[Sca-cooks] Jam

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> My picky-ness is because (as I think I mentioned) a person has been making
> excellent jams but has been saying that the recipes are medieval.  From
> everything written so far, and especially what Huette wrote and what I
> found last night (below), the thing we Americans call "jam"
> (mashed/pureed,
> spreadable fruit and sugar) is not "medieval" and appears not to have19
> truly
> developed until post SCA period.
>

Of course, pre-1600 isn't the same as "medieval" which is sort of a
problem-- something could date from around 1600 without being medieval.

If you would like to help this person, I'd recommend taking a look at the
following books. Even if you don't agree that the preserves your
acquaintance is making are similar, perhaps you can steer him/her toward
the recipes in these for comparison.
- _The Elixirs of Nostradamus_ (1555)
- _Good Huswife's Jewel_ (1597)
- "Banquetting Stuffe" (1986 Leeds Symposium. C. Anne Wilson ed.)
- "Waste Not, Want Not" (1989 Leeds Symposium)

There's also recipes 175, 176, and 178 in The English Housewife to compare
to, and "A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen" which seems to be mostly
pastes

-- 
-- Jenne Heise / Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net