[Sca-cooks] RE: Plums and Irish

[otsisto]

>From my understanding she is trying for Irish Norse feast. The Rus and the
Svea were in the Mediterranean but not the Irish.
Also, there was little contact between the Romans in Briton and the Irish.
If she is trying for Irish Norse then it is a very slim possibility for the
Irish to have plums (actually prunes).
I am not sure about the red plums.
And though Normandy seems to have the plums does not mean that the Irish had
them. Also, the Normans would have introduced the plum either a little
before or after 1066 (into England, not Ireland)and I think she is trying
for 1005.

Lyse


-----Original Message-----
The Norse probably had access to plums and prunes beginning around 900 CE
when they began direct trade with Byzantium.  Since Pliny (79 CE) states
that the Syrian plum made its way first to Greece and then to Italy, I would
assume that plums were in cultivation in the Mediterranean regions when the
Vikings arrived.

According to the Cambridge World History of Food, plums were introduced into
England by the Normans, suggesting that either the Romans or the Norse had
introduced their cultivation into Normandy.

Bear