[Sca-cooks] Dill pickles

[Stefan li Rous]

Alex commented:
<<< In looking at things my granddaughter could do for an arts and  
science comp
this summer, and she eating a dill pickle at the time, we thought that
pickles might be a fun project to do, as she could grow the cucumbers
herself, and put together the pickling and so on.  Since she does  
like dill
pickles I thought we could add growing her own herbs as well.>>>

There are several files in the PLANTS, HERBS AND SPICES section of  
the Florilegium that might be of use in growing the herbs or in  
documenting them:

A-Mazng-Herbs-art  (5K)  8/31/01    "A-Mazing-Herbs" by Countess Tessa
                                        of the Gardens, OP.
Basic-Herbs-art    (6K) 11/ 2/02    "Basic List of Herbs"
                                        by HL Suzanna the herbalist.
herbs-msg        (124K)  9/17/04    Herbs used in period and how they  
were used.
                                        Modern sources.
Herbs-Sm-Grdn-art (32K) 10/10/01    "Medieval Herbs for the Very  
Small Garden"
                                        by Jadwiga Zajaczkowa.

<<< I tried looking at the flory-thing and saw some leads for  
cucumbers in
general (Looks like we're adding some mint to the list so we can try the
yogurt and mint cucumbers) but the link to picking was broken. >>>

I assume this is the one you are speaking of?
cucumbers-msg     (12K)  5/17/01    Medieval and period cucumbers.  
Recipes.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-VEGETABLES/cucumbers-msg.html

I was recently approached by a reader who commented I didn't have  
much on cucumbers in the Florilegium. After discussing this, he wrote  
an article. I've finished editing it, but haven't uploaded it to the  
site yet. If there is interest, I will do so ASAP.

Cucumbers-Hst-art  (8K)  1/15/07    "Medieval and Ancient History of the
                                        Cucumber" by Ian of Oertha.

When I joined the SCA, I wasn't aware that there were other pickled  
vegetables than cucumbers. So all pickles were cucumbers to me.  
However, quite a number of vegetables other than cucumbers were, and  
are, pickled. So those are also possibilities.  Perhaps planting  
several types of vegetables might be good insurance against your area  
not being a good one for cucumbers or various diseases or other pests.

Which link to "picking" was broken? Or did you mean pickling? Either  
way, once I find out that an internal link in the Florilegium is  
broken, I can usually fix it within a day. This is difficult though  
when I don't know there is a problem.

I do have these files on pickling, but I just checked them and found  
no problems with the links to them from the index pages.

pickled-foods-msg (130K) 2/ 6/06    Medieval pickled food. recipes.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/pickled-foods-msg.html
pickled-meats-msg (58K) 10/11/01    Period pickled meats. Lord's  
Salt. recipes.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MEATS/pickled-meats-msg.html

Compost is a medieval dish consisting of a variety of pickled  
vegetables and fruits.
compost-msg       (82K)  8/25/06    A pickled food of fruits and  
vegetables.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/compost-msg.html

There are also these files on vinegar in the FOOD section:
Vinegar-art       (20K)  6/26/01    "What's so special about  
Vinegar?" by
                                        Mistress Christianna MacGrain.
Vinegar-NJFCC-art (18K) 10/23/01    "Vinegar: Not Just for Cleaning  
Coffeepots"
                                        by THL Mirin ben DhIarmait.
vinegar-msg       (88K)  5/18/06    Vinegar in period. Making vinegar.

<<< Anyone have some leads to the pickling? >>>

Okay, this is why I suspected you were looking for into on pickling  
and not picking. However, I do have this file on picking fruits and  
vegetables:
sel-frts-veg-msg  (18K)  6/28/00    Selecting the best fruits and  
vegetables.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/sel-frts-veg-msg.html

<<< I figure we'll need to be
purchasing seeds and such pretty soon to start our plants indoor, and  
wanted
to make sure that the cucumbers, dill and mint were the only plants we
needed to start.>>>

Those are not uncommon herbs and plants so they shouldn't be  
difficult to find. There is this file though:
seeds-msg         (66K)  5/24/06    Sources for period plants and seeds.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PLANTS/seeds-msg.html

I seem to remember comments though that many herbs grow better from  
seedlings than from seeds. You might want to check into this.

Good luck to you and your granddaughter with this project. Please let  
us know how it goes.

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 ****