[Sca-cooks] need help identify these items

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> On Wednesday, July 17, 2002, at 07:33 PM, Jones, Craig wrote:
> >> A delicate washing ball- take three ounces of Orace
> > I'd agree with Phlip, that'll be Orris Root.
> Might also be orage, but I suspect you're right with orris root.

It's orris, it shows up in a lot of recipes like that. (Spinach-like
veggies wouldn't work very well in the context). Furthermore, OED lists
orace as an obsolete spelling for orris.

> >> halfe an ounce of Cypres,
> > I'd try asking Cindy Renfrow on that one.
> I've conversed with Cindy on this one ("cypres" is called for in a lot
> of recipes), and the record is far from clear.  One possibility (more
> likely in cooking than in soapmaking) is that it's sugar.  Cyprus (the
> island) was a major source for sugar.  Sweet recipes often indicated
> this in their name (i.e. "Vyande Cypre" or some such), and "sugar of
> Cyprus" appears in many recipes.  It also appears that the phrase "sugar
> of Cyprus" was shortened to "Cyprus" in at least one recipe.

However, Cypres or Chypre appears in a lot of contexts that indicate it's
supposed to be an aromatical thing. Chypre is a woody perfume that was at
one time based

I talked with someone who used to work in the perfume industry about it,
and I or we, I'm not sure, came up with a theory that it might have been
oak moss, or similar. I'll go chasing through my sources again and try to
reconstruct the line of logic.

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
	"Index your brain."