From the archive: Candying Ginger

Candying Ginger

Sayyeda Samia al-Kaslaania

Julia May Copyright 2007

Ginger has been known since ancient times for its use as a culinary spice and medicinal herb. It has been cultivated for so long that it no longer propagates from seed, and has been found in so many places that its region of origin is unknown. Typically called ginger root, it’s actually the tubers of the ginger plant, zingiber officinale. In the late Roman Empire it was one of the cheapest spices available, a pound of it costing only 3 days wages for the average worker.[i]

Ginger is identified modernly as a pumpkin pie spice to most US American pallets. Those with a more adventurous gastronomy will recognize the much more spicy appearance of ginger in Thai cooking, and as a pickled accompaniment to sushi. It is a hot spice, sometimes compared to the capsaicin of hot peppers, however, gingerols, the natural compound that makes ginger spicy has a similar structure to capsaicin but functions differently in the body.[ii]

For centuries, cultures have considered ginger a natural remedy for gastrointestinal disorders and general pain.[iii] Modern studies have borne this out as the gingerols compound acts as a natural pain reliever (COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitor).[iv] Studies have also found that ginger acts as an anti-nausea, better than commercial travel products.[v]

In grocery stores, candied ginger can go for $3 per ounce! Making candied or crystallized ginger at home is easy, not very messy and provides enough to share with friends. Ginger “root” can be found in the produce section of many grocery stores. Select one or two “hands” of ginger with golden papery skin that is plump, smooth and glossy. Avoid wrinkled or dessicated hands. The candying process takes a few days, but is low maintenance.

1. Remove and discard any dried exposed ends of the hand.

2. Wash, then peel the ginger with a vegetable peeler, breaking off the fingers as necessary to facility peeling. (Avoid touching the eyes and other sensitive body parts before a thorough hand washing.)

3. Slice across the grain to create pieces a little less than a ¼” thick. Cut up all the useable bits of fingers in the same manner.

4. Select a pot with a lid about twice the volume of your ginger and place all of the sliced ginger inside. Add enough water to cover and about half as much sugar or honey (different sugars and single source honeys produce different flavors). Stir to dissolve the sweetener.

5. Heat, uncovered, until it boils, stirring frequently.

6. Allow to boil for 3-5 minutes, cover and remove from the heat. 

7. Once it cools, or overnight, repeat steps 5 and 6 three to four more times, adding water as necessary to keep it from burning. Do this until the pieces become translucent, letting the water level get a little lower as the ginger pieces get closer to translucent. Let cool enough to handle.

8. Place wire racks over wax paper. Put sugar (any variety, but the grains should be the size of table sugar) in a bowl. Pick out the individual pieces of ginger from the syrup, wiping off the excess on the side of the pot. Dredge them in the sugar and let dry on the wire racks over night or longer. Package in glass jars or plastic containers. It last for a few weeks.

9. Reserve the remaining syrup for another use. Suggestions include: Slathering on hot biscuits, making ginger ale, adding to pear cordial, or drizzling on ice cream.

Remember to warn the uninitiated-- who often think of ginger as that pumpkin pie spice-- of the intense heat of ginger. You might also try candying galangal, a cousin to ginger and fellow popular period spice in the Mediterranean. Enjoy!

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[i] Dalby, Andrew. Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices. U of California Press: Berkley. 2000.

[ii] Kingsley, Danny. Ginger has painkilling properties: research. Internet website accessed 2/27/07. http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_433324.htm

[iii] Keville, Kathy. Herbs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Freedman/Fairfax: New York. 1994.

[iv] Kingsley.

[v] Keville.

From the archive: Rethinking Cinnamon

Rethinking Cinnamon

Sayyeda Samia al-Kaslaania

Julia May Copyright 2007, revised 2010

The word cinnamon recalls memories of Grandma's baking, holiday treats and Cinnabon at the malls. It is a powerful word for evoking memories today, it is also a powerful word in trade during the period of SCA study. Yet, somewhere along the way society has replaced the flavor of cinnamon with the flavor of cassia- while continuing to call it by the evocative name of “cinnamon”.

A distinction between them has been noted since ancient times, when cooks and physicians would admonish the use of “true” cinnamon (also called Ceylon cinnamon) in order to get the proper balance in a dish or remedy. Not surprisingly, cinnamon is dry and hot in humeral theory, best suited to use in January and February according to one Byzantine text.[i] By the eleventh century, cassia was included in perfume recipes.[ii] Both kinds of cinnamon were pricey. Stories would abound of the dangers in collecting cinnamon-- thereby explaining the costliness of the spice. Phoenix nests were reportedly made of it, and had to be watched daily in case shuffling in the nest would cause some of the precious spice to fall to the ground below. Other sources of cinnamon were said to be culled from trees in terrible swamps where giant bats would protect it.[iii] Nero is said to have burned a year’s worth of cinnamon at the death of his wife, so noted because of the exorbitant cost. 

True cinnamon, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, is grown in Sri Lanka (once called "Ceylon") today, though is probably native to India. Cassia, C. Cassia, is also from the bark of an Indian tree. Both have used since ancient times. Centuries later Columbus found the source of what is today know as Mexican cinnamon. A fellow Spaniard, Dr. Chanca, wrote of the white cinnamon, Canella winterana, also stripped from the bark of a tree.[iv] The difference in flavor is striking. While each is clearly “cinnamon” to a modern pallet the Ceylon is richer and less pungent, whereas the cassia is bolder and spicier in flavor. Mexican cinnamon is the flavor in Red Hot button candies.

The modern cook, while shopping at a traditional grocer, will be hard pressed to find anything other than cassia. Labels simply say “cinnamon”, as do ingredient lists. However, in specialty stores (such as Penzys) and on the Internet (Auntie Arwen's) one can find selections of four or more different cinnamon choices including Saigon cinnamon, or Cinnamomum loureirii, used in modern perfume making; Ceylon cinnamon and two to three kinds of cassia.

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[i] Dalby, Andrew. Flavors of Byzantium. Prospect Books: Devon, England. 2003.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Faas, Patrick. Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome. Palgrave: New York. 2003.

[iv] Dalby, Andrew. Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices. U of California Press: Berkley. 2000.

From the archive: Fatimid Embroidered Milhafa

Fatimid-style Embroidered Milhafa

Julia May, aka: Sayyeda Samia al-Kaslaania
Copyright 2004, revised 2010.

Within the SCA we have the opportunity to research social history in such a way that the study of history comes to life in our hands. Our stated area of focus is pre-Seventeenth Century Europe, concentrating on the Western High Middle Ages[1]. Through casual research we encounter European countries bordering the Mediterranean and discover it is not so far a leap across that great waterway to any area that was controlled by the Byzantine and Islamic empires. It is within this greater context that the following research is presented.

Wraps in the Medieval Mediterranean were as ubiquitous as the women who wore them. To the Roman woman it was her palla, protecting her from the elements; to the Byzantine woman it was the paludamentium, protecting her embellished clothing from excessive wear; and to the Muslim woman is was the izar, protecting her from unwanted attention.

In recreating the dress of a Fatimid woman from Cairo in the eleventh century, I have made a specific izar called a milhafa. It is approximately 1-½ yards wide by 3-½ yards long and is described at being worn any number of way. The image below, while being later than the Fatimid period, gives one and idea of ways the garment might have been worn. A garment of this fine quality might be perfumed[2].

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Arabe 5847, fol. 125, Maqâma 40 : Abû Zayd devant le cadi

Defining which Arabian wrap a person is looking at is no small undertaking. The large rectangular wrap-garments carried many names. They are defined by the size and adornment, fabric weight, and weave—and also by the way the garment is worn and who is wearing it[3]. On top of that many names for these wraps were used synonymously. 

A unique fabric exclusively used for a milhafa was called jallaya. The term loosely translates to “shiny” or “glossy” and it was a highly prized fabric according to the Geniza bridal trousseau records. Interestingly, jallaya fabric was only used for the milhafa according to those records[4]. It is from this description that I selected the fabric of my milhafa; it is a 90% linen, 10% metal blend and nearly sheer with a distinct glossy sheen.

The borders adorning the short ends of the garment (called mutarraf) depict a repeating motif of paired stylized peacocks dancing under the tree of life[5]. Each pair of peacocks is worked in a solid color of turquoise, red, green, or purple, using silk-ivory yarn and worked in both split stitch and satin stitch. The seams are flat felled and the hems are finished with a running catch stitch. The borders are applied with a modified slip stitch. The linen used for the borders is orange shot with red.

Samia's embroidery of peacocks

Birds were a popular motif among Islamic decoration, with the word “mutayyar” meaning “birded,” indicating that a fabric is adorned with birds[6]. The particular design for the mutarraf on this milhafa comes from an extant Fatimid textile fragment held in the Asmolean Museum[7]. Though Marianne Ellis in her 2001 publication indicated that this peacock fragment on linen ground was probably for furnishing she does not elaborate. Whereas Stillman notes that—although there is nearly identical overlap in the types of fabrics used for furnishing and clothing among the Geniza—linen appears rarely in the furnishing category and quite often among the clothing[8].

Extant image of peacocks.  Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, 1993.248

 

Variations from the extant peacock design occur in part because I chose to narrow the

complexity of the design (seen when comparing the tree of life between the extant fragment, above, and my milhafa, far above) and to lend better identification of the creatures as peacocks—by making the “eye” of the feather more pronounced and adding the feather crowns to each peacock[9]. The embroidery on the extant fragment is executed in silk. My choice for silk-ivory (a 50/50 blend of silk and wool) is simply because of easy availability of the product.

Mediterranean textile historians are blessed with the deserts of Egypt and the desiccated treasures held therein. Utilizing discoveries of the extant textiles used in the period under study in conjunction with written records and illuminated images, we can produce reasonable facsimiles of everyday items from period. As an armchair historian, I believe that I have brought together sufficient research and scholarship to showcase this milhafa as a garment for a Fatimid woman.

Samia and her partner.

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[1] http://www.sca.org/sca-intro.html 1 December 2004.

[2] Stillman, Yedida K., Norman A. Stillman, ed. Arab Dress from the Dawn of Islam to Modern times: A Short History.  Boston: Brill, 2003, p 46.

[3] Stillman, Yedida K. Female Attire of Medieval Egypt: According to the Trousseau Lists and Cognate Material from the Cairo Geniza. PhD Dissertation. Unpublished: University of Chicago, 1972.

[4] Stillman, Yedida K. “New Data on Islamic Textiles from the Geniza.” David Waines, ed., Patterns of Everyday Life. (Series: The Formation of the Classical Islamic World, 10). Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Variorum, 2002.

[5] Stillman, 2002, pp. 205. “If a piece of cloth for a shawl or cloak had a single central colour with a different colour at each edge, it was called mutarraf--that is, like a horse whose head and tail are black and whose body is white, or vice versa.”

[6] Stillman, 1972, p. 42.

[7] Ellis, Marianne. Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt. University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum: University of Oxford, 2001. Image 4, p. 15.

[8] Stillman, 1997, pp 38-39.

[9] The feather crown can be seen on peacocks on a silk woven fragment contemporary with the extant peacocks here. (Patricia Baker, Islamic Textiles. 1995, p 42).

Northwatch Article: Winter in Fatimid Cairo

Middle East Winter: An image of Cairo during the Middle Ages
Julia May (aka Samia al-Kaslaania)
October 2009

Cairo was a bustling metropolitan area during the Fatimid Caliphate (969-1171), with merchants arriving from all over the Mediterranean to trade goods, shop the market, and share news. As anywhere in the Middle Ages, urban living shifted with the seasons as much as rural life.

In the home, extra furniture such as curtains and rugs would come out of storage for the winter season. These would join the everyday couches (in this case a matched set of cushions and pillows without a wooden frame), draperies, carpets, and low tables. Additional multipurpose cushions in the home would be stacked next to the door, ready to serve as seating in the evening.

Evenings during the shorter winter days were illuminated by linseed oil, wax, or—for the wealthier families— the preferred olive oil [1]. Family time might be spent studying religious texts as it was a mark of pride for people of all ages to be able to quote from them; and such continuing education was also regarded as an act of devotion [2].

When they weren’t studying, children could be playing indoors with puppets, dolls, or board games such as chess and backgammon [3]. Women might be doing handicrafts which could be sold in the market, or perhaps mending a “Byzantine” bed cover, prized among the home’s possessions [4]. Adult men would be gathered in a different part of the house when hosting guests. They might play card games, talk philosophy, or discuss the thriving trade in the city.

When preparing for bed, cushions, mats, and blankets would be collected into the interior rooms. There were no designated “bedrooms” in urban Cairo homes during the Middle Ages, instead family members would spread out during the hot summer months to the windows and patios, and draw together during the chilly winter months. By the end of November most of the family would be sleeping in the smaller, inner rooms to conserve heat as it can at times get cold enough to put a transparent sheet of ice on water at night.

Rising in the morning, family members would stack their bedding neatly in the corner. Cushions used for seating would return to the main gathering rooms to be stacked next to the door. Men would prepare for working at their store in the market, and mothers would dress children neatly for school at the local mosque, church, or synagogue. Men would then accompany the children and attend morning prayers before starting their day. And so the work day would begin.

[1]Goitein, S.D. A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. Berkley: Univ of California Press, 1967.
[2]Goitein, S.D. Vol. 2., 1971.
[3]Lindsey, James E. Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
[4]Goitein, Vol. 1. Byzantine made, or made in the Byzantine style, bedcovers were an expensive item and listed in many Fatimid-era trousseaux.

Northwatch Article:Some examples of Fatimid Veiling

Some examples of Middle Eastern Veiling
copyright Julia May
(aka Samia al-Kaslaania)
November 2009

Clothing in the Middle Eastern city of Cairo was often a display of conspicuous consumption during the 11th to 13th Centuries. One of the greatest sources for displaying wealth was the headwear. In Medieval Egypt fully half of the clothing an individual owned was headwear, whether the owner was Jewish, Christian or Muslim [1]. While many of the head coverings found in period source can be defined through contemporary comparison or backwards-tracing etymology, several are still a mystery to modern researchers.

One of the core items for both men and women was the ma’raqa. This close fitting cap was the foundation for dressing the head. As the root word “sweat” indicates, it was used to protect the more expensive pieces from body soil*. Women would typically have two or three of them in their trousseau. The ma’raqa is the minimum that a man would appear in public wearing, and usually only if he were quite poor.

A basic and typical women’s head covering is the ‘isâba. This mini-turban is a cloth that is wound around the head to conceal the hair*. It is distinguished from the mi’jar, an elegant garment equivalent to the ‘imama (men’s turban) *. Gilded and/or brightly colored mi’jar appear to have been popular.

A popular shawl or scarf used to cover the head was a radda, which is often listed as matched to an ensemble. This veil might be adorned with borders, fringe, gilding, or embroidery*. The long and narrow cloth tied around the head to hold such veils in place is the taqnî’a*. The taqnî’a was often tied so that a loop poked out above the knot.

A mystery clothing item is the kuwâra. It means “beehive,” and the rare occurrences of this word in period documents only suggest that it is an item of headwear*. Another is the mukallaf. This expensive piece of women’s headgear came in a vast array of colors from “mandrake” to “pearl-colored”, which is distinguished from “white-grey,” to “apricot” and “pomegranate” *.

Only extreme circumstances, such as mourning the death of a loved one, would drive an urban woman out of her home with her hair exposed. Men would not be considered fully dressed until wearing a turban. Such modesty was a sign of respect for one’s faith and one’s family. It is difficult in our modern day to image placing such importance on clothing for the head, but it is an essential key to understanding the culture under study.

[1] All reference in this theme are to Stillman, Yedida K. Female Attire of Medieval Egypt: According to the Trousseau Lists and Cognate Material from the Cairo Geniza. PhD Dissertation. Unpublished: University of Chicago, 1972.

A&S 50: Food item seven: Spinach Tart Recipe

Spinach Tart, based on a 14th Century recipe
Redaction by Julia May, aka Samia al-Kaslaania
August 2009

After a few years of playing with ingredients, reading other’s redactions, and finding a few translations, the following recipe has emerged from my kitchen and has been approved by the Northshield Equestrians. Young beet leaves are difficult to find so I, like many others redacting this recipe, substitute spinach primarily. You could also use carrot greens, celery or lovage greens, or young sorrel, each with a different flavor. Dried chervil can be found at Pensey’s, and imparts an almost nutty flavor. Grains of Paradise, or Paradise Seed, can often be found at home brewing supply stores.

In the Middle Ages, this was probably a spring recipe eaten outside of fast days. It uses the first of the fresh greens the earth provides, along with milk (in the form of cheese and butter), which people relied on heavily during the period between end of winter and start of spring growth, and eggs which were an important protein staple of Medieval diets. --Samia

 Samia’s redaction (for a 9” pie pan)

6.5 oz spinach, washed and chopped
½ c parsley, washed and chopped
¼ c chervil, washed and chopped (or 1 T. dried)
6 eggs
11 oz, combined of two cheeses: Swiss and Romano-Asiago blend was very received
Powder fine to taste (below) (More than a teaspoon and less than a tablespoon)
Single pie crust

Preheat oven to 400 F. Pre-cook pie crust in pie pan for 10 minutes. Mix greens, cheese and everything else in a bowl. Reduce heat to 350 F, add filling to crust and bake about 40 minutes, or until the center is set.

Tip: leave the pie pan on the oven rack and add the filling in place. This avoid both handling the hot pan and sloshing the soupy mix.

Note: Buying a "bunch" of fresh spinach from the grocery store typically yields about 14 oz of spinach, so I usually just make a double batch for two tarts.

Source: Le Ménagier de Paris, J. Hinson (Trans.).
TO MAKE A TART, take four handfuls of beet-leaves, two handfuls of parsley, one handful of chervil, a bit of turnip-top and two handfuls of spinach, and clean them and wash them in cold water, then chop very small: then grate two kinds of cheese, that is one mild and one medium, and then put eggs with it, yolk and white, and grate them in with the cheese; then put the herbs in the mortar and grind them up together, and also add to that some powdered spices.

Source: Le Ménagier de Paris, J. Hinson (Trans.).
FINE POWDER of spices. Take an ounce and a drachma of white ginger, a quarter-ounce of hand-picked cinnamon, half a quarter-ounce each of grains[of Paradise] and cloves, and a quarter-ounce of rock sugar, and grind to powder.

Le Menagier De Paris is a medieval guidebook from 1393 on a woman's proper behavior in marriage and running a household. (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_M%C3%A9n

agier_de_Paris/. Accessed August 31, 2009.)

A&S 50: Material Culture eleven: Hand stitched Fatimid-inspired Dress

Hand stitched Medieval Middle Eastern inspired dress
All rights reserved. Copyright Julia May. 
September 2009, revised August 2016


Description
This dress recreation is intended for a man or woman of the bourgeoisie class in Cairo during the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171 C.E.). Judging from the descriptions of garments discussed the Cairo Geniza, I identify this garment as maqta’(1). The maqta’ is described as a common garment like the thawb, but available in a wider variety of prices and occasionally made in fabrics of more than one fiber.

Fabric Choice
The fabric I have used is composed of linen and silk, with one fiber shrinking more than the other post-production causing the seersucker effect. Seersuckers are known from at least the fourteenth century, the word deriving from a Persian root(2). Striped fabrics are known to have been used frequently in Middle Eastern clothing for both men and women(3). Further, records indicate that maqta’ were made in cotton-linen blends, silk alone and linen alone.

photo credit: Elashava bas Riva

Pattern Layout
The pattern I chose to use is copied from several extant sources(4). Although none of the examples included here date as early as the Fatimid period, we know that weaving technology and vanity advanced far beyond the typical early Coptic T-shaped tunic in that time. Further, tailored clothing was recorded as a mark of an urban-dweller in the Fatimid period, and fitted garments are listed among items in Fatimid trousseaux (5). We also know that this pattern is strikingly similar to contemporary European clothing. One could speculate this is either from a confluence of ideas, or the active Mediterranean-European trade system.

The striking difference between this and the typical European garment is the lack of fitted sleeves—rarely in the illuminations or extant pieces do garments for men or women have sleeves fitted to the wrist. In fact, there is some pictorial evidence for sleeves to grow wider as wealth increased and the need for personal manual labor decreased (personal servants were more common at higher income levels).

The slit neckline is typical of Mediterranean garments for several hundred years before, and at least one hundred years after the Fatimid period. The floor-reaching length of the garment, though rarely depicted, is discussed in trousseaux of the Fatimid periods as being reserved for more expensive garments(6). It is also the preference of the tall owner, ill at ease with seemingly too-short garments.

Construction
The dress is finished by hand with flat felled seams to control for unraveling fabric. There is extant evidence of this finishing technique in the Mamluk period(7). I used a locking running stitch, which is speedy and plain.

Completing the look
Both men and women would wear this garment over another in polite, city-dwelling society. It would itself be partially or fully covered by a wrap or coat when worn out of the home. It could be belted or not, adorned with pins or not. A necklace might be worn with matching earrings by a woman, or she might choose her matched set of wide bangle bracelets (one for each wrist). I have not discovered if a maqta’ is in the category of garment that would have a pair of coordinating shoes.

A head covering would be worn by both men and women, regardless of which of Peoples of the Book they identified with(8). For men, a garment of this quality would demand a turban (seldom do urban-dwelling men wear only a cap). For women, a variety of head coverings would be appropriate(9).


(1) Stillman, Yedida. _Female Attire of Medieval Egypt_. Dissertation, unpublished. 1972.
(2) Given that mine was flat until washing, I’m willing to believe that similar textured fabrics have been around as long as mixed woven-fiber fabrics.
(3) Stillman, Yedida K. “Textiles and Patterns Come to Life Through the Cairo Geniza”. Salim, Muhammad ‘Abbas Muhammad, et. al. _Riggisberger Berichte 5: Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Probleme_. Aberg-Stiftung: Riggisberg, 1997.; Andalusia, Hadith Bayad wa-Riyad, 12th Century, Vatican, Arabo 362. Image).
(4) Ellis, Marianne. _Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt_. Ashmolean Museum: University of Oxford, 2001. ; Syria, Materia Medica of Dioscurides, 1229, Two students & frontispiece. Iraq or Syria; Alphonso X's Book of Games (In Spanish: Libro de los Juegos" or "Libros del Axedrez, Dados et Tablas) commissioned between 1251 and 1282 A.D. by Alphonso X, King of Leon and Castile.; Baghdad, _Maqamat al-Hariri_, Late Eleventh to early Twelfth Centuries. Image.
(5) Stillman, 1972.
(6) Goitein, S.D. _A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza_, Vol. 1. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
(7) Ellis.
(8) Though the majority of the Fatimid Caliphate was known to welcome peacefully their Jewish and Christian neighbors (once they paid the appropriate tax), Islamic culture prevailed over all in dress and outdoor customs.
(9) Records in the Cairo Geniza show that fully half of the garments in each trousseau were head coverings.