Medieval Cooking Basics - Spice Powders

 Originally Published 11/10/15

Oftentimes when you are attempting to recreate a recipe you are met with ambiguous terms used for flavoring. When I originally published this at the Give it Forth Blogspot site, it was for just two of the commonly referenced powders - sweet powder and strong powder. As I have run across other receipts I have dumped them into this one single post. It is itself, a work in progress.

Powder Douce is a mixture of spices that can be found in medieval cookery. It is my belief that this mixture does not have a specific or exact "recipe" because it may have been largely dependent upon what was available at the time. What I do believe is that the largest proportion of spice in the mixture would have been sugar, followed by either cinnamon or ginger. This is a theory and in no way shape or form should it be quoted as fact!

My mixture relies on a 3:2:1:1/2 ratio of the spices based on my personal preference of being heavy on sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and then mace, nutmeg, cloves, and peppercorns. Sometimes I will grind up cubebs or grains of paradise with the back peppercorns which I use as the basis of another very basic spice blend "Powder Forte", or strong powder.

Powder Douce 1 tbsp. sugar (preferably organic, but refined white works in a pinch) 1 1/2 tsp. each ginger and cinnamon 1 tsp. each nutmeg and mace 1/2 tsp. each cloves and peppercorns Sometimes if I'm feeling especially cheeky, I will add coriander to the mix. Powder Forte differs from Powder Douce in that it is a pepper-based spice mix. The recipe I use has its basis in Robert May's "The accomplisht cook or, The art & mystery of cookery (1684) " Bolonia Sausages recipe. I used these sausages when I cooked the Coronation Feast of Cadogan and AnnMarie September 27, 2014". The recipe is very complete in regards to the ingredients to be used to flavor the sausages: ....then add to it three ounces of whole pepper, two ounces of pepper more grosly cracked or beaten, whole cloves an ounce, nutmegs an ounce finely beaten, salt, spanish, or peter-salt, an ounce of coriander-seed finely beaten, or carraway-seed, cinamon an ounce fine beaten... A dry ounce is approximately equivalent to 2 tbsp. This makes a LOT of powder forte, but I use it in almost daily. Powder Forte 1 tbsp. black peppercorns or, a mix of peppercorns, long pepper, cubebs, and grains of paradise 1 tsp. each clove, nutmeg, coriander, and cinnamon **Salt to taste** Both of these mixes are very versatile, are often called for in period cooking, and can be used in everyday cooking as well. I hope you enjoy it!

Fine Powder of Spices

A set of instructions found in Le Menagier de Paris (ab 1393) for fine spice powder:

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 and cloves, and a quarter-ounce of rock sugar, and grind to powder.

To understand the instructions for fine powder it is first necessary to understand the system of weights and measures that are being used. In this period of history, the pound was based on the "Apothecary Weight" which is 12 ounces, and not the 16 ounces we think of today. This weight system was not standardized and weights varied from region to region. The Apothecary system was based on the concept of the weight of grain. The grain (weighting approximately 0.065 grams or 0.002 ounces) was the earliest and most uniform unit of measure. This measurement varied by region and culture-dependent upon if the weight was the measure of a single grain of barley or a single grain of wheat (1 barley grain weighed approximately 1 1/3 grains of wheat) taken from the middle of the stalk. With the understanding that the weight of a grain varied depending on which grain was being weighed, I offer my best interpretation of what the modern-day US measurement would be. The spice powder instructions that are found in Le Menagier de Paris refer to a drachma. The drachma is the measure of the weight of the Greek drachma which weighed approximately 52 grains or 2 drams. With this information in mind, the instructions for "Fine Powder" can be interpreted thus: Interpreted Recipe

Take an ounce and a drachma of white ginger = 10 drams of white ginger ~ approximately 7 1/2 tsp. or 2 1/2 tablespoons of white ginger a quarter-ounce of hand-picked cinnamon = ~ approximately 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon half a quarter-ounce each of grains and cloves = ~ approximately 3/4 tsp. each grains of paradise and cloves and a quarter-ounce of rock sugar, and grind to powder - ~ approximately 1 1/2 tsp. sugar

Mix together and use as needed

Common Sauce Spices, Amended Rupert de Nola's Libre del Coch (ab 1529) gives instructions for Common Sauce Spices. Amended. Roughly translated from Spanish to English (thank you Google) this set of instructions can be translated to be:

Cinnamon three parts; cloves two parts; one piece ginger; pepper a part/ some dry coriander well ground/ a little saffron be all well ground and sifted.

Interpreted Recipe 1 tbsp. cinnamon 2 tsp. cloves 1 tsp. ginger 1 tsp. pepper 1/2 tsp. dry coriander (ground) Pinch of Saffron

Mix together the ingredients and use as needed. The Duke's Powder. Amended.

Another spice powder found in Libre del Coch De Nola. Roughly translated (again thank you Google) from Spanish to English this set of instructions can be interpreted to be:

Pólvora de duque. Enmendado, translated to English Cinnamon half an ounce, cloves half a quarter, and for the lords do not lie down but only cinnamon and sugar a pound if you want it sharp of flavor and for passions of the stomach throw you and little ginger

Interpreted Recipe Cinnamon half an ounce --1 tbsp. Cloves half a quarter (1/8th of an ounce) --3/4 tsp. Sugar a pound -- (based on the 12 ounce pound) 1 1/2 cups Ginger - a little --1 tbsp. M together and use as needed.

Note: A dry ounce is equal to two tablespoons, or 1/8th of a cup.

Blaunch Poudere My search for the elusive "blaunch poudere" ended when I located a set of instructions in The haven of health Chiefly gathered for the comfort of students, and consequently of all those that have a care of their health, amplified upon five words of Hippocrates, written Epid. 6. Labour, cibus, potio, somnus, Venus. Hereunto is added a preservation from the pestilence, with a short censure of the late sicknes at Oxford. By Thomas Coghan Master of Arts, and Batcheler of Physicke by Thomas Cogan. This book was published in 1636, which puts it into the grey area of period for the SCA. However, Thomas Cogan is documented as having died in 1607. Although I have been unable to locate it, the first edition of The Haven of Health was published either in 1584 or 1586.

CHAP: 126. Of Ginger. GInger is hot in the second degree, and dry in the first. It is the root of a certaine herbe, as Galen writeth. It heateth the stomacke, and helpeth dige∣stion, and is good for the sight. For this experience I have of Ginger, that a penny weight thereof toge∣ther with three penny weight of white sugar both made very small in powder and •earsed through lawne or a fine boulter cloth, and put into the eie, hath with∣in short time worne away a flegme growne over the eie: also with two ounces of sugar, a quarter of an ounce of ginger, & half a quarter of an ounce of Cina∣mon, al beaten smal into powder, you may make a ve∣ry good blanch powder, to strow upon rosted apples, Quinces, or Wardens, or to sauce a hen. But that gin∣ger which is called greene Ginger, or ginger Condite, is better for students: for being well made, if it be ta∣ken in the morning fasting, it comforteth much the stomacke and head, and quickneth remembrance, and is very good for a cough.

Interpreted Recipe 2 ounces of sugar = 4 tbsp. sugar 1/4 ounce of ginger = approximately 1 1/2 tsp. 1/8th ounce cinnamon = approximately 3/4 tsp. This powder creates a very light sandy-colored spice mix which is just a touch lighter than the pólvora de duque or Duke's Powder. I believe if I had used ground cassia cinnamon instead of the regular store-bought cinnamon this powder would have been even lighter. Because of Cogan's reference to this being "a very good blanch powder", I believe this is the "white" powder that is referenced in Harleian MS 279.