[Sca-cooks] Fideos, was Novice Saffron User

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> Stefan wrote:
> >Yes, I believe that saffron was also used as a cloth dye by the
> >medieval Europeans as well. I also suspect that Master Cariadoc was
> >making a joke, since he doesn't like saffron in his food.
>
> Saffron was very expensive in Medieval Europe and it does not make a
> very fast dye. I don't think it was used a great deal in Europe as a
> cloth dye. It was not used much in the Middle East as a cloth dye,
> because it isn't fast.

When I did my research for the egg-dyeing project, I realized that saffron
was mentioned extensively as a fabric dye in Europe, however, that may
simply be the result of the color being called saffron (the Irish shirts
that are saffron-colored are an example).

One of the things I most regret about having a European persona is the
relative absence of tumeric as a dye in Europe. I love the tumeric dye
colors and it's both easy and fast... however, it was the same price as
saffron in Europe and so wasn't often imported (according to Dalby,
_Dangerous Tastes_)

To insert a plug for one of my friends, Mistress Anne Liese, she has a
very nice website that includes a number of dyestuff materials:

http://fibers.destinyslobster.com/Dyeing/dyehistory.htm

-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"I am in a corner without being back[ed?] there and often come out
fighting."  -- James Thurber, 1960 interview with Life