[Sca-cooks] Thistle Recipe from Fabulous Feasts

[Stefan li Rous]

Cariadoc asked:
> The period ingredient I'm familiar with for coloring things blue is
> turnsole. Does anyone know of a period recipe that uses blueberies
> for coloring? That uses blueberries at all? So far the nearest I have
> found is a reference to whortleberries (which can be a name for
> blueberries) in Hildegard of Bingen--warning against eating them,
> because they are bad for you.

Blue seems to be a problematic color for food coloring. I seem to 
remember discussing it here previously. Cindy Renfrow
does give these colorings for blue and purple. From my 
p-fd-coloring-msg file:
> Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 12:19:54 -0400
> From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
> Subject: Re: SC - Red color
>
> Here's a list of the coloring agents Dame Alys & I have come up with 
> so far
> for our food coloring article.  My guess is that most of the fruit 
> juices
> (the most pleasant things here to drink) will stain. A magic shop 
> might be
> able to supply you with some color-changing "red wine".
>
> The Coloring Agents, by Color:
>
> <snip>
> Blues:
> Azure/ Blew
> Bluebottles in Corne
> Borage
> Elder bark
> "Indigo Stone..."
> Turnsole
> Woad
>
> Purples:
> Elderberries
> Mulberry
> Turnsole
> Violets
<snip>
> Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu

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 ****