A few years ago, I was fixated on the history of food. I kick myself for not starting this blog then, but regret should be only a word and not an emotion, no?
I was interested in the movement of food, particularly back and forth across the tortuous switchbacks of the mountains of Central Asia. Peaches and grapes were two key foodstuffs that travelled the Silk Route. Those sweet delights continue to be prized fruits. Imagine the perfect peach or grape, the sweet juice hitting your tastebuds, dripping out the corners of your mouth, and then being trapped again by the tip of your tongue as you unconsciously lick your lips.
In the 7th century, the heyday of these trade routes across Asia, these foods would be carefully packed in ice and then put in leaden boxes and transported on the back of a camel. I can imagine the imperial middlemen arriving at the outer edge of China (the Great Wall) to meet the caravanseri with their few THOUSAND camels, with the sands of the Central Asian deserts stuck in their nostrils. These middlemen would then take the fruit to the Chinese court at Xian, all the way imagining, dreaming, thinking about their expensive bouty. And, then finally, the Emperor and his aristocrats, dressed in rich embroidered silk robes, consumed their goods, sliced and arranged on porcelain plates, laughing at the sweetness of their imported fruit--as pricey as jewels.
What were they trading to get these edible luxuries? Porcelain, silks, metalwork, and dried rhubarb. YES, dried rhubarb. Rhubarb, my some accounts is native to much of Asia. A taller variety with yellow stems was commonly exported from China, and sold in apothecary shops throughout Asia as a cure for constipation. The edible rhubarb we use in the West today might have also been traded dried as a food seasoning.
What were they trading to get these edible luxuries? Porcelain, silks, metalwork, and dried rhubarb. YES, dried rhubarb. Rhubarb, my some accounts is native to much of Asia. A taller variety with yellow stems was commonly exported from China, and sold in apothecary shops throughout Asia as a cure for constipation. The edible rhubarb we use in the West today might have also been traded dried as a food seasoning.
So, my first small foray into historical food was dried rhubarb. What resulted was small dried sticks. In my next attempt, I think I will good and strain it and create a sort of rhubarb leather. My husband described them as tasting like salt and vinegar potato chips without the pleasant potato undertaste. Doesn't make you rush out to try to ancient delicacy. But, I still have not seen any recipes for using these sticks, so, just wait.
vegetarian Recipe
