[Sca-cooks] Plantains: Period for Old World?

[Terry Decker]

> the John Gerard "The Herbal", p. 1514 to 1517, Chap. 136, "Of Adams Apple
> tree or the West Indian Plantaine."
> So it is old world in the late 1500s.

Don't you mean, "so it is "New World" in the 1500's?"  BTW, the "Plantaine" 
referred to is a banana.

The Portuguese are believed to have introduced African bananas into the 
Canary Islands in the mid-15th Century.

Fra Tomas Berlinga introduced the banana into Dominica in the West Indies in 
1516. (See Oviedo, IIRC)

IIRC, bananas first appeared in the 1636 (I think I errored saying 1633 
edition earlier)  edition of Gerard.  There is a specific date of April 10, 
1633 for receipt of bananas from Bermuda in London in the entry.

>
>
> Wouldn't people go by taste then by starch? Does plantain taste like a
> potato? I have understood the in "Germany" that the potatoe replaced the
> turnip in many dishes.
>
> De

Sounds like a reasonable supposition.

Bear