[Sca-cooks] Spices was licorice,

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/23/2004 10:08:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
vhsjvs at gis.net writes:

<<Funny these should come up because I read a historical novel just a few
months ago that takes place after 1066 and around the time Rufus' hunting
[accident] in which a man is sold some seeds to grow saffron with the
promise it will be the harvest of the future, and then earlier today when I
tried to save face by referrencing my book on spices, I read that " A dozen
miles south southeast of Cambridge lies one of the truly idyllic towns in
Essex:  Saffron Walden........On the town's shield are three saffron
flowers, due - like its name - to the fact that saffron has been cultivated
there since the fourteenth Century."  This contradicts the story in the
novel I read, but it is still interesting.  >>

Just goes to prove that historical novels often aren't very historical.
Also, if the book specifically says seeds, the author doesn't know much about 
saffron either.  Like all crocuses, it's grown from bulbs,  not seeds.

Brangwayna