[Sca-cooks] Re: Identifying foods in Mudthaw menu

[Ruth Tannahill]

Olwen's concern:
>One suggestion.
> If you are going to flavor some of the honey shortbreads, may I suggest
you
> somehow identify what flavoring(s) you use with an initial or colour and
> make it very clear which is which.  Some folks have really odd allergies,
> like Mistress Jeanne, Master Chirhart's wife, who is allergic to lavender
> (who the heck is allergic to something like that?? ((private comment)) ).

Already on it. This is shortbread, so I figured I'd stamp it prior to
baking. Something like: flower for lavender, diamond for cardamom, no stamp
for plain.

Food colors, or course would be appropriate, but I had concerns. Commercial
food colors are chemical. I would not have a problem using commercial food
colors in a subtelty, since the idea and artistic effort are the things
people are primarily enjoying, but I'm not crazy about using commercial food
colors in regular feast food, where eye appeal is balanced with taste,
texture, temperature, and the overall contrast and harmony of the meal. If
I've got a dish with perfectly period ingredients that satisfies those
conditions, I don't want to add a modern dye. If I add a natural food
coloring agent, e.g. parsley or saffron, I would have to use enough of it to
change the color, which would also change the taste and/or texture of the
dish. And parsley juice or grape juice would play merry heck with the
recipe's liquid balance.

So stamps it is.

Berelinde