[Sca-cooks] Citron (or other citrus) Leaves

Lilinah lilinah at earthlink.net
Mon Sep 10 19:23:52 PDT 2007


Stefan wrote:
>Urtatim listed as her herb list:
>
>  > HERBS
>  > -------
>  > Citron (or other citrus) Leaves
>
>Why the "Citron (or other citrus) Leaves"?

Because they are used in recipes :-)

>How would you use them?

Toss 'em into the cooking pot.

>Are these used more as a garnish?

Too hard and tough, and while not unpleasant when washed and oiled, 
not all that decorative.

>or do they actually add flavor,
>such as adding (today) a sprig of mint leaves to iced tea?

Well, not like mint, but, just as bay leaves are used, they do add flavor.

>I do seem
>to remember another recipe on this list recently which called for
>these. How often were they used in medieval European/Mediterranean
>area cooking?

As far as SCA-period cooking goes, they are used in only 1 per cent 
of al-Baghdadi's non-sweets recipes (and unlikely in the sweets) but 
do appear in almost 15 per cent of the non-sweet Andalusian recipes.

I don't recall seeing them in SCA-period European cooking. (not 
saying they aren't there, i just don't recall seeing 'em)

Citrus leaves are also used in Thai and Indonesian cooking.

>Can you find these leaves packaged as herbs? Or do you have to go buy
>the fruit that still has leaves attached and maybe then not have an
>immediate use for the fruit, or pinch off the leaves in the store?

Well, i live in California. I often just look for a tree in someone's 
yard and ask if i can pick some. I confess that i use what i can find 
and am not quite as particular as perhaps i should be about which 
species. I haven't found citron leaves, but i have found different 
varieties of lemon leaves and of orange leaves.

Dried Southeast Asian varieties can be found in SEA markets.
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita



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