[Sca-cooks] elderflowers

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 3, 2008, at 8:03 PM, KristiWhyKelly at aol.com wrote:

> Has anyone had experience with elderflowers?  I've ordered dried  
> ones  years
> ago and I remember them as almost too fragrant.  My Adams  
> elderflower  finally
> flowered this year, and I wonder if I need to do something with  
> them,  like
> dry them.  Fresh, they have no scent nor flavor.
>
> Any ideas?  Or do I just hold out for the berries?

The flowers are good in sambocade, which is a 14th-century English  
cheesecake variant flavored with elder flowers. The recipe doesn't  
specify that they be dried, but it seem like it works much better with  
dried flowers. Basically it's fresh white curd cheese, egg (whites  
only), the flowers and a little sugar in a crust.

> Also, I've found references to currants but not the colors in recipes,
> anyone know if the black ones are periodish or should I just save  
> the red ones  for
> my SCA recipes?


The extreme likelihood is that most of the currant references in  
medieval recipes are to Raisins of Corinth, a.k.a. Zante currants,  
which are really a small, dried grape. I won't try to rule out the use  
of red or black berry-type currants, but it does seem like they're  
vastly outnumbered by Raisins of Corinth.

Adamantius


"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter