[Sca-cooks] carrot cake or the likes

[Johnna Holloway]

It's from The Oxford Companion to Food entry on carrots. I was  
identifying it so people would know what the source was because in  
numerous places it's repeated and never is it credited. No author is  
named.
I suspect the recipes being referred to are like this one:

Carrot Paste. Take a ratl of carrots, of which you have cleaned the  
interior. Cook it in a ratl of water, some two boilings, then take it  
off the fire and let it dry a little, over a sieve. Add it to three  
ratls of honey, cleaned of its foam, and cook all this until it takes  
the form of a paste. Then season it with ginger, galingale, cubeb and  
flowers [of clove?], half an û qiya in all for each ratl. Eat it like  
a nut at meals. Its benefits: it fortifies coitus and increases desire  
beautifully; it is admirable.
from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook

If the paste is dried does it become a cake?

There's a good run down of this story at
http://www.squidoo.com/Carrot-Cake1
also see
http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Carrot-Cake-A-Family-Favorite

Johnnae

On Nov 20, 2010, at 4:12 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Johnnae said:
> <<< There are lots of websites that recite the same story that  
> carrots were used as sweeteners in the Middle Ages. >>>
> Then quoted:
> <<<"In the Middle Ages in Europe, when sweeteners were scarce and
> expensive, carrots were used in sweet cakes and desserts. In   
> Britain...carrot
> puddings...often appeared in recipe books in the 18th and 19th  
> centuries. >>>
>
Stefan-
>
>
> Argh. I think I'm seeing another one of those myths like the idea  
> that "spices were used in the Middle Ages to cover the taste of  
> rotten meat".  But not quite as widespread currently....
> Okay, where's the proof for carrots being used in sweet cakes and  
> desserts in the *Middle Ages*?