[Sca-cooks] Non-Pennsic SCA activities?

[Lady Celia]

Dragon said: 
<<On an observational note, I have noticed that the modern versions of 
the recipes from both Pleyn Delit and 1000 eggs tend to be pretty 
light in their use of spices. I've found that when I make them with 
the quantities specified, that they tend to be rather under-spiced to 
my taste. Does anyone else find this to be so? In each of the recipes 
I prepared from these books, I significantly increased the amounts of 
spices and though them much improved from the way they tasted with 
the called for amounts.>>

I suspect that part of it is that the potency of modern dried spices is
significantly lower than that which would have been used by our medieval
counterparts.  That and our taste buds have changed, and are more often
assaulted with taste bud dulling foods and ingredients. 

That would be my first guess as to why this might be true. 

In Service,
Celia