Melons

The Melons, Cucumis melo are diverse species with many more varieties than rockmelon and honeydew, indeed there are some that are used as vegetables rather than as the sweet fruit we all know. Those however I will deal with when I get to cucumbers, because the earliest fruit used as a cucumber is actually a melon

Watermelons also exhibit some variation however they are usually readily identifiable as watermelons, while Cucumis melons vary greatly in appearance.

The wild ancestors of Watermelons grow throughout northern Africa and their seeds have been uncovered in excavations of New Kingdom Egyptian sites at Thebes (Jannick 2006).

Melons (Cucumis) Have their origins in Africa and South Western Asia, where cultivation began somewhere between 7000BC and 3000 BC (Szabó 2005).

While watermelons followed the typical route of North African plants into Europe, being mainly introduced through Spain During Moorish expansion, Other melons found a different route (Jannick 2006). 

In the 9^th Century A.D. Melons are one of the food plants mentioned in Walahfrid Strabo’s Hortulus a poem a garden, it’s contents and the virtues of the plants growing within it.

Hungary is acknowledged as a centre for melon Biodiversity with at least twenty landraces known today (Szabó 2005). This diversity made it possible for Hungarian scientists to analyse and compare melon seeds found at a the 15th century site of the royal Palace on Buda hill in Budapest, with these modern landraces (Szabó 2005). The result of this is that it is possible to say that the medieval melon in this instance belonged to the Cucumis melo inodorus group commonly called winter melons and that it was probably around the size of a large orange with belong

green flesh and pale yellow smooth skin (Szabó 2005). The inodorus group are worthy of notice for their slow ripening process which enables them to be stored for several months making them an important source of fruit for at least part of winter (Szabó 2005).

 Melons of Hungary

Rockmelons, part of the melon group cantalupensis are a later introduction into Western Europe coming from Armenia in the early 16^th Century and Ultimately becoming the most common melon type of the Renaissance  (Szabó 2005)..

Country or Region			Carolingian empire	Italy	Italy	Ferrara Northern Italy	Spain (Written in Catalan)
Date			9th century	between 12th and 13th C	between 12th and 13th C	14th–15th century a.d	1529
Source			Walahfrid Strabos Hortulus	FIRENZE-VIA DE' CASTELLANI		results of the archaeobotanical investigation of “The Mirror Pit”	Libre del Coch
	Scientific name
Melon	Cucumis melo		x		x	x	x
Watermelon	Citrillus lanatus			x	x

 melon varieties informatin from Melons Australia

And now for something completely different !

Pictures from the Canberra Show 2013!!!

 References

o   Jannick J , Paris H, 2006 “The Cucurbit Images (1515–1518) of the Villa Farnesina, Rome”  Annals of Botany 97: 165–176, 2006 doi:10.1093/aob/mcj025, available online at www.aob.oxfordjournals.org  http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/70-2_03_villa_farnesina.pdf

o   Jannick J , Paris H, Parrish D, 2007 “The Cucurbits of Mediterranean Antiquity: Identification of Taxa from Ancient Images and Descriptions” Annals of Botany 100: 1441–1457,

o   Z. Szabó1,2*, G. Gyulai2, Z. Tóth2, and L. Heszky2 2005 Morphological and molecular diversity of 47 melon (Cucumis melo) cultivars compared to an extinct landrace excavated from the 15^th century1St. Stephanus University, 1 Institute of Botany, 2 Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology, Gödöllı, H-2103, Hungary * Corresponding author e-mail: Szabo.Zoltan@mkk.szie.hu

o   Strabo, Walafrid. Hortulus. Translated by Raef Payne. Commentary by Wilfrid Blunt. (Pittsburgh: Hunt Botanical Library, 1966)

o   Daunay M.C, Janick J, Paris, H.S. 2009 Tacuinum Sanitatis: Horticulture and Health in the Late Middle Ages Volume 49 - Number 3 Chronica Horticultulturae, vol 49(3),pp22-29 Accessed online

www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/chronica_tacuinum.pdf

o    

,

Madagascar

Lemurs are among the most loved animals in the world, naturally we see keeping them and their habitat as extremely important.  But we go to bed at night with full bellies and if we dream of Madagascar the chances are our minds don't wander far beyond lemurs with their delightful behavior and cute looks.

But what about the people who live there? They are an amazing mix of settlers from the Malay Archipelago, Africa and India, who began arriving in Madagascar around 200 ce.
Madagascar is home to 20,713,819.0 people, with 69% living in rural Areas (World Bank). 
     4 years ago the current regime came to power and political turmoil ensued. In this period the country has lost much of it's foreign AID as well as commercial investment. Food shortages were already on their way when a new problem arose. Locusts. With up to 1/2 of the island affected by locusts food resources are decreasing and many Madagascans are surviving by exploiting the islands natural resources. 

 This means Lemur Habitat is being lost to illegal logging, both for export and local use. It also means that Lemur is now on the menu.

In these circumstances it will take a great deal of work to safe guard both the people and wildlife of Madagascar.What is needed to create this is political stability and  the reinstatement of government authority throughout the country. The recently announced Presidential Election on the 25th of October gives me hope that we may not be to late to save an amazing island and it's inhabitants.
 

Pre 1600's plant history Part 2 Fennel

A profile of Fennel and it's uses prior to 1600

The modern scientific name for fennel is Foeniculum vulgare Which refers to common Fennel commonly found as a weed of roadsides and untended ground both in Australia and abroad. The second type commonly called sweet or Florence fennel is classified as Foeniculum vulgare Azoricum group, these fennels have a more developed “bulb” of fleshy stems at the base and  somewhat sweeter flavour (Facciola 1998).

Common fennel growing wild.

Its relatives :

Fennel is a perennial plant belonging to the same family as parsley dill and carrots, the APIACEAE family. The distinguishing feature of this is the upside down umbrella arrangement of flower stalks. Fennel flowers share this shape and have yellow flowers clustered at the end of each flower stalk making a perfect landing platform for pollinating insects.

 

 Its uses:

All parts of this herb can be used from the fleshy stem bases or bulb to the anise flavoured seeds. Modern usage is as broad as it’s historical use which shall be discussed shortly.

Archaeological evidence:

Fennel seed is a hard seed able to pass through the human digestive tract without being destroyed to the point of being unidentifiable.  Given this fact and the ability of archaeologists to locate cesspits and sewers it is possible to find locations where fennel seed is part of the archaeological record and is most likely there due to the human digestive system.

Table 1 a list of combined culinary/horticultural texts and archaeological evidence for the presence of Fennel at specific times and in specific regions

The cuilnary use of fennel

 

How was fennel used across a wide raange of locations and cultures? 

  

Table 2 A selection of  Texts with culinary information indicating the types of dish fennel has being used for.

Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook: 13th Century spain (Andalusia)

This perhaps provides a most distinctive use of fennel, partnered with citron leaves (Citrus media) in 11 dishes, also with coriander, onion, rue, saffron

Stalks are the most common part indicated, leaves are mentioned once and chopping of stalks mentioned twice. The most common method of preparation mentioned for fennel is in the parboiling of foods which are then baked or simmered in the coals.

18 dishes Used cooked, used as a garnish but only with one mention

o   9 poultry dishes, 7 Chicken, one Goose and one Crane

o   1 vegetable dish (Eggplant)

o   3 unspecified meat

o   2 Lamb

o   1 large fish

o   2 Rabbit

Le Menagier de Paris  : 1390    France  

Fennel is only mentioned in a few recipes in this text.

• An omelette, egg dish, along with celery, tansy, mint lovage, sage, sweet majoram, parsley, silver beet, violet leaves, spinach, as the majority of the ingredients are generally used as fresh leaves I would suggest that in this case the leaves be used.
• Used in a preserve, possibly two one which could is a recipe for mixed vegetable/herb root compote and contains green walnuts the second which is a recipe for pickled walnuts. The description of how to prepare roots may indicate that the root/lower bulbous stem of fennel is the part intended for use, although in the later part of the recipe fennel seeds would be as appropriate.
• o   Pork sausages. The fennel called for is ground, which makes fennel seeds more likely particularly as they are then mixed with powdered spices.

Wel ende edelike spijse:  Late 15th Century Dutch

Two recipes contain Fennel

o   Vegetable stew, which uses fennel seed in addition to several spices in a dish of cabbage, figs and parsley roots.

• Sturgeon with fennel. The name says it all, catch and cook your sturgeon, and sprinkle it with fennel, fresh leaves or seeds are not specified.

So it becomes clear that fennel was a widespread and most likely universally known condiment, ingredient and medicine throughout Europe and across diverse cultures prior to the 17th century.

References

·    Marta Bandini Mazzanti · Giovanna Bosi , Anna Maria Mercuri , Carla Alberta Accorsi ,  Chiara Guarnieri : (2005)  “Plant use in a city in Northern Italy during the late Mediaeval and Renaissance periods: results of the archaeobotanical investigation of “The Mirror Pit” (14th–15th century a.d.) in Ferrara”  June 2005, Vegetation  History Archaeobotany 14:442–452

·     Pegge, Samuel, 1704-1796  The Forme of Cury, not the original manuscript but a  copy made at this time.

A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390 Produced by Tobin Richard, Charles Franks, Greg Lindahl, Cindy Renfrow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8102 

·    Le Menagier de Paris translated from the French edition of Jerome Pichon published in 1846. Footnotes marked JP are by him; those marked JH are by Janet Hinson, the translator; those marked DDF and EGC are by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, respectively. (c) Janet Hinson http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

·    ms UB Gent 1035 "Good and noble food" Wel ende edelike spijse" http://www.coquinaria.nl/kooktekst/Edelikespijse0.htm

·    An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century Translated by Charles Perry. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Andalusian/andalusian1.htm

·      Sylvia Landsberg, The Medieval Garden, British Museum Press, Thames and Hudson, Italy. ISBN 0714120804

·    The Saint Gall Monastery Plan http://www.stgallplan.org/

·    . Strabo, Walafrid. Hortulus. Translated by Raef Payne. Commentary by Wilfrid Blunt. (Pittsburgh: Hunt Botanical Library, 1966)

Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia: A Source Book of Edible Plants. 1990. 677 pp. Paperback. (LC 90-92097, ISBN 0-9628087-0-9). Kampong Publications,

·    A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. by The Hon. Alicia. Amherst ... A History Of Gardening In England. by Hon. Mrs. Evelyn. Cecil (Hardcover - 1 Jan 1896 reprint 1969

Some of my older SCA vegetable research part 1

 

A Profile of the

Carrot

Carrots belong to the species Daucus carota which exhibits great diversity in the form of both its roots and flowers (Brandenburg 1981).

Afghanistan is considered to be the region from which carrots spread to the rest of the world (Banga 1957). Where it spread through Arab expansion (Banga 1957). Recent research indicates that wild carrot subspecies native to Europe influenced the development of European carrots through natural cross-pollination; the main influence appears to be the presence of carrot varieties with fleshy white roots (Brandenburg 1981).

The following description from "Le Menagier de Paris" gives an excellent account of the use of carrots in Medieval France:

“take carrots as many as you wish, and when they are well cleaned and chopped in pieces, cook them like the turnips. (Carrots are red roots which are sold at the Halles in baskets, and each basket costs one blanc.)” “TURNIPS; you remove the head, the tail and other whiskers and roots, then they are peeled, then wash in two or three changes of hot water, very hot, then cook in hot meat stock, pork, beef or mutton. (Le Menager de Paris)”

AERTSEN, Pieter Market Woman with Vegetable Stall
1567. Orange and Red carrots can be seen in this image.
O Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Parsnips and Skirret

Despite some similarities skirret and parsnip are both different vegetables to carrots. It must be noted however that in part of our time period the term pastinaca could refer to parsnips, carrots or Skirret, so try to read with the context and any description in mind. 

Some available Pre-Orange varieties

Dragon (Purple Dragon): Reddish purple exterior with amazing contrasting yellow orange interior. Sweet almost spicy flavour.

Carrot Purple Dragon

Lubyana
Bright yellow Heirloom Carrot from Slovenia similar in size to a Scarlet Nantes but with taller tops. It has a mild and sweet flavour.

Flemish white

Flemish heirloom white carrot first recorded in gardens of the 1500’s May be the same or similar to White Belgian 

Dragon is a stunning carrot to look at and although cooking dulls the reddish purple colour to red brown they still stand out amongst orange carrots both in colour and in taste. Lubyana is also a delicious carrot and has a pale colour the texture is slightly coarser, making this carrot a perfect candidate for stews and casseroles.

I would definitely recommend these varieties for taste and appearance. While the origins of Dragon are unknown it exhibits the colour of medieval carrots, being red ( or purple), While it may not be a variety from this period, it is an older variety which is likely to be descended from the period forms and would prove a good substitute in the garden and Kitchen.

   

Bibliography

     

• Banga O 1957 “Origin of the European cultivated carrot” Euphytica, Issue Volume 6,  Number 1 / February, 1957 Pages 54-63

• Harvey John 1995 “An Elizabethan Seed-List” Garden History, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Winter, 1995), pp. 242-245

• Brandenburg W A 1981 “Possible relationships between wild and cultivated carrots (Daucus carota L.) In the Netherlands”     Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, Vol 29, No 1, pp 369-375.

• Interactions between wild and cultivated carrots (Daucus carota L.)

In the Netherlands

E.H.M. Wijnheijmerl, W.A. Brandenburg' and S .J. Ter Bor Euphytica 40: 1 47-154 (1989)

• Cook E, Friedman D,  Hinson J Le Menagier de Paris  Le Menagier de Paris Translation from the French edition of Jerome Pichon published in 1846. Footnotes marked JP are by him; those marked JH are by Janet Hinson, the translator; those marked DDF and EGC are by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, respectively.

Accessed online http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

 -Richard Gardiner, Profitable instnuctionsfor the manuring, sowing, and  planting of kitchen gardens, 1599;