[Sca-cooks] Period cooking oils?

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On Wed, 10 Jul 2002 18:08:48 -0600 El Hermoso Dormido
<ElHermosoDormido at dogphilosophy.net> wrote:

"I'm looking in my pantry and suddenly find myself wondering how many oils
besides olive oil are period..."
[snip]
"Is almond or walnut oil period?"

Almond oil and sesame oil were used for cooking, though they show up mostly in
Middle Eastern and Mediterranean sources.  I have seen other kinds of nut and
seed oils in Spanish recipes for cosmetics.  The Manual de Mugeres has a
recipe for hand & face pomade, which calls for the following oils, in addition
to lard and wax:
sweet almonds
bitter almonds
peach seed
melon seed
poppy seed

The same source also mentions sesame oil and masticin other recipes (for
cosmetic use).

I don't offhand recall seeing a mention of walnut oil in period sources, but
as walnuts are frequently mentioned, I think it likely that someone was
extracting oil from them.

Brighid ni Chiarain