allergic to both types? In the United States, Cassia is by far, the
most common.

Rather than try to describe their differances, just in case you
aren't aware of this, I think some of the info in these files in
the Florilegium describes these two types:
cinnamon-msg      (23K)  5/19/00    Period cinnamon. Types of cinnamon.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PLANTS/cinnamon-msg.html
Cinnamon-Vari-art  (9K) 12/29/99    "Cinnamon Varieties" by Francesco Sirene.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PLANTS/Cinnamon-Vari-art.html

If you are allergic to both types this won't help, but if you are allergic
to only one, you could use the other in your own cooking and perhaps
prevail upon the feast cooks to use the other or prepare a dish variation
with it.
--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****