[Sca-cooks] FW: Caudle spices

[James Prescott]

"flower of Canelle" is ambiguous.  It could mean 
"best quality"; or "finest grind";
or (rather unexpected) literally cassia (or 
cinnamon) flower buds which are today
available in brine in tins from Chinese 
supermarkets.  The presence of gillyflowers
in the recipe suggests that having cassia buds is a distinct possibility.

Blank powder is white powder is a merchant's or 
cook's mixture that would vary.  I
have no period recipe, but there are modern 
suggestions that it might have included
"ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and 
(optionally) cloves or mace".  Yes, it would
have been either made up by the cook, or 
purchased from a merchant who would have
made up the mixture.  A bit like the East Indian 
"garum masala" today which some
cooks prefer mixing themselves, and which others will buy from a merchant.

As for gillyflower, there is a long speculation at:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=lUrmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=gillyflower+purchase&source=bl&ots=zFEWUVTqC8&sig=8J773Z42clCXT4srGOf4T3xNIm0&hl=en&ei=b6I4TPyUOo7WtQOM0chR&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

and

http://books.google.ca/books?id=OAMA51H9tfUC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&dq=gillyflower+herbal&source=bl&ots=SEOWxElXAI&sig=4b2i4ZKDCzgkmj-CbkPc5ENJkF8&hl=en&ei=fKM4TL2DD5SosQO7471R&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=gillyflower%20herbal&f=false

To obtain, you might check herbal or Chinese sources:
http://www.diseasefreetea.com/sdp/150664/4/pd-942492/553339-472104/Gillyflower.html


Thorvald


At 9:27 AM -0400 7/10/10, Terri Morgan wrote:
>  A friend in our barony is trying to work out a 
> recipe and has hit a snag. I told her I'd 
> forward her plea for help to this list. - 
> Hrothny
>
>    _____
>
>  From: Heidi G. Haywood [mailto:hghaywood at gmail.com]
>  Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 8:36 PM
>  To: Terri Morgan
>  Subject: Caudle spices
>
>
>  Hrothny -
>
>  Here is the caudle recipe I'm working from, 
> (out of Two Fifteenth Century Cookery-Books):
>
>  .xlvij. Cawdelle Ferry.-Take ?olkys of eyroun 
> Raw, y-tryid fro the whyte; ©‚an take gode 
> wyne, and warme it on ©‚e potte on a fayre 
> Fyre, an caste ©‚er-on ?olkys, and stere it 
> wyl, but let it nowt boyle tylle it be ©‚ikke; 
> and caste ©‚er-to Sugre, Safroun, & Salt, 
> Maces, Gelofres, an Galyngale y-grounde smal, & 
> flowre of Canelle; & whan ©‚ow dressyst yn, 
> caste blanke pouder ©‚er-on.
>
>  I'm having a had time figuring out what 
> Gelofres are and where I can get some.  I think 
> it's gillyflowers, and thus some sort of 
> carnation, at least according to this website - 
> http://www.justgardeners.com/hrsc/articles/art_dianthus.html 
> If I can't get gillyflowers, any thoughts as to 
> what might be a reasonable substitute?
>
>  As far as I can figure out, flower of Canelle 
> is ground cinnamon?  Also, I can't seem t find 
> a definitive definition for blanke pouder, 
> which I'm assuming is white powder.  It seems 
> like this is usually some mixture of ginger and 
> powdered sugar along with some other stuff, but 
> the exact composition seems to vary somewhat. 
> Is that something one would mix oneself, or 
> purchase already made (like pumpkin pie spice 
> or something)?
>
>  Thank you so much for the help!
>
>  -Oda
>
>  ---
>  Heidi G. Haywood, Esq.
>  hghaywood at gmail.com