[Sca-cooks] Spice Storage

[ysabeau]

One of my first stops in Berlin was to a working medieval village 
(yes, in the heart of Berlin!). I was excited to see the spice 
merchant because I had just moved and needed to stock my kitchen. 
I promptly bought a bunch of spices. I don't know the research 
they put into it but they did their best to make it as authentic 
as possible...they even worked the field with reproductions of 
period tools. 

The spice merchant had his spices in large cloth bags that sat 
inside large jars. They were arranged in triple rows around the 
stand with cards on some kind of stick stuck into the space 
between the bag and the jar with the name and price. When you 
ordered, he would take a paper funnel and scoop your spices into 
the funnel and twist the top closed. I would assume that the 
funnel had to be glued but I have a fuzzy image of watching him 
curl the paper into the funnel, fill it and twist it. He did it 
very quickly. I might have to play with some paper to figure it 
out. I ended up with a bag full of little funnels filled with 
spices. 

If you can read German (the translator doesn't do a very good 
job), the website is http://www.dueppel.de/

The longer side of this story is that I had only been in Berlin 
for three days. I was standing on the U-bahn platform when I saw 
this woman in medieval clothing jump off the train and head for 
the stairs. Completely forgetting where I was, I called to her in 
English and asked "Excuse me, are in the SCA?" Without missing a 
beat, she turned and said "No, I'm one of the tunnel people from 
Beauty and the Beast!" It turns out that she was SCA and they were 
on their way to a field trip to the village. I changed my plans 
and headed off to the village for a fun and educational day.

Ysabeau




---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 02:04:58 -0500

>Urtatim asked:
>> Some European stuff suggests that at least in some times and 
places
>> spices were kept in leather pouches (14th c. France, IIRC)
>
>Apparently also in apothecary jars as well. At least at the 
merchants.
>
> From my spice-storage-msg file:
>> Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 02:22:50 -0700
>> From: "David Dendy" <ddendy  at silk.net>
>> Subject: Re: SC - transporting ingredients
>>
>> >Okay, so we have the spice box set up and the sacks for larger 
>> quantities of
>> >things like wheat and rice.  How did people in period store 
and/or 
>> transport
>> >powders like amydoun, powdour douce, and so on?  Do we have 
any 
>> pictures or
>> >documentation, or do we fall back on rustic jars with corks in 
>> because they
>> >look more period than glass screwtop jars?
>> >
>> >Cairistiona
>>
>> The most usual solution would have been in pottery jars. These 
are 
>> usually
>> known as apothecary jars -- most commonly they are in a 
majolica-type 
>> of
>> ware, with blue or green decoration. The usual shape is fairly 
tall,
>> narrower at top and bottom than in the middle, which has a 
concave 
>> curvature
>> (sorry if the description isn't the clearest). And these jars 
would be
>> closed not with corks (the use of cork for stoppers is very 
late, if I
>> recall correctly), but with a piece of parchment tied down with 
a cord 
>> over
>> the projecting lip of the top of the jar. I have also met 
mention in 
>> account
>> books of pounded spices and mixtures being delivered from the 
spice 
>> merchant
>> in bags (I can't recall off the top of my head whether cloth or 
>> leather), so
>> I suspect that this would also answer your needs. Would you 
like me to 
>> dig
>> up the exact references?
>>
>> Francesco Sirene
>> David Dendy / ddendy  at silk.net
>> partner in Francesco Sirene, Spicer / sirene  at silk.net
>> Visit our Website at http://www.silk.net/sirene/
>>
>>
>> Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 06:26:18 -0700
>> From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss  at gte.net>
>> Subject: Re: SC - transporting ingredients
>>
>> hey all from Anne-Marie
>> Cairistiona asks:
>> >>Okay, so we have the spice box set up and the sacks for 
larger 
>> quantities of
>> >>things like wheat and rice.  How did people in period store 
and/or 
>> transport
>> >>powders like amydoun, powdour douce, and so on?  Do we have 
any 
>> pictures or
>> >>documentation, or do we fall back on rustic jars with corks 
in 
>> because they
>> >>look more period than glass screwtop jars?
>>
>> le menagier or Chiquart, one of those guys, mentions that you 
are to 
>> store
>> your spices in leather bags. He also mentions that you are to 
buy them
>> whole and powder them yourself (for freshness sake? I think?).
>>
>> Francesco is right about the apothocary jars as well...that's 
how the 
>> spice
>> shop is shown to store them in the illos, like the Tacitium 
sanitas, 
>> but we
>> dont see folks carting them away in those beautiful majolica 
jars. and 
>> dont
>> forget your sugar came from the druggist as well!
>>
>> Flour and grain seem to be transported in bags of some sort of 
white
>> material (course linen? it was the cheapest fiber for most of 
Europe),
>> according to the manuscript illos.
>>
>> - --AM
>
>> But i haven't found any clear information on in what sorts of
>> containers the Arabs and related cultures kept their spices.
>>
>> Has anyone come across any related information?
>
>I'm sorry, but I don't have anything in that file specifically on 
what 
>sorts of containers the Arabs and related cultures used, but I'm 
not 
>sure why it would be different.
>
>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 ****
>
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