[Sca-cooks] Edible camphor was Re: Honey

[Terry Decker]

Gernot Katzer provides the following:

"• Camphor is of old an important aromatic, although it has never much been 
used for cooking. Yet in China, camphor has been used in the past for 
flavouring frozen desserts, and even now it is sometimes part of smoking 
mixtures, giving rise to specialties like tea and camphor wood smoked duck 
(zhang cha ya zi [樟茶鸭子]). There are two different products commonly named 
“camphor”: The better-known Chinese or Japanese camphor (from Cinnamomum 
camphora, Lauraceae) is composed of 2-bornanone and generally considered 
much inferior to the much more pricey Sumatra camphor or camphor of Baros 
(from Dryobalanops aromatica, Dipterocarpaceae/Malvales/Dilleniidae) which 
is mostly composed of borneol. "

Bear



> From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>

> There's an edible camphor that you can sometimes find in Indian grocery
> stores.

Susan, try looking on the Internet for "edible camphor". There are
several sites that explain which camphor to look for. One is
http://www.pinkandpink.com/2015/07/edible-camphor-uses-and-health-benefits.html

You can also find information on the culinary use of camphor on
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camphor). Here is what it says,
but I'm not sure that the Indian letters will come across properly.

"Culinary
In ancient and medieval Europe, camphor was used as an ingredient in
sweets. It was used in a wide variety of both savory and sweet dishes in
medieval Arabic language cookbooks, such as al-Kitab al-Ṭabikh compiled
by ibn Sayyâr al-Warrâq in the 10th century,[13] and an anonymous
Andalusian cookbook of the 13th century.[14] It also appears in sweet
and savory dishes in a book written in the late 15th century for the
sultans of Mandu, the Ni'matnama.[15] An early international trade in it
made camphor widely known throughout Arabia in pre-Islamic times, as it
is mentioned in the Quran 76:5 as a flavoring for drinks.[16] By the
13th century, it was used in recipes everywhere in the Muslim world,
ranging from main dishes such as tharid and stew to desserts.[14]
Currently, camphor is used as a flavoring, mostly for sweets, in Asia.
It is widely used in cooking, mainly for dessert dishes, in India where
it is known as kachha karpooram or "pachha karpoora" ("crude/raw
camphor"), in (Telugu:పచ్చ కర్పూరo), (Tamil:பச்சைக் கற்பூரம்), (Kannada:ಪಚ್ಚ
ಕರ್ಪೂರ), and is available in Indian grocery stores where it is labeled as
"edible camphor"."

You might also inquire in Chinese groceries. There is mention that
edible camphor is used in certain Chinese dishes.

Alys K.

Elise Fleming
alyskatharine at gmail.com
http://damealys.medievalcookery.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8311418@N08/sets/