[Sca-cooks] Earthapples Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 18, Issue 57

[Chris Stanifer]

--- Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Did we ever decide if "earthapples" were potatoes or squash? 

I'm initially inclined to say that 'earthapples' were potatoes, if only because of the similarity
between the Dutch 'aardappel', the German 'Erdäpfel' or 'Kartoffel', and the French 'Pommes de
Terre'...all of which refer to the potato, and all of which mean 'earth apple' or 'apple of the
earth' (except perhaps 'kartoffel')

Whether they are referring to the common white potato, or the sweet potato is a matter for the
more scholarly in the group, though I believe it may have been mentioned in an earlier thread that
the 'potato' mentioned in period texts may well have been referring to the sweet potato.  The
French, however, call the sweet potato 'patates', I believe.

Unfortunately, the sweet potato tastes just as good as the white potato when prepared in the
manner of this recipe, so I can't really say one way or the other with certainty.

William de Grandfort

=====
Every heart to love will come... but like a refugee.


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. 
www.yahoo.com