[Sca-cooks] Spices and the Irish Common folk

[Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise]

>   1.  They didn't have any spices.

ermmm... I would kinda doubt that, even if you define spices as 'stuff 
that comes from a long way away. There's no reason to assume that people 
never had access to, say, peppercorn from time to time.

Without going and looking at C. Ann Wilson, I'm not sure what seed 
herb/spices were grown in Ireland. But I'm willing to bet on mustard 
seed, since mustard grows practically like a weed. Coriander, Caraway, 
Anise, cumin, dill, fennel, all are among the herb seeds I would suspect 
as possibly in use as spices in medieval Ireland. 

>   5.  If they had any 'herbs', they would not be considered anything 
>other than another vegetable.

See above

Pickled brawn and pickled cabbage appear to have been things served to 
servants in Britain. Of course, whether the brawn was beef or pig might 
have differed from place to place. 

-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
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