TUDor Food

Oak Tree Dolls House

MINIATURES UK

TUDOR FOOD & ACCESSORIES

In The staple diet consisted of meat and bread and was much sweeter than today's food.
The Tudors consumed quite an unhealthy diet especially the rich people as vegetables were not popular; the rich people thought vegetables were suitable for poor people to eat. A great deal of salt was used in preserving the huge amount of meat they ate.
There was no way to keep food fresh; it had to be eaten in season or pickled. Meat from animals slaughtered in the autumn was salted or pickled for eating in the winter. To disguise the taste sauces and spices were added.

MEAT for the wealthy families - Rich people had a wide variety of meat and game including what they hunted:- deer, boar, rabbit, quail, bustard, curlew, plover, cormorant, badger, hedgehog, heron, crane, pheasant, woodcock, partridge, blackbirds etc. They also had meat from the animals they reared on their land:- beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, pork, rabbit, chicken, duck, swan, peacock, goose, pigeon, doves etc.
	sold out £10.00	Goose
	SOLD	Tudor Style Butchers block with cleaver (1)
	£12.00	Tudor Style Butchers block with cleaver (2)
	£6.00	Tudor Style Butchers Chopping Board
MEAT for the poorer people:- Poorer people still had meat, but not the wide variety of the rich. They would eat chickens which they could rear themselves, beef from the local market when they had the money, and rabbits which they could catch for themselves. They were also encouraged to shoot rooks and crows because these birds destroyed crops and damaged the thatch on cottages and barns. Farm labourers were fed sometimes on "coloppes" - which were slices of bacon. They might also have meat they poached from the local landowners.
	£8.00	Cauldron of Herby Stew
Milk, butter and Eggs - Rich people did not eat much of these foods as they were thought of as peasant food. They did provide a rich source of nourishment for poorer families; the women would spend time milking, churning butter and collecting eggs and feeding their hens. Milk, butter and eggs were also a useful source of income for the yeoman farmer and were sold at markets.
	sold £3.00	Basket of Eggs
	£3.00	Wooden Butter Churn
	sold £6.00	White mouse on Stilton
	sold £6.00	Grey mouse on Stilton
	sold £5.50	Stilton on Pewter plate with knife
Sugar became popular; it came in large square or cone-shaped lumps, weighing about 1.5kg, and had to be grated or pounded before use. Gingerbread - this was originally made of a simple mixture of fresh crumbs, honey and spices. The Tudors loved colour in there food - this would have been coloured with saunders - a natural red food colouring. Marchpane - is the Tudor form f marzipan. Cooks turned it into highly decorative designs, gilded with gold leaf and coloured.
	£6.50	Tudor Style Sugar Cone
	£3.00	Single Pear in a rich spiced honey syrup
	sold £5.00	3 Pears on Oval Pewter Plate
	sold £5.00	Gilded Marchpan Cake
	Sold £5.00	Gingerbread
Fruit - There were many more varieties of apples, pears and cherries grown in England during the Tudor times than now. Other popular fruits included damsons, plums, strawberries and gooseberries. Oranges or any fruit imported from abroad was expensive and therefore only eaten by the upper classes. Apricots were imported from Portugal and tomatoes came from Mexico- the farmer's wife would have heard of them they would be too expensive for her budget.
	Large £14.00 Medium £10.00	Oak Effect filled apple Barrels
	£10.00	Tudor Style wooden apple barrel. Someone's already eaten one! Signed by the artist.
	sold £5.00	Basket of Rosy Apples
	£5.00	Basket of Conference Pears
	£5.00	Basket of Russet Apples
	£5.00	Basket of Oranges
	Sold - more soon £10.00	Pear Barrel
Bread was a major part of the diet of all classes and was very different from the bread we eat now.
	£5.00	Carters bread - This was dark brown or black bread. This was the bread that the poorest people ate. It was made from a mixture of rye and wheat. On a lovely pewter plate.
	£5.00	Manchet - This was a very fine white bread made from wheat flour with a little bran and whet germ added. It was creamy-yellow in colour and eaten by the nobility. On a lovely new pewter plate.
Vegetables Rich people didn't eat a lot of vegetables, they preferred high protein diets. Yeoman farmers' wives grew vegetables, herbs and flowers for eating in their gardens. The variety of vegetables grown included leeks, garlic, peas, parsnips, skirrets (like parsnips), collards and kale (types of cabbage), lentils, turnips, broad beans, onions, spinach, carrots, beets, artichokes, radishes, asparagus, Good King Henry (a summer savoury vegetable like spinach with a peppery flavour) and Alexander, which tastes similar to celery. Vegetables were not eaten to accompany meat as nowadays. They might be used by the farmer's wife to make pottage which consisted of peas, milk, egg yolks, breadcrumbs and parsley which would be flavoured with saffron and ginger. Potatoes were not known in England in early Tudor times. The Spanish discovered them in Peru and then John Hawkins brought them back from the West Indies in 1563. It was not until 1585 that the expedition sent to North America by Sir Walter Raleigh returned with potatoes, which he then grew on his land in Ireland.
	Sold more soon £10.00	Onion Barrel One onion has just started to sprout
	£3.00	Large wooden bowl of herbs
Almonds were a very common ingredient in Tudor kitchens, although their us in dishes required much preparation. Apart from the sweet flavour, their thickening properties were much appreciated.
	£3.00	Large wooden bowl of shelled almonds

Picture to follow - bowl as above	sold £5.00	Large wooden bowl of eggs
	. £4.00	Wooden Barrel of 'Water'
	sold £4.00	Cauldron of 'Water'
	£3.50	Meat Clever
	Large £4.50 Medium £3.50 Small £2.50	Oak Effect barrels - open one end
	Sold £3.50	Earthenware Jug
	£6.00	Set of Tudor Iron Andirons (Set 1) These would look lovely in front of the open kitchen fire. Handmade in the US
	£6.00	Set of Tudor Iron Andirons (Set 2) These would look lovely in front of the open kitchen fire. Handmade in the US
FISH It was important to encourage people to eat fish as this would conserve stocks of meat especially at times of the year when little fresh meat was available. Fresh fish from the sea could not be taken far inland. Fish was either salted or found in rivers and specially constructed fishponds (called stewponds) which landowners and monasteries had on their properties. Some poorer people would risk poaching fish. The sea fish for eating included cod, haddock, ling, conger, and plaice. The fresh water fish included eels, pike, perch, trout, sturgeon, roach, and salmon. Cockles, mussels and oysters also appeared in recipe books at the end of this period and oysters were available in large quantities in London