[Sca-cooks] Almond Jello (was Period Foods: How to Fake It!)

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

-----Original Message-----
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>

The only "faking" that I recall doing was as a
banquet joke.  I was doing a Viking banquet when
Selene jokingly suggested that we include
lutefisk.  Knowing that few would eat real
lutefisk, I made modern almond jello in
fish-shaped molds and served it as "lutefisk". 
Those who actually tried the dish got the joke. 
And I never passed off almond jello as period.  
----------------------------

Oddly enough, I recently came across a period German recipe that one might call almond jello.  It's a gelatin dish made with almond milk and isinglass, and is supposed to be solid enough that one can cut it into cubes.  (Isinglass, for those who don't know, is a form of gelatin made from the swimbladders of certain fish.  Modern gelatin -- including Jello -- is made from the bones and hides of cows and pigs.)

However, almond Jello would certainly not be period for a Viking feast.

Brighid ni Chiarain