Five Strong Tastes the Tudor Palate Loved.
In the course of studying Tudor recipe books for my new book about the five senses “Woodsmoke and Sage,” I uncovered some particularly strong and sharp tastes. The sixteenth century palate was notoriously sweet, with Elizabeth I’s own blackened teeth as the result of her love of sugar, being aped as a status symbol among her courtiers.
Mostly, though, I found that the dishes that graced the Tudor table were a mixture of milky and sharp tastes, using spices to enliven what could otherwise be quite bland fare. One of the most common ingredients was the versatile almond, either as a milk which was used to replace dairy products on fast days or as a powder, in puddings, stews and soups as a thickening ingredient. This taste was universal across the classes, whether the almonds were ground into creations covered in gold leaf, or added in just the slightest pinch in the monastic cell or labourer's cottage. Along with the warm tones of the more costly cinnamon, saffron and mustard, the Tudors also enjoyed the kick of vinegar and bitter herbs, mixed with eggs or baked with chicken.
Taken from contemporary recipe (receipt) books and trade directories, here
are five unusual strong tastes favoured by the Tudors:
Aniseed
First recorded as an ingredient in 1398, aniseed is a member of the hemlock family, favoured for its
pungent seeds that might be added to bread or pies. Native to the Levant, it
was introduced and cultivated in Europe, being also renowned for its medicinal
qualities. It was particularly famed as a treatment for digestive disorders;
for instance, as John Gerard wrote in his 1597 herbal, it 'wasteth and
consumeth winde, and is good against belchings and stirreth up bodily lust: it
staye the laske, and also the white flux in women.’ Aniseed was also made into
comfits and cordials, often with peppermint, and as the popular aniseed water.
Later, when chocolate and chilli arrived from the New World, they were combined
with aniseed as a cure for flatulence and diarrhoea. Its seeds were also used
as a perfuming agent, being so strong that they were thought to repel lice and
other pests.
Green ginger
Green ginger was the rhizome of the Asian ginger plant, harvested before it was fully ripe, young and immature. Thus, its greenness was not in reference to colour, but to its youth. First recorded in English use in 1463, it is unlikely to have successfully made the long sea journey from Asia, so it probably arrived in England most often in the form of preserved ginger. Given as gifts among the wealthy, pots of green ginger became a status symbol and were valued for their warming health benefits. Beyond the reach of most pockets, one pound of the herb cost as much as a whole sheep.
Nettle
Nettles were a home-grown
commodity for the Tudors, who feared their sting less than they valued their
culinary potential. Its seed was categorised with the potent fenugreek and was listed as an
ingredient in a 1539 remedy as provoking urine and being a remedy
against the bite of a mad dog. It was also believed to be a successful counter to the poison of hemlock and
nightshade. The bitter tang of nettles were added as a vegetable to pottage and
stews, and the large leaves were sometimes used to wrap new cheese, much in the style of Greek dolmades. Nettle
seeds were infused to create cold nettle water, for washing and as a medicine, but also as a hot liquid, the
forerunner of nettle tea.
Oil of spike
The spike referred to in
this rather fearsome-sounding name is actually lavender, or Lavendula spica, or
French lavender. While lavender itself had been used for centuries by the
arrival of the Tudors, the particularly strong oil of spike was first recorded
in 1577. It was considered that the oil was of “so fierce and piercing a
quality, that it is to be cautiously used,” and restricted to just a few drops.
A cheaper version was made by diluting lavender oil with turpentine.
Verjuice
Verjuice, or green juice, was a popular ingredient with the Tudors, first recorded in 1302, and most commonly served with fish. Originally made from the bitter green leaves of sorrel, it was later derived from the unfermented juice pressed from unripe fruit, preserved merely by its high acidity. The most commonly used fruits were young grapes or crab apples, grown locally. Its sharp, clean tones provided contrast to the unseasoned boiled fish and meat and cloyingly milky dishes that sat alongside it on the Tudor table. As the century progressed, verjuice and similarly sharp tastes increasingly replaced the heavy milk and almond flavours, representing a shift in the national palate.
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