[Sca-cooks] Spices was licorice,

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 04:57 PM 2/23/2004, you wrote:
>   Interesting question, this could be the one that really puts the usage to
>the test!  All the references I can find online call it a spice.  They also
>however give it locations that almost match the definition that I was given.
>(Tropical).  I say almost because they also include some locations I would
>call Mediterranean rather than tropical.  Most notably Spain and Greece.
>These pages however show no references to the British Isles.  Now this I
>believe is wrong.  I am not familiar with English references, but I have
>seen Irish references for Saffron, though at the time I was looking at
>clothing references rather than foodways!  The list I was looking at was
>supposed to be historical sources, but I suspect it was in fact modern
>sources.

Hmm.
IIRC, the references I saw for saffron being grown in England were not 
on-line or in a cooking source, but in an upper-division class on the 
Economy of England in the 14th and 15th c. The texts however are on a 
bookshelf some 180 miles away, as usual.
YMMV.

'Lainie
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