Title: celery-msg
Subject: Period celery. Recipes. Referances.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, celery, vegetable, medicine, herb

celery-msg - 1/17/05

Medieval celery. Recipes. References.

NOTE: See also the files: root-veg-msg, peppers-msg, vegetarian-msg, turnips-msg, rec-leeks-msg, peas-msg, beans-msg, gourds-msg, beets-msg, vegetables-msg,  salads-msg.

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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

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 11:08:27 -0500
From: gfrose at cotton.vislab.olemiss.edu (Terry Nutter)
Subject: Re:  SC - Period Root Vegies

Hi, Katerine here.

Lord Ras writes:
>Celery is not a root vegetable. Indeed, IMHO, celery was not eaten as a
>vegetable in Europe except on rare occasions because it was considered as a
>medicinal herb.

There's substantiation for this belief in Platina.  Quoting from the E.B.
Andrews translation:

	Celery is planted at the same time as mint.  It is called
	"apium" because in ancient Greece the winners of contests
	were crowned with it and "apex" signifies highest honor,
	or else because bees (apes) feed with pleasure on its
	flowers.  They say Hercules was given a crown of celery,
	poplar, and wild olive.  The roots are marvelously effective
	against poisons and, because it is bitter, it is more
	suitable as a medicine than as a food.  There are those
	who call this herb ambrosia.

I've never seen it in the English culinary repertoire, though it may appear
in the 16th C, which I'm not nearly so familiar with.

- -- Katerine/Terry

Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 16:07:56 GMT
From: zarlor at acm.org (Lenny Zimmermann)
Subject: Re: SC - Period Root Vegies

On Mon, 18 Aug 1997, Lord Ras wrote:

[war stuff snipped]

>On to root vegetables:
[snip of discussion of other root veggies]

>Celery is not a root vegetable. Indeed, IMHO, celery was not eaten as a
>vegetable in Europe except on rare occasions because it was considered as a
>medicinal herb.

Platina (Venice, Italy, 1475) partially holds that out, but it seems
as though its use as an herb was not quite rare:

On Celery
"Celery is planted at the same time as mint. It is called 'Apium'
because in ancient greece the winners of contests were crowned with it
and 'Apex' signifies highest honor, or else because bees (apes) feed
with pleasure on its flowers. They say Hercules was given a crown of
celery, poplar and wild olive." (My Note: I just love the way Platina
goes into where he thinks these food names derive. It's just too
funny.) "The roots are marvelously effective against poisons and,
because it is bitter, it is more suitable as a medicine than as a
food. There are those who call this herb ambrosia."

Castelvetro (Venetian writing in England, 1614) has this on Celery:

"Celery is good at the beginning of this beautiful season." (My Note:
This is from his section on Autumn) "Its seeds, which are extremely
small, are sown in early spring in sifted ashes. When the stalks are a
foot high, they need to be planted out about seven inches apart, for
they grow quite large heads.They should be sown at sunset in good,
rich soil and watered often if the weather is dry. In early autumn the
celery plants are dug up and earthed close together in a trench about
a yard deep, with the tops showing about four fingers above the earth,
and left for fifteen to twenty days. They will then have blanched and
become good to eat." (My Note: Italians apparently loved to have their
greens, such as celery or lettuce, blanched where possible, as this
supposedly made the food crisper and, I would assume, less strong from
the flavor of chlorophyl. Just my uneducated guess.)

"To eat celery, dig up the required amount and wash it well, and serve
it raw with salt and pepper after meals. It is warm, and has a great
digestive and generative powers, and for this reason young wives often
serve celery to their elderly or impotent husbands."

Guess celery grew more favorable over the years. Not to mention why it
might be called ambrosia by some. ;-)

Honos Servio,
Lionardo Acquistapace, Barony of Bjornsborg, Ansteorra
(mka Lenny Zimmermann, San Antonio, TX)
zarlor at acm.org

Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 11:02:59 EST
From: LrdRas <LrdRas at aol.com>
Subject: Re: SC - period celery use

<< All i know is that the root form celeriac is more period, and the stalk
 form is later, 200s or so, i believe it was in the history of food iirc
 margali
  >>

I was unable to find celery in THF. :-(. Here's what I did come up with though
from several sourses.

CELERY> Apium graveolens dulce (cultivated celery); A. graveolens (wild
celery.

Native of  Esatern Mediterranean whereit still grows wild.

Used as a funeral plant to decorate tombs and for making crowns to protect
from hangovers> Roman.

Used as a seasoning though rarely eaten as a vegetable perse by the Greeks.

Romans preferred the wild celery to cultivated celery according to Pliny.

Wild celery know in the Middle Ages. It's use was medicinal e.g. diuretic) and
it's leaf was a common decoration in cathedrals and on the coronets of dukes
and marquis.

References to cultivated celery after the downfall of Rome do not appear until
1538 when an Englishman described seeing it for the first time in VeniceIt was
"officially" cultivated in France in 1641.

The taste of wild celery is very strong. This can be achieved in cultivated
celery by growing it under stress and forgoing the paper-collar blanching
process.

With regards to "celeriac"> I hate to differ with Margali but the fact is that
Celeriac was developed during the Italian Ren. and it was delveloped from
stalk celery not vice versa.
All in all, I am unware of any medieval recipes (e.g. pre-1500 c.e/post-600
c.e.)which specifically call for the use of celery as an ingredient.

Ras

Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 09:11:12 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Celery, was Citron and Potato)

LYN M PARKINSON wrote:
> Stefan, I noticed that Ann Hagen mentioned celery in her Anglo-Saxon
> food.  If it's that early in England, it was probably everywhere, but I'd
> bet it wasn't a whole lot like our celery.  Probably smaller stalks, and
> a bit bitter.  Making candy with it would definately improve most wild
> veggies.

Celery as we know it seems to have been developed more recently than the
middle ages, but the wild proto-celery was probably pretty much like
lovage, with thin, tough, fibrous stems, much less succulent than modern
celery, and, as you suggest, stronger-tasting leaves.

If you've ever seen Chinese celery, it also is pretty much like lovage.

I suspect that celery may have been seen mostly as a medicinal herb,
rather than as a vegetable, but then candying such an herb would be a
fairly likely method of preserving it and maximizing its medicinal
qualities. Many candies were developed, essentially, as pills and lozenges.

Adamantius

Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 10:07:23 -0400
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: Re: Lettuce (was Re: SC - Citron and Potato)

And it came to pass on 4 May 99,, that Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Lady Brighid ni Chiarain gave us the recipe for candied lettuce:
> > TRONCHOS DE LECHUGAS -- Stalks of Lettuce

> Interesting that it is the stalks they use and not the leaves. Perhaps a
> good way to use the stalks after using the leaves in a salad.
>
> I wonder, since this recipe uses the stalk, whether this would work
> with celery. I can't remember if celery is period, though.

It's period for Spain.  Celery (apio) is on the list of "foods commonly
eaten" which appears at the beginning of a 1423 carving manual.
However, I have not come across any recipes for cooking or preserving
celery.

Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 14:48:17 -0500
From: LYN M PARKINSON <allilyn at juno.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Celery

>>I suspect that celery may have been seen mostly as a medicinal herb,
rather than as a vegetable, but then candying such an herb would be a
fairly likely method of preserving it and maximizing its medicinal
qualities. Many candies were developed, essentially, as pills and
lozenges.<<

Since sugar was originally purchased in an apothecary's shop--first
mention of it in 14thc. Italy--that fits very well.  And, most of the
recipes developed after the trading of sugar became available call for
the additon of sugar to many dishes we would not put it in, today.  That
had something to do with humoural theory, as sugar is the perfect food
under that doctrine--no argument, here!--but likely had it's 'roots' in
the bitter flavor of the wild and semi-domesticated herbs and vegetables.

  _Medicine & Society_, Rawcliffe, lists some of the herbs and vegetables
which were given humoural
qualities and used in this way, but celery appears in the plan for the
kitchen gardens at St. Gall, along with other vegetables and herbs in the
18 great beds--everything from onions to cornpoppy.  It might have been
eaten as a vegetable, raw or cooked, such as the onion; might have just
been cooked in with a mixture as early carrots; or might have been used
simply as flavoring, as with chervil.  Or, all of the above.

The _Regularis Concordia_ that Hagen cites calls for the midday meal, the
chief meal, to consist of 2 cooked dishes, to be eaten as an
accompaniment to bread.  There was to be a 3rd dish of fresh vegetables
and fruit, if available.  In her second volume, Production &
Distribution, she mentions celery as known in Britain from the Roman
period, and "there is evidence for celery from late Saxon sites in
Wincester.  It was cooked and eaten every day according to AElfric Bata"
and there's more, one of which is medicinal--"an early 11thc. cure
recommends that it be taken in wine for toothacche."

There was a good bit of cross use of all the herbs and vegetables between
the kitchen and the dispensary from the garden plans, herbals, and
'leechbooks'.

I have seen Chinese celery.  I haven't seen 'lovage', though.  ;-)  I do
think that, as it appeared so early in garden plans, that sucessive crops
might have bred a more appealing vegetable than the wild version, so that
it would have been put to more uses.  We need a botanical geneticist
historian on this list!

Allison
allilyn at juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA
Kingdom of Aethelmearc

Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 16:27:39 -0400
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: Fw: Re: HERB - Fw: Re: SC - Celery

- --------- Forwarded message ----------
From: RAISYA at aol.com
To: herbalist at Ansteorra.ORG
Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 15:09:24 EDT
Subject: Re: HERB - Fw: Re: SC - Celery

Christianna,

You posted something from the cooks' list by an Allison from Aethelmarc:

>>I suspect that celery may have been seen mostly as a medicinal herb,
>>rather than as a vegetable,

I don't agree.  As early as the 9th century, Strabo writes:

        "Celery is now held cheap in our gardens and many think
Taste is its only merit.  But it has its virtues
And offers quick help in many remedies." ("XX.  Celery",  HORTULUS)

He finds it necessary to point out that it has medicinal uses in addition to
the taste, which I think is strong evidence it was eaten for its flavor.  It
was also included in the vegetable garden of the St. Gall plan, not the
medicinal garden.

Raisya

Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 09:18:43 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: Re: Fw: Re: HERB - Fw: Re: SC - Celery

troy at asan.com writes:
<< Yes, there is evidence suggesting it was eaten, somewhere in Europe, in
 period, and even that it was eaten for its culinary, rather than its
 medicinal, virtues. >>

We should also remember that if it was eaten as a vegetable , it is most
likely that only the leaves were used as such and not the stalks. Recipes
from al-Baghdadi use only the leaves and then as a flavoring only. The date
is 1226 C.E. IIRC, al-Andalus also uses the leaves in cooking.

For those who might want to get somewhat of an idea of what celery tasted
most likely tasted like, go to your local plant dealer and buy some celery
plants. Grow it under adverse conditions (somewhat dry, in full sun with no
added fertilizers. It grows thin stalks with leaves. The flavor is of the
stalks is very stringent and bitter with the leaves being very strongly
flavored and wonderful for use in cooking.

Ras

Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 09:34:08 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: Fw: Re: HERB - Fw: Re: SC - Celery

> > I don't agree.  As early as the 9th century, Strabo writes:
> >
> >         "Celery is now held cheap in our gardens and many think
> > Taste is its only merit.  But it has its virtues
> > And offers quick help in many remedies." ("XX.  Celery",  HORTULUS)
>
> All right, fair enough. This demonstrates that celery _may_ have been
> widely eaten as a food, for its taste alone, rather than for its
> medicinal value, in the particular time and place in which Strabo wrote,
> assuming he was correct.

This one threw me for a little bit.  The most commonly known Strabo is the
author of the Geography, a 1st Century CE text.  This particular author
should be identified as Walahfrid-Strabo, a 9th Century German
ecclesiastic(?).  The text mentioned is Liber de cultura horotorum.

> Yes, there is evidence suggesting it was eaten, somewhere in Europe, in
> period, and even that it was eaten for its culinary, rather than its
> medicinal, virtues. If, however, it was really widely eaten throughout
> Europe throughout period, it is likely there would be more surviving
> recipes for it than there appear to be.

Celery is mentioned in the inventory of one of Charlemagne's villas,
although its precise use is unstated.  Walahfrid-Strabo is close to
Charlemagne temporally and both are in the Holy Roman Empire.  This suggests
that celery may have been widely used in the Holy Roman Empire.  The scope
of this use can not be determined from the evidence.

The opinion that if celery was widely eaten throughout Europe through out
period there should be more surviving recipes does not necessarily hold
water.  Studies have estimated from other sources that the average
consumption of bread in the Later Middle Ages was approximately 2 1/2 pounds
per person per day, yet from 1000 years of European sources, there are only
four recipes for bread and two of those are in preparation of another dish.

To prove the case in either direction really takes more references than we
have found.

> It's kinda ironic, BTW, that an early proponent of celery, famous for
> its effects, I believe, on the eyesight, should be Strabo, whose name
> basically means "cross-eyed", as with Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, uncle (I
> think) of Pompey the Great. ;  )
>
> G. Tacitus Adamantius

What?   Another Strabo?

Bear

Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 09:39:13 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: Fw: Re: HERB - Fw: Re: SC - Celery

> We should also remember that if it was eaten as a vegetable , it is most
> likely that only the leaves were used as such and not the stalks. Recipes
> from al-Baghdadi use only the leaves and then as a flavoring only. The date
> is 1226 C.E. IIRC, al-Andalus also uses the leaves in cooking.
>
> Ras

It may also be that the type of celery being raised in Europe was celeraic
(Apium graveolens var. rapaceum) from which the root is used.

Bear

Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 23:46:04 -0400
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
Subject: SC - Fw: Re: - Celery - LONG POST

Ok, yes, I have been playing the middle-man here and cross posting to the
Herb List.  I didn't *mean* to cause trouble, really!  But, with this
posting, I think everybody's on the same page here, and there is some
interesting info here.
        Christianna
- --------- Forwarded message ----------
From: RAISYA at aol.com
To: troy at asan.com
Cc: mermayde at juno.com (Christine A Seelye-King)
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:22:44 EDT

G. Tacitus Adamantius,

I'm sorry, I thought Christianna was asking only for her own info, and I
was working on the assumption of existing knowledge on her part.  I'd
have given a more complete response if I'd realized.  So here goes:

(Christianna - please feel free to pass this on to the cooks' list, I'm
not subscribed.  Since his post wasn't cross-posted to the herbalist, this
answer would just confuse things there.)

In the 9th century, Walahfrid Strabo wrote a collection of poems on his
garden called HORTULUS, based on his personal experience.  (I assume
Platina did not raise bears?)  Strabo was very knowledgeable about
gardening and does not include gardening superstition.  He was part of
the Imperial court of Charlemagne's son, Emperor Louis the Pious at
Aachen Germany, and later abbot of Reichenau monastery in Switzerland.  I
think that puts him in the mainstream of the most influential culture in
western Europe of that period.
The St. Gall plan was an early 9th century monastery plan, also within
the Carolingian culture.  Celery appears in Charlemagne's CAPITULARE DE
VILLIS (ca. 800 AD), a list of crops to be grown on imperial estates.

True, even though this is a mainstream culture, it doesn't prove anything
for other times and places, but I don't think these can be dismissed as
an aberration or exception either.  The CAPITULARE had a heavy influence
on those areas of Europe for centuries, and portions of at least 4
different copies of the HORTULUS survive.  I can also point to the
TACUINUM SANITATIS, 14th century Italian, which states:

"Pliny writes of the approval celery has always had when its "stalks are
swimming in broth."  It is very pleasing in condiments:  By itself, it
provides only modest nourishment which, nevertheless, because of its hot
and dry nature, is suited to the winter, no less than to old people and
to those with cold temperaments.  Choose ortolanum, celery you have
carefully grown in the garden and which is also attractive to look at.
Its principal benefit is that it opens the body's obstructions.  Serve
celery with lettuce to prevent it from causing headaches.  The pagans
offered it up as food for the dead"
(from the FOUR SEASONS OF THE HOUSE OF CERRUTI translation).

If you aren't familiar with it, the TACUINUM SANITATIS was pretty well
known and is based on a philosophy of food and health that persisted over
hundreds of years in much of Europe.  Celery is recommended as a
healthful food, but so are dozens of others, much like we might recommend
lots of oranges for the vitamin C.

I'm a gardener, my experience with period cookbooks is mostly searching
for uses of vegetables, fruits and herbs.  If celery was used in soups,
condiments and salads, I believe there are very few written salad recipes

before the Rennaissance, for example.  I had, BTW, understood from some
cooks that cabbage was not limited mostly to the poor in period and was a
common vegetable, correct me if I'm wrong.

Evidence of omission has to be treated cautiously.  For example, I'd
noticed that I had never found a clear period mention of celery by
English gardeners. The post I saw from the cook's list, though, gives me
concrete evidence to the contrary, leaving me with the curious question
of why there aren't growing instructions for a vegetable that's
notoriously tricky to grow.  Another example of the problems of omission,
I've never seen a recipe for skirrets, which was quite common.  But it
was a "poor man's" food, a perennial, multiplying root vegetable.

I appreciate that you qualified your generalization.  And yes, my
statement was pretty brief and generalized, because I misunderstood who I
was answering.  But I feel that the concrete evidence supports that
celery was probably grown and eaten throughout most of the period at
least in northern and central and possibly southern Europe.  My sources
are mainstream rather than obscure exceptions.  If you do have concrete
evidence, not just the evidence of omission, I'd be very glad to see it
so I can correct the information I've been teaching.  I suspect part of
the difficulty is the vague line between food and medicine.  But the
TACUINUM encouraged a healthy lifestyle, ALL period foods were ascribed
health effects, good and bad.
Considering celery primarily medicinal from this philosophy would be like

considering whole wheat bread primarily medicinal because someone eats it
to increase dietary fiber.

I'd love to see what could come out of a joint project, combining the
knowledge, experience and research of cooks, gardeners, and herbalists.
I suspect we all hold "pieces of the puzzle" that the others are looking
for.

BTW, Walahfrid Strabo was "squint-eyed", and he didn't connect celery to
eyesight.

This is the info I can put together quickly, I hope it clears up my rather
brief original post.  I apologize if this is a little formal, but you had
a serious concern based on what sounds like sincere research, and I felt
you deserved a serious explanation of my disagreement.  Anything else,
please attribute to not much sleep because of a sick family member.

Raisya Khorivovna, OL
Shire of the Shadowlands, Ansteorra

Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 17:13:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at mail.browser.net>
Subject: Re: SC - figs

> So do you think that if I use perhaps the black lovage seed instead of 
> celery seed I could use the recipe citing period ingredients?

Um. Celery seed appears to come from wild celery. Wild Celery is Smallage.
Smallage is period. Thus... celery seed was available in period. So you
could use celery seed, sure!

You could use seed from Alexanders but I think celery seed might be easier
to get; I have not seen alexanders seed marketed for food consumption.

Lovage seed could also be used, but Gernot Katzer's spice pages note that
Lovage seed is seldom available commercially, and I don't recall if the
lovage plant I dumped on my mom has ever gone to seed. (Lovage grows SIX
FEET TALL.)

In other words, smallage (wild celery), alexanders (black lovage) and
lovage are all period. I think I have some references for seed from
smallage but right now I can guarantee I won't have time to look for 'em.
Culpeper, who is post period (1653) makes reference to using Lovage seed
in medicine, but he also refers to smallage seed used in medicine. He also
refers to alexander seed, not only in medicine but in 'Alexander Porredg',
ie a food.

What you'll find is that celery seed produces a taste somewhere between
celery and lovage (without the slight soapiness that some people detect
when lovage is used). If you don't have fresh lovage, celery, etc you
could try the seed instead, it's not clear that the seeds were eaten.
 -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at mail.browser.net

Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 22:11:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris Stanifer <jugglethis at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: SC - period celery

- --- "Mark.S Harris" <mark.s.harris at motorola.com> wrote:
> Olwen commented:
> > There is no date for the recipe.  I am relatively certain there was no 
> > celery seed in period but everything else I am pretty sure was.  
> 
> What makes you doubt celery seed was period. They had celery, although
> for a long time it was apparently more a medicinal than a food item.

Well, Homer certainly seemed to believe in the
existence of celery, or "selinon", as the Greeks knew
it, since he mentions it in his "Odessey" around 850
b.c.   Wild celery is native to the Mediterranean
regions, where it used to be called "smallage", and
was used mainly for soups.  The celery we know today
in the U.S. originated in Kalamazoo sometime in the
mid-to-late 1800's, when Dutch farmers arrived to make
use of the "muck fields" around that city.  Celery has
come a long way, but it certainly is period.

Balthazar of Blackmoor

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 12:46:00 -0400
From: "a5foil" <a5foil at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Celery or Celeriac
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> A number of archeological surveys of vegetable traces in middens, etc from
> Jorvik, hedeby and other 9th to 12 c sites list celery as one of the
> vegetables found.  There isn't any note of which part of the plant they are
> finding.  I would like to know or perhaps best guess, which it might be.
>
> Any Ideas?
>
> Maeva
> (in Glymm Mere, An Tir)

At a guess, they're finding seed. Soft plant parts aren't generally
recognizable after 10 centuries!

I checked in Ann Hagen's books on Anglo-Saxon food, and she mentions that
celery was cooked.

In the Plan of St. Gall, it's shown in the herb garden inside the walls. The
discussion indicates that root crops were grown outside the walls, but the
celery is right next to the onions and leeks. Possibly, being frugal, both
stalks and roots were used.

On the other hand, Hagen says that the finds at the Viking sites are likely
to be wild, rather than cultivated, celery. I don't know if wild celery
would have had edible stalks.

Cynara

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 13:40:30 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
	<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Ceery or Celeriac
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Also sprach a5foil:
> At a guess, they're finding seed. Soft plant parts aren't generally
> recognizable after 10 centuries!
>
> I checked in Ann Hagen's books on Anglo-Saxon food, and she mentions  
> that celery was cooked.

I believe it is used as a medicinal herb

> In the Plan of St. Gall, it's shown in the herb garden inside the walls. The
> discussion indicates that root crops were grown outside the walls, but the
> celery is right next to the onions and leeks. Possibly, being frugal, both
> stalks and roots were used.
>
> On the other hand, Hagen says that the finds at the Viking sites are likely
> to be wild, rather than cultivated, celery. I don't know if wild celery
> would have had edible stalks.

The modern Pascal celery, as well as celeriac, appear to be the
result of 19th-century engineering. Wild celery, AFAIK, has much
thinner, more fibrous, and much more strongly-flavored stems, similar
to lovage or smallage. You can still find something similar to
pre-19th-century celery in Asian markets, helpfully labeled "Chinese
celery"...

Adamantius

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 14:13:20 -0400
From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Celery or Celeriac
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> The modern Pascal celery, as well as celeriac, appear to be the
> result of 19th-century engineering. Wild celery, AFAIK, has much
> thinner, more fibrous, and much more strongly-flavored stems, similar
> to lovage or smallage.

Actually, wild celery has stems exactly like smallage, since smallage is
wild celery. Celery seed, by the way, comes from wild celery/smallage.

The entry from the OED on smallage:

  One or other of several varieties of celery orparsley; esp. wild
celery or water parsley, Apium graveolens. Now rare.

   {alpha} c1290 St. Cuthbert 52 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 360 .Nim,. he seide,
.{th}e milk of one kov.., Iuys of smal-Ache do {th}ar~to.. a1387 Sinon.
Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 11 Apium simpiciter,..smale ache. c1400
Lanfranc's Cirurg. 94 Leie on {th}is confeccioun maad of flour of wheete
& hony & ius of smalache. c1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 101 Take
smalache, reed fenel, rewe, verueyne [etc.]. 1545 T. RAYNALDE Byrth
Mankynde 134 The decotion of rosemarye,..alexander, smallach, &c. 1578
LYTE Dodoens 606 Smallache hath shyning leaues of a darke greene colour.
1603 HOLLAND Plutarch 719 Afterwards when these [Isthmian] Games were
accounted, they translated thither..the chaplet of Smallach.

   {beta} 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 711 Hoc apium, smalege. 1530 PALSGR.
271/2 Smallage an herbe, ache. 1562 TURNER Herbal (1568) 40 Smallage
hath suche a strong savor,..that no man can..eat it with hys meate. 1636
W. DENNY in Ann. Dubrensia (1877) 13 Eac three yeeres Victor was with
Smallage crown'd, Whose pendant leaves, his head enshadow'd round. 1685
TEMPLE Ess. Gardens Wks. 1720 I. 178 The Plants he mentions, are the
Apium, which tho' commonly interpreted Parsly, yet comprehends all Sorts
of Smallage whereof Sellery is one. 1712 Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 2 The
large Smallage, which the Gardiners falsly call Macedonian-Parsley. 1785
MARTYN Rousseau's Bot. xvii. (1794) 236 Our wild Smallage,..which is
common by ditches and brooks, cannot be rendered esculnt by culture.
1822-7 GOOD Study Med. (1829) I. 248 The cicuta virosa, or
water-hemlock, the leaves of which have been mistaken for smallage. 1876
Encycl. Brit. V. 290/2 Celery,..a biennial plant..which, in its native
condition, is known in England as smalage.

   attrib. c1550 H. LLOYD Treas. Health giv, Smalladge rote hanged aboute
thy necke doth alay the tooth ache. a1648 DIGBY Closet Opened (1677) 130
Smallage Gruel. 1658 ROWLAND tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1063 Give in Wine
the decoction..of the Cypru Nut, Smallage-seed. 1853 A. SOYER Pantroph.
141 When it is cooked, add pepper and smallage seed.
-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	celery-msg	 of