[Sca-cooks] Verjuice was Re: Next project, next recipe II.Ambroyno- price questions

[James Prescott]

I take Bear's meaning that modern cooks (i.e. not SCA people) tend to reach
for the lemon juice when then want something lightly sour in a dish -- in
much the same way that a mediaeval cook would tend to reach for the verjuice.

In period "verjuice" could also be made from amything that was sour.  We have
specific mention also of sorrel and gooseberries.

The verjuice that was made from unripe grapes was farmed on a large scale.
Farmers grew particular varieties of grapes specifically for making into
verjuice.

Thorvald


At 9:02 PM +0000 2/20/10, yaini0625 at yahoo.com wrote:
>  Why do you think verjuice has been replaced by lemon juice? Lemons 
> are what time period?
>  Aelina the Saami
>  ------Original Message------
>  From: Terry Decker
>  Sender: sca-cooks-bounces+yaini0625=yahoo.com at lists.ansteorra.org
>  To: Cooks within the SCA
>  ReplyTo: Cooks within the SCA
>  Subject: [Sca-cooks] Verjuice was Re:  Next project,next recipe 
> II.Ambroyno- price questions
>  Sent: Feb 20, 2010 12:26 PM
>
>  Verjuice literally means "green juice."  It is the sour juice of unripe
>  fruit, although in our context the fruit is usually grapes or crabapples.
>  It adds an acidic bite.  It has largely been replaced in modern cooking by
>  lemon juice.
>
>  Bear
>
>>I have my idea of what verajuice is but I would like to hear all of your
>>take on it? Why do you think it is used so prominently in cooking?
>>  Aelina the Saami