I have been travelling around, and my interests in medieval cooking is often sparked by differences in languages and foods I come across.

So here are some photos of foods that you might recognise from medieval recipes etc.

I recall that the recipe for the famous Ember day tarts includes "raisins of corinth". I concluded years ago that these must be currants. Well, I found these in the shop the other day:

I can confirm that they are, indeed, currants.

Pastinakes from Bern Markets

Yellow carrots from Bern Markets

Purple stemmed mushrooms... how strange! I just had to indulge. And what else could I make but risotto. You know, every time I make risotto I question why I am doing it. It has to be one of the most tedious dishes to cook in the world... stir stir stir. Then as the time passes, I get into the mood of it and enjoy the drifting contemplation, while inhaling the scent of herbs and mushrooms.

I tried the mushrooms raw first. They have a firm texture, and raw have a mild chloriney taste which I didn't like much. Cooked, sadly they lose their purple colour and go all over beige. The texture remains firm, if somewhat rubbery. The taste is very delicate, and the final risotto is very delicately flavoured. In the end, my decision to add fresh asparagras was a mistake, as it was too strong a flavour compared to the mushrooms. Individually the mushrooms still retain an edge of chlorine. On the whole I don't think I will bother again, but it was definitely worth a try.

Hmmm... interesting.. The photos of the mushroom risotto show the purple as still being there. Perhaps my lighting in the living room wasn't strong enough to see it.

photo of the groovy spices available at the local markets

These beauties are called "Leotin". The flesh of the mushroom itself though, is the softest I have ever felt, like a really soft marshmallow. You can see that they have a wee fluffy ankle warmer, which just adds to the cuteness. For the first time, I decided to peel a mushroom; these have a very tough skin. They also have no scent whatsoever that I could detect.

I decided that frying with butter and shallots was the only way to deal with these. The flavour was very very delicate, and after frying they still had the lightest and softest texture; truly amazing. I am not sure how it would be best to utilise these lovely mushrooms but they are well worth a try, even at $50 a kilo.