[Sca-cooks] a Viking-challenge?

Patricia Dunham chimene at ravensgard.org
Sun Dec 11 14:32:35 PST 2011


Let me add another diabetic-friendly sweetener option? We have been using STEVIA drops from the hippie/organic grocery for the last 3 years, since my DH developed his Type 2. We went through the commercial fake-sugars like Splenda, but are MUCH happier with this stuff.  We use it to sweeten tea (which we drink a LOT of) and he even uses it successfully on his pancakes (a few drops into the melted butter... ), so having a little dropper-bottle of that stuff among the "fix to your own taste/need" options platter might work. 

OR... If you know which ones are the diabetics, can you or the host pump them for specifics of what they usually use for fake-sugar? Or e-mail them and invite them to bring their own supplies and consider them "honey" for the purpose??? Maybe you could get host or non-reenactor wifey to do that???

Depending on what you end up with, maybe sweetened yoghurt would work for low-fat guy?  Drain a portion of PLAIN (or lo-fat) yoghurt first, so it won't go terribly runny when you add enough stevia to sweeten it to taste? THAT might work for everybody, actually....  You would need to start with a yoghurt that didn't have any commercial sweet stuff in it already.  I would think, even if yoghurt isn't strictly period for Scandinavia, this MIGHT work for a sort-of soft cheese or sweetened cream analog???  

Oh, I'm fairly reliably told just now (by my tame Norsky, 8-), that SKYR could be described as sort of more-liquid-yoghurt... and that's something the guys would probably recognize as a "real Viking" foodstuff, so maybe NOT-drained yoghurt, thinned with stevia, could pass for sweetened "cream" for berries?  REAL good info on what skyr is & isn't in the Wiki article... this would definitely work for Mr Lo-Fat. The Wiki article actually mentions the word "dessert" but I don't know if what they're describing would strike your fighters that way...

Umm, Mr Type 2 just told me that any diabetic who's paying attention to his sugars won't be looking at the berries much, either -- too much sugar there! argh!! BUT, it's a balancing act, so who knows.

Beginning to look from here like the guys with dietary issues may feel better themselves about the mix-n-match platter idea, and it may simply not be possible to find ONE thing that will really work for everybody.

GOOD LUCK
chimene & Gerekr


On Dec 11, 2011, at 7:02 AM, Kingstaste wrote:

> As someone with lots of food restrictions, including both sugar and Splenda,
> I would opt for the suggestions of a platter with various options, allowing
> the diners to assemble their own.  Tailoring the entire dish for one
> person's fat restrictions and two other's sugar issues doesn't make as much
> sense as putting individual ingredients on a nicely arranged platter and
> letting them take whatever appeals to them.  It also should make it easier
> on you to bring the ingredients and make a nice presentation with them,
> rather than trying to make substitutions and come up with one dish to please
> them all.  
> 
> (I just found out about my issue with Splenda, although I've known to avoid
> Nutrasweet since it was first introduced and caused severe reactions for me.
> I just found a doctor that would do an ALCAT test, which was very
> interesting and helpful!)
> 
> My other question is: when is this event?  Berries are a summertime food...
> Christianna
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sca-cooks-bounces+kingstaste=comcast.net at lists.ansteorra.org
> [mailto:sca-cooks-bounces+kingstaste=comcast.net at lists.ansteorra.org] On
> Behalf Of Terri Morgan
> Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 12:13 AM
> To: 'Cooks within the SCA'
> Subject: [Sca-cooks] a Viking-challenge?
> 
> I've been asked to provide a dessert for a Viking feast (really, just a
> small gathering of reenactors) that features berries but is low on sugar
> since a few of the guys are diabetic. That's not so rough, but they've
> thrown in "and it needs to be low on fat, as one guy has trouble with fatty
> foods" so that kinda kicked any thoughts of a fried-pie sort of thing out of
> my head. Or a simple 'snow' or heavy cream mixed with berries.
> 
> Does anyone have a suggestion? I'd like to keep it as simple as I can since
> whatever I bring, the guys will assume that it is as close to period-correct
> as can be (saving that I plan on using Splenda should I need to sweeten
> anything).
> 
> I'm rather down to thinking that a soft goat's cheese mixed with crushed
> berries is going to be the way to go. How boring for their festive occasion.
> (They only do this once a year.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hrothny, totally too stressed to be creative or wing it from her "available
> foodstuffs of the early Norse" lists.
> 
> 
> 
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