[Sca-cooks] Pepper Mill: A Puzzle

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

I'd assume that a pepper quern would be like the ones described here as spice grinders.
http://www.viking-resources.co.uk/sauce_code/alric/alric.php
(these are reproductions made in the UK)

Ranvaig


>--On Saturday, January 12, 2008 9:47 PM -0600 Terry Decker
><t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> The hand mill is probably, but not necessarily, a saddle quern.  What is
>> the  pepper mill?  A mortar and pestle, or some more interesting device?
>> I  haven't had much luck finding any further information.
>
>I'm not sure if this is useful or not, but I found this quote in the
>footnotes to "Catholicon anglicum: an English-Latin wordbook, dated 1483",
>published in 1881:
>
>"Querne. Mola, Moletrina, Pistrilla, Trusatilis mola. Trusatile is for
>malte or mustarde, bycause it is turned with the hande. Querne for pepper.
>Pistellum' Hulcet. This suggests, perhaps, a mortar and pestle.
>
>The OED dates the word "Pepper mill" as a fairly late (16th or 17thC)
>adoption from german or dutch, and notes that the usual term prior is
>pepper quern. There is this quote that they identify as from an old english
>recipe: Grinde reades caules sædes ane handfulle on piporcwyrna.
>
>In addition, while I haven't been able to track down the Latin, the quote
>is from Neckam's Libro de Utensilibus -- knowing the original latin might
>help point to a more precise description of the instrument.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>toodles, margaret
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org