[Sca-cooks] Question about period-ness of a spice...

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- Sue Clemenger <mooncat at in-tch.com> wrote:
> Hey everybody, I've got an  actual food-related
> question.  Sort of <g>.
> Does anyone happen to know when the spice
> "turmeric" became available in
> Europe? I know that it's a root-thingie,
> similar to ginger (would that
> make it a rhizome?), and that it's common to
> the Indian subcontinent,
> but when did it show up in Europe? Was it
> imported at all during the SCA
> time period?
> --maire

I can't exactly answer all your questions, but I
just received a new book [to me] called "The Lore
of Spices" by J.O. Swahn.  Under turmeric, it
says,
"Europe got acquainted with turmeric during the
Middle Ages, when it was also called 'Indian (or
Eastern) saffron'.  But it was never a leading
item of trade until the fashion of eating curry
arrived."

Unfortunately, this book has absolutely no
bibliography or footnotes as to where the author
found his/her information.  But I thought I would
quote it for you so you could look for references
to Indian or Eastern saffron.

I just looked up turmeric in the Oxford Companion
to Food, which only states the Marco Polo found
turmeric in China in 1280. 

Huette



=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they 
shall never cease to be amused.

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com