[Sca-cooks] Gum Tragacanth

[Elise Fleming]

Would this search for the term also include "gum dragon"? In most of my 
readings in early books the word "tragacanth" wasn't used as much as 
"dragon" or even "dragagant" which was mentioned below.

Alys K.

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

On 1/22/2019 4:05 PM, "Terry Decker"<t.d.decker at att.net  wrote:

> While wandering through The Science of Cooking, I came across this footnote
> from the recipe for marzipan.
> 
> "388 Tragacanth, modernly called Gum Tragacanth, is a resin from the Arabic
> part of the world used as an edible binding agent, also used in painting. It
> apparently entered European writings in 1558, which sets an early boundary
> for the date of the original manuscript."
> 
> The earliest reference to tragacanth in European writing is found in
> Theophrastus (3rd Century BCE) commenting on the on the quality of the plant
> in Crete and Achaea.  The Greek word in the text is "tragakantha" meaning
> "goat thorn."   Dioscorides (1st Century BCE) in De Materia Medica describes
> the medical uses of tragacanth.  Materia Medica was in use through the
> entire Medieval period.  The 1558 date appears to date the use of the word
> in English referencing a recipe for fondant in an English translation of
> "The Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont" (Alessio's Secreti, Venice, 1555).  It
> may also reference an entry in the "(Tudor) Book of Rates" for "Gum
> dragagant."
> 
> Trying to set an early boundary for the manuscript based on tragacanth
> appearing in the manuscript would likely be an error.
> 
> Bear
>