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Our title comes from Le 'Registre de Cuisine' de Jean de Bockenheim, where we have found this 1430's recipe for those of low morals....
"How to make an orange omelette. Take eggs and break them, with oranges, as many as you would like; squeeze their juice and add to it the eggs with sugar; then take olive oil or fat, and heat it in the pan and add the eggs. This was for ruffians and brazen harlots."
The author of this interesting recipe was Johannes Bockenheim, who was cook to Pope Martin V. He was always careful to note the social occupation and class of those who ate each recipe. According to the authors of the collection where I found this, it "can be safely tasted without running the risk of moral turpitude". This translation and the original were found in The Medieval Kitchen-Recipes from France and Italy , by Redon, Sabban, and Serventi; Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998; along with a modern recipe version. On a personal note, I found it quite tasty. I hope that says nothing bad about MY morals....but the main thing is that I had always been told that oranges were a modern product in Europe, not period. Some people even told me that oranges originated in the NEW world and migrated to the OLD world later! Yet here was a definite proof to the contrary. I began to wonder how much of what I had been told of oranges and other citrus was in error, and with a little looking, found the following tidbits of information...
We know that the lime existed in Ancient times from Theophrastus, (born 370 BC, a pupil of Plato in Athens) who in his Enquiry into Plants , as translated by Sir Arthur Hort, 1916, says "The lime has both 'male' and 'female' forms, which differ in their general appearance, in that of the wood, and in being respectively fruit bearing and sterile. " According to Food In Antiquity - A Survey of the Diet of Early Peoples by Don and Patricia Brothwell, 1969: "By the fourth century AD Roman frescoes depict lemons growing on trees, but there is no actual written evidence of their successful cultivation." (frescoes from Pompeii.)
The plan of the Carolingian Abbey of St. Gall, according to Art, Culture, and Cuisine - Ancient and Medieval Gastronomy , by Phyllis Pray Bober, 1999; included in it's gardens -
"roses, the bean fasiolo, gladiolus, rosemary, fenugreek, sage, rue, cumin, mint, costmary, lovage, fennel, sisimbria (garden cress), savory, apples, pears, plums, medlars, bay laurels, chestnuts, figs, quinces, peaches, hazels, almonds, mulberries, and walnuts. Also available were turnips, onions, leeks, lentils, and chickpeas. From it's allied brethren at Bobbio in Lombardy, they received lemons, olives, pomegranates and dates. Poppy, carrots and red chard, fava beans and watermelon are included in the plants enjoyed there."
The first notice of the orange I could find was in notes on early distillation:
"It should be noted at this juncture, however, that citrus liqueurs, which were common (oranges having worked their way from the Orient to Spain by the ninth century), were not made from the citrus juice, but from the oils and flavorings extracted from the rind of the fruit generally though percolation. Distillation or percolation are quite suited to extracting the flavors from harder and drier sources, such as many spices, or from skins of certain fruits."
(Hannum, Brandies and Liqueurs of the World , p 186. )
The path by which the oranges 'worked their way from the Orient to Spain' can be found in The Total Bannana by Alex Abella, 1979:
"In the seventh century Muslim armies swept over Africa, the Middle East, and Spain, leaving behind them an easily traced banana trail. A historian who described the rich gardens of Caliph Abd-er-Rahman III in tenth-century Cordoba related that he saw 'the plants of Africa mingle with the leaves of the European plants: the palm, the pistachio, the banana growing and developing alongside...the olive and the orange tree.' "
The orange wasn't the only item transplanted with Muslim culture. It was a general policy of Muslims to transplant any useful plant to all their dominion. According to The Monks of War by Desmond Seward, 1972, in the Jerusalem of the 1120's,
"Nobles wore turbans and shoes with upturned points, and the silks, damasks, muslins, and cottons that were so different from the wool and furs of France.....They ate sugar, rice, lemons, and melons...."
Citrus is not only used for medicine or as a simple fruit to eat. This passage from Liber de coquina ( a 1300's cookbook) demonstrates use of citrus as a de-greasing agent in recipes:
"Chicken with Lemon-Limonia. To make limonia, fry chickens with fat and onions. And crush some skinned almonds, moisten with meat broth, and strain. Cook with the chickens and spices. If you have no almonds, thicken the broth with egg yolks. When the time to serve nears, add the juice of lemons, limes, or bitter oranges."
The citrus of the Mediterranean was not limited to local use. Trade was well developed with Northern Europe: A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat says:
".....with the compromise of 1381, Genoa gradually had to abandon the Near East, and turned towards the Atlantic trade, passing through the straits of Gibraltar. Two great families of mahones, counting among their ranks many Genoese Doges, the Boccanegras and Zaccarias, provided vessels with Spanish Basque crews and plied between Flanders and England, in convoys of ten merchant vessels escorted by galleys carrying cargoes to the amount of 8000 tonnes burden in a single annual voyage. (In the middle of the fourteenth century England had no proper fleet or navy, and foreign merchants - Flemish, Iberian, and Italian - could take advantage of the fact that it had not yet fully understood that it was an island.)"
This shows the marketing of spanish sourced products in northern Europe. It wasn't only for southern Europeans. The general view of the Middle Ages that citrus was frighteningly expensive and unavailable in Northern Europe is shown in error in many places. In Le Ménagier de Paris 1393:
"For chamber-spices [goodies served in the drawing-room or dressing-room JH)], that is to say, candied orange peel, one pound, ten sous. - Candied citron, one pound, twelve sous. - Red anise, one pound, eight sous. - Rose-sugar (white sugar clarified and cooked in rose-water (JP), one pound, ten sous. - White sugared almonds, three pounds, ten sous a pound. - Of hippocras, three quarts, ten sous a quart, and all will be needed."
Note that although honey is used for this recipe for candied orange peels, white rose-sugar and sugared almonds are the same price as candied orange peels, when bought above. So neither sugar nor oranges could have been too expensive. After all, a quart of hippocras is the same price. Imagine spending the price of a bottle of wine for a pound of candy, and you will realize that it was a bit of an extravagance, but hardly beyond reach. The use of honey or almonds, sugar or oranges, wasn't an economy but a flavor choice. Here's the recipe:
"To Make Candied Orange Peel, divide the peel of one orange into five quarters and scrape with a knife to remove the white part inside, then put them to soak in good sweet water for nine days, and change the water every day; then cook them in good water just till boiling, and when this happens, spread them on a cloth and let them get thoroughly dry, then put them in a pot with enough honey to cover them, and boil on a low fire and skim, and when you believe the honey is cooked, (to test if it is cooked, have some water in a bowl, and let drip into this one drop of the honey, and if it spreads, it is not cooked; and if the drop of honey holds together in the water without spreading out, it is cooked;) and then you must remove your orange peel, and make one layer with it, and sprinkle with ginger powder, then another layer, and sprinkle etc., and so on; and leave it a month or more, then eat."
As may be seen from the Christ child holding one in the Simon de Varie Book of Hours pictured at left, the orange was far from unknown in 1455. This book is available for viewing at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California.
According to Food and Feast in Medieval England by P. W. Hammond, 1993, Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, Phoenix Mill, Far Thrupp, Stroud, Goucestershire, England:
"The same ships that carried spices also tended to carry fruit, such as oranges, of which a surprising number were brought to England. These were frequently imported in the tens of thousands per ship, and occasionally as many as a hundred thousand (in March 1480). These oranges were probably always a bitter variety. For customs purposes they were declared at about ten for 1 d. Other exotic fruit, such as pomegranates and lemons, were also imported...." (10 for 1 d. cheap!)
As for the importation of Citrus to the Old World from the New...
A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat gives us this
early note on Columbus and the Old to New World transfer of citrus. We know
to the day that:
"After invading Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Morocco, Spain and Portugal, it (the orange) left Lisbon to discover America with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. He planted his first orange tree in the New World on 22 November 1493, in Haiti, then called Hispaniola."
This is the first orange tree in the New World.
The first French orange tree I could find was in
A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat:
"At Pamplona, Eleanor of Castille grew an orange in a tub so that it could be brought indoors on winter nights. In 1523 the tub and it's contents were first acquired and then lost by the Duke of Bourbon, Constable of France, whose possesions were confiscated by the Queen Mother Louise of Savoy. "
Another French mention is from The Memoirs of Catherine de Medici
(born 1519) by Abbe Brantome, (sixteenth century, born in 1537,
18 years younger than Catherine. He passed away in 1614, but his manuscript
was not published, due to a request in his will, until 1665. He was, however,
an eyewitness to this event, which welcomed the Polish Envoys, later in
the 1500's.)
"This unique ballet lasted for at least an hour, after which the ladies representing, as I have said, the sixteen provinces advanced to the King, the Queen, the King of Poland, Monsieur his brother, the King and Queen of Navarre, and other notables of France and Poland, tendering to each a golden salver as large as the palm of the hand, finely enamelled and engraved, showing the fruits and products peculiar to each province, as for example: In Provence, citrons and oranges ; in Champagne, cereals; in Burgandy, wines; in Guienne, soldiers-certainly a great honor to Guienne!-and so on through the various other provinces."
You will notice the orange in the above painting of Anne of Cleves. In the Tudor and Elizabethan era, oranges were shipped in quantity to England. The quantities involved in the Spanish trade were shown to be large per ship, according to the previous 1400's mention. It could be argued to be limited in number of ships, except that we have evidence to the contrary. The following are excerpted items from: The rates of the custome house: London, 1545
Item..................................................Toll
Lemons the thousande................ vi.s,viii.d
Orenges the thousande................ iii.s,iiii.d
This demonstrates that the trade with Spain extended, within period,
to citrus, in London, in TAXABLE quantity, commonly enough to be written
in the customs lists of the period.
The use of citrus in Elizabethan times was a good source for flavor
and vitamins in sweets and medicines as is demonstrated in many pamphlets
of the period. In The Treasurie of commodious Conceits, & hidden
Secrets. and may be called, The Huswives Closet of healthfull provision.
by I. Par, Imprinted at London by Richard Jones, 1573, we learn how:
"*To make Succade of Peels of Oranges and Lemons.
Chapter. xxxii.
Fyrste take offe your Peeles by quarters and seeth them in fair water from iii. quartes to iii. pynts, then take them out, and put to as much more water, and seethe them lykewyse, and so doe agayne, till the water wherin they are sodden have no bitternesse at all of the peeles, then are they ready. Now prepare a Syrop as ye doe for quinces condict in syrop in the xiiii. chapter before written:seeth them in the Syrope a while, a keep them in a Glasse or Pot.
From Approoved Medicines and Cordiall Receiptes, with the natures,
qualities, and operations of sundry Simples. Very Commodius and expedient
for all that are studious of such knowledge. -Imprinted at
London in Fleete Streete by Thomas Marshe, 1580; we learn to use the citron:
Malum Citrinum: Malum Medicum:
The Pome Citron, or Citrine.
The Rynde of the Pome Citrone is temperate in heate, but dry in the seconde degree. It comforted the Stomacke, and maketh the Breath Sweete. The middle subtance which conteyneth the seede is sharpe in taste, colde and dry in the thyrd degree. The substance which conteyneth the seede is sharpe in taste, colde and dry in the thyrde degree. The substance next barr that towards the Rinde is grosse, and engendereth Fleagme, colde in vertue: the Seede is hoate and drye, and resolutive in the Second degree. The leaves of the tree be dry, and resolutive. The whole fruite drunke wyth Wyne is commended against poyson, and correcteth the corrupt Appetites in Women with Childe. Orenges, and Lymons bee much of the same kynde, and of lyke vertue.
The citrus didn't only come from Spain. In A Pleasant description
of the fortunate Ilandes called the Ilands of CANARIA, with their straunge
fruits and commodities, VERIE DELECTAble to read, to the praise of God
. Composed by the poore Pilgrime. Imprinted at London by Thomas East. 1583:
"This Iland hath singular good wine, especially in the towne of Telde,and sundrie sortes of good frutes,as Batata,Mellons,peares,Ayples,Orenges,Lemmons ,Pomegranads, Figs, Peaches of diverse sortes, and many other fruites: but especially the Plantano which groweth neere brooksides, it is a tree that hath no Timber"
...of the Island of Madeira...
"...great store of divers sortes of fruites, as pears, apples, plummes, wild dates, peaches of diverse sortes, Mellons, Batatas, Oringes, Lemons, pomgranads, Cidrons , Figs, and all manner of garden hearbs."
The medical community wasn't the only group using oranges. In
The Widowes treasure, plentifully furnished with sundry precious and approoved
secretes in Phisicke, and Chirurgery for the health and pleasure of mankinde.
At London, Printed by Edward Alde, for Edward White, 1588, we have another
common housewives' manual on how to accomplish in a less costly fashion
the same recipes the doctors were selling.
How to dresse Orrenges.
TAKE Oringes and shave them with a knife, and quarter them like an Apple and take out all the meate out of them, and laye them in Water, and shifte them twice a daye: then when you thinke they be inough, take them out, then set on faire Water on the fire: then put your Oringes in and parboyle them: then take them out and set their mouthes downwardes in a Flasket that the Water maye runne out, then set on faire water over the fier to parboyle them againe: and if they be not well parboyled, boyle them againe till you may pinche them through: then take them out and put them in a faire cloth, and lay them in a Flasket that it may drain out of them: then take a gallon of running Water and put them into it, & at every foure Orenges you must put in a pound of Sugar, & when you have done so: set it on the fire, but before you set it on the fier, take an Egge and breake it & take out the white of it and lay it in water, take your hand and beat it in the water: then set it on the fier and let it burn cleare under it: and looke that no smoak arise:and when it dooth seethe skimme of the top of it very cleane, then take it off the fier and with a strainer straine it into another pot, then put in your Oringes, then make the fier good and temperate, so that it seethe not too fast, then you must take a spoone and skimme of the same: so that you touche not the Oringes, and as the sirrop dooth seethe, so with a spoone turne them, and alwaies laye the sirrop upon the Oringes, when they have sod half an howre take them out and let you sirrop seethe a good space, then take some of the sirrop and coole it, and if you see it any thing stiffe, then put the oringes into it againe.
By comparing the 1545 Customs to that of 1590, we can see that the taxes
increase to double that of the earliest recorded rates. It seems that trade
with the Spanish in oranges was being discouraged... from The
Rates of the Custome house. London, 1590:
Item........................................................................ Toll
Orenges the M......................................................vj s. viij d.
3 s. 4 d. to 6 s. 8 d. from 1545 to 1590. Far from being a rare curiosity,
orange trade was extensive enough to be a tool of policy.
(In the fourth year of Elizabeth I's reign)
"Neweeyeur's Gyftes gevon to the QUENE her MAJESTIE by those Parsons whose Names hereafter ensue, the first of January, the Yere above wrytten."
(There is included in this list of presents the following item:)
From the earliest Middle Ages, in the times of the Carolingian Kings,
to the time of the Elizabethans, citrus fruit was commonly available and
served up in a host of recipes as a treat for family and freinds or as
a cheap alternative to the doctor. Oranges were probably of a more bitter
variety than common modern varieties, but not so much that they were not
also routinely sweetened with honey or sugar to bring the taste into line
with the palate, giving a result very close to what our modern recipes would
give. So clove your lemon and enjoy your medieval citrus!
Le 'Registre de Cuisine' de Jean de Bockenheim
and
Liber de coquina. (a 1300's cookbook) translation
and the original text may be found in
The Medieval Kitchen-Recipes from France and Italy
, by Redon, Sabban, and Serventi; Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998; along with
a modern recipe version.
Enquiry into Plants , Theophrastus, (born 370 BC,
a pupil of Plato in Athens) as translated by Sir Arthur Hort, 1916
Food In Antiquity - A Survey of the Diet of Early Peoples
by Don and Patricia Brothwell, 1969
Art, Culture, and Cuisine - Ancient and Medieval Gastronomy
, by Phyllis Pray Bober, 1999
Brandies and Liqueurs of the World, Hannum, Hurst,
Doubleday & Company, Garden City
The Total Bannana by Alex Abella, 1979
The Monks of War by Desmond Seward, 1972
Le Ménagier de Paris: This is a translation
from the food and cookery chapter of Le Ménagier de Paris (a medieval
manuscript dated to circa 1393), edited by Jérome Pichon in 1846
for La Société Des Bibliophiles François. Note: This
was translated from the French edition of Jerome Pichon published in 1846,
and this is from the translation (c) by Janet Hinson.
Food and Feast in Medieval England by P. W. Hammond,
1993, Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, Phoenix Mill, Far Thrupp, Stroud,
Goucestershire, England
A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat
1987, Translated by Anthea Bell 1992, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA
The Memoirs of Catherine de Medici (born 1519)
by Abbe Brantome, (sixteenth century, born in 1537, 18 years younger than
Catherine. He passed away in 1614, but his manuscript was not published,
due to a request in his will, until 1665.
The rates of the custome house: London, 1545 -
Title: The rates of the custome house bothe inwarde and outwarde the
dyfference
of measures and weyghts and other co[m]modities very necessarye for all
marchantes to knowe newly correctyd and imprynted. An. M.D.XLV.
Author: England and Wales. Commissioners of Customs.
Imprint: Imprynted at London : By me [N. Hill? for] Rycharde Kele dwellynge
at
the longe shoppe in the Poultrye vnder saynt Myldreds churche,
Date: 1545
Pages: [64] p.
Copy from: Bodleian Library
Approoved Medicines and Cordiall Receiptes, with the natures,
qualities, and operations of sundry Simples. Very Commodius and expedient
for all that are studious of such knowledge.
- Imprinted at London in Fleete Streete by Thomas
Marshe, 1580.
Title: Approoved medicines and cordiall receiptes with the natures, qualities,
and operations of sundry samples. Very commodious and expedient for all
that
are studious of such knowledge.
Author: Newton, Thomas, 1542?-1607.
Imprint: Imprinted at London : In Fleete-streete by Thomas Marshe,
Date: 1580
Copy from: British Library
A PLEASANT description of the fortunate Ilands, called the
Ilands of Canaria, with their strange fruits and commodities. VERIE DELECTAble
to read, to the praise of God. Composed by the poore Pilgrime.
-Imprinted at London by Thomas East, 1583
Title: A pleasant description of the fortunate ilandes, called the Ilands
of
Canaria vvith their straunge fruits and commodities. Verie delectable
to read,
to the praise of God. Composed by the poore pilgrime.
Author: Nicholas, Thomas, b. ca. 1532.
Imprint: Imprinted at London : By Thomas East,
Date: 1583
Notes: The poore pilgrime = Thomas Nicholas
Printed under Nicholas's name in Richard Hakluyt's "The principal navigations",
volume 2
Running title reads: A description of the Canarie Ilands.
Copy from: British Library
The Widowes treasure, plentifully furnished with sundry precious
and approoved secretes in Phisicke, and Chirurgery for the health and pleasure
of mankinde. At London, Printed by Edward Alde, for Edward
White, 1588.
The Treasurie of commodious Conceits, & hidden Secrets.
and may be called, The Huswives Closet of healthfull provision.
by I. Par, Imprinted at London by Richard Jones, 1573.