[Sca-cooks] RE: Oddities...

[Decker, Terry D.]

I'm still catching up on the mail, so I'm about a week behind.

Melegueta pepper is grains of paradise.  As I recall the seed pods are
greenish brown and do not have a red phase.  In addition, this particular
spice is of West African origin, which makes it unlikely to have been common
in Asia in the 13th Century.

If you want to see what it looks like try:

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Afra_mel.html

Bear

> The
> section I'm in right now they are in Kithai(China), and he
> keeps describing
> malegheta pepper, a red, hot pepper that is used in sauces
> and even in the
> plaster in one inn to deter pests.  I have found Jenning's
> research to be
> pretty good in the past (especially for historical fiction),
> but I keep
> running up against this and wondering.  Any ideas?
> Christianna
>