[Sca-cooks] Roysonys of courance

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Feb 27, 2006, at 1:08 PM, Sharon Gordon wrote:

> A post on another list reminded me to ask about
> Roysonys of courance.
>
> I've been told these are
> 1) Currants, probably black ones
> 2) Dried black and/or maybe red currants
> 3) The tiny black currant grapes that look rather like currants
> 4) Dried versions of the tiny black currant grapes that look rather  
> like
> currants
>
> How do you know what to use when?

A raisin is a type of grape. Raisins of Corinth, dried currants, and  
Zante currants, and variations on those names, probably refer to #4  
above. Most medieval recipes will refer to raisins of courance when  
the little dried grapes are wanted, and raisins of the sun, or great  
raisins (as opposed to small) when ordinary dried raisins are what is  
intended.

Red and black currants are, I believe, technically berries, and they  
don't seem to turn up that often, if at all, in medieval recipes. I  
suspect that medieval England (which I mention because English  
recipes seem to call for raisins and currants more often than French  
and German ones, AFAICT) wasn't a big center for the dried fruit  
industry, nor _really_ suitable climactically for sun-drying fruit on  
farms.

While this is probably an over-simplification, recipes, more often  
than not, when they refer to currants in English, anyway, are going  
to be calling for a dried, imported product, or fresh or conserved,  
red or black currants (must check some late-period sources), which  
latter are more likely to be a local product, in season if not  
preserved.

Are we confused yet? ;-)

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