Category Archives: Food

Wine improvements

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Ruth

During the Middle Ages, Europe’s winemaking went from super primitive to setting the world’s standards. How did this happen? One way to answer is, well, that was Europe’s genius. Something about the close-set rivers and mountains kept the land broken … Continue reading →

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Wine’s beginnings in Europe

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Ruth

The Romans planted vineyards in southern France and in the Rhine valley; viticulture spread with both majority Christian and minority Jewish settlement, since both religions required wine in their services and rituals. During the Medieval Warm Period, grapes could grow … Continue reading →

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Would you like water with your meal, sir?

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Ruth

The highly spiced, meaty dishes at a feast made diners thirsty. What did they drink? First, what didn’t they drink? Water. Water was universally shunned as a beverage, for a number of reasons. First, cold water was considered unhealthy by … Continue reading →

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Medieval desserts

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Ruth

Medieval sweets weren’t much by our standards. Fruit was the dessert of non-aristocrats; later medieval letters record a father sending his son a box of pears from home to his boarding school in town. Although pies were generally meat dishes, … Continue reading →

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Medieval meatless soups

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Ruth

Three medieval meatless soups, drawn from “Fabulous Feasts,” by Madeleine Cosman Ms. Cosman’s book has recipe measurements and additional instructions, here edited out for brevity. 1. Sorrelye: sorrel soup with figs and dates Simmer 1 lb of chopped sorrel with … Continue reading →

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Tromp L’oeil cuisine

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Ruth

Artifice was art in a high-class medieval kitchen. Tromp l’oeil, if not la palate. Aristocratic feasts, such as for Christmas, a wedding, or a knighting, were the peak time for all such tricks. Feasts served food in courses, but the … Continue reading →

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Medieval balanced diet

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ruth

Forget the food groups or pyramid. Balanced diet, in those times, meant using food to balance the body’s proportion of hot, cold, wet and dry. The stomach was viewed as a cooking pot. In order to process what’s put into … Continue reading →

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Sauces

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Ruth

Sauces formed their own part of a town’s food commerce. Medieval cooks would be shocked at seeing how we think it’s okay to serve a roast turkey or roast beef plain, with a mere broth-sauce on the side. Meat and … Continue reading →

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Medieval cookbooks

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Ruth

Books with food instructions were produced for and by professional cooks who used ingredients that peasants and townsfolk had never seen. Training and skill were assumed, just as the old Betty Crocker books assumed you knew how to separate an … Continue reading →

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Daily bread and daily spices

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Ruth

We round out the daily diet of medieval townsfolk with commercial bread and the spices that they had for their brewet, frumenty, porridge and soup. In larger towns and cities, commercial bakers took their craft seriously. Of course, the finest … Continue reading →

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