[Sca-cooks] Introduction and a request

[Stefan li Rous]

  Gianotta said:
> I am a fairly recent newcomer to the SCA, having joined officially last
> October. But I've had a fair amount of activity so far, mostly music
> related. I have always been interested in cooking and food history,
> however, so a recent little project of mine has finally prompted me to
> do what I should have done months ago, and join this list.
>
> Mundanely, I am of partly of Sicilian descent, and I have been doing
> more research about the culture and food of the island.
You might be interested in this file in the CULTURES section of the 
Florilegium then:
Sicily-msg        (11K)  6/29/01    Period Sicily. Culture, history, 
food.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CULTURES/Sicily-msg.html

Unfortunately, it is not very large. If you continue your research and 
would be interested in writing an article for the Florilegium on 
medieval Sicily, I'd love to consider it. Or a bibliography. Or even a 
message with some useful info I can add to this file. I try hard to 
make sure contributors get credit for their work.

> What I am trying to determine is what a late-period cassata would have
> contained. I contacted the food historian Clifford Wright who said my
> theory that a late-period cassata may have contained unsweetened
> chocolate bits could be valid, as the Bourbons had control of the
> island and the Spanish nobles had chocolate as a luxury item.
But as I'm sure others have mentioned, the process for making chocolate 
in a solid form was not known until well past period.  For more details 
on the history of chocolate and some referances, check this file in the 
FOOD-SWEETS section of the Florilegium:
chocolate-msg     (65K)  6/25/02    History and description of early 
chocolate.
Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****