The Dark Millennial History of Souse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.28871Keywords:
Souse, pickling, Caribbean, slaveryAbstract
The name for souse, a still popular dish in the Caribbean and composed of pickled pig’s parts, is traced via Old French to Old Low Franconian, the Germanic dialect of the invading Franks, and at a further remove to Proto-Germanic *sultjo- ‘brine’. Always a humble constituent of English diet, souse was an important food-stuff for enslaved Africans in the English colonies of the Caribbean. The American port of Boston is a likely source for the pickled pork packed in casks and filled with apple cider vinegar.
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