strawberries-msg - 11/28/07 Period strawberries and strawberry recipes. NOTE: See also the files: berries-msg, grapes-msg, cherries-msg, marmalades-msg, fruits-msg, fruit-pears-msg, fruit-apples-msg, beverages-msg, fruit-pies-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: "Jamey R. Lathrop" Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 16:01:42 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: SC - Strawberries On Wed, 18 Jun 1997, JANINE BRANNON wrote: > 'tis the season, and I find myself with an overabundance of strawberries > due to taking overzealous children on a picking expedition. So.... > > "are strawberries period" and "any recipes?> > > Magdalene Yes, strawberries are period, and I've quickly dug up two recipes (I saw at least two others, but I'm short on time today). I have no redactions to offer, since I haven't actually tried them. They both look good-- I guess I'm going to have to go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow. :-) From _Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books_: 1. HARLIEAN MS 279., Recipe .Cxxij. Strawberye. Take Strawberys, & waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; [th]an strayne [th]orwe a clo[th]e, & do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun o[th]er with [th]y flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, and do [th]er in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put [th]er-to; coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it with [th]e graynys of Pome-garnad, & [th]an serue it forth. A rough (very rough!) translation: take strawberries in season, wash them in good red wine and put them trough a sieve or strainer. Mix it in a pot with almond milk, wheat starch or rice flour (to make it thick), and bring it to a boil. Add currants, saffron, pepper, a good quantity of sugar, powdered ginger, canel (cassia bark or cinnamon), galingale. Make it acid with vinegar and add a little lard. Color it red with alkanet. I'm making the assumption (perhaps absolutely incorrectly), that the "droppe it a-bowte..." part means that you've made this mixture stiff enough that you can drop spoonfuls (or the entire mess) of the stuff on a serving dish and implant them with pomegranate seeds to make it look like large strawberries. Not having tried this recipe, I don't know how well/easy that would work, but it would certainly look neat! Alternatively, I suppose you could put it in a dish and garnish with the pomegranate seeds. From _A Book of Cookrye_, "gathered by A.W.", printed by E. Allde, 1591. Tarte of Strawberies. Season your Strawberyes with sugar, a very little Sinamon, a little ginger, and so cover them with a cover, and you must lay upon the cover a morsell of sweet Butter, Rosewater and Sugar, you may Ice the cover if you will, you must make your Ice with the white of an egge beaten, and Rosewater and Sugar. This one looks pretty straightforward. Strawberries mixed with sugar and a little cinammon and ginger, placed in a dish and covered with a pastry crust. Then you have two choices of how to finish the crust-- butter, rosewater and sugar, or an icing of beaten egg white, rosewater and sugar. Anyway, I hope these give you a place to start! Lady Allegra Beati Barony of al-Barran Outlands From: Stephen Bloch Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 21:49:07 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Strawberries > "are strawberries period" and "any recipes?" Jamey already posted the recipe I was thinking of, the "Strawberye" from _Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books_. A fair number of SCAdians have tried this one over the years, resulting (as usual) in a wide range of completely different dishes. A friend of mine in Calafia did a very tasty version that she served in a pie crust... I _must_ have her redaction around here somewhere.... > OOOH - OOOH What about that "fruit roll-up" type thing? Would fresh > strawberries be good for that? I don't know of period use of strawberries for that sort of dish, but quinces were certainly used that way. Indeed, we have probably two pounds of "quince pastes", which my wife redacts as somewhat thicker than a modern commercial fruit roll-up, in Ziplocs in the freezer right now. I don't want to post her redaction without permission, but it's basically quinces boiled until soft, mashed, mixed with hypocras spices and red wine, simmered for a long time (stirring more and more often as it thickens), then poured out onto a cookie sheet to cool. mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib Stephen Bloch sbloch at panther.adelphi.edu http://www.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/ Math/CS Dept, Adelphi University From: linneah at erols.com Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 23:01:15 -0400 Subject: Re: SC - Strawberries JANINE BRANNON wrote: > 'tis the season, and I find myself with an overabundance of strawberries > due to taking overzealous children on a picking expedition. So.... > > "Are strawberries period" and "any recipes?" > > Magdalene If you can't find anything to do with them right away, wash and stem them, put them on a waxpaper covered cookie sheet and freeze them. Transfer them to a plastic container or bag and keep in the freezer. They will keep for quite a long time. They will turn to mush after thawing so the recipies in which you choose to use them should take that into concideration. Linneah From: "Christina M. Krupp" Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 10:24:33 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SC - Strawberries Yes, strawberries are "period" (whatever you construe that to mean!) and, more importantly, we do have several good recipes showing their use in mainstream medieval Europe. However, allow me to qualify and elaborate on that statement a bit. Our twentieth-century strawberries aren't the same as medieval ones (as is the case with so many fruits and vegetables!) Before contact with the New World, the European Strawberry was a tiny, tasty, seedy fruit, not much bigger than our wild strawberries or field strawberries -- the ones that are about a third to a half an inch in diameter. The settlers of the Virginia colonies discovered a New World variant of the strawberry, still small, having different virtues. Botanists tried to cross-breed the two types, with no success. Then, in 1712, a third type of strawberry was discovered in Peru, and brought back to England. It was larger, yellowish, and had a pineapple scent. The British experimented with growing these to the size of eggs! Finally, a Frenchman named Duchesne managed to crossbreed the Chilean strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) with the Virginia strawberry (F. virginiana), and that forms the basis for the large, red strawberries we see in supermarkets today (Fragaria ananassa). (I think that our tiny wild field strawberries are a better match to medieval strawberries than those monstrous tasteless grocery-store berries. And, since it's almost strawberry season here in Vermont, I'm going out to pick some next week -- yum!) Information is from: Sokolov, Raymond: Why we eat what we eat, how the encounter between the New World and the Old changed the way everyone on the planet eats. New York: Summit Books, 1991. Countess Marieke van de Dal Mountain Freehold East Kingdom From: "Christina M. Krupp" Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 11:27:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: SC - Strawberries > > Before contact with the New World, the European Strawberry was a tiny, > > tasty, seedy fruit, not much bigger than our wild strawberries or field > > strawberries -- the ones that are about a third to a half an inch in > > diameter. > > Would this be the 'alpine' strawberry I see advertised in the seed catalogs? > The are often advertised for ornamental use. As I understand, the alpine > strawberry is not spread by runners like our modern strawberry. OK, since you asked, here's more about strawberries! The ubiquitous little European wood strawberry mentioned above is Fragaria vesca. It was widespread on the European continent and in the British Isles. Our American tiny field strawberry is a variety of that, Fragaria vesca americana. (I didn't know that before; I just looked it up. Neat!) The Alpine strawberry, sometimes called the Alpine Hautbois variety, is a different species entirely; several varieties have been developed and I'm not sure which one you've seen. (Technically, this species is F. eliator; it may also go by the Latin names of F. moschata Duchesne or F. magna Thuill.) They prefer high altitudes and could have been gathered wild in the mountains of Germany, Switzerland, and France (not England, until they were imported in the 1600's.) Early botanists attempting to domesticate the Alpine strawberries found that they were fussy and unsuccessful when cultivated. (I would hope that modern varieties of Alpine strawberry being sold have overcome that trait!) Of course, in medieval Europe this variety would have been readily available to mountain dwellers, regardless of their cultivatibility. I hope that helps! Marieke Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 13:47:18 EST From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - Fragaria... heilveil at students.uiuc.edu writes: << Were these Euro-berries used in recipes in period? >> According to Waverly Root, all the strawberries used in period recipes were wild strawberries. From another post I recieved privately the alpine strawberry was restricted in it's location to higher elevations. We have no evidence SFAIK that this specific berry was used in recipes but since we have no evidence it wasn't used and evidence that wild strawberries were indeed used I would venture the opinion that it's use would be far more accurate than using the Native American wild strawberry. But NA strwberries would be closer than commercial varieties. It is all a matter of degree, I would think. :-) BTW, there were no cultivated varieties of strawberry in existence although wild strawberries were transplanted to gardens to make them a little more convenient for harvest purposes. Ras Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 09:00:21 -0600 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: RE: SC - 14th Century Food > I think the situation is somewhat similar with strawberries. There are wild > old world strawberries, but they are much smaller than what we think of as > strawberries. Fragaria vesca is normally considered the Old World strawberry. They apparently have never been in common cultivation, although the wild plants were occasionally transplanted into gardens. F. moschata, the musky strawberry, is also European. Both have distinct flavors. F. virginiana, was introduced to Europe in the 17th Century. F. chiloensis was introduced to Europe in the 18th Century. Most modern strawberries are hybrids based on the North American and Chilean species which easier to cross breed than the European plants. For a more complete revelation, I suggest: Darrow, George M., The Strawberry, History, Breeding and Physiology; Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1966. Bear Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 13:24:07 +1000 From: "Glenda Robinson" Subject: Re: SC - Syllabub - does anyone have a period recipe? >Hence the syllabub idea. Now I have some >lovely OOP recipes for syllabub, but I was >hoping that someone with a better library >than mine might have a recipe, please, >please? Lorix, There's a lovely recipe in Pleyn Delit - Strawberry Pudding. This can use frozen strawberries. I've made it a couple of times, and it's always gone down well. I'll type up the recipe tonight. Just be aware that if the electricity goes down for a couple of days with the Y2k think, you'll lose them if they're frozen. (EEK!!!!!) It could be better to can them instead. - More later. Glenda. Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 15:27:32 +1000 From: "HICKS, MELISSA" Subject: RE: SC - Syllabub - does anyone have a period recipe? Another option is to turn the Strawberries into Strawberry cordial. Fettiplace has a great recipe. And as Strawberries are currently very cheap in Canberra I just made a huge batch. I'll send the recipe over the weekend. It stores well for months and retains a beautiful strawberry colour and flavour. I often serve it at winter events. On a more mundane note we have also done the following: * Mix with equal parts cream and freeze for wonderful soft strawberry icecream * I've been told it goes great in champagne. Meliora. Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 10:23:27 -0400 From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow) Subject: Re: SC - Syllabub - does anyone have a period recipe? >Lorix asked: >>Hence the syllabub idea. Now I have some >>lovely OOP recipes for syllabub, but I was >>hoping that someone with a better library >>than mine might have a recipe, please, >>please? > >My files mention that there are several syllabub recipes in "A >Sip Through Time". This file in the BEVERAGES section of my >Florilegium mentions several other sources for period recipes but >there are none in the file itself: >beverages-msg (93K) 9/ 3/99 Beverages in general. alcholic drinks. > Hello! Yes, I have 5 syllabub recipes in "A Sip Through Time". Three are from Digby (1669), the other 2 are from Amelia Simmons' First American CB (1796). These are all alcoholic drink recipes. But Lorix was looking for a recipe for frozen strawberries, no? There are 2 recipes for strawberries in the Harleian MSS, 279 & 4016 -- Darioles, & Strawberye. I've adapted the latter as a sauce, but I suppose you could make it as a thick pudding if you used thick almond milk or almond cream. Frozen strawberries are just fine in this dish, since they're being squished anyway. "Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers Cxxiij. Strawberye. Take Strawberys, & waysshe hem in tyme of [3]ere in gode red wyne; [th]an strayne [th]orwe a clo[th]e, & do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun o[th]er with [th]e flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, and do [th]er-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put [th]er-to; coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it with [th]e graynys of Pome-garnad, & [th]an serue it forth. 123. Strawberry. Take Strawberries, & wash them in time of year in good red wine; then strain through a cloth, & put them in a pot with good Almond milk, mix it with White flour or with the flour of Rice, & make it thick and let it boil, and put therein Raisins of Corinth, Saffron, Pepper, Sugar great plenty, powdered Ginger, Cinnamon, Galingale; point it with Vinegar, & a little white grease put thereto; color it with Alkanet, & drop it about, plant it with the grains of Pomegranate, & then serve it forth." (From Take a Thousand Eggs or More, p. 240.) > The discussion about methods of making it came > from having read a recipe where one is supposed to milk the cow > directly into the wine. The author tried it and found that the > syllabub curdled and smelled very bad. Yes, some of the recipes instruct you to milk the cow directly into the syllabub -- 17th century party humor, I guess. The object was to create a frothy head on the syllabub (the beverage was drunk from special spouted glasses, or pots). Some call for a froth of cream & eggwhites to be added on top of the glasses of syllabub. One of the recipes, which instructs us to milk the cow into a pint of verjuice, says to skim the resultant curd: "Take a pint of Verjuyce in a bowl; milk the Cow to the Verjuyce; take off the Curd; and take sweet-cream and beat them together with a little Sack and Sugar; put it into your Syllabub pot; then strew Sugar on it, and so send it to the Table." (Digby, #134) I haven't tried this one, but I have done a hypocras recipe that included cream. The cream did form curds when added to the wine & was very unpleasant to look at. ( I need to repeat this experiment, & try skimming off the curds. I think I must have spilled some of the curds, but I don't remember. But I just tried the hypocras last night [lost it in the back of the fridge for several months :-0] & it has mellowed to a rich, full-bodied sweet wine with just enough spice to make it interesting. ) What I think is happening, is that the fat is remaining in the drink & being broken up & dispersed by the acid in the wine or verjuice, & this is giving the drink a rich mellow flavor. Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu renfrow at skylands.net Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 13:40:44 -0600 From: "Alex Wollangk" Subject: SC - 1430-1450 recipe for Strawberye... Just came across the following recipe: Strawberye Take Strawberys, & Waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; ?an strayne ?orwe a clo?e, & do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun o?er with ?e flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, and do ?er-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put ?er-to; coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it with ?e graynys of Pome-garnad, & ?an serue it forth. And I thought strawberries were new-world and post period... (this recipe is dated 1430-1450) Bran Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 14:01:39 -0600 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: RE: SC - 1430-1450 recipe for Strawberye... > And I thought strawberries were new-world and post period... > > (this recipe is dated 1430-1450) > > Bran Strawberries were known in Antiquity and were harvested wild rather than cultivated. They were planted in large manor gardens beginning in the 13th Century and later became a cultivar. There are 3 or 4 European species., primarily the woodland strawberry, the musky strawberry and the alpine strawberry. Strawberries were found in the New World, but because of different chromosome counts, interbreeding between the New World and Old World species is difficult and not very productive. In the 18th Century, the French botanist Dusquene developed a large and prolific strawberry by crossbreeding Virginian and Chilean varieties. The resulting berries have taken over the commercial market in Europe and the US. The European strawberries are still available, but are difficult to find and are expensive as they are grown specifically for the gourmet market. Bear Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 12:55:21 -0800 From: "Laura C. Minnick" Subject: Re: SC - 1430-1450 recipe for Strawberye... Alex Wollangk wrote: > Just came across the following recipe: > > Strawberye > > Take Strawberys, & Waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; ?an strayne > ?orwe a clo?e, & do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with > Amyndoun o?er with ?e flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, > and do ?er-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, > pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte > grece put ?er-to; coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it > with ?e graynys of Pome-garnad, & ?an serue it forth. We made this at a cooks' night a few years back- it came out something between a mousse and a pudding, was a gross puke-pink, but tasted pretty good. The main difficulty we had was finding alkanet, and getting strawberries and pomagranates at the same time. IIRC, we used dried pom seeds. Not a bad recipe though. 'Lainie Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 00:22:00 +0100 From: Anna Jartin Subject: SV: SC - 1430-1450 recipe for Strawberye... I have discussed this with some of my friends, and we think it refers to wild strawberries, what we in Sweden call smultron. I think modern strawberries is some kind of crossbreed between American and European strawberries. Uta Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 20:00:34 EST From: LrdRas at aol.com Subject: Re: SC - 1430-1450 recipe for Strawberye... TerryD at Health.State.OK.US writes: << The European strawberries are still available, but are difficult to find and are expensive as they are grown specifically for the gourmet market. Bear >> Seeds for alpine strawberries are available from any good seed house. The resulting plants are not prone to sending out runners and are very compact in size. Germination is relatively high and even. Expect a regular crop in the second year with the possibility of a few berries the fall of the first year. The berries are small, intensely flavorful (nothing like the cardboard tasting berries currently marketed out of California) and production is confined to a short season. Recommended. Ras Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 06:52:28 +0100 (MET) From: Par Leijonhufvud Subject: RE: SC - 1430-1450 recipe for Strawberye... On Fri, 18 Feb 2000, Decker, Terry D. wrote: > primarily the woodland strawberry, the musky strawberry and the alpine Fragaria vesca (and F. viridis and F. moschata)? (http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/rosa/fraga/fragves.html) > The European strawberries are still available, but are difficult to find and > are expensive as they are grown specifically for the gourmet market. I generally just go out -- at the right time of year -- and walk some small dirt roads in the woods, looking along the sides of the road. A few year old clear-cuttings can be good as well. /UlfR Who never seems to be able to bring enough home to try any recipies with, though. Strange... Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 14:09:40 -0000 From: Christina Nevin Subject: SC - Strawberye Bran wrote: Strawberye Take Strawberys, & Waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; ?an strayne ?orwe a clo?e, & do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun o?er with ?e flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, and do ?er-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put ?er-to; coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it with ?e graynys of Pome-garnad, & ?an serue it forth. I've also made this recipe a couple of times and to be honest, if you can't find it, don't worry about the alkanet. The pottage turns quite red and the alkanet didn't have much impact on the coloring however much was put in. And it certainly doesn't do much for taste! It's a very nice dessert however, and I recommend it. Ciao Lucretzia Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 08:36:19 -0600 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: RE: SC - 1430-1450 recipe for Strawberye... > On Fri, 18 Feb 2000, Decker, Terry D. wrote: > > primarily the woodland strawberry, the musky strawberry and the alpine > > Fragaria vesca (and F. viridis and F. moschata)? > (http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/rosa/fraga/fragves.html) > > /UlfR > Par Leijonhufvud parlei at algonet.se That's it, except looking at my notes on the subject, most of the European alpine strawberries are actually variants of F. vesca. F. viridis is a species with green berries and F. moschata have a musky flavor. IIRC, F. vesca has 14 chromosomes, F. moschata has 47, and the New World species have 52. Before molecular botany, almost every variant was classed as a separate species, but the botanists have condensed that down to the three species you state. Alpine variants grow above the timberline in the mountains and occur in both the Old World and New World species. Bear Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 17:14:10 EDT From: RuddR at aol.com Subject: SC - Strawberry Quest Aoife writes: > I thought I'd throw out a request and see how many answers we get: > > Who has a period recipe for strawberries? Who has redacted recipes for > strawberries? (Snip) > Please quote modern source including translator and publisher/date/isbn and > also original historical author/publisher/country-location/date. ____________________________________________________________________ DARYOLES Strawberry Date Custard Pie Take Wyne & Fre[e]ssche bro(th)e, Clowes, Maces, & Marow, & pouder of Gyngere, & Safroun, & let al boyle to-gederys, & put (th)er-to creme, (& (y)if it be clowtys, draw it (th)orwe a straynoure,) & (y)olkys of Eyroun, & melle hem to-gederys, & pore (th)e licoure (th)at (th)e Marow was so(th)yn yn (th)er-to; (th)an make fayre cofyns of fayre past, & put (th)e Marow (th)er-yn, & mynce datys, & strawberys in tyme of (y)ere, & put (th)e cofyns in (th)e ovyn, & late hem harde a lytel; (th)an take hem owt, & put (th)e licoure (th)er-to, & late hem bake, & serue f[orth]. Harleian MS 279 (Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books, Thomas Austin, Ed., Early English Text Society, Kraus Reprint, Millwood, NY, 1964.) Pastry dough for one nine-inch pie crust 1/2 C raw bone marrow 3/4 C heavy cream 4 egg yolks 1/4 C beef bouillon (may be made from the marrow bones) 1/4 C sweet wine 1 pint fresh strawberries, whole, or cut into pieces 1 1/2 C dates, cut in two 1 tsp powdered ginger 1/4 tsp saffron 1/8 tsp each mace and cloves Sugar to taste (optional) 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 2. Line pie pan with the pastry dough, and then fill it with the strawberries and dates, either the dates on the bottom and the strawberries on top, or mixed together. Put the pie crust in the oven and bake it for ten minutes to harden it. Remove it, and reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. 3. In a small saucepan, over low heat, bring beef bouillon to a simmer. Add bone marrow and simmer, covered, for ten minutes. Remove the bone marrow and add it to the fruit in the pie crust. 4. In a bowl, combine cream, wine, beef bouillon, spices and sugar. Beat them well together, and pour this into the pie crust with the fruit and marrow. 5. Put the pie in the oven and bake it for one hour or until a toothpick draws out clean. Refrigerate before serving. Serves eight to twelve. Rudd Rayfield Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 18:52:19 -0400 From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" Subject: Re: SC - Strawberry Quest > Who has a period recipe for strawberries? Who has redacted recipes for > strawberries? Thomas Dawson, _The Good Huswifes Jewell_ (English, 1596) Falconwood Press edition, 1988 To make a tarte of strawberries Wash your Strawberries and put them into your Tarte, and season them with sugar, cynamon and Ginger, and put a little red wine into them. note: I don't remember where I got the redaction, but I made this tart for a May Day event which was the first feast I ever cooked. It was a baked single-crust pie, piled high with ripe strawberries which had a wine-sugar- spice syrup pour over them. The tarts were a hit and there were no leftovers. Lady Brighid ni Chiarain Settmour Swamp, East (NJ) Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 19:15:24 -0800 From: Kerri Canepa Subject: Re: SC - Strawberry Quest >Who has a period recipe for strawberries? Who has redacted recipes for >strawberries? The recipe below was used as part of a Collegium class. The first part was to try to translate the recipe and the second part was to try to prepare it. The first set of notes came from the original class, the second set after I tried to make it again but slightly differently. The dish comes out like a thickened soup. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >From Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers 15th century Cxxiij. Strawberye. Take Strawberys, & waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; ?an strayne ?orwe a clo?e, & do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun o?er with ?e flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, and do ?er-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre gret plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put ?er-to; coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it with ?e graynys of Pome-garnad, & ?an serue it forth. Translation Take strawberries and wash them in time of year in good red wine (a good vintage year?); then strain through a cloth and put them in a pot with good almond milk, add wheat or rice flour and make it stiff and let it boil, and add currants, saffron, pepper, sugar in great plenty, powdered ginger, cinnamon, galingale; sharpen it with vinegar and put a little lard into it, color it with alkinet and put it in a bowl (?), place pomegranate seeds on it and serve it forth. Recipe 1 pint strawberries, green parts removed 1/2 cup red wine 1/2 cup almond milk 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 tbs. whole wheat pastry flour 1/4 cup dried currants small pinch of saffron, crushed 1/8 tsp. ground pepper 1/4 tsp. ground ginger 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp. ground galingale 1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar 1 tsp. lard 3 drops red food coloring Put the strawberries in a small pot with the red wine and heat for 5 minutes. Strain out the wine and push the strawberries through a conical sieve. Put the sieved strawberries into a pot with the almond milk and add the flour. Bring to a boil and let it bubble for about 15 minutes. Add the currants, saffron, pepper, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and galingale and simmer together for a few minutes. Add the vinegar, lard, and food coloring, mix together, pour into a bowl and serve. Notes There were a few difficulties working out this recipe, the major problem being the phrase "in tyme of yere in gode red wyne." We couldn't figure out what red wine had to do with washing strawberries except to perhaps flavor them a bit, so we blanched the strawberries in the wine. The wine we had was made by one of the cooks which had not turned out to be very drinkable and since we didn't add any wine to the recipe, we decided it would work for the washing part. The phrase itself was unintelligible; did it refer to the time of year for strawberries (which is spring) or did it refer to a good vintage year for the wine? Given the proportions of ingredients given, the mixture did not thicken much even with additional cooking time. Perhaps if the pulp of the strawberries had been added and additional flour, it might have thickened up more. Once we discovered that alkinet dye isn't good to consume, we chose food coloring instead. The mixture without coloring is a pleasant but dull shade of pink; the coloring brightened it somewhat and more could be added if a brighter red color is desired. Pomegranates were not in season when we tried the recipe so were not used. However, the seeds would make this a very visually attractive dish. We also couldn't figure out what the lard was supposed to do in the dish, nor how much to use except that it wouldn't be much. The last difficulty was deciding how this dish was to be consumed. It is in the potages section which would indicate that it could be eaten on its own. We chose, however, to use it as a sauce for the roasted chicken. Then we put it on the apples, some bread, and even on the fritters. It was very tasty on all of them. We decided that it would be good on a lot of things although not on the peas. It's probably a little too sweet by itself but some of the cooks suggested passing out straws to drink it like a milkshake (with a chorus of "mmmmm" from the assembled people). Notes addendum We didn't use wine the second time to wash the strawberries and it made a minor difference in flavor. I suspect that washing them in wine both cleaned them and added some wine flavor to the recipe. The second time the dish was made, a mesh sieve was used instead of a conical sieve so more of the strawberry pulp ended up in the dish. It did make the result thicker. Do not, do not, DO NOT leave out the lard. It provides a very necessary "mouth feel" which makes this dish delectable. Leaving out food coloring does make it look duller, too. The almond milk we originally used for this dish was made with water and "black sugar" for which we used turbinado sugar (turbinado is cane sugar without the molasses part removed, brown sugar is cane sugar with the molasses part removed and then put back in). The second time we made almond milk without sugar and the strawberye wasn't nearly as good an end product. I find it interesting that in today's world strawberries and pomegranites are not availabe at the same time. I wonder how they were available together then? Cedrin Princess Oertha Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 12:31:22 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: SC - Welserin Strawberry Tart Here's the recipe from about 8 months ago. Recipes are from Das Kochbuch Von Sabina Welserin translated by Valoise Armstrong, copyright 1998 by Valoise Armstrong. Bear To make a strawberry tart Make a pastry shell and let it become firm in the tart pan. Afterwards take strawberries and lay them around on top as close together as possible, after that sweeten them especially well. Next let it bake a short while, pour Malavosia over it and let it bake a while, then it is ready. To make a pastry dough for all shaped pies Take flour, the best that you can get, about two handfuls, depending on how large or small you would have the pie. Put it on the table and with a knife stir in two eggs and a little salt. Put water in a small pan and a piece of fat the size of two good eggs, let it all dissolve together and boil. Afterwards pour it on the flour on the table and make a strong dough and work it well, however you feel is right. If it is summer, one must take meat broth instead of water and in the place of the fat the skimmings from the broth. When the dough is kneaded, then make of it a round ball and draw it out well on the sides with the fingers or with a rolling pin, so that in the middle a raised area remains, then let it chill in the cold. Afterwards shape the dough as I have pointed out to you. Also reserve dough for the cover and roll it out into a cover and take water and spread it over the top of the cover and the top of the formed pastry shell and join it together well with the fingers. Leave a small hole. And see that it is pressed together well, so that it does not come open. Blow in the small hole which you have left, then the cover will lift itself up. Then quickly press the hole closed. Afterwards put it in the oven. Sprinkle flour in the dish beforehand. Take care that the oven is properly heated, then it will be a pretty pastry. The dough for all shaped pastries is made in this manner. Recipes are from Das Kochbuch Von Sabina Welserin translated by Valoise Armstrong, copyright 1998 by Valoise Armstrong, and are reprinted by permission of the author. A copy of the translation may be viewed at http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html. For my redaction, I made the dough using: 2 cups of cake flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of butter brought to a boil 2 eggs The ingredients were assembled in accordance with the instructions and the dough was gently kneaded until smooth. Some additional flour was required to reduce the stickiness of the dough and stiffen it. What was produced was a fairly soft ball of dough. The dough was formed into a rough cone about six inches in diameter, wrapped in wax paper and chilled for 30 minutes. The dough was divided in half and each portion was rolled out on floured wax paper to ease transferring the dough to standard 8 inch pie pans. The dough was place in the pans, trimmed, the bottom filled with dry beans, and pre-baked for 10 minutes at 400 degrees F. The pre-baking was to reduce shrinkage during the later baking. For the filling, I used: 1 1/2 pints cleaned and quartered modern large strawberries 2 Tablespoons of sugar 1/2 cup Malvasia (Malmsey) wine I chose Malvasia, because it is period, and I believe it is the wine referred to in the recipe. After the pie shell had cooled, the bottom was covered with the quartered strawberries. These had been pre-sweetened with the sugar. The pie was then baked for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. The Malvasia was added, and the pie returned to the oven for another 40 minutes. Letting the pie cool on the counter for several hours allowed the filling to gel. I did encounter some problems. The exposed crust was overly dark. Reducing the exposed crust by using a tart pan should resolve this problem. And the filling remained overly liquid in my opinion. Reducing the wine to 1/3 cup should help as should adding two additional tablespoons of sugar. The sugar should also improve the flavor without destroying the tartness of the filling. One other change I intend is to use small whole berries or large half berries will give the filling a more interesting texture and be more in keeping with the original recipe. From: "Toni Cordaro" To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberry Recipes? Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 09:50:15 >Does anyone have any good recipes involving fresh strawberries that would be >acceptable for a feast? Mash the strawberries and marinate them in sweet cream 24 hours, pour this mixture over custard...period for Germany circa 1450. You can also do this with other fruits....yum yum, Elaina, the lurker. Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 07:29:54 -0400 From: Philip & Susan Troy To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberry Recipes? A strained puree can be cooked with red wine and a thickener of bread crumbs or perhaps rice flour, seasoned with cloves and with a little lard or butter stirred in to give it a shine and prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Some interpret this dish as a pudding; I prefer to think of it as a thick soup. Various fourteenth-century English sources give a series of such dishes, all pretty much alike except for the different pureed and strained main ingredient, ranging from cherries to strawberries to hawthorne blossoms. A later approach from the seventeenth century would be to make a fool, normally by mixing that same puree with a thick custard sauce (like a thick creme anglaise), to serve over sippets of toasted bread or cake. An utterly simple, but apprently well-post-period, approach would be to make a similar fool with the pureed fruit and whipped cream. I also believe Elinor Fettiplace has a recipe from the late sixteenth - early seventeenth century for a syrup of strawberries, which can presumably be used like sekanjabin or a syrup or lemons. Adamantius From: "Morgan Cain" To: Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 08:06:23 -0500 Subject: [Sca-cooks] Strawberries Reginleif asked: > Does anyone have any good recipes involving fresh strawberries that would > be acceptable for a feast? Hopefully somewhat simple to make, ..... When I did the Lent/Passover feast for North Regional Warlord, I made a "trifle" of cream, rosewater, and spices (I think it came from "To The King's Taste" but would have to check the packet of recipes) and just served that with the berries. We used almond cream, of course, it being Lent, but you can use cow's cream now. I believe there is a simple custard recipe in "Pleyn Delit" that works well with berries. Just please avoid the Strawberry Tarte in "Jumbles Tartes and Shrewsberry Cakes" (or a title close to that; the books are downstairs) as a quick read shows it does NOT follow the original. Besides, you only cook strawberries when they have gone past prime. If they are fine, eat them fresh! (Note: This philosophy may not be medievally accurate.) ---= Morgan Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 09:14:19 -0400 From: Elaine Koogler To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberry Recipes? I believe someone else mentioned this recipe, and, having made it, immediately remembered it. The version I have comes from a book published by folks in the Midrealm, and edited by Duchess Caellyn Fitzhugh: A Tarte of Strawberries 1 qt. strawberries 1/2 C. red wine 1/2 C. sugar 1 tsp. each ginger, cinnamon 1 Tbsp. cornstarch 1 baked single pie crust shell Wash and stem the strawberries; drain. Heat wine, sugar, spices, dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold wine and add to the mixture. Simmer until thick. Arrange the berries in the baked shell and pour syrup ovr them. Chill, garnish and serve. This came from Sallets, Humbles and Shrewsbery Cakes. Now I know that the cornstarch isn't period, but you could use ground bread crumbs instead. I have no idea what the original recipe looked like, as it's not given in ths source. What we did was to make the strawberry part of this and use it as a garnish on Darioles...this has become known as a signature dish for our barony as our livery is red and white! The recipe is periodoid, especially if you substitute a more period thickener, but it is quite tasty and allows you to retain the beauty of the fresh strawberries! Kiri From: DeeWolff at aol.com Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 09:16:25 EDT Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberries To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Strawberye. Take strawbeyes,&waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; Pan strayne Porwe a cloPe,& do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun oPer with Pe flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, do Per-in Roysons of couraunce,Safroun,pepir,Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere,Canel, Galyngale; poynteit with Vynegere, & a lytil whyte grece put Per -to ;coloure it with Alkenade,& droppe it a-bowte, plante it with Pe graynys of pome-garnard, & serue it forth. Harleian MS 279-Potage Duvers (know that all the "P"'s are supposed to be backwards... Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 08:15:35 -0500 From: "Decker, Terry D." Subject: RE: SC - Haggis and Strawberries > As well, while this friend is not an authenticity freak on any level, we > were discussing what foodstuffs could ruin the feel of a feast - I said the > bright red vegetables (capsicum, tomato), potato (although, in a soup, it is > at least a bit hidden), chocolate. She agreed with this list and added big, > red strawberries because she had heard that strawberries as we know them are > more a New World food and that the ones people in Europe would have been > eating would have been the small wild strawberries. > > Any opinions (particularly backed up with documentation!)? > > Gwynydd IIRC, there are three species of European strawberries, the "frais du bois", whose scientific name escapes me at the moment, the musky strawberry, Fragaria moschata, and a green strawberry, of little import. The wild wood strawberry was apparently harvested from the wild until the 14th Century when they began being transplanted into manor gardens. In North America, the Europeans found Fragaria virginiana and later F. chileonsis is South America. During the 18th Century, a French botanist named Duchesne crossed F. chileonsis and F. virginiana, producing the first of the modern hybrids which are the common strawberry in U.S. supermarkets. The frais du bois, the musky, and the American strawberry species have different chromosome counts making cross-breeding difficult and poor yields. The frais du bois is occasionally available in upscale markets at ridiculous prices, but Ras has pointed out, if you are willing to grow your own, the plants are available. For most applications, I tend to use the commercial berries and not worry about the differences. Bear Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 11:58:38 -0400 (EDT) From: To: Subject: [Sca-cooks] Strawberye I'm putting together some strawberry sauce from this recipe tonight: " Take Strawberys, and waysshe hem in tyme of yere in gode red wyne; yan strayne yorwe a clo ye, and do hem in a potte with gode Almaunde mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun oyer with ye flowre of Rys, and make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, annd do yer-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, and a lytil whyte grece put yer-to; coloure it with Alkenade, and droppe it a-bowte, plante it with graynys of Pomegarnad, and yan serue it forth." I'm wondering if it is at all reasonable to omit the wine from the recipe on the grounds that the recipe says 'wash' the strawberries in wine, and doesn't have them included. But that 'strain it through a cloth' worries me, is this really a sort of strawberry jelly? I want to serve this with pain perdu, so leaving out the wine would make me happy. ;) -- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 12:14:24 -0400 (EDT) From: To: Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberye > Pani Jadwiga, > What is the source of this recipe, please? I believe it's from Two 15th century cookery books; I know Cariadoc has A redaction on his site... -- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 13:16:43 -0400 Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberye From: Daniel Myers To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org On Friday, June 6, 2003, at 12:07 PM, Anne duBosc wrote: > Pani Jadwiga, > What is the source of this recipe, please? It's from TFCCB. I've copied a slightly different transcription below. My take on the recipe is that it's supposed to be a sort of strawberry pudding. The strawberries I've seen in period paintings were substantially smaller than modern ones. I'm not sure whether straining them means you're separating out the wine to discard, or using the cloth to remove the seeds from cooked strawberries. I've seen a number of contemporary recipes that have you cook fruit in wine and then press it through a strainer (e.g. gooseberry tart). I don't recall seeing any that have you just rinse the fruit in wine. That being said, almond milk tends to thicken when cooked. Adding either amidon (wheat starch) or rice flour to it will further thicken it to the point where it closely resembles pudding. The currants and saffron in connection with the thickened almond milk suggest to me that the recipe is related to "lenten slices" or "gaylede" (see http://www.medievalcookery.com/recipes/lenten.html ) which is a almond milk based pudding with fruits and the like added. All in all, I can see leaving out the wine and making it as a pudding sort of thing, but since it says to "make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle" I don't think the recipe is describing something sauce-like. Alternate transcription: ( "Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books", HARLEIAN MS. 279 (ab. 1430), & HARL. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450) - University of Michigan's Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse - http://www.hti.umich.edu/c/cme/ ) Strawberye. Take Strawberys, & waysshe hem in tyme of ere in gode red wyne; than strayne thorwe a clothe, & do hem in a potte with gode almaunde_mylke, a-lay it with Amyndoun other with the flowre of Rys, & make it chargeaunt and lat it boyle, and do ther-in Roysonys of coraunce, Safroun, Pepir, Sugre grete plente, pouder Gyngere, Canel, Galyngale; poynte it with Vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put ther-to; coloure it with Alkenade, & droppe it a-bowte, plante it with the graynys of Pome-garnad, & than serue it forth. - Doc -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers) http://www.medievalcookery.com/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 13:55:21 -0400 Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberye From: Daniel Myers To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org More information on this. On looking at the other references for strawberries in TFCCB, I find the following (heavily edited): Daryoles. Take wyne & Fressche brothe, [...] & strawberys in tyme of ere, & put [...] Darioles. Take Wyne, an Freyssche brothe, [...] & Strawberys in tyme of ere, & sette the cofyns [...] Dariolles. Take wyne and fress brot, [...] and myced dates And streberies, if hit be in time of yere, and sette [...] This makes it look like "strawberries in time of year" look like a stock phrase - meaning "strawberries, if you can get them". This makes me suspect that the "wash them" is not connected to the "in good red wine" and is probably another "stock phrase". So the recipe for Strawberye might translate to something more like: "Take washed strawberries in good red wine and strain through a cloth. Then put it in a pot with good almond milk...." In which case the strawberries are marinated in wine and then strained - presumably to remove the seeds. Here red wine would be retained and would be more prominent in the final dish (which I still think would be pudding like, but I'll have to try it out and see). - Doc -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers) http://www.medievalcookery.com/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- From: "a5foil" To: Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberye Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 15:23:22 -0400 It's definitely supposed to be pudding-like. Have you got rice flour? It works a whole lot like modern cornstarch -- In fact, I use it one-for-one when I'm making things for a corn-allergic friend -- so if you know how to make (or have a recipe for) a cornstarch pudding you can use the same proportion of starch to liquid. Cynara Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 20:34:35 -0400 (EDT) From: To: Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Strawberye > It's definitely supposed to be pudding-like. Well, I made it. To 1 lb strawberries I used 1/2 cup red nonalcoholic wine (it was on sale at Aldis, it had to be done)... 1/2 c almond milk... 3-4 tablespoons rice flour. also 2/3 c. sugar and 1 tbsp butter, with 1 tsp vinegar. It's really, really good. Right now it's sauce consistency but thickening. It's a sauce! It's a pudding! It's a shoe polish! (well, no) but I think it will go fine with the pain perdu. :) -- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2005 13:12:17 -0400 From: "Micyalah" Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] OOP Strawberries To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" Favourite savoury strawberry sauce (and you can freeze it!)....... TATEOM, v.1, pg 206 - thanks Cindy :) Micaylah From: David Friedman Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Strawberry Wine Recipe Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2007 10:19:44 -0700 In article , "Mary Elmore" wrote: > My lovely wife Cordelia De Barfluer is looking for period Strawberry Wine > Recipes. We are looking for Documentation for a project she is working on. So far as I know there aren't any, although I would be happy to learn that I am mistaken. There's a webbed book on strawberries with information on the history at: http://nalusda.gov/pgdic/Strawberry/darpubs.htm According to that, strawberries were being cultivated in Europe by the 14th century. I didn't see any references to wine, although there is a medicinal reference to drinking the juice. The Virginia strawberry, which is the ancestor of the modern large fruited strawberries, seems to have reached Europe in the early 17th century, so just out of period. Wouldn't it make more sense to work in the other direction--to look at period recipes and find ones that lead to an interesting project, rather than first decide what you want to make and then "document" it? The latter approach strikes me as rather like ordering a pizza by dialing a phone number at random in the hope it will turn out to be a pizza place--there is, after all, no reason to assume that a particular modern recipe has a medieval version. -- http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/ Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic. Published by Baen, in bookstores now From: David Friedman Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Strawberry Wine Recipe Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2007 15:47:44 -0700 David Friedman wrote: > The Virginia strawberry, which is the ancestor of the modern large > fruited strawberries, seems to have reached Europe in the early 17th > century, so just out of period. I should have said "one of the ancestors." The other is apparently a Chilean strawberry which got to the Old World even later. -- http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/ Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic. Published by Baen, in bookstores now Edited by Mark S. Harris strawberries-msg 23 of 23