[Sca-cooks] Lemons in Middle English

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

Chris Stanifer wrote:

>No, not really, if you think about it.  The original comment was, in a nutshell, that we would never find a Middle English mention of the lemon (this was based on a humorous attempt to post a recipe for Hollandaise in Middle English), implying quite clearly that the author of that post assumed that lemons were absolutely unused in the era when Middle English was spoken or written popularly.  
>  
>
I was the original poster, and my comment was as follows:
"Not a linguistic flame (not a flame, actually), but a culinary 
comment.  I would be *very* surprised to see lemon juice in a recipe 
written in Middle English."

I did not say *never*, but I thought it extremely unlikely, and I still do.

>That struck me as odd, to begin with, because the countries surrounding England at the time were lousy with lemons, 
>
The countries surrounding England are northern France, Germany, the Low 
Countries, Denmark, and Norway.

>and I had seen reference to lemons being brought back to England with the Crusaders.  
>  
>
You said, "Crusaders returning to Europe from Palestine were said to 
have carried lemons back with them."  Assuming for the moment that this 
is so, were these Crusaders from England, or from southern European 
countries around the Mediterranean?  I would find it credible that 
Crusaders sailed home to Genoa or Marseilles with lemons.  Remember, 
also, that this is a recipe calling for fresh lemon juice.  We're not 
talking about pickled lemons, candied lemon peel, or lemon preserves.

[much snippage]

>William de Grandfort
>  
>
I see in your most recent post that you are ending your comments in this 
thread, and I will do likewise.

-- 
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
Robin Carroll-Mann *** rcmann4 at earthlink.net