[Sca-cooks] Spice Storage

[Volker Bach]

Am Donnerstag, 28. April 2005 16:19 schrieb ysabeau:
> 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.

The trick with the paper funnel is impressive, and old-school retailers can do 
it without glue. However, I doubt it is period.

The cloth bags, on the other hand, are. This is most likely taken directly 
from an illustration in the Buch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung (IIRC) 
that shows a spice merchant with his wares in bags, arrayed on the table in 
front of him. I made cloth bags for spices and foud that they work fairly 
well for unground stuff, but I still prefer (barely defensible) glass jars in 
a wooden box for ease of transport. One day, when I get rich, I'll buy 
lathe-turned wooden jars :)

Giano