[Sca-cooks] Query about verjus...urgent!!

[Gretchen Beck]

--On Monday, December 06, 2010 11:57 AM -0500 "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus 
Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net> wrote:

>
> On Dec 6, 2010, at 11:25 AM, Elaine Koogler wrote:
>
>> Hi folks,
>> Got a question:  has anyone ever heard of verjus being either made out
>> of, or containing green wheat?  I can't find any references to it but my
>> knowledge, resources and experience may be limited!
>>
>> If you could respond right away, I'd be grateful!!
>>
>> Kiri
>
> Verjuice very definitely can be made from crabapples (see Markham's
> recipe), and I remember reading some reference to green wheat, but don't
> remember where. Of course, this could be one of those things where a
> scribal, textual, or translator's error is made and repeated over the
> centuries...

Looks like an original "green wheat" thread can be found from 1998 in 
Stefan's Florelegium:

Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 16:12:35 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: SC - Verjuice, thyme, and hyssop (was: Spice cabinet...)

Adamantius wrote, commenting on someone else's post:
>Your theory about the role of sorrel verjuice is pretty interesting.
>Remember the quote from Taillevent I posted, in which he says you'll
>need green wheat in winter? Green wheat is another of the items from
>which verjuice could be made. I wonder if grapes supplied verjuice for
>late summer through the beginning of winter, green wheat in winter and
>early spring, and sorrel in the spring and early summer...

from Menagier de Paris:
"SORREL VERJUICE. Grind the sorrel very fine without the twigs, and soak in
old, white verjuice, and do not strain the sorrel, but let it be finely
ground; or thus: grind parsley and sorrel or wheat-leaves. Item vine buds,
that is those that are young and tender, without any sticks."

So he is making sorrel verjuice from sorrel and verjuice, with variants
using parsley or wheat leaves (and maybe vine buds) along with the sorrel.
And later: "Note, that in July the old verjuice is too weak and the new
verjuice is too green: and for this reason, at grape-harvest, verjuice
which is mixed half old and half new is best. " Evidently he is expecting
his grape verjuice to last the year round.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook



toodles, margaret