[Sca-cooks] Clary Sage Flowers - Source

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Oct 21, 2008, at 2:40 PM, Katheline van Weye wrote:

> One of the people in my cooking group wants to make clary wine (as a  
> lot of our recipes call for it).  For clary wine we need the flowers  
> from clary sage plants.  Unfortunately, if planted from seed, it  
> takes a year before the plants bloom.  We only have six months.
>
> Does anyone have a source for the clary sage flowers, or perhaps the  
> plants?


I can't be certain, but it was my understanding that many of the clary  
references in medieval recipes are to claret wine, which is, as I  
recall, a light Bordeaux. I wasn't aware of the need for clary sage to  
make it...

Is there something that documents this connection, or could this just  
be some supposition on your friend's part?

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