[Sca-cooks] Pomegranate Molasses

[Claire Clarke]

------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:08:44 -0800
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pomegranate Molasses
Message-ID: <4B84C26C.6090908 at jeffnet.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:
> On Feb 24, 2010, at 12:30 AM, Laura C. Minnick wrote:
>
>   
>>>> Strange co-incidence, I spotted a bag of frozen pomegranate seeds in
the
>>>> supermarket today.
>>>>
>>>> Theadora
>>>>    
>>>>         
>> Which reminds me- there's a recipe for something called 'Strawbereye'
in... I think it was Curye on Inglische. Anyway, it is basically a
strawberry pudding, but it also calls for pomegranate seeds to be 'strewn
abouten'. Oookaaay... but strawberries and pomegranates aren't in season at
the same time, are they? How did they do this?
>>     
>
> Is it possible the pomegranates were imported from someplace where they
were in season (say, the Mediterranean basin?), while the berries were
local?
>
> Adamantius
>   
When _are_ they in season? We get them here in Oregon during the 
holidays- and they're imported, though from where I don't know. I've 
never seen them any other time of year. Local strawberries come on in June.

I'm guessing that English strawberries were in season around the same 
time (we have similar weather, etc). I would hazard a guess that poms 
were imported from Spain (making the giant leap from the presence of a 
pom on the arms of Grenada), so I guess then the question is when are 
they in season in Spain?

*****************************************
Strawberries are a summer fruit. Pomegranates generally ripen in Autumn. 
The climate around here is pretty similar to the Mediterranean, and you
usually do get pomegranates in Autumn. I'm not sure if they grow in cooler
climates, but if they do, they certainly wouldn't appear earlier in the
year. Since the strawberries certainly wouldn't last until Autumn (unless
they were very late strawberries), the pomegranate seeds must have been
preserved from the previous Autumn.

Angharad