[Sca-cooks] Another question on peas

[Johnna Holloway]

It's not only a question of books or library research resources,
but one of local supplies at what cost. You may be able to buy heirloom
beans for a dish serving 6-8, but can you buy those same peas or beans
months for now at an affordable price for a feast. You can rave that
Stokes' old fashioned grey beans are the best, but if they only grow  
in a corner
of England and are not marketed outside that 20 miles area, it's  
doesn't do
the rest of the Known World much good.

We have all sorts of books. Which century or which country best suits
your persona?   You might start with C. Anne Wilson and Peter
Brears. Those into Middle Eastern go with Charles Perry. You may want  
Banham's Food in Anglo-Saxon England.
Food encyclopedia wise
there's Alan Davidson and for scientific
views, see Harold McGee. Regional foods, including plants and animals,  
in England have been covered by
Laura Mason and Catherine Brown. You can interlibrary loan or borrow  
these.
I urge people to use their libraries as well as their pocketbook.

Devra offers a selection of volumes that will get you started if you  
want to buy.
How much can you afford?

Often each food now has a book or two or three books just on
the specific food, be it salt, vanilla, saffron, beef, pork, grains,  
etc.
And there are general works on plants and gardening too.
The Neat House Gardens: Early Market Gardening around London might help.
Or maybe the agricultural histories are what you want

Or check out the papers here:

British Agricultural History Society

www.bahs.org.uk

The point about foods to remember is that for as long as man has been  
growing
and eating foods, he has been improving them. It's not a 20th century  
thing.

Johnnae


On Mar 4, 2010, at 2:05 AM, wheezul at canby.com wrote:

>> You can use medievalcookery.com and search under peas or pea for a
>> selection
>> of recipes, including ones that might make a pea soup.
>>
>> Johnnae
>
> snipped

> My question is, when wanting to approximate the closest
> medieval/renaissance equivalent pea, is it more proper to choose a  
> yellow
> dried pea than a green one, or some other choice?  I recall someone  
> sagely
> posting about the high protein grey pea probably being extinct so I am
> curious.
>
> Are there some good basic reference books I should consult about  
> period
> specific forms of food that have since been highly hybridized?   
> Grains,
> especially? Or is knowledge scattered in food technology journals that
> requires one to hitch up the sleeves and find them?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Katrine