Lesson 1: What people ate and when
Seasons and their effect
The seasons of the year helped determine what food was available. While salt was very important for preserving food, and dry ingredients (e.g. grain) could be stored to last the winter fresh greens were hard to come by, as were other such ingredients.
People would have tried to eat well, but in winter especially, dietary deficiencies might become apparent. So when you use a modern cookbook of Medieval recipes, you need to consider that we have access to many more ingredients over longer parts of the year than our medieval counterparts. In designing a menu or understanding Medieval food, you always need to factor in the seasons. Salted boar, for instance, was a winter dish, and fresh peaches were only available in spring or summer. Verjuice (juice of unripe grapes) was at its best in January and February. Pottage (usually a cross between stew and porridge), since it used whatever ingredients were to hand, would taste different in different seasons, but could be eaten all year round.
Wild harvesting was an important source of ingredients, so even where wild harvested ingredients (eggs, small birds, herbs and so on) are not listed in formal cookbooks, we are pretty sure they were used. Many types of fruit and nuts were eaten.
An amazing variety of food was stored ready for later use. Not just grains, salt meat and cheese, but oils, honey, herbs, legumes and fish.
Most preserved food was salted, with the most common salted fish being herring. Good cooks, however, could also candy, dry and jell ingredients for winter storage. Candying mainly used honey and was useful for vegetables as well as fruit. Smoked food was also very important, and generally hung out of the way until it was needed. Different smoked food was preferred in different regions – in the east of France, for instance, sausages were particularly popular.
