What is a "Sweetmeat"?

[Togath]

I've heard the term use din books.. but it occurred to me earlier that I have no idea what it actually means.
I'd thought it meant ham or jerky.. until I came across a book which made it sound closer to a toffee? :smallconfused:

[Rawhide]

I've heard the term use din books.. but it occurred to me earlier that I have no idea what it actually means.
I'd thought it meant ham or jerky.. until I came across a book which made it sound closer to a toffee? :smallconfused:

Let me guess, somebody stole your sweetroll?


I had never heard the term before, so I Googled it and found that it has nothing to do with meat at all (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-sweetmeats.htm).

[Serpentine]

Contrast with sweetbreads, which is the thymus gland or pancreas of an animal when used as food.

[Ravens_cry]

Contrast with sweetbreads, which is the thymus gland or pancreas of an animal when used as food.
I think some other organ meats are also sometimes referred to as sweetbreads.

[Ebon_Drake]

sweet·meat
n.
A sweet delicacy, such as a piece of candy or crystallized fruit.

My first assumption was that it was another term for offal, but googling suggests it is used to mean a type of candy. I'd still be very careful about ordering some in a restaurant though.

[Serpentine]

My first assumption was that it was another term for offalAs I mentioned, that's sweetbreads.

[Enzeru]

It's people, kinda like soylent green but not as processed.

In all seriousness, I'm not sure if the details are appropriate to share or not... but what the hey.

Some cultures cook children and then sell the meat.

[Ebon_Drake]

As I mentioned, that's sweetbreads.

Gah, I fail at thread reading. I shouldn't post when I'm hung over and sleepy :smallfrown:.

[GnomeFighter]

It's people, kinda like soylent green but not as processed.

In all seriousness, I'm not sure if the details are appropriate to share or not... but what the hey.

Some cultures cook children and then sell the meat.

Where on earth did you get that idea from?

Sweetmeats are sweets of various kinds. Normaly middle easten like Turkish delight and baklava.

People do confuse them with sweetbreads which are animal glands of various types.

[Eloel]

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Sweetmeat
And then there's this

[BWR]

Actually, it has a lot to do with meat. 'Meat', in its older senses, merely meant 'food'. The Germanic variants of 'flesh' were used to describe edible muscle. Modern relatives of 'meat' are the Scandinavian 'mat', which means 'food'.

Gradually, sitting down to eat 'meat' became synonymous with eating 'flesh', probably due to French influence.

Similarly, 'bread' was not originally the product now known as bread, but more akin to "piece of food", being related to the word for 'break'.

The older term for bread was 'hlaf' or 'loaf', which in turn gave rise to 'hlafweard' and 'hlafdige'.
Hlaford/hlafweard is the one who guards the loaves and becmame 'lord'
Hlafdige is the one who kneeds the bread, and became 'lady'.

[GnomeFighter]

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Sweetmeat
And then there's this

Which just goes to show why you should never trust wikimedia...

[Salbazier]

Contrast with sweetbreads, which is the thymus gland or pancreas of an animal when used as food.

Why that thing called sweetbread anyway?

[BWR]

Part of the answer is in my earlier post. The sweet part is probably because such parts of the body had a flavor and texture that resembled sweetness more than other tastes.

[Flame of Anor]

Actually, it has a lot to do with meat. 'Meat', in its older senses, merely meant 'food'. The Germanic variants of 'flesh' were used to describe edible muscle. Modern relatives of 'meat' are the Scandinavian 'mat', which means 'food'.

Gradually, sitting down to eat 'meat' became synonymous with eating 'flesh', probably due to French influence.

Similarly, 'bread' was not originally the product now known as bread, but more akin to "piece of food", being related to the word for 'break'.

The older term for bread was 'hlaf' or 'loaf', which in turn gave rise to 'hlafweard' and 'hlafdige'.
Hlaford/hlafweard is the one who guards the loaves and becmame 'lord'
Hlafdige is the one who kneeds the bread, and became 'lady'.

Yes, this is correct.

[thubby]

and of course, mince meat is fruit
you had one job, english :smallannoyed:

[Avilan the Grey]

I know I am twisted, but the first thing I thought of when I heard the term in this thread was "What does the big bad wolf call Red Riding Hood?"

Anyway, yes BWR is correct. Weirdly enough in Scandinavia itself (or at least in Swedish) the terms Lord and Lady never caught on; instead we used what was to become "Husbonde" which was also to become the root for the English "Husband". Later during the middle ages we imported Herr och Frau and Swedified them as "Herr and Fru" instead from medieval German when we needed the nobles to call themselves something "cooler" than Jarl or Husbonde.

(Another word that is the same but different is whatever the root was for Sjö (Swedish for Lake) and Sea, which probably just meant "rather large body of water" from the beginning).

In Swedish there are a few old sayings that goes way back to when bread meant "piece of food", like "Bryta bröd i goda vänners lag" (breaking bread with old friends and having a good time, which just means "they were eating a meal together and having a good time").

Anyway, I just love old stuff, so hereby I end this tangent.

[BWR]

"Breaking bread" is an English term too.