[Sca-cooks] canning compost

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 15, 2005, at 1:57 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

>  Doc commented:
>
>> On a related note, I've been considering  canning "compost" for this
>> Pennsic.  Anyone done that - or just canned turnips?  Most cookbooks
>> and such recommend against canning turnips.
>>
>
> So, why are you wanting to can the compost? Medieval compost was a  
> pickled food item and the reason for this was to preserve the  
> vegetables and fruits. So, why can't you do it the same way?

Well, I'm a little leery of the word "can't" in this context, but  
pickling is intended to preserve food against pathogens, and even the  
best of pickling methods doesn't always preserve food in its best  
condition for very long under the wrong conditions. So, for example,  
y'ever take a bite of a dill pickle that has been out of  
refrigeration for a while (say, a few weeks) and found it to be less  
than crispy, and sort of waxy-textured? This is why the best dill  
pickles (commercial ones, anyway) are still sold under refrigeration,  
even though it's perfectly safe to eat them when they've been  
unrefrigerated for a while.

I've canned compost a couple of times, and commented once or twice on  
its apparently amazing keeping qualities. I STR there being a thread  
on this list about whether I would die if I ate some compost from an  
opened jar that had been in my fridge for several years and still  
smelled and looked okay (I didn't die, BTW).

>
>
>> I've got a *lot* of experimenting to do before August.
>>
>
> Perhaps some of the comments from others who have made this, and  
> various period recipes, might give you a head start.
>
> compost-msg      (72K) 3/ 7/05   A pickled food of fruits and  
> vegetables.
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/compost-msg.html

I checked the links listed in the Florithingy page, and some of them  
(the Adelphi University links) may be outdated: the article which  
includes some commentary on a feast-sized batch of compost (80 or 90  
pounds of the English version without the nuts) is now here:

http://www.ostgardr.org/cooking/twelfth.night.html#Sauseges   ,

and the one with nuts (made in much smaller quantity) is here:

http://www.ostgardr.org/cooking/ppb.html#compot

For what it's worth, the best composts I've had (and this may be as  
much a matter of personal preference as of quality control) had the  
ingredients cut pretty small (no more than 1/2 to 3/4 inch cubes),  
with relatively little liquid, and the liquid fairly thick, somewhere  
between heavy syrup and honey in density/viscosity.

Adamantius


"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04