[Sca-cooks] Saffron in Ireland

[Stefan li Rous]

> Maeve,
>
> Do you have a Cost Plus Imports out there, or are they a west coast
> thing?  If you do, they usually have saffron at a reasonable price, but
> you may have to keep check back for it as they do sell out.
>
> Samrah
The best saffron that I have found has been that sold by the Pepper's 
Guild at Pennsic. A very deep red and fragrant. Also one of the 
cheapest sources I've seen. $5 for a small vial, but I don't know how 
big that was. Certainly many times more than what you get in the 
grocery store for the same amount of money.

Cooks going to Pennsic should definitely check out the Pepper's Guild. 
But not before Stefan gets by to do his annual stocking up. :-) They 
run a very picturesque, open stand by the row of wooden shops next to 
the barn. They weigh out the spices on a  medieval style balance scale 
and have the spices displayed in rows of glass jars.

I have also started buying small quantities of long pepper, grains of 
paradise and other non-easily available spices as favors and gifts and 
to help encourage cooks new of medieval cooking.

For those not going to Pennsic, they do  have a website and do  mail 
order, but the site has changed several times, so I don't have the site 
bookmarked. It is in the merch-spices-msg file in the Florilegium, 
though. Since they are a non-profit group, I have heard that their 
delivery can be a bit sporadic, so I wouldn't order the week before an 
event and expect to get it by then.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****