A Medieval Grocery

Every year at WW I have a tradition of taking over the kitchen for a night and creating a mediaeval style feast, this year of course is no different. 

My persona is late 14th century French, so I tend to focus on French food culture of the time, and find recipes that are French, English or northern Italian from the 13th-15th centuries.

Recipes of the time were written down for the people who could actually read, so they are a reflection of the privileged, and not the layperson. Most people would have learned to cook by tutelage and intuitively knowing what combinations worked together to create dishes. Because vegetables were such a common everyday staple that most any person could prepare, vegetable recipes were not often included in these recipes, or would simply be called wortes or pot herbs. Here is an excellent article explaining this. Here is an excellent article explaining this.

Le Ménagier de Paris, writes many things for his young wife, indicating they have enough education to read and can clearly afford some of the luxuries of city life. This text indicates that there was a kitchen garden along with many vegetables to be purchased at the market. Showing even the bourgeoisie would have had a diet consisting heavily of vegetables.   

Humoral theory also plays a key role here, most vegetables coming from the ground would be considered dry, hence needing moisture added. Adding oil or sauce to raw vegetables would have been a way to balance the humours of raw vegetables, in addition to boiling or frying. We have enough recipes of various salats surviving to indicate that simple salads dressed with oil, herbs, or sauces were actually quite common, even for the noble table. 

Most medieval people would have had ale, bread, cheese, eggs, and some form of potage as daily staples. Having enough meat, time, and facilities for many separate stand alone courses was a huge status symbol, Grand feasts had a prescribed order of courses, Start with fresh fruits, a lighter vegetable course- salads, savory tarts, a light meat course- fish, chicken, a heavy meat course- beef, venison, pork, followed by cheese course with a digestive, and finally desert. Many of these dishes would be seasoned with expensive imported spices. 

However if we look at the recipes that do exist, along with vegetables available in the era we can come up with a large list of common foods that were used. 

Seasonal produce-

Asparagus

Carrots

Parsnips

Turnips

Rutabaga

Radish 

Beets (leaves mostly, roots were developed post period)

Shard/Spinach/lettuce/greens

Purslane

Dill

Fennel

Cress 

Celeriac

Cabbage

Brussels sprouts 

Cucumbers 

Leeks 

*Onions

*Garlic

Shallots

Scallions 

Ramps

Mushrooms

Truffles 

Capers

Olives

Beans- Fava, Chickpeas, Haricot, Vetch

Peas 

Marrows- summer squash, zucchini 

Gourds/pumpkins (not quite the same varieties as new world ones) 

Rhubarb 

Wild edible greens and seeds

*Garlic and Onions were considered poor man’s food, and several accounts of the nobility recounted how they were a necessary evil. 

Citrus fruits- Oranges, lemons

Berries

Apples 

Pears (cooked)

Plums 

Cherries

Strawberries 

Mulberries

Persimmons

Quince

Figs

Dates 

Grapes

Currents

Melons

Wild fruits

Herbs, fresh or dried- Thyme, basil, lemon balm, mint, rosemary, marjoram, parsley, sage, dill, fennel, tarragon, rue, mustard, sorrel, lovage, chives, hyssop, savory.

Floral seasonings- Rose, lavender, violet, primrose. 

Spices- Mustard seed, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, mace, long pepper, saffron, Gangrel, grains of paradise, black pepper, anise. (often imported) Spice mixes were common- powder fort, powder fine, powder douce.

Meats- 

Chicken

Goose

Duck

Pheasant

Quail/grouse

Pork

Boar 

Lamb

Goat (kid)

Beef

Swan 

Venison 

While most of the above meat was not a daily food source for peasants, if they farmed or hunted their lord’s land (with permission!) they would generally get a portion of their efforts after giving a percentage to the lord. City dwelling presents would have to make do with whatever they could scavenge or afford at market. Other common peasant protein sources could be- poor cuts of meat, sausages, hedgehogs, rabbits, eels, fish, snails, frogs, eggs, green cheeses, beans, peas, in addition to whole grain breads.  

Fish, mussels, eels, crab, scallops- these weren’t considered meats, and could be eaten on holy days such as lent. Salmon and trout being common. 

Pantry staples-

Honey, vinegar, verjuice*, olive oil, lard.

*A juice made from unripe grapes- sweet yet acidic (Sub grape juice mixed with wine vinegar)

Walnuts 

Almonds (almond milk, Mazapan)

Hazelnuts 

Chestnuts

Pinenuts 

Dairy- Fresh milk, Cream, Butter, whey, cheeses.  

Eggs-from all forms of poultry 

Wheat and rye flour- *breads, crackers, pastry crusts, pasta 

Meslin 

Oats for porridge 

Barley for Ale and stews (Northern)

Rice- (Southern- Italy or Spain unless imported)

*Traditional yeast leavened bread was most often purchased directly as they were highly regulated if you lived in town, or one would bring a loaf to a local bakery to be baked since most folks didn’t have a bread oven in their homes. The nobility often would purchase refined wheat breads, whereas peasantry would have more rustic whole grain breads.

Preserved foods-

Various sausages/jerky

Pastry coffins- meats sealed in a salt crust with gelatin gravy

Salted fish and meats

Cheeses

Salt and vinegar pickled vegetables

Jams/jellies/fruit leathers

Ale/wine/cider

Dried beans and peas

Cookbooks to investigate-

Le Viandier de Taillevent

Le Ménagier de Paris

The Forme of Cury- a roll of ancient English Cookery

The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages, Terence Scully

Cooking in Europe 1250-1650, Ken Albala, Lisa Cooperman

The Medieval Cookbook, Maggie Black

A Medieval Kitchen: A social History with Recipes, Hannele Klemettila 

Medieval Cuisine, Food Fare Culinary Collection, Shenanchie O’Toole

21 French Medieval Cookery Recipes + 10 Unknown Facts About Medieval France, Bethany Willson

A Boke of Gode Cookery http://www.godecookery.com/ 

Medieval Cookery https://medievalcookery.com/index.html 

Medieval Recipes https://www.medieval-recipes.com/