[Sca-cooks] Ethnic market epiphanies

[Antonia di Benedetto Calvo]

On 10/03/2013 8:24 p.m., aruvqan wrote:
> 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.]
>

Mosto cotto (boiled-down must) isn't entirely a sweetener.  It *is* 
sweet, but it's not sweet-sweet like agave.  It's also sour and complex, 
kind of like balsamic vinegar.  Platina mentions using it to dress 
roasted onions (which is delicious, by the way).


-- 
Antonia di Benedetto Calvo
-------------------------------------
Saccharum pergratum. Villum lubricum.