[Sca-cooks] Carrots, again
Lilinah
lilinah at earthlink.net
Sun Apr 13 10:50:43 PDT 2008
As the topic of carrots and their colors comes up from time to time,
i thought i'd add what Nasrallah has to say in the glossary section
of "Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens":
(p. 786)
jazar - carrots. Of the cultivated varieties:
1. Red-orange carrot (jazar ahmar) literally, 'red', described as
juicy, tender, and delicious. Poets compare it to carnelian, rubies,
flames of fire, and coral reeds.
2. Yellow carrot (jazar asfar), thicker and denser in texture than
the red (Ibn al-Baytar 164).
3. White carrot (jazar abyad) similar to parsnips, aromatic, and
deliciously sharp in taste. It is also described as having a pleasant
crunch.
Ibn al-Baytar wrote medical manuals in the first half of the 13th century.
So maybe the Dutch did not develop orange carrots after all. Perhaps
the cultivar made its way to Western Europe through other methods.
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
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