[Sca-cooks] Another recipe interpretation question

[Barbara Benson]

Greetings,

> Do you think I could substitute lemon or bitter orange for the citron? Or
> are citron leaves meant? Would it be ok to omit them entirely?

My opinions :). I think they mean Citron Leaves. In the sequence it is in
the preceeding two items are leaves. I would use fresh. What I am wondering
is if they somehow mean clove leaves? The flower of cloves is what we think
of as cloves, and they make the point of saying "flower of cloves" later in
the recipe. So maybe the first cloves means clove leaves and the second is
the spice bud.

Does anyone know if you can cook with the leaf of the clove tree?

For the citron I would probably use lime leaves, I know you can cook with
those and they are fairly common in some asian cuisines.

Another question, can you cook with orange or lemon leaves the same way? If
so I would probably use a combination of lime and orange leaves.

So, I have probably made more questions than I answered.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva

> I'm looking at the syrup of mint in the Al-Andalus:
>
> Take mint and basil, citron and cloves, a handful of each, and cook all
> this in water to cover, until its substance comes out, and add the clear
> part of it to a ratl of sugar. The bag: an ûqiya of flower of cloves, and
> cook all this until a syrup is made.