[Sca-cooks] Re: Old World vs. New World Fruits

[Daniel Phelps]

Was written various list of old world and new world foods.  The game sounds
interesting so using the assumption the "old world" means western Europe
here are my comments.

> Old World Fruits include:
> apple, pear, quince, apricot, peach, cherry, grape, raisin, orange (sour),
watermelon and other melons,*  strawberries, berries, fig, plum,
pomegranate, date, currant, and prune. Pineapple and bananas were known, but
unusual.

You might include orange (sweet) as, albeit late, period in Europe.  I think
that medlars and citrons should be added to the list as well.  Strawberries
should be included with the caveat that those in period were closer to wild
strawberries rather than what is currently cultivated.

> Nuts available were hazelnut, almond, pistachio, pine nuts, walnut, and
chestnut.

You might also include European Acorns, they are not bitter as the New World
varieties but reportedly sweet enough to be eaten out of hand.
>
> *Period varieties of these fruits, as well as other vegetables and even
some now-extinct game animals, are similar to those we can get readily
today, such as cantaloupe, honeydew, cranberries, blueberries, zucchini, and
domestic rabbit.
>
>
> New World Fruits include:
> pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, cranberry, raspberry, blackberry,
black raspberry, custard apple, papaya, guava, avocado, currant, crabapples,
gooseberry, coconut, chayote, star fruit, key lime, cacao (chocolate),
tomatoes, tomatillos, ground cherry (a relative of tomatillo, not a cherry);

You might want to add persimmon to the New World list.

> Nuts include brazil nuts, black walnuts, pecan, hazelnut(Corylus
americana), cashew, pumpkin seeds.

Coconuts are period, albeit perhaps late and rare, for Europe.  I can cite
documented period European articles, i.e. goblets, made from the shell.
>
> (other New World Foods)
> bison, wild pig, turkey, moscovy duck, rabbit, fish, shrimp, shellfish,
crawfish, lobster, eggs of duck and other birds, frogs, dog, iguana, guinea
pigs;

Bison is an "odd duck" there is a European cousin to the American bison
which almost went extinct but is still present and protected IMSR in Poland.
I believe that it was eaten.  "Wild pig" kind of throws me as I understood
that pigs were old world.  Peccaries are new world they are not pigs but
just look like them.  I also understood that fish, shrimp, shellfish, bird
eggs and dog were period table fair for Western Europe.  The eating of dog
and cat (roof rabbit) was not, in my understanding, common but was done.
At least the shell of the ostrich egg was known in Europe if not the egg
itself.

Turkey, while new world in origin, reportedly made it across the pond rather
rapidly and is late period, albeit for only approximately 50 years, for
Spain and southwestern Europe.

> corn, wild rice, amaranth, quinoa, sunflowers, arrowroot, cassava (yuca),
beans, lima beans, peanuts, zucchini, pumpkin and squash (yellow-flowered
squashes), potato, sweet potato, green beans, jerusalem artichokes
>

I thought that yams and peanuts were African in origin and thus know to late
period Europeans.
>
Daniel