[Sca-cooks] Yule gifts question

[Sharon Gordon]

> big glass canning jar of layered beans. with a recipe for a bean soup...
> what recipes do you know of.. that can have the DRY ingredients. or the
> flavored viniger or oil...... made up in a decorative fashion?
>

1) If you search on the phrase Gifts in a Jar, you can turn up a lot of
recipes that aren't likely to be period, but might give you ideas.

2) Brown Lentils, Dehydrated orange carrots, dehydrated onions and spices
for soup.

3) Green split peas, yellow split peas, orange carrots  either in layers, or
stirred together like confetti and spices for soup. Possibly with
norefrigeration need type bacos, though that might be the tvp version, so
that might or might not work.

4) Bread mix in a larger jar.  You can stir some of the spices or herbs with
some of the flour to make different colored layers.  You could have a layer
of fruits/nuts/seeds.  Hide a yeast packet in an attached envelope. Or if
conditions permit, a jar of sourdough or dried sourdough.

5) Renaissance Gorp: maybe a mix of raisins, dried cherries, and almonds.
Or a mix of dried apricots, almonds, and candied ginger.

6) Jar of little herbed cheese balls in oil if refrigeration is available.

7) Instant period style oatmeal with dried fruits, nuts, seeds, spices.
There are recipes for this on Make a Mix recipe sites.  What you do is put
part of the oatflakes in a food processor and grind until flour-like and
leave some of the other whole or chunky for texture, then stir in the
flavorings.

8) Olive mixes with flavorings.

9) Safely canned jellies or jams.

10) Safely canned pickles.

11) A small basket heaped with little undyed fabric muslin or cheesecloth
bags of spice and herb mixes, tied with cotton or linen string.  Be sure and
wash fabric and string before using to get out any nonfood chemicals from
textile manufacturing, unless you made them yourself from organic fiber or
bought fabric intended for food use. A little calligraphy/illuminated recipe
or book would be great to include too.  You can have more than one kind of
spice mix, as long as they all kind of go together to some degree as the
smells will mix with each other while sitting in the basket.

12) Mulling spices to be simmered in warm beverages.

13) Basket or bag of uncracked mixed nuts.

14) Some good local honey.

Sharon
gordonse at one.net