[Sca-cooks] Ethnic market epiphanies

[aruvqan]

On 3/9/2013 10:30 AM, Laura C. Minnick wrote:
> On 3/8/2013 11:03 PM, JIMCHEVAL at aol.com wrote:
>> And good thing too. This was after all a product that was used much 
>> in the
>> same way as vinegar.
>>
>> I bought some "verjuice" at a farmer's market and  was dismayed to 
>> find it
>> was essentially sweet grape juice. While there is some  evidence of 
>> medieval
>> people drinking it, Roman soldiers drank something very  like vinegar 
>> too.
>> It's very name - "green juice" - emphasizes how tart it should be.
>>
> I think you can find discussions on verjuice in our archives, and in 
> Stefan's 'Florilegium'. It is indeed quite tart- you farmer either 
> mislabeled it, or they don't know what they're doing..
>
I think you ended up with mustum vinum, basically. Though mustum vinum 
more or less is 'new juice' which is then boiled down to condense to be 
used more or less as a sweetening agent like we would use barley 'juice' 
or agave nectar. [Mustum cakes are little cookies that more or less use 
mustum to sweeten them and are baked on a layer of bay leaves. Very tasty.]