[Sca-cooks] viking food and fall fruit

[a5foil]

Ego scripsi:
> >I think any grapes would have been reserved for wine, rather than
> >eaten as fruit.

Et Selene scripsit:
> I might beg to differ there.  Things like dried fruit are often the only
> sweetening agents available.  I'm thinking, like the raisins in a plum
> duff, later on at sea.  Just thinking out loud here.

In England, grapes are a luxury crop left over from the Romans, and I don't
recall any mention of vineyards farther north. Hagen (Anglo-Saxon Food &
Drink II) says "Most grapes would have been used to make wine ..." I would
expect that dried fruit would be from more abundant, native fruit like
currants, and drying would simply be for preservation. Honey is the primary
sweetener.

Cynara