cucumbers-msg - 12/25/11

Medieval and period cucumbers. Recipes.

NOTE: See also the files: Cucumbers-Hst-art, pickled-foods-msg, peppers-msg, vegetarian-msg, leeks-msg, peas-msg, beans-msg, gourds-msg, beets-msg, vegetables-msg.

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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
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Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 18:13:45 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - cucumbers in period

Hi all from Anne-Marie

We are asked about recipes for cucumber in period.

Might I suggest the cucumbers from Apicius? Easy, tasty and soooo simple to
make!

"Cucumbers (Apicius #84): Pepper, pennyroyal, honey or passum, liquamen and
vinegar. Sometimes silphium is added."

AM's version:
2 cucumbers, sliced but not peeled. Make sure to wash that wax off, though.
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
1/2 T fresh mint (if you dont want to use pennyroyal)
2 T honey
1 c. balsamic vinegar
1 T worsheschestershurstershire sauce ("liquamen" sorta kinda)
2 pinches asafetida ( optional...considered by some a suitable substitute
for the now extinct silphium)

In a dish, layer the sliced cucumbers with pepper and mint. Mix the
marinade from the remaining ingredients. If you warm it slightly, it helps
the honey mix. Let cool a bit so as not to cook the cukes. Pour over the
cucumbers and let sit for a bit. Serve cold or at room temp.
I know of no examples of medieval European food that uses sour cream at
all, much less with cukes. Even the middle eastern stuff uses yogurt.

- --Anne-Marie

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 17:55:39 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Cacik (Cucumbers in Yogurt Mint Sauce)-recipe

uther at lcc.net writes:
<<  I would love the recipes for the cucumbers in yogurt mint sauce >>

Cacik
Adapted by L. J. Spencer, Jr.

2 cups plain yogurt
4 lagre cucumbers, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, finely minced
6 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 small ice cubes
Salt to taste
Mint sprigs, for garnish

Mix yogurt, water, mint, garlic, vinegar and oil together until thoroughly
blended. Pour mixture over cucumber slices. Toss cucmbers and yogurt mixture
together until the cucumbers are thoroughly coated. Add salt to taste. Just
before serving stir in ice cubes. Garnish with mint sprigs, chooped fresh
mint or a sprinkling of dried mint.

NOTES: Original recipe taken from 'A Book of Middle Eastern Food'. Claudia
Roden. Vintage Books,a Division of Random House, New York.

The original poster stated that early Turks did not have ice cubes so she
substituted cold water instead. This is an error because there is some
evidence that one of the first things the Turks did after conquest was to
establish ice houses.

Although this is a modern recipe, it is very much like similar recipes that
can be found in al-Baghdadi which dates from the 13th century under the
heading of 'Persian milk'.

Ras

Date: Mon,  8 Nov 1999 18:51:55 -0500 (EST)
From: Gretchen M Beck <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - <sigh> Cucumbers

Excerpts from internet.listserv.sca-cooks: 8-Nov-99 SC - <sigh>
Cucumbers by "Richard Kappler II" at hom
> The question is, when were cucumbers first used in Medieval Europe.  I have
> Tannahill, who says they were imported into Rome back in the days even
> before Adamantius from Spain, as well as that they were used to prevent
> scurvy before the Chinese told the Portuguese about citrus, but when were
> they first used in Europe after the fall of the Roman empire or, as I
> suspect, were they always just there?  Recipes and documentation
> puhleeeeeeease.....

I don't know about first used, but Platina describes three different
types of cucumbers (serpentine, and blue, and I don't remember the
third), categorizes them as melons, and says they are generally eaten
raw, peeled and seeded, and sauced with either salt and pepper, or with
salt, oil and vinegar.  He also says they aren't necessarily terribly
healthy foods ;-)

toodles, margaret

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 14:34:04 EST
From: ChannonM at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - <sigh> Cucumbers

According to Waverly Root's "Food" and I quote
The cucumber was slow to penetrate into norther Europe, where after all the
claimate was not kindly disposed toward it. It seems to have appeared in
France and England about the same time, in the fourteenth century, but it may
not have ben known in Germany until the sixteenth if a doucument of that
period which chronicles its appearance in Wurttemberg was really reporting a
novelty.

Hauviette

Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 07:33:07 -0600
From: "UnruhBays, Melanie A" <UnruhBays.Melanie.A at broadband.att.com>
Subject: RE: SC - Cinnamon Cucumbers

If I remember correctly, Platina waxes poetic about cucumbers. About how
great they are, how healthful and good. He then of course finds something he
likes better later. My copies are at home though, and I can't check at this
very moment....

<snip>

> C. Anne Wilson, in "Food and Drink in Britain" says that the cucumber 
> was little known in England in the 15th century, but was widely 
> cultivated during the 16th century.  I have checked all of the late-period 
> and post-period English cookbooks I own, and the only cucumber 
> recipes I can find are pickled.  I haven't seen any that were sliced raw 
> and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  At this point, I would be inclined 
> label the periodness of Canel Cucumber as "undocumented and 
> dubious".  Does anyone else on the list have anything to add?  Has 
> anyone seen a period recipe like this (from England or elsewhere)?
> 
> Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
> Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 09:57:37 -0400
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: RE: SC - Cinnamon Cucumbers

And it came to pass on 29 Jun 00,, that UnruhBays, Melanie A wrote:
> If I remember correctly, Platina waxes poetic about cucumbers. About how
> great they are, how healthful and good. He then of course finds something
> he likes better later. My copies are at home though, and I can't check at
> this very moment....

Thank you for the suggestion.  I have my copy at hand.  Platina says 
that of the 3 types of cucumber, 2 are served with oil and vinegar, and 
the other with just salt.  No cinnamon sugar.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 16:10:30 EDT
From: ChannonM at aol.com
Subject: SC - Re: Cucumbers in Period

> C. Anne Wilson, in "Food and Drink in Britain" says that the cucumber 
>  was little known in England in the 15th century, but was widely 
>  cultivated during the 16th century.  I have checked all of the late-period 
>  and post-period English cookbooks I own, and the only cucumber 
>  recipes I can find are pickled.  I haven't seen any that were sliced raw 
>  and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  At this point, I would be inclined 
>  label the periodness of Canel Cucumber as "undocumented and 
>  dubious".  Does anyone else on the list have anything to add?  Has 
>  anyone seen a period recipe like this (from England or elsewhere)?
>  
>  Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

I don't have a recipe, but there is a mention in the Petrie household records 
(think Henry 8th, early in his reign) for seeds of cucumbers. The Petrie 
household was an English Manor, Sir Petrie I believe.

Hauviette

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 13:16:07 -0500 
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Cucumbers and the SCA

> I keep running up against the notion, among SCAdians, that 
> cucumbers are not period. This
> is quite definitely a SCAdian Urban Myth, because I've never 
> seen it in a print source.
> So, where is it coming from? If we can figure out where 'pink 
> isn't period' came from, we should be able to trace this myth too.
> 
> Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      

What a fascinating non-fact.  Cucumber derives from the Middle English (1100
- - 1500) word "cucomer," derived from Old French derived from Latin.  Very
prescient of our ancestor to have a word for something they didn't know.

That should take care of the documentation and I think Rumpolt has a recipe
for cucumber salad, which should take care of the recipe.  Come to think of
it, I think cucumbers are mentioned in Pliny. 

Bear  

Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 14:02:43 -0500
From: "Michael Gunter" <countgunthar at hotmail.com>
Subject: SC - noon-member submission - Cucumbers

Of course cucumbers are period. I don't know whether the ones you find
the grocery store are period varieties(I somehow doubt it), but you can
get some periodoid (at least) varieties in places like Indian grocery
stores.

Platina lists three types of cucumbers and a variety of ways to eat
them, so there are extent recipes from Italy 15th C.  Elizabethan
cookbooks also give recipes for preserving cowcumbers which sound
remarkably like recipes for dill pickles.  The OED refers cowcumber ->
cucumber, and under cucmber says "A creeping plant, Cucumis sativis
(family) Cucurbitaceae), a native of southern Asia, from ancient times
cultivated for its fruit. Sited in 1400 Of erbis he schal ete femel,
melones, cucumeris.  Wyclif makes reference to the plant in 1382, Where
cucumeris, that ben bitter berbis, waxen.

toodles, margaret

Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:14:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at mail.browser.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Cucumbers and the SCA

[about my cucumbers-msg file - Stefan]
> As that is only a recently created file, it is also possible that there
> is other period cucumber evidence scattered in other files there.

I don't know if it's in any other files, but this study cites seeds of modern, small seeded cucumbers found in an archaeological dig in Gniezno, Poland, in a 12th-century setting (in other words, in the layer that indicated the material was from the 12th century):

"Archaeobotanical Evidence for Food Plants in the Poland of the Piasts (10th-13th Centuries AD)", M. Polcyn. Biological Journal of Scotland, vol 46, no 4, p 533-537.
- -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at mail.browser.net

Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 08:53:14 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] The pumpkin/gourd debate (again) from
	theapothecary'sworkshop
To: <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>, "Cooks within the SCA"
	<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

>> All members of genus Cucurbita are of North American origin, including
>> those found in Asia and Africa.  Gourds and melons are of Old World origin.
>> A quick way to tell the difference is to look at the stem.  Cucurbita have
>> deeply ribbed stems, the gourds and melons have round, relatively  
>> smooth, lightly veined stems.
>
> Now, I'm confused. Cucumbers are genus Cucurbita, but their presence in
> Europe pre-dates any significant contact between Old and New Worlds. Do
> we have an explanation for that? I didn't find one anywhere.
> -- 
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net

Cucumbers are genus Cucumis,  Squashes, gourds, melons, watermelons,
cucumbers and luffas are all members of the family Cucurbitaceae.

Bear

Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 08:56:45 -0400
From: Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Probably OOP cucumber questions
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 8:19 AM, <Bronwynmgn at aol.com> wrote:
<<< My cucumber plants are going gang-busters - 9 cucumbers growing already,
and they only just started flowering.
Are there any period cucumber recipes? I can't think of any in the
European stuff I'm familiar with, but I focus mostly on northern European 15th
century and earlier, so that leaves out a lot of sources. Is there anything in
later or more southern sources? >>>

Here is a recipe from Rumpolt:
Cucummern
20. Schel die Murcken/ vnd schneidt sie breit vnnd duenn/ mach sie an
mit Oel/ Pfeffer vnd Saltz. Seind sie aber eyngesaltzen/ so seind sie
auch nit boe?/ seind besser als roh/ denn man kans eynsaltzen mit
Fenchel vnd mit Kuemel/ da? man sie vber ein Jar kan behalten. Vnnd am
Rheinstrom nennet man es Cucummern.

20. Peel the Cucumbers/ and cut them broad and thin/ season them with
oil/ pepper and salt. But if they are salt-preserved/ they are also
not bad/ are better than raw/ because one can salt it with Fennel and
with caraway/ that both can be kept over one year. And near the
Rhine-stream one calls it Cucummern.

and from "Delights for Ladies" by Sir Hugh Platt, 1609
"To preserve cowcumbers all the yeere: Take a gallon of faire water
and a pottle of verjuice, and a pint of bay salt, and a handful of
greene fennel or Dill; boile it a little, and when it is cold put it
into a barrel, and then put your cowcumbers into that pickle, and you
shall keep all the yeere."

I have recently been eyeballing a recipe for cold cucumber and avocado
soup that looks tasty (just google it). Another classic cucumber
application is Taziki. I like taking my cukes, slicing them thinly,
and tossing them with a mixture of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and
fresh ginger - let them sit in the 'fridge for at least 15 minutes and
you have a lovely quick Japanese pickle.

Pickling cucumbers differ from regular cucumbers in that their
structure is more suited to hold up to the pickling process and remain
crisp. Eating cucumbers are less dense and can have a tendency to go a
bit limp after awhile in the pickle. Whatever type of pickle you are
making, weather slicing or pickling whole it is necessary to remove
the blossom end of the pickle or it can cause your entire batch to go
soft. It is always good to use a tried and true recipe if you are
attempting to make a "putting up" pickle, less so if you are doing a
refrigerator pickle.
--
Serena da Riva

Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:06:26 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Probably OOP cucumber questions
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Here's a 17th century recipe from
The cook's guide: or, Rare receipts for cookery. By Hannah Wolley. 1664

To pickle Cucumbers to look very green.

TAke those that you mean to pickle, and lay them in water and salt three
or four daies; then take a good many great Cucumbers and cut the
out|sides of them into water, for the insides will be too pappy, then
boyle them in that water with Dill seeds and Fennel seeds, and when it
is cold put to it some salt and as much vineger as will make it a strong
pickle, then take them out of that water and salt and pour that over
them in your vessel, then let them stand close covered for a fortnight
or three weeks, then Pour the liquor from them and new boyle it, putting
in some whole pepper, cloves and mace, and when it is cold adde to it
some more vineger, and a little salt, then pour it on them again, and
let them stand a month longer, then boyle it again, and when it is cold
put some more vineger, and pour it on them again, then let them stand a
longer time, and as you see occasion boyle it over again, and alwaies
put your seeds and pieces of Cucumber on the top; be sure your pickle be
cold when you pour it over.

Another 17th century recipe from A choice manual of rare and select
secrets in physick and chyrurgery collected and practised by the Right
Honorable, the Countesse of Kent, late deceased ; as also most exquisite
ways of preserving, conserving, candying, &c. ; published by W.I., Gent.
by Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent (1581-1651). and W. J. 1653

To pickle Cowcombers.

Take the Cowcombers, and wash them clean, and dry them clean in a cloth,
then take some Water, and Vinegar, and Salt, and some Dill tops, and
some Fennel tops, and a little Mace, make it fast enough, and sharp
enough to the taste, then boyle it a while, and then take it off, and
let it stand and be cold, and then put in the Cowcombers, and lay a
board on the top to keep them down, and tye them close, and with|in a
week they will be fit to eat.

--------
One of the problems is trying to determine what to search under because
you are just as likely to find "Cowcombers" as you are to find cucumbers.
The closet of the eminently learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt includes them
in pottages under at least two different spellings.

OED mentions a number of spellings and there's a mention that they
should be yellow.

1551 Turner /Herbal/ i. (1568) M iv b,
The fruyte of the cucumbre is for the most part yelow and long.

C. 1400 /Lanfranc's Cirurg./ 275
Of erbis he schal ete fenel..melones, cucumeris.

1535 Coverdale /2 Kings/ iv. 39
Then went there one in to the felde..& gathered wylde Cucumbers;

1582 N. Lichefield tr. /Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind./ 61 a,
[They] brought to sell many gourds and cowcombers.

And there were other plants that were also called cucumbers.

1548 Turner /Names of Herbes/ 32
/Cucumis sylvestris../maye be called in englyshe wylde cucummer or 
leapyng cucumer.

1578 Lyte /Dodoens/ iii. xl. 372
Of the wilde spirting Cucumbre..This Cucumber is called..in Englishe 
Wilde Cucumber, or leaping Cucumber.

Here's more in terms of dietary advice from
Butts, Henry. Dyets dry dinner consisting of eight seuerall courses. 1599.

Citrull Cucumbers

Choice. LOng: thicke: best ripe: yellow, like a ripe Orenge.

Vse. Exc?edingly cooleth an hote stomacke: quencheth thirst: appeaseth
choller.

Hurt. Is hard of digestion: engendreth flearue & clammy humours, which
soone after proue virulent, but in a stomacke hote aboue measure: poison
to a cold stomacke.

Correction. Eate it with Onions, Oraggon wort, Mint, Rewe, Pepper, and
such other very hot things.

Degree. Colde in the ende of the second; moist in the end of the third.

Season. Age. Constitution. Bad nourishment, for any season, age, or
constitution.

Cucumis citrulus.
Storie for Table-talke.

THe best vse of Citrull Cucumber is this. Pare off the rinde, and cut
the Cucumer into this broad sliees, & lay them in water. Then apply them
to the tongue of one sicke of a burning ague: it shall do him great
case. If you seeth them first with sugar, all the better; for by this
means they quench his thirst, mitigate the scalding heate of the feauer:
and in place of siccitie or continually instilla verie gratefull liquor,
with which the tongue, palate, throate, and drie soule of the patient,
is wondrously suppled and refreshed.

-----

This plant, which is a variety of cucumber(?) is described by John
Gerald as follows:

THe Citrull Cucumber hath many long, flexible, and tender stalkes
trailing vpon the ground, branched like vnto the Vine, set with certaine
great leaues deeply cut, and very much iagged: among which come forth
long clasping tendrels, and also tender footstalkes, on the ends whereof
do grow floures of a gold yellow colour: the fruit is somewhat round,
straked or rib|bed with certaine deepe furrowes alongst the same, of a
green colour aboue, and vnderneath on that side that lyeth vpon the
ground something white: the outward skin whereof is very smooth; the
meat within is indifferent hard, more like to that of the Pompion than
of the Cucumber or Muske melon: the pulpe wherein the seed lieth, is
spungie, and of a slimie substance: the seed is long, flat, and greater
than those of the Cucumbers: the shell or outward barke is blackish,
sometimes of an ouerworne reddish colour. The fruit of the Citrull doth
not so easily rot or putrifie as doth the Melon, which being gathered in
a faire dry day may be kept a long time, especially being couered in a
heape of wheat, as Matthiolus saith; but according to my practise you
may keepe them much longer and better in a heape of dry sand.

2 The second kinde of Citrull differeth not from the former, sauing that
it is altogether les|ser, and the leaues are not so deepely cut or
iagged, wherein consisteth the difference.

He describes also a wild cucumber and under "of Cucumbers" he writes:

THere be diuers of Cucumber; some greater, others lesser; some of the
Garden, some wilde; some of one fashion, and some of another, as shall
be declared in the following chapters.

? The Description.

1 THe Cucumber creepes alongst vpon the ground all about, with long
rough branches; whereupon do grow broad rough leaues vneuen about the
edges: from the bosome whereof come forth crooked clasping tendrels like
those of the Vine. The floures shoot forth betweene the stalkes and the
leaues, set vpon tender foot-stalks composed of fiue small yellow
leaues: which being past, the fruit succeedeth, long, cornered, rough,
and set with certaine bumpes or risings, greene at the first, and yellow
when they be ripe, wherein is contained a firme and sollid pulpe or
substance transparent or thorow-shining, which together with the seed is
eaten a little before they be fully ripe. The seeds be white, long, and
flat.

-------
One way to find recipes is to search under "cucumber" in Doc's index at
www.medievalcookery.com.
http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi/search.pl?term=cucumber&file=all

There are a number of Tudor-Jacobean recipes in Martha Washington's 
Booke of Cookery for cucumbers plus Karen Hess's notes.

Johnnae

Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:06:53 -0400
From: dcl1 at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Probably OOP cucumber questions
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

There are some interesting cucumber recipes in Food and Drink in Medieval Poland. Pears stewed with cucumber and figs is definitely a different taste. We served it at the last Middle Kingdom Coronation. There is another of ham stewed with cucumbers which I have not tried.

Ealdred

Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:59:38 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] An almost final Feast Menu

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is an Old World member of the Cucurbitacaea.  The 
German recipe you remember is likely oil, vinegar, salt and sugar.

For a period recipe, you might give this recipe a try:

Cucumber Salad

Peel the Cucumbers/and cut them broad and thin/ season them with oil/ pepper 
and salt.  But if they are salt-preserved/they are also not bad/ are better than raw because one can salt it with Fennel and with caraway that both can be kept over one year. And near the Rhine-stream one calls it Cucummern

Rumpolt, Ein Neue Kochbuch, 1581

1 cucumber
1/8-1/4 C oil (olive)
Salt and pepper

Peel cucumber and slice thinly into rounds, drizzle with oil and sprinkle 
with salt and pepper,
toss to coat

I can't really tell you how they taste.  Raw cucumber gives me indigestion, 
so I avoid it.  However, a number of the people who tried it liked it.

Bear

Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:46:31 -0400
From: Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] An almost final Feast Menu

<<< Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is an Old World member of the Cucurbitacaea. ?The
German recipe you remember is likely oil, vinegar, salt and sugar.

For a period recipe, you might give this recipe a try:

Cucumber Salad

Peel the Cucumbers/and cut them broad and thin/ season them with oil/ pepper
and salt. But if they are salt-preserved/they are also not bad/ are better than raw because one can salt it with Fennel and with caraway that both can be kept over one year. And near the Rhine-stream one calls it Cucummern

Rumpolt, Ein Neue Kochbuch, 1581 >>>

I prepared this dish for a German feast and went with the preserved
version. It was excellent in that it was a "make ahead" type dish to
an extent. I always find it good to save time in the kitchen. And it
is a dish served cold/room temperature which is another thing I find
an excellent addition to a menu temperature, texture and preparation
wise.

Cucumbers to fill jar
4 T Canning Salt
3 t Fennel Seeds
3 t Caraway Seeds
Oil
Black Pepper
		
Clean cucumbers. Mix salt, fennel, and caraway with water. Place
cucumbers in glass canning jar and pour brine over. Weight to ensure
that all cucumbers stay below the water. Allow to sit unsealed,
covered with a towel, in a "room temperature" location for two to
three days. Check to see if a scum forms on the top of the water. If
if does, remove with a paper towel or spoon. After they have reached
desired sourness remove weight and seal jar. Keep in the refrigerator
for several weeks before serving, shaking jar occasionally to
distribute seasoning.
	
On day of service, peel and thinly slice the cucumbers. Dress lightly
with olive oil and a small amount of pepper. Place in a sealed
container and hold in refrigerator for several hours before service.

And depending on where you would like your recipes to come from, here
is an English (slightly post period) pickle:
		
Pickled Cowcumbers
Delights for Ladies by Sir Hugh Platt, 1609.
To preserve cowcumbers all the yeere: Take a gallon of faire water and
a pottle of verjuice, and a pint of bay salt, and a handful of greene
fennel or Dill; boile it a little, and when it is cold put it into a
barrel, and then put your cowcumbers into that pickle, and you shall
keep all the yeere.
	
1 Gal Water
4 pints Verjuice
2 C Kosher Salt
1 big handfull chopped Dill
		
Wash and slice cucumbers. Make pickle and allow to cool completely.
Place cucumbers into a jar and pour in liquid. Keep refrigerated.

These were pretty darn salty - so you might want to cut the salt down
a bit. I kept them in the 'fridge because I didn't "can" them seeing
that this is not a USDA tested recipe. They would probably be fine
sitting out, but I didn't want to risk that.

I have a fabulous Cucumber, Onion and Basil salad recipe that is
Italian but you have already mentioned how over-onioned you are in
this menu.

Serena

Date: Tue, 3 May 2011 21:49:46 -0400
From: Guenievre de Monmarche <guenievre at erminespot.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Melons, cucumbers and eggplants, oh my!

Given our many conversations on the list regarding cucumbers, melons, and
eggplant, the attached may be of interest to some...

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/TS_aob.pdf
(*The Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae illustrated in medieval manuscripts known
as the Tacuinum Sanitatis)*

Guenievre

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