[Sca-cooks] Use of fresh juices in period?

[Stefan li Rous]

Kiri mentioned:
<<< However, when I
judged a cooking competition this past weekend at Coronation, I was  
somewhat
bemused by an entrant who substituted white wine for the grape juice the
recipe called for (and yes, even the unredacted translation said "grape
juice.")  Her reasoning was that she didn't have any grape juice in the
house and didn't want to make a trip to the store!!! >>>

Do you remember what the recipe was and where it originally came from?

It has been my contention that yes, fresh fruit juices were drunk in  
the Middle Ages, but because they won't stay fresh without  
refrigeration for very long, that they were fermented or drunk very  
quickly. However, I've not got much evidence to back this viewpoint up.

So this recipe would be of interest to me, IF the translation is  
correct. The recipe might have actually specified a fermented grape  
juice and the translation is wrong or the fermentation might have  
been assumed.

How long will a fruit juice stay good under refrigeration or in cool  
storage such as in a cold stream? While there are streams near the  
Alps and such which could have been used for cold/cool storage, I  
don't think those are close to where fresh fruit would have been  
available. Nor do I know how such cool storage compares to modern  
refrigeration.

Or does anyone have any evidence pointing to the drinking of  
unfermented fruit juices? Or maybe I should say unfermented, fresh  
juices, since adding sugar, as in Sekanjabin and similar drinks, will  
prevent spoilage, but then it's not fresh juice.

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 ****