[Sca-cooks] Nutmeg Leaves

[Sam Wallace]

Thank you all for your comments. One of the more difficult tasks in
translation is to know when to translate something literally or if there is
a better way to capture what was actually meant. This is often compounded
by the passage of time as the source language changes. I am trying to track
down the portion of the original text of the Assises from which that
reference is taken rather than work from translation so that I can
better ascertain the meaning - perhaps by finding other references to the
same terms elsewhere in it. I am sure that Bear's comment implying
that gilliflower
leaves means the spice we currently call cloves and not the leaves of the
same plant is spot on.

I suspect that "nutmeg leaves" probably means mace, but the phrase is
seldom used. Additionally, there are often documents in which the same
thing is referred to by several different names. To use your example, Thorvald,
in Ouverture de Cuisine there are 8 examples of "fleur de muscade" (still
used in modern French) but only 2 of "fueille de muscade." Does one mean
ground mace while the other mean that it should be whole? I would think not
as in one of the two examples the recipe specifies "fueille de muscade
rompue" so I would guess it is either simply an alternate term for mace or
it does mean the literal leaves. As for simple nutmeg, there are 17
examples of "noix muscade" and over 50 where "muscade" is used by itself.

>From a more practical standpoint, I tried the recipe with mace and it was
OK. I am going to mix another batch along with one in which I use the
leaves and compare the two. Perhaps that will provide entertainment if not
additional insight.

Thanks again,

Guillaume