[Sca-cooks] seeds of paradise and Nostradamus (WAS Need some Help with Spanish Recipes....)

[Johnna Holloway]

I'll save you some time and just tell you that-----
No---- there is not a book that has redacted all of Nostredamus'
recipes. The Elixers was in fact the first English translation of the 
work and
there are mixed opinions as to the value of that translation when compared
to the original texts. (There are several excellent facsimilies of the 
original that are available
from interlibrary loan or can be purchased used and those should be 
consulted for the
original texts of course.)
That is not to say that several of the recipes and their modern versions 
haven't been included in various
cookbooks and if you read French, you can come across a number of them
in the various works that deal with 16th century French cuisine. Saban & 
Serventi's
La Gastronomie a la Renaissance from 1997 comes to mind. You might want 
to start
this investigaton by perhaps reading Barbara Wheaton's
Savoring the Past for what she says about Nostredamus. She also
includes recipes from his work, although she considered him a quack.

Johnnae llyn Lewis

vicki shaw wrote:

>Just picked up a book, The Elixirs of Nostradamus; Nostradamus' original recipes for elixirs, scented water, beauty potions and sweetmeats.....
>
>Now, my problem with some of these recipes is not so much finding ingredients - snipped  How much is a drachm?  And he mentions venetian glass containers....
>Oh and his recipes for sweetmeats and marzipan, candied fruits and jellies [e.g., How to Make Superb Quince Jelly, which may be kept for a long time and is fit to be set before a king] and other yummies, look wonderful.  Maybe there is a book already out there of redacted versions of his recipes???
>Vicki
>
>Angharad 
>  
>
>