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o8TY wrote:
I am looking for ancient Greek or Roman references to the blanching
of
plants whilst still growing.

I know this was done for celery and asparagus but have yet to find
quotations.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Do you know what words they used for "blanch"? Then we can look for
clues in the dictionaries which give author references.

--
Mike.


I have not found an exact match yet and searching for blanching has proved
futile.

An earlier respondent * (humanities classics) gave

* The Greek for white is "leukos" as in leukaemia. So I did an entry in
* Perseus and came up with this list.
* http://tinyurl.com/3t4xn

However, I am already dreading having to go through this list.

A more refined list was found by searching the Perseus Digital Library for
the Latin pallesco (ie make pale as in blanching) as used by Pliny,

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin...3A1999.04.0059
%3Aentry%3D%2333483

but none of these were used by the Greeks wrt blanching plants.

* I particularly like "leukophyllos" (white-leaved) and "leukathidzo" (to be
* white). You might hit gold by following the links on some of these.

It struck me as odd that Theophrastus described so many cultivated
varieties of salad plants as white (leuko-), including Heraclea - a species
of white acanthus (leuko akantha), but he never said whether they were
natural or manufactured, nor discussed the process of blanching.