[Sca-cooks] Verjuice

[david friedman]

Regina Romsey wrote:

>Stefan has helped me find the file of previous messages on verjuice, and
>I've still got questions.  In fact, I have more questions now.

...

>Second question:  Do you let the juice ferment or use it straight.  One
>message said that she canned the liquid, keeping it in sealed containers.
>This strikes me as unlikely to have happened in period since I believe
>canning was developed in the 19th century.
>
>Third question:  One message mentioned that the writer had problems with the
>product molding even when kept in the refrigerator.  I can see the juice
>being kept in jars in a cold room off the pantry or in the wine cellar, but
>if the stuff molds even in cool conditions, what did they do?  Did they just
>skim off the mold and go from there, or maybe strain it into a new jar?
>     Since verjuice is called for in a number of recipes, I can't believe
>that they only used it during grape thinning season.  I suppose people who
>used crabapples could keep them to be crushed as needed, but not grapes.

Le Menagier de Paris (14th c) comments:

Note, that in July the old verjuice is too weak and the new verjuice
is too green: and for this reason, at grape-harvest, verjuice which
is mixed half old and half new is best.  Item, in stew, you weaken it
with puree, but in January, February, etc., the new is the best.

which certainly sounds like something, whether fermentation or
something else, is going on over time. This also makes it clear it
was used year-round. And Master Chiquart (_Du Fait de Cuisine, 1420),
in the list of supplies to have on hand for his feast, includes:

And there should be two casks of vinegar, one of white and one of
claret, each of eight sommes  [110 gallons], a good cask of fine
verjuice of twenty sommes [275 gallons], and a cask of oil of ten
sommes [137 1/2 gallons].

So he is storing it in a large cask.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook