[Sca-cooks] Spices in England

[Sue Clemenger]

Question:
I was always under the impression that saunders was sandalwood,
specifically, one of what Jenny Dean calls one of the "insoluble redwoods,"
like Pterocarpus santalinus, found in the East Indies, Sri Lanka, and
something called the "Coramandel Coast," or P. angolensis, which is native
to Africa.
Apparently, the color bits are more soluble in alcohol than in water, so I
always wanted to see if that held true with foods, as well as dye pots and
cosmetics.
Are we talking two different kinds of "saunders," here? I've got some, from
the East Kingdom Pepperers' Guild, and it looks remarkably like powdered,
reddish clay--the sort one makes terra cotta pots from.  ;o)
--Maire
(Jenny Dean is the author of a rather comprehensive, lovely book called
"Wild Color," which is a guide to making and using natural dyes

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wanda Pease" <wandap at hevanet.com>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 4:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Spices in England


  Lady Alice
> provided her cook with sugar when necessary for a dish (probably kept
locked
> up with the other spices and doled out  as needed along with pepper,
saffron
> cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, salt, honey, soda-ash or sandres
(cedar-wood
> which I get the impression was used more for it's coloring capacity than
> taste.