[Sca-cooks] What other sour seasonings are covered by German"essig"?

[Sharon Palmer]

>  It might be stretched to verjuice 
>dialectically, but the general term for verjuice 
>is "der Sa:uer" and may also appear as 
>"Sa:uerwasser," "Sa:uerbrennen," or "Sa:uerwein."

In Rumpolt, verjuice is called "Agrast", and it 
was stored with the sour grapes, which were 
called "Agrast Beren" and also used in recipes. 
I wasn't positive about the translation until I 
found the recipe for making Agrast, which is 
pretty clear.


>All liquid unripened fruit souring agents can be 
>described as "unreiben Obstsaft" and can be made 
>specific by adding the type of fruit to the 
>phrase (unreiben Apfelsaft, for example).

Rumpolt uses "unzeitige"  untimely or early for 
unripen fruit. "Nim~ vnzeitige Trauben/ die hart 
seyn" Take unripe grapes that are hard.

Or for unripe grain: "grünem Samen" literally 
green grain, or "grüne Nüß" unripe walnuts.

Apples are a very common ingredient in Rumpolt. 
An apple sauce described as sour, has vinegar 
added.  The only reference to sour apples "saur 
Epffel" is in the winemaking section.

>
>Lemons and oranges were probably available to 
>the wealth in Germany by the 16th Century as 
>there is at least one Fugger recipe that has 
>lemon as a major ingredient.

I'm writing a separate message about oranges and lemons in Rumpolt.

>
>Sour cream is "der Sauerrahm."

Rumpolt uses "sauren Rahm".

Overall, Rumpolt has a large number of dishes 
described as sour.  Vinegar is most common, but 
also verjuice, sour orange juice, and lemon 
juice.  Essig (vinegar) usually is not described, 
but Weinessig and Bieressig are mentioned.

In one place Rumpolt says "for you are not always 
in wine land/ and it is often as good to cook 
with the beer vinegar/ as with the wine vinegar". 
And "Have you no wine vinegar/ then take beer 
vinegar/", "If you are in a beer area/ then take 
beer vinegar and beer" instead of "Essig".

The section on making "Essig" describes using 
either wine or beer, but implies that wine 
vinegar is more usual.  And also "Essig" from 
unripe grapes or from roasted barley.  No mention 
of cider vinegar.

How far north were winegrowing areas in period?

Ranvaig