|
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. |
 |
|
*NEW*
1/12th Scale Miniature
Oak Pillory
Handmade in the UK - Fantastic
Detail - you will not be disappointed! |
 |
|
*NEW*
1/12th Scale Miniature
Oak Stocks with bench
Handmade in the UK - Fantastic
Detail - you will not be disappointed! |
 |
|
*NEW*
1/12th Scale
Tapestry Frame with canvas
Handmade in the UK - Fantastic
Detail - you will not be disappointed! |
|
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. |
|
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. |
 |
|
Wooden Butter Churn |
|
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Gingerbread - this was originally made of a simple mixture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. |
 |
|
Tudor Style Sugar Cone
|
 |
|
Single Pear in a rich spiced
honey syrup |
 |
|
Gilded Marchpan Cake |
 |
|
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. |
 |
|
Oak Effect filled apple Barrels |
 |
|
Tudor Style wooden apple barrel.
Someone's already eaten one! Signed by the artist.
|
|
Bread was a major
part of the diet of all classes and was very different from the
bread we eat now. |
 |
|
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. |
 |
|
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.
|
 |
|
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. |
 |
|
Large wooden bowl of shelled
almonds |
 |
|
Wooden Barrel of 'Water' |
 |
|
Cauldron of 'Water' |
 |
|
Oak Effect barrels - open one end |
 |
|
Set of Tudor Iron Andirons
(Set 1)
These would look lovely
in front of the open kitchen fire.
Handmade in the US |
 |
|
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 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
