A summer dish for a winter night: citron-pomegranate salad

Citron-pomegranate salad is a simple and refreshing dish very suitable for a medieval dinner in summer, but also suitable for winter with regards to its high vitamin C content. We make this dish regularly and even our children like it, as it is not as sour as initially anticipated! The original recipe comes from the German cookbook 'Ein new Kochbuch' from 1581 by Max Rumpolt who was head cook to the Elector of Mainz, Daniel Brendel of Homburg. This version is taken from the book 'Herrenspeis und Bauernspeis - Rezepte aus der mitteralterlichen Burgküche' by Peter Lutz. He recommends the dish to be served between other dishes, as it naturally makes room for the next, like a sorbet.

Nimm Zitronen / Hack sie klein / mache es mit schönem lauterem Zucker / der klein gestossen ist / ab / bestreue es mit Granatapfelkernen / die fein rot sind / so ist es auch zierlich und gut.

Ingredients for 4 persons

• 2 Pomegranates
• 3 Citrons
• Some finely powdered cane sugar (alternatively use powder sugar)

Take out the arils (seeds) from the pomegranate and remove the white membranes that sometimes come along. Peel the citrons completely with a sharp knife, so no white is visible. Then, fillet the segments, i.e. remove the skin from each segment with help from a knife. Cut the filleted segments into smaller parts and mix with the pomegranate seeds. Citron juice that is spilled during the filleting process can also be added to the salad.

Break some sugar from a sugar loaf and grind if very fine in a mortar. Add  a little sugar to the salad, so that sweet and sour are in balance.

Filleting the citron segments really does improve taste and mouth feeling, 

although we did not do it completely here. It still tastes good.