[...]... later, peas and beans of all sorts both fresh and dried were eaten on an almost daily basis What a flatulent age it must have been! In the thirteenth century, Bartholomew the Englishman expresses a great dislike of beans, of which as a friar he must have had to eat a large quantity He says that they are damned by Pythagoras and remarks, ‘by oft use the wits are dulled and they cause many dreams’ Bartholomew... it in a large cauldron suspended over a domestic fire And ‘anything’ might even include something like badger In fact, badger was a regular part of the rural diet until protected by law in 1973, and a ham off a big brock would have kept a family going for some time West Country pubs of my childhood had badger hams on the bar rather as a Spanish tapas bar has a jamón ibérico Badger meat tastes rather... price varied wildly according to the state of the harvest In the early 1260s, for example, a quart of wheat cost anywhere between 3s 8d and 8s The baking of bread was taken very seriously, and by the late thirteenth century there was an Assize of Bread which dictated all aspects of commercial bread production The Assize specified how many loaves were to be made from a quarter of grain and how much a baker... baker’s assistant using a board placed over a trough One of the great mysteries about the medieval dining hall to my mind is the use of trenchers of bread at table A trencher was a square of bread, probably two days old, placed in front of each diner Portions of each dish would then be served directly on to it Yet this was an era that had wooden, earthenware and pewter dishes, and we know for a fact... 6d and 10d at this point Much of the meat would inevitably have been salted down, and having eaten Macon, which is mutton ham, I can tell you that salted sheep is not something to rush home for Having said that, I have eaten the fresh meat of a five-year-old blackface sheep – the sort of animal our 22 medieval ancestors would have recognised – and it was very good indeed Cattle were as adaptable as... could charge per loaf It is difficult to get any real accuracy from medieval records, and it’s clear in any case that weights could vary from time to time and place to place (even such factors as the quality of 30 the harvest and the dryness of the grain played a part in this) But the basic aim of the Assize was clear: to try to ensure that there was a strict relationship between the price of wheat and... identified a small wayside flower as a rennet would have known what was edible All the alliums – onions, scallions, garlic and leeks – were certainly eaten on a regular basis, and we know that as early as 1237 a covenant was made between London merchants and those of Nesle, Corbie and Amiens providing free entry into the country for their onions and garlic Although this pact was tied into the supply of woad... joints of meat Don’t believe it Medieval kitchens were designed for pragmatism and efficiency Given the time it takes to carve a large roast, and not forgetting the fact that most meat was salted down as soon as it was killed, it seems highly unlikely that great spits of meat were being eaten by Sheriff of Nottingham types on a daily basis Many cattle, in fact, were killed at a particular time of the year... coming across a rather unpleasant cheese made from skimmed milk which was blued by having an uncleaned horse harness dragged through it This was probably a type of hard cheese familiar to medieval times and certainly the blue did give it an improved flavour, if only marginally Another rather nasty type of cheese, probably only eaten by the very poor, was made from whey and buttermilk Milk was also, of. .. swarm and its reestablishment in a new hive was therefore important for ensuring a constant supply of wax Beeswax was invaluable It was used not only to make candles but also to waterproof cloth, which could then be used to protect comestibles from the damp, rather like a tarpaulin, and as an early form of macintosh for travellers and workers (even today, waxed jackets are typical outdoor countrywear) . powerful impact on the food of this country can be traced through language: the names of the various animals that were eaten were transformed at the moment of death and preparation for the table from. including Clarissa and the Countryman, Clarissa and the Countryman Sally Forth, The Game Cookbook and Potty! She has made several programmes for television about food history, including Clarissa and. complications set in, but last autumn I was able to return to the task. England is unique: a small island with a history of European holdings and foreign empires, of waves of invasions and immigration.