[Sca-cooks] Cornflour? In Apicius? Moo-ooo-ooo

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach lilinah at earthlink.net:
>For the Roman feast i'm doing in September, i'm reading through;
>-- Flower and Rosenbaum, Apicius
>-- Giacosa, A Taste of Ancient Rome
>-- Dalby and Grainger, The Classical Cookbook
>
>There are a number of sauce recipes that call for some sort of
>thickening. The original Latin appears to be "amula", given as
>"starch" in the translations, but as "cornstarch" in the recipe.
>
>Of course, i know the Romans didn't have what we call "corn" in
>America, that is, maize. Is this a case where "cornstarch" in British
>means "wheat starch" in American?
>
>And would fine white flour work? Or should i be using something else?
>
>Thanks,
>Anahita

See if you can get some wheat starch in a Chinese grocery. Amulum =
amydoun = wheat starch. Medieval recipes involve soaking kernels
until they burst and release starch, which separates from the
glutinous parts of the grain (to some extent), leaving a starchy
precipitate in your soaking water. You pour off the water and dry the
dregs, and grind it in a mortar.

Flower and Rosenbaum are using the term "cornflour" to mean a generic
starch, I suspect, and wheat starch could come under that heading.

Adamantius