[Sca-cooks] Pickles from Ein Boke de Guter Spise

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 23, 2006, at 9:58 AM, Guenievre de Monmarche wrote:

> Flavor caraway seeds and anise with pepper and with vinegar and  
> with honey.
> And make it gold with saffron. And add thereto mustard. In this  
> condiment
> you may make sulze (pickled or marinated) parsley, and small  
> preserved fruit
> and vegetables, or beets, which(ever) you want.

This is almost identical to the English compost recipes, except there  
the vegetable content is specified pretty clearly (it's a mixture).

The recipe shows up in various forms in French, English, and German  
sources (not to mention something pretty close in Apicius). It seems  
like most often the vegetables so preserved are a mix, or beets,  
carrots or cucumbers. Cabbage cut into squares, or even cauliflower  
(assuming no issues with its region-specific periodicity) would also  
be good.

> I'm planning on canning the pickles this weekend so they have some  
> time to
> mellow. My question, however, is what vegetables would you use? I'm  
> not sure
> I want to use beets, as I'm not personally fond of them (though  
> they would
> be pretty, so they're still an option!)

Were you planning on eating them all yourself, and therefore have  
these concerns?

> Carrots are also out, as they're the
> other veggie dish in this course (the other course includes spinach  
> tarts
> and sautéed mushrooms with onion).  Anyway, Germany isn't really my  
> "thing",
> so I'm not sure what other veggies were popular/available. Any  
> suggestions?

I'd probably go with raw cucumbers or _lightly_ blanched cabbage.

Adamantius