[Sca-cooks] Carrots and Rice

[Susan Lord Williams]

James Prescott wrote:

> 
> 
> Last month my ordinary supermarket was selling packages of four 
> different colours of carrot, with the implication that they were 
> heritage.  If I remember correctly, there were white, red, and yellow, 
> as well as a couple of orange.  I don't know if they are still being sold.
> 
> Thorvald
> 
> 
> On 2014-09-06, 15:00, Terry Decker wrote:
>> Usually, I just ignore the issue.  According to a number of sources
>> (which may be proved wrong by DNA analysis), the orange carrot is
>> derived from the yellow. Ibn-al-Awwam noted carrots being cultivated at
>> Seville in the 12th Century. There are no particular details about the
>> plant, but they were likely red carrots which started appearing in other
>> European countries in the 13th and 14th Century. Prior to the 13th
>> Century in Europe, white carrots would have been the norm and they
>> persisted in French cooking until well after red and yellow carrots
>> became the established order. I don't know of a commercial source for
>> white carrots, but the dark purple "reds" are available at some
>> specialty grocers. The forerunners of the modern orange carrots started
>> showing up in the Netherlands and England in the 16th Century.
>> 
>> I have seen no contemporary reference that ties the development of the
>> orange carrot to he House of Orange. The hybridization was to produce a
>> sweeter, better textured carrot and the color was incidental nationalism.
>> 
>> Bear
>> 
>> -----Original Message----- From: Susan Lord Williams
>> 
>> How do you handle carrots in medieval feasts as they were not orange
>> until the Dutch developed them with the rise of the House of Orange?
>> 
>> Technically, medieval carrots should be white. Do I recall red carrots
>> at some point? Sometimes I have found white carrots in Spanish markets
>> but not in America.
>> 
When you are preparing feasts, do you purposely grown specific vegetables in your gardens? Like if you plant white carrots, you would probably charge the cost for the seeds and roughly estimate the water and any other items used to grow them?

I ask because vegetables and fruits don’t appear in accounts of medieval manors. I suppose they were collecting their seeds and planting them instead of going to a garden center to buy a package. 

On the other topic “rice,” someone mentioned rice recipes being mushy. Coming from a Valencian family, mushy rice is a sin. It must be dry, not at all mushy and al diente. I had to eat my words when I published my adaption of the Al-Andalus recipe Rice with honey No. 408. Receta del arroz con miel, p 225 -  see Perry’s translation. You find my publication  in my blog http://www.medievalspanishchef.com/2014/04/ercacias-with-13th-century-recipe-for.html titled “Ericacias,” published April 4, 2014. 

If preparing a feast to point out the use of rice in Spain and/or the orient during medieval times or just being lovey dubby with the family, this dessert is a winner. I gave it 10 points out of 10 which I do not do often with my adaptations of medieval recipes!