[Sca-cooks] period spices

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Wed Sep 8 21:50:05 PDT 2010


Cariadoc declared:
<<< But spices in our period were imported and expensive. >>>

Okay, I'm going to get picky here. I agree with the rest of your message and your conclusions, however, this is a good example of why I don't like absolute statements about our period. Too many "reasonable" ones have exceptions. Too many years, too wide an area.

Not all spices available in Europe in our period were imported, nor were they all expensive. It is a good, general statement though.

Both mustard seed and saffron are native to Europe or were growing there for most of our period.  Of course saffron wasn't cheap but that is because of different reasons than where it was grown. It also may be considered an herb rather than a spice.

Mustard seed is native to Europe and it wasn't that expensive compared to other spices and it isn't a weak tasting spice.

There are probably others. Garlic? Horseradish?  May be vegetables rather than spices.

Lavender?, Juniper berries?

Stefan

--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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