[Sca-cooks] Danelaw feast

[Terry Decker]

The problem I see with this is "grains of paradise" appears to be the 
author's comment rather than a statement of the inventory of the estate of 
the Venerable Bede.  Also, there is argument as to whether the term "grains 
of paradise" was ever applied to cardamom.  You might check the Florilegium 
for tha last big argument over this.

After the fall of the Western Empire, exotic spices continued to be 
available in Europe as an import via Byzantium, but they would have been 
expensive, difficult to obtain and it is likely they were used more as 
medicine than spice.

It also occurs to me that Bede could have actually had Afromomum melegueata. 
Bede was a cleric just after the Celtic Church was absorbed by Rome.  The 
Celtic Church had established missions into Africa and these were only just 
being overrun by Islam in Bede's day.  While there is no evidence to support 
Bede having melegueta pepper, it is possible that some had made it to the 
British Isles by 735, but wouldn't be available in 975 due to the Islamic 
expansion.

Bear


> Hagen says "The spices Bede left to his brethren are said to have included
> ... cardamom ('grains of paradise' so called because they were believed to
> float down the Nile from the earthly paradise) ..." This presents three
> problems. One is that Bede's list isn't necessarily a true picture of the
> availability of spices even in his own time. As a high-ranking churchman 
> he
> might have received a gift of exotic spices that would not have been
> available through general trade. (And yes, a King could have received a
> similar gift, but I can bet you he would have reserved it for a high-table
> delicacy!) The second that the translator may or may not have got the word
> in the original text matched to the correct spice as we know it today, 
> even
> discounting the confusion between cardamom and grains. And the third is 
> that
> Bede, in 735, may have had access to spices that were no longer available 
> in
> 975.
>
> Cynara