[Sca-cooks] Medieval Jewish Banquet

[Susan Lin]

After reading the article my husband and I thought it would be fun to
recreate this meal at our house.  So, early next year we'll invite a 10
local foodies to participate.  That'll make 12 of us and that's all the
china we have!  We'll let you know how it turns out.

Shoshanah

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 7:01 PM, Terry Decker <t.d.decker at att.net> wrote:

> This is one of those generalizations that may be true in some instances
> and false in others.
>
> The earliest known reference to white sugar is from a Persian manuscript
> from 510 BCE referencing Indian sugar.  I haven't located a translation of
> the reference, so how it was used is unknown to me.  Pliny (and earlier
> Greek authors) identified white sugar as medicine.  After the Islamic
> expansion  brought sugar production to the Mediterranean and it became more
> common, sugar was used as a condiment or spice.  Since it was traded
> through the same markets as spices, it is fair to consider it a spice at
> that time. In the 16th Century, with the expansion of sugar production and
> increased use as a major ingredient in cooking, sugar became a luxury
> commodity.  The expansion of sugar production into the Caribbean move sugar
> from luxury commodity to commodity foodstuff.
>
> Clifford A. Wright and (IIRC) Terence Scully have both expressed the view
> that sugar was considered a spice.  I believe the general argument for
> including sugar as a spice is in that it and the spices generally fell
> under the household Spicer for the compounding of medicines, digestive aids
> and dispensing to the cook.
>
> Bear
>
>
>
>  Ranvaig wrote:
>> "But they are passing along this nonsense ""White
>> sugar was considered a spice," Toaff said."
>>
>> Well, they're probably being sloppy with information.  Sugar was, I
>> believe, kept locked up with the spices when it was rare and expensive.
>> And, I think it was also listed along with spices when listing them, but I
>> would agree that it wasn't believed to be a spice.  It just was lumped in
>> with them in household accounts.
>>
>> Pedantically, Alys K.
>> --
>> Elise Fleming
>>
>
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