[Sca-cooks] vinegar and verjuice

[Stefan li Rous]

Aodh asked:
<<< I've now tried a few more dishes from al-Warraq, and I have a question
which is germane to this one: when the recipe calls for 'vinegar', what do
you use? I've used verjuice, and it still seems very strong-tasting when
done; wine vinegar would presumably be stronger still. White vine, or at
least fruit-derived vinegars seem to be what's called for, though, looking
at Chapter 21 and the glossary (p 576-577, in Nasrallah's translation). >>>

One thing to remember is that there was no standard strength for vinegar in period, unlike today when vinegar, at least most table vinegars, are watered down to be 5% solutions.

At one time I did find some apple cider vinegar that was stronger than 5% but it is uncommon.

So if you think that it is too strong, try watering it down some. 
Here are some of our past discussions on vinegar:
vinegar-msg (128K) 3/24/12 Vinegar in period. Making vinegar.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/vinegar-msg.html

I’ve seen mixed messages on whether balsamic vinegar dates to period or not.

But if al-Warraq is a moslem source, would have they have had wine vinegar? Perhaps that is the reason for fruit juice wines. 

Here’s some of our discussion on verjuice. 
verjuice-msg (164K) 11/24/13 Medieval verjuice. Modern substitutions.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/verjuice-msg.html

Stefan

--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****