A Highlight on Medieval Spices

Spices served many functions in the Middle Ages; they were not simply there to make food taste good. Along with taste, spices were used in remedies and recipes to balance one’s humours and to demonstrate one’s wealth (the ability to buy great quantities of such luxurious goods). They were not used to disguise the scent of rotting meat; someone who could afford spices could afford to eat unspoiled meat. Spices were imported from far-off and exotic lands, having to travel great distances to reach North-Western Europe. 

Despite their luxurious nature, by the later Middle Ages, the middle and upper classes had become accustomed to eating spiced foods. By the 15th century, the availability of spices increased, and while volatile, prices decreased (Belich, 2022). These factors meant that there was greater accessibility of spices to a greater number of people.

Some of the spices commonly consumed in the Late Middle Ages would have been very familiar to us; others are less recognizable. Here’s a list and some brief descriptions of some of the spices we will be using in our project; hopefully, a few of these spices will be new to you!

Cloves

Cloves were used as a flavouring as well as a food preservative in Medieval times. This spice is strong and pungent; it is still commonly used in cooking today (“Clove,” 2023). In terms of humoural theory, cloves are defined as hot and dry (Amar & Lev, 2016).

Image from Michlitch Spokane Spice

https://www.spokanespice.com/itemdetail.php?id=540&secid=60

Galingale 

This spice is from the ginger family but has a sweet/spicy taste that cannot be substituted with ginger. This spice is now commonly referred to as galangal and is still used today in Southeast Asian cuisine. In terms of humoral theory, galingale is hot and dry (Amar & Lev, 2016)

Image from Simply Recipes

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/what-is-galangal-5209585

Grains of Paradise

Grains of Paradise was a common flavouring agent used in Medieval cooking; this spice is also from the ginger family but tastes like a citrusy black pepper. This spice is also called melegueta pepper; this spice has mostly fallen out of popularity and is hard to come by (Freedman, 2008). In terms of humoural theory, grains of paradise are hot and moist (“Grains of Paradise,” 2023).

Image from Ekaterra

https://ekaterra.com/products/alligator-pepper

Saffron

This spice was mainly used in the Middle Ages to give colour to food rather than to add any sort of taste. It comes from the stigma of a certain flower; it is still used but is hand-cultivated and very expensive (“Saffron,” 2023).  

Image from Sativus.com

https://www.sativus.com/en/saffron/

Sandalwood

Sandalwood was used in the Middle Ages as a food colouring rather than a flavouring; the taste of this wood is bitter. Sandalwood is no longer commonly used in cooking, as it tastes bitter, and some variations are poisonous. Humourally, sandalwood is dry (Jharwal, 2023). Medieval food recreators occasionally leave sandalwood out of recipes because of the modern abundance of food colourings that do not taste bitter, but we have chosen to leave it in because the bitterness added will be authentic to the original recipe. 

Image from Ebay

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/165980361645

References

Amar, Z., & Lev, E. (2016). Arabian Drugs in Medieval Mediterranean Medicine. Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748697823 

Belich, J. (2022). 4 Expansive Trades. In The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe (pp. 106-122). Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1515/9780691222875-009

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, October 19). Clove. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/plant/clove 

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, October 9). Saffron. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/saffron 

Das, G., Patra, J. K., Gonçalves, S., Romano, A., Gutiérrez-Grijalva, E. P., Heredia, J. B., Talukdar, A. D., Shome, S., & Shin, H.-S. (2020). Galangal, the multipotent super spices: A comprehensive review. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 101, 50–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2020.04.032 

Freedman, P. H. (2008). The Medieval Taste for Spices. Historically Speaking, 9(7), 2–5. https://doi.org/10.1353/hsp.2008.0024 

Jharwal, A. (2023, September). Red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus): Benefits & uses for skin. Medium. https://medium.com/@arunjharwal/red-sandalwood-pterocarpus-santalinus-benefits-uses-for-skin-9adec44092f9 Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, October). Grains of Paradise. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grains_of_paradise#cite_note-7

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, October). Grains of Paradise. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grains_of_paradise#cite_note-7

Our Ingredients!

We have started our search for our supplies! Here are the recipes we will be following and pictures of the ingredients that we have at our houses. Why don’t you look into your own cupboards to see if you can start one of the recipes! The links are attached to each one below.

Almond Milk (15th c.) – Ingredients;
– 2 cups blanched almonds
– 3 cups hot water 

Barley Water (14th c.) – Ingredients 
– 1/4 cup pearl barley
– 2 Tbsp. sugar
– 2 cups boiling water
– Peel and juice from 1 lemon

Audrey has honey, sugar, cinnamon, salt, barley, and allspice (cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove mix) at home! 

Apple muse (15th c.)  Ingredients 
– 2 apples
– 1 cup almond milk
– 4 Tbsp. honey
– 1 cup (2 slices) bread crumbs
– 1 tsp. sandalwood
– pinch of saffron
– dash of salt


Anjuli has red wine, cinnamon (whole and ground), saffron, cloves, honey, whole nutmeg, and blanched almonds at home!

 Turnips (14th c.)  — Ingredients 
– 3-4 turnips 
– 6-8 cups of beef broth
– Butter 
– Powder Douce;
– 3 Tbsp. ginger
– 2 Tbsp. sugar
– 1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon
– 1 tsp. cloves
– 1 tsp. Nutmeg

Cinnamon brewet (14th c.) — Ingredients 
– 4 lbs. Beef Roast
– 2 cups Almonds, ground
– 2 tsp. Cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp. Ginger
– 1/2 tsp. Cloves
– 2-4 cups Red Wine
– 2-3 cups Beef stock


Nick has apples, white and rye flour, cloves, honey, ginger, nutmeg, butter,  sugar, and cinnamon at home. He will also be making beef broth from scratch!

Sourdough bread — Ingredients 
– 1 ½ cup sourdough
– 1 cup rye flour (our substitute for whole wheat flour)
– 2 ¼ cup warm water
– 5 ¾ cup white flour
– 1 T salt


Nick started the sourdough this week… but more on that in a future blog!

Now all we need to buy is sandalwood, a lemon, beef, and 4 turnips at the store. Aside from the sandalwood, we will purchase the remaining products closer to our cooking day!

Project Proposal

As mentioned in our first blog, we will be following several 14th- to 15th-century French Medieval recipes from the website ‘Medieval Cookery’ ! More specifically, we will be making almond milk, barley water, bread, turnip salad, cinnamon brewet (a beef dish), and apple muse all from scratch!

Apple Muse was a dessert eaten during the 15th century in England, France, and Naples. Medieval Cookery notes that it has a oatmeal texture and a hint of cherry flavour. Image from A Dollop of History: https://historydollop.com/2017/04/17/apple-muse/

With this project, we hope to:

  • Gain insight into the culinary realities of peasants and royals alike… that being said, did you know that most peasant women and men were illiterate (Vaughan, 2020)? As a result, the original transcription of the recipes will come from the scribes of the wealthy.
  • Expand our knowledge on how religion, the balancing of humours, seasonality, and social class influenced the making and eating of food. Can you think of how your eating habits is influenced by modern culture?

Almonds, Amigdale dulces, from The Four Seasons, The House of Cerruti (Met Museum). Did you know that almond milk was used as a substitute to milk or cream during ‘fish days’, which was when the church placed restrictions on what could be eaten?

So what kinds of questions should we ask ourselves to explore these themes through experiencial learning? Here is what we have so far (but more will probably come to us doing the actual cooking!)

  1. What were the smells, taste, and texture of medieval French dishes, and how do they differ from modern-day Western recipes?
  2. What was the workload of medieval cooking and how do we feel as newbies in the kitchen ? (could this related to children learning to cook…)
  3. How does it feel to finally sit down and taste our creations together? (could this relate to families eating together…)

Barley water recipes were very often written in medieval medical texts. What do you think are the health benefits of this drink? Getty Images

Overall, the enjoyment of food is a universal cultural experience, and we hope to join this cultural experience by bringing Medieval French food into our modern context! We will take plenty of photos and written notes during the cooking and feast to share with you all! But for now, look out for the next blog on our ingredients!!

Reference:

Vaughan, T. A. (2020). Women, Food, and Diet in the Middle Ages: Balancing the Humours. Amsterdam University Press.

Ceramic Distillation Equipment

Ahoy!

I just finished reading an interesting article about the possible origins of distillation, so I thought I would share. In Ancient Distillation and Experimental Archaeology about the Prehistoric Apparatuses of Tepe Gawra, Maria Rosaria Belgiorno attempts to confirm M. Levey’s 1950 theory about the use of Late Chalcolithic, the transitional period in between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, or the Copper Age. The Chalcolithic spanned a period of the late 4th to the 3rd Millenium BC. This idea theorized that the strangely shaped ceramics pots that were found in Tepe Gawra, where Mesopotamia once stood, were possibly used for the distillation of perfumes, essential oils, medicine, and alcohol.

A recreation of the alchemical paraphernalia from different layers/eras that were recovered from the site (Figure 1.), using local clay and basic techniques so as to recreate the fabrication processes as accurately as possible, were made using the basic principles of similar but more modern equipment used in Iran (Figure 2.) to fill in the gaps left in the archeological record from the missing pieces.

Figure 1: Recreation of Ceramic Distillation Equipment at Work

Figure 2. Distillation Equipment Used in Iran

               Additionally, since Levey’s formulation of his hypothesis in the 1950s, similar pots have been found at multiple other sites. His theory, if confirmed, would also explain the rich findings of burial goods in a resource poor area.

All in all an exciting experiment that yields some interesting results, proving once again that pot sherds, which were once tossed aside as useless debris by most, can yield surprising cultural processes of a time long past.

Read it here: ExArch Distillation Experiment

Medieval Bone Flutes

Hey there!

This week I read a cool article from the ExArch experimental archaeology archives called ‘A Singing Bone from the Mätäjärvi (‘Rotten Lake’) Quarter of Medieval Turku, Finland: Experimental Reconstructions and Contemporary Musical Exploration’ by Riitta Ranio (et al.) that was published in November of 2021. This article describes a recreation of a medieval (sheep or goat) bone flute that was dound in Finland. What I found interesting about this article is that it focuses on a crudely made flute that would have (likely) been used and created by someone who was not an expert in this craft. It’s easy for researchers to only choose to recreate the best of the best, but there is so much value to be found in works that are less polished as well. This bone was probably made in someones free time (for fun?), rather than as or related to their profession. 

After remaking the flute, a professional flute player spent around a year regularly playing this flute to try to figure out how it would have been played and how the original would have sounded (sound clip included). Thats a lot of time and effort to put in after the recreation has been finished, and shows true dedication on the parts of the researchers (and flutist!). This article really makes a point of displaying that a recreation is not the end point of an experience/experiment, sometimes its just the beginning. 

Figure 1. The original bone flute found in Finland

Figure 2. The recreations (the upper one cracked and was unusable, leaving only the lower in tact)

Read the article here: https://exarch.net/ark:/88735/10604

Medieval Bronze Cauldrons

This week, I read a really interesting article from the ExArc journal called ‘Killing the Cauldron: Experimental Research on Dented Bronze Cauldrons from the (post)Medieval Period’ by Vincent van Vilsteren.

Vincent van Vilsteren and his cauldrons

For his experiment, he dropped bronze cauldrons on various materials — wooden plank, soft brick, a boulder of quartzite sandstone, iron axeblade, and the back of an iron ax — to compare the resulting damage with those on Medieval vessels. Due to the energy and precision required to create dents and cracks during his experiment, he concluded that the unearthed vessels were used as a form of ritual mutilation (a common practice for other objects such as swords and saddles). He provides the following supporting evidence for this practice (which I found very interesting!)

  • Damaged cauldrons could still be recycled and melted down to make new products. Why would people not prioritize reducing costs for future purchases?
  • Cauldrons are hardly ever found in middens. Why did past owners not view them as waste?
  • Cauldrons are often found in water sources, such as moors, rivers, and wells. Perhaps due to another aspect of a ritual?
  • Some cauldrons lacked any evidence of cookware or food residue. Why were they made if not for deliberate deposition? 

Overall, his experiment made me reflect on Medieval bronze cauldrons and their cultural significance outside of the kitchen. 

A Medieval Kitchen: Il Cuoco Segreto Di Papa Pio V (The Private Chef of Pope Pius V), by Bartolomeo Scappi, Venice, 1570.

Read the article here!!

Vincent van Vilsteren. (2021). Killing the Cauldron: Experimental Research on Dented Bronze Cauldrons from the (post)Medieval Period. EXARC Journal, 2021/2.

Hello world!

We are Audrey, Nick, and Anjuli, students of ANTH 361: Medieval Archeology. For our experiential project, we will be cooking a medieval meal to get a taste of the past and a better understanding of medieval foodways. Food plays an intrinsic role in everyday life, such as with religion, medicine, and economics, and we hope to explore these topics in our reflections.

Peasants sharing a simple meal of bread and drink; Livre du roi Modus et de la reine Ratio, 14th century. Wikipedia

More specifically, we will be delving into common French cuisine from the 14th-15th century, and while we won’t be able to accurately replicate a medieval kitchen, we hope to experience its smells, tastes, and culture with our selected dishes. Using recipes from Medieval Cookery, we will be making:

  • Almond milk
  • Barley water
  • Turnips 
  • Bread 
  • Cinnamon brewet (Beef Stew)
  • Apple muse

We are super excited for this project and we hope you are too! Check back on our blogs to follow our journey!