[Sca-cooks] Viking recipes site

[Terry Decker]

The issue is not cider but apple brandy.  Brandy is a distillate. 
Distillation in Europe starts about the 12th Century and only becomes 
widespread in the 14th Century.  BTW, the first known production of calvados 
is mid-16th Century.

The Viking period ran from the end of the 8th Century to the nid-11th 
Century.  Since Vikings and distillation don't overlap temporally, a Viking 
recipe using apple brandy is of questionable validity.

The question here is not one of cultural possibility, but of historical 
accuracy.

Bear

> Dunno. Cider and calvados are specialties of Normandy which was settled by
> Vikings and cider at least began its dominance within a few centuries of
> their  occupation.
>
> So it might depend on how wide a cultural net you  spread.
>
> Jim  Chevallier
> (http://www.chezjim.com/) www.chezjim.com
>
> Les Leftovers: sort of a food history  blog
> leslefts.blogspot.com
>
>
> In a message dated 1/18/2014 5:06:42 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
> ddfr at daviddfriedman.com writes:
>
> "cider  (or better yet, apple brandy)"
>
> which suggests that the authors are not  taking the idea of plausible
> reconstruction very  seriously