[Sca-cooks] Lenten oils, was Honey Butter?

[Stefan li Rous]

Anne replied to my message with:
> What did people in the north use as cooking fats during Lent? They
> couldn't use either butter or lard, which I think were otherwise the
> standards. The only oil I know about in period (my knowledge not being
> extensive) is olive oil, and while that might have been available, how
> common would it have been?

Olive oil wasn't that common since it had to be imported from down
south. Hence, the disgruntlement between the north and the south.

I'm not sure which of the other oils would be acceptable during Lent,
but you might find some of the comments in this file in the FOOD
section useful:
cooking-oils-msg  (40K)  9/28/01    Period cooking and food oils.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/cooking-oils-msg.html

I wonder if the Vatican owned a bunch of olive groves? Or was in the
export business?

Stefan

> Stefan li Rous wrote:
> >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.

--
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 ****