[Sca-cooks] Honey Butter? No! No!

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Stefan li Rous:

>Sweet oranges were very late in period. I can't remember when the
>sour orange was introduced. However, either probably requires a
>fair amount of sugar. Heavily sugared foods were not common earlier.

Remember that the rise in sugar use begins to take place in the 15th
century, and more or less takes off in the 16th. If this is the same
thread in which tinned Seville oranges/marmalade concentrate were
discussed, then we're talking about Seville oranges, which would
require a fairish amount of sugar, but this is doable in a later
recipe.

>I earlier than the 14th Century I would go with something else. In
>southern Europe, you might consider olive oil instead of butter. In
>general butter was a northern Europe item while olive oil was more
>common in the south. This caused some trouble within the Church
>between the North and the South, since butter was resticted at times,
>whereas olive oil wasn't.

I believe we had good results with the quince paste we served at EK
12th Night. This was a commercial product (since it turned out to be
cheaper, on that occasion, and, obviously, easier to buy it than to
buy the quinces and make the stuff -- YMMV)) made with sugar, but
recipes do exist calling for honey. Sugar and honey also have the
advantage, early in the meal, of "opening the chest" and setting the
stage for dining and subsequent digestion.

It's hard to say what, exactly, people did with their bread at the
beginning of a medieval feast, but it's evident bread was available
early in most medieval feasts.

Adamantius