[Sca-cooks] Question about watermelon...

[Stefan li Rous]

Cailte asked:
> did i dream seeing it, or did i see a mention of
> watermelon being period fruit on this list?  or just
> melon?  and what kind?

The following is from this file in the FOOD-FRUITS section of the 
Florilegium:
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Period-Fruit-art?(60K)?1/13/02???"Fruit of Period Times" by Baron
??????????????????????????????????????Akim Yaroslavich.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-FRUITS/Period-Fruit-art.html

> Watermelon (Colocynthis citrullus) is distinct from other melons 
> (Cucumis) and has a longer history of cultivation. Arising in Africa, 
> watermelons were grown in Egypt before 2000 B.C. from wild vines with 
> a fruit the size of a large orange (176). Watermelons spread to the 
> Holy Land and to the northern Mediterranean, though they never 
> attained the general popularity of melons (177). The size of period 
> watermelons was generally small (5-10 pounds); larger varieties were 
> developed in the nineteenth century mainly for American marketing. In 
> recent years a number of smaller watermelon varieties have been 
> available which more closely resemble the original cultivated fruits.

You might also find this file of interest:
fruit-melons-msg?(23K)?2/ 9/01???Period melons. References. Recipes.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-FRUITS/fruit-melons-msg.html

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****