[Sca-cooks] Spice Storage

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- Volker Bach <carlton_bach at yahoo.de> wrote:
> 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.

I agree.  Paper wasn't all that cheap during the Middle Ages/Renaissance.  
> 
> 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 :)

Wouldn't the wood give off flavors, unless it was lacquered or coated in some fashion?
Ceramic jars would be much more impressive, in my opinion.  There are a lot of extant
Medieval/Renaissance German ceramics, especially the German Salt Glazed ceramics.  They are
somewhat less breakable than glass and just as unlikely to give off unwanted flavoring. 

Huette

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for 
they shall never cease to be amused.

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