Flavors of Ithilien
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2018 6:43 pm
When Sam turns to Smeagol after his successful procurement of both rabbits and cooking-water in Ithilien and requests that he find some sage, thyme, and bay leaves, the collective camp-in-your-kit community heaved a deep sigh of relief and contentment. No, we most assuredly need not resign ourselves to flavorless trail fare.
I always found it interesting that plants so readily accessible in Ithilien would be so easily identifiable by a Hobbit from the Shire, but despite the mountain range, valleys, and mature forests that separate the regions, they are not really all that far apart geographically. For this reason, I find some comfort in knowing that a fairly high percentage of the useable personae one might pursue an impression of could make use of and carry these herbs and spices in particular.
For myself, I have elected a new and fairly compact means of transporting them from one cook fire to the next, and it's something you can do yourself without much needed experience/skill, and no rare or hard-to-acquire parts required. It all begins with a good old patch cannister, available in tin or copper, from Backwoods Tin & Copper. Mine happens to be tin, and only cost $11+shipping. The copper one is $13.50...both reasonable.
For the interior, I took some heavy vegetable tanned leather (Taurinor, this particular material came from the scraps of your portmanteau...heavy stuff). It doesn't have to be off the charts, but stiffness is important.
I cut three strips of the leather that were about an inch wide, and just over the length of the canister. Each of them received a rough bevel cut onto one edge with some scissors, which helps them mesh together. Slowly, then, a spiral of waxed linen thread attaches them and cinches them together tightly, forming the shape seen here. Once I made it all the way down, the piece was very stiff and I was able to trim each of the three strips, little by little, until it fit VERY tightly down into the canister. NO glue required; it's pretty hard to pull out now.
You can see here that the stitches look a bit long, but that's so they clear the thickness of the beveled piece on the other side. They're pulled very tight, and the whole thing had nearly no flexibility.
This one happens to fit nicely alongside a small tin full of pipe weed inside a linen drawstring bag...all of which fits inside my boiler. Just don't go without a bag, or you'll scratch your tin-lining.
Happy eating.
I always found it interesting that plants so readily accessible in Ithilien would be so easily identifiable by a Hobbit from the Shire, but despite the mountain range, valleys, and mature forests that separate the regions, they are not really all that far apart geographically. For this reason, I find some comfort in knowing that a fairly high percentage of the useable personae one might pursue an impression of could make use of and carry these herbs and spices in particular.
For myself, I have elected a new and fairly compact means of transporting them from one cook fire to the next, and it's something you can do yourself without much needed experience/skill, and no rare or hard-to-acquire parts required. It all begins with a good old patch cannister, available in tin or copper, from Backwoods Tin & Copper. Mine happens to be tin, and only cost $11+shipping. The copper one is $13.50...both reasonable.
For the interior, I took some heavy vegetable tanned leather (Taurinor, this particular material came from the scraps of your portmanteau...heavy stuff). It doesn't have to be off the charts, but stiffness is important.
I cut three strips of the leather that were about an inch wide, and just over the length of the canister. Each of them received a rough bevel cut onto one edge with some scissors, which helps them mesh together. Slowly, then, a spiral of waxed linen thread attaches them and cinches them together tightly, forming the shape seen here. Once I made it all the way down, the piece was very stiff and I was able to trim each of the three strips, little by little, until it fit VERY tightly down into the canister. NO glue required; it's pretty hard to pull out now.
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Happy eating.
