Medieval Morsels: A Gardener’s Guide to Chaucer-Era Edibles
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
October 5, 2017
On this day, dear garden enthusiasts and history aficionados, a most intriguing tome graced the shelves of our literary world. Liza Picard's Chaucer's People: Everyday Lives in Medieval England burst forth like a spring blossom, offering a tantalizing glimpse into the culinary gardens and larders of our medieval ancestors.
One cannot help but marvel at the exotic delights that found their way to English soil in those distant times. Picture, if you will, the journey of a fig from sun-drenched Malta to the eager palates of our island nation. Or consider the dates and raisins, those sweet jewels of Damascus, traversing land and sea to grace the tables of our forebears.
But let us not overlook the sweetener that reigned supreme in aristocratic kitchens.
As Picard reveals:
Sugar from Sicily was preferable to honey as a sweetener in aristocratic kitchens, since it could be confected into those impressive 'subtleties'.
One can almost hear the delighted gasps of dinner guests as these sugar sculptures graced the medieval table, a far cry from the humble honey pot in the cottage garden.
Yet, for all the imported luxuries, there was a charming simplicity to the consumption of local produce.
Picard notes:
Anything grown in England was sold only in its natural season.
Oh, how we modern gardeners might learn from this adherence to nature's rhythms!
And speaking of nature's bounty, prepare yourselves for a revelation that may shock our contemporary sensibilities:
Green peas were eaten raw and delicious – no one thought of cooking them.
One can almost taste the sweet burst of a fresh pea pod, plucked mere moments ago from the vine. Perhaps we've been doing it wrong all these centuries, my dear readers.
But what of the common man's sustenance? For that, we turn to Henry Daniel, a contemporary of Chaucer himself, tending his garden in Stepney. Picard enlightens us:
He recommended turnips, borage, mallows and orach ("or-rich") for pottage, the kind of food the ordinary man depended on.
One can almost picture the humble plot, a riot of leaves and roots, sustaining body and soul through the turning seasons.
And let us not forget the versatility of certain staples:
Chestnuts could be roasted, and parsnip, that 'wholesome food', could be both baked and fried.
As we tend our modern gardens, let us take a moment to appreciate the rich tapestry of culinary history that stretches behind us.
From the exotic imports gracing noble tables to the humble vegetables sustaining the masses, each plant tells a story of human ingenuity, trade, and the eternal quest for nourishment and delight.
Perhaps, as you plan your next season's planting, you might consider adding a touch of medieval flair to your beds. After all, what was old may yet become new again in the ever-turning cycle of gardening fashion.
