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| Cxxxvj. A Potage of Roysons – apple, raisin, almond milk, rice flour, ginger, and galangal |
A Potage of Roysons – Medieval Apple and Raisin Rice Porridge
There are recipes that sweep into the medieval kitchen wearing gilt and peacock feathers, and then there are recipes like A Potage of Roysons. This one arrives quietly with apples, raisins, almond milk, rice flour, ginger, and galangal. It sounds simple. It is simple. But it is not nearly as plain as it first appears.
The original recipe is only a few lines long, yet those few lines give us several excellent little mysteries. Why do the raisins have “kernels”? What does the cook mean by temper? How thick is clene chargeaunt? And why, after all that careful instruction, does no one actually tell us to put the pot over the fire?
I first made this pottage in 2016 and served it at an SCA breakfast. It went over well, although one of the kinder verdicts was, “Tasty, but not delicious.” Honestly? Fair. I have made similar dishes with more sparkle, and I have never been a devoted member of the raisin fan club. Still, there was enough here to make me curious, and curiosity is usually where the good cooking begins.
The Original Recipe
Cxxxvj. A potage of Roysons. Take Raysonys, & do a-way þe kyrnellys; & take a part of Applys, & do a-way þe corys, & þe pare, & bray hem in a mortere, & temper hem with Almande Mylke, & melle hem with flowre of Rys, þat it be clene chargeaunt, & straw vppe-on pouder of Galyngale & of Gyngere, & serue it forth.
A Modern English Translation
Take raisins and remove the seeds. Take some apples, remove the cores and peel them, and pound them in a mortar. Mix them with almond milk and blend them with rice flour until it is completely thick. Sprinkle powdered galangal and ginger over it, and serve it.
The recipe gives us the ingredients and the shape of the work, but not the quantities, cooking time, or serving temperature. It also never plainly says to cook the mixture. That silence matters, and I will come back to it.
Roysons, Kernels, and Other Small Kitchen Clues
What Are Roysons?
Roysons are raisins. The word came into English through French, and medieval spelling is a free-range creature, so you may find several forms wandering through different manuscripts.
Raisins were useful little workhorses in medieval cookery. They appear in pottages, pies, sauces, stews, and fruit preparations, sometimes in dishes we would now call sweet and sometimes in dishes we would firmly place on the savory side of the table. They offered concentrated sweetness, body, and richness without requiring the cook to reach immediately for sugar or honey.
Why Remove the Kernels?
Modern seedless raisins have spoiled us. Medieval raisins could still contain grape seeds, and those hard little kernels needed to be removed before the fruit went into the mortar.
It is one of those tiny instructions that makes the old kitchen suddenly vivid. Before the pounding, blending, and thickening could begin, somebody had to sit down and pick the seeds out of the raisins. History is very glamorous until it hands you a bowl of sticky dried fruit and a small knife.
What Does “Temper” Mean?
In modern cooking, tempering often means carefully bringing two mixtures to the same temperature. That is not what appears to be happening here. The Middle English verb tempren could mean to mix, combine, or blend.
So when the recipe says to temper hem with Almande Mylke, the almond milk is being used to loosen and blend the pounded fruit. The old article gave the word a possible heating sense, but this simpler reading fits both the language and the method better.
How Thick Is Clene Chargeaunt?
Clene chargeaunt is not a delicate instruction. It means thoroughly or completely thick. This should not be a thin breakfast porridge drifting around the bowl. It should sit heavily on the spoon, closer to a fruit pudding or a very thick pottage.
That one phrase changes the whole dish. Once I stopped thinking “rice porridge with fruit pieces” and started thinking “fruit-and-almond pottage bound firmly with rice flour,” the recipe began to make much more sense.
The Curious Case of the Missing Fire
This is the part that made me raise an eyebrow at the manuscript.
The recipe tells us to seed the raisins, peel and core the apples, pound the fruit, blend it with almond milk, thicken it with rice flour, sprinkle on galangal and ginger, and serve. It never says to boil, seethe, simmer, or set the mixture over the fire.
Other recipes in the same manuscript are perfectly capable of saying “boil it” when they mean “boil it,” so I do not want to quietly pretend the instruction is there.
There are several possibilities. The scribe may have omitted a step the cook was expected to understand. The almond milk may have been warm. The rice flour may have been prepared differently than the flour sitting in my pantry. Or perhaps the dish was intended to be served cold.
For my reconstruction, I cook it. Modern raw rice flour has an unpleasant taste and texture, and gentle heat produces the thick, smooth pottage the rest of the instructions seem to describe. That is my practical choice, not a line hiding in the manuscript.
Galangal and Ginger
The manuscript asks for both galangal and ginger, and they are not interchangeable twins wearing different hats.
Galangal belongs to the ginger family, but its flavor is sharper, woodier, and more aromatic. Depending on the variety and your own palate, it may suggest pepper, pine, citrus peel, or something almost medicinal. Ginger brings a rounder warmth. Together they give the pottage a far livelier finish than ginger alone.
The recipe also tells us to sprinkle the spices over the top rather than cook them into the pot. That means their fragrance reaches the diner before the spoon does. It is a small choice, but a clever one.
Why Apples, Raisins, Almond Milk, and Rice?
Apples could be grown in England. The rest of the bowl tells a much wider story.
Raisins, rice, almonds, ginger, and galangal all reached the English kitchen through trade. This is one of the reasons medieval food can be deceptive. A dish may look humble to modern eyes because it is beige, soft, and served in a bowl, while quietly containing ingredients that traveled hundreds or thousands of miles.
The raisins provide sweetness and density. The apples bring freshness and moisture. Almond milk loosens the pounded fruit and adds richness without dairy. Rice flour binds everything together. The ginger and galangal wake it up at the end.
There is no honey or sugar in the manuscript. The raisins are expected to do the sweetening themselves. My original version added honey, but after returning to the source, I no longer think it belongs in the principal reconstruction. It can always be offered as a modern adjustment for diners who want a sweeter bowl.
Humoral Theory and the Medieval Logic of the Dish
Medieval cooks and physicians understood food through the qualities of hot, cold, moist, and dry. Food was thought to act upon the body, and the right dish depended not only on the ingredients but also on the diner’s age, health, season, climate, and individual complexion.
Apples were commonly regarded as cold and moist, especially when raw. That made them nourishing but potentially troublesome to digestion. Peeling, pounding, thickening, and cooking helped move them away from raw wetness.
Raisins were generally considered warmer and more nourishing than fresh grapes. Drying concentrated their sweetness and reduced some of the watery quality of fresh fruit. Almonds were often understood as gently warm and moist, while rice was classified differently by different authorities. Some called it hot and moist, others hot and dry. Whatever its exact humoral label, its practical purpose here is clear: rice flour restrains and thickens the wetter ingredients.
Ginger and galangal were strongly warming and drying. Sprinkled over a pottage made from apple, almond milk, and fruit, they provided a sensible corrective to coldness and excess moisture.
Taken together, the dish likely leans gently warm and moist. The fruit and almond milk nourish, the rice gives body, and the spices keep the whole thing from becoming too cool or too damp in humoral terms.
Was This a Lenten Dish?
It certainly could have been eaten on a fast day. It contains no meat, eggs, or dairy, and almond milk was a familiar solution when animal products were restricted.
However, the manuscript does not actually label this recipe as “in Lent” or “for a fish day.” Other recipes do carry those instructions when the distinction matters. So the careful answer is that A Potage of Roysons is fasting-compatible, not that it is proven to have been written specifically for Lent.
Revisiting the 2016 Reconstruction
My first version treated this as a fairly modern porridge. I diced the apples, left the raisins whole, simmered both in almond milk, and thickened the mixture with rice flour. It was pleasant, filling, and perfectly serviceable for breakfast.
It was also not quite what the manuscript told me to do.
The fruit belongs in the mortar. The galangal and ginger belong on top. Honey and salt are not named. The revised method follows those clues more closely and produces a smoother, denser pottage with the raisin sweetness spread throughout instead of appearing in occasional chewy ambushes.
I still will not pretend this is the recipe that converted me into a raisin enthusiast. But it is a better reconstruction, and the galangal gives it more personality than the original version had.
A Potage of Roysons – Historical Reconstruction
Serves: 8 small portions or 4 generous breakfast portions
Preparation: 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes soaking
Cooking: About 25 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 medium tart or cooking apples, peeled and cored
- 1 cup seedless raisins
- 8 cups unsweetened almond milk, divided
- 1 cup fine rice flour
- 1 teaspoon ground galangal
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
- Place the raisins in a bowl and cover them with 1 cup of the almond milk. Let them soften for about 20 minutes.
- Cut the apples into small pieces. Place them in a mortar with the softened raisins and their soaking milk, working in batches if needed. Pound the fruit into a thick paste. A food processor may be used, but stop before the mixture becomes completely liquid.
- Pour the remaining almond milk into a heavy pot. Whisk in the rice flour while the milk is still cold so it does not form lumps.
- Stir in the pounded fruit.
- Set the pot over medium-low heat and cook gently, stirring often and scraping the bottom, until the raw taste of the rice flour is gone and the pottage is very thick, about 18 to 25 minutes.
- Mix the galangal and ginger together.
- Spoon the pottage into bowls and sprinkle the spice mixture over the top. Serve warm.
What to Expect
This is not a light, milky bowl of rice cereal. It is thick, smooth to slightly textured, and strongly fruit-forward. The raisins deepen the apple flavor and provide most of the sweetness. The almond milk softens the edges, while the spice on top gives each spoonful a warm aromatic finish.
If your pottage can be poured, it is too thin. If it stands like masonry, it has gone too far. It should sit heavily on the spoon but still relax into the bowl.
Notes from the Test Kitchen
Use tart apples if you can. They keep the raisin sweetness from taking over the room. Unsweetened almond milk is also important; vanilla-flavored milk turns the dish into something much more modern.
Galangal is worth seeking out. Without it, the pottage is soft, sweet, and agreeable. With it, the dish gains a sharper medieval edge.
If you prefer a sweeter version, add honey or sugar at the table rather than building it into the principal recipe. That way the reconstruction remains faithful to the surviving ingredient list, and the raisin skeptics may negotiate their own peace treaty.
Feast and Camp Notes
In the manuscript, this belongs securely among the pottages. It is not identified as breakfast, dessert, appetizer, infirmary food, or sauce. Those are modern uses, not documented medieval assignments.
For a feast, serve small portions. Rice flour, almonds, and dried fruit make it more filling than it looks. For camp, the pottage can be made ahead and reheated gently with additional almond milk. Keep the ginger and galangal mixture separate and sprinkle it on just before serving.
The finished dish will keep for up to two days in the refrigerator. Reheat it over low heat, stirring often. Add almond milk a tablespoon at a time until it returns to a thick, spoonable consistency.
Modern Adaptations
- Sweeter: Add honey or sugar to taste after cooking. Both are plausible medieval ingredients, but neither appears in this recipe.
- Nut-free: Use oat or rice milk. This is a major change because almond milk is explicit in the source.
- No galangal: Use ginger alone, or ginger with a small pinch of pepper. Useful, but less faithful.
- Camp shortcut: Use dried apples, raisins, powdered almond milk, and rice flour. Soak the fruit well before blending.
- More texture: Reserve a small handful of chopped raisins to stir in at the end. This is a modern preference because the source sends the fruit to the mortar.
Kitchen Copy
A POTAGE OF ROYSONS 4 medium tart apples, peeled and cored 1 cup seedless raisins 8 cups unsweetened almond milk, divided 1 cup fine rice flour 1 teaspoon ground galangal 1 teaspoon ground ginger Soak raisins in 1 cup almond milk for 20 minutes. Pound apples, raisins, and soaking milk into a thick paste. Whisk rice flour into the remaining cold almond milk. Stir in the fruit paste. Cook gently, stirring often, until very thick and the rice flour is cooked. Mix galangal and ginger. Spoon into bowls, sprinkle with spices, and serve warm.
Related Recipes
- Apple Muse – A smooth apple and almond milk pottage.
- Apple Moyle – Apples in a rice-thickened almond pottage with saffron and sweet spice.
- Gaylede – A medieval almond milk and rice dish.
- Bruet of Almaynne in Lente – An explicitly Lenten almond-milk dish.
- Papyns – A thick medieval pottage with a related spoonable texture.
Sources and Further Reading
- Austin, Thomas, ed. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books: Harleian MS 279 (ab. 1430) and Harl. MS 4016 (ab. 1450). Early English Text Society, 1888.
- University of Michigan, Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse: Harleian MS 279 transcription.
- Middle English Dictionary: tempren.
- Middle English Dictionary: clene, including clene chargeaunt.
- MedievalCookery.com: “A potage of Roysons.”
- Woolgar, C. M. The Culture of Food in England, 1200–1500.
- Harvey, Katherine. “How to Live Well, the Medieval Way.” Wellcome Collection.
AI Transparency
This historical reconstruction was researched, tested, written, and edited by Yonnie for Give It Forth.
Artificial intelligence assisted with editorial organization, source checking, formatting, proofreading, readability, and search optimization. All historical interpretation, reconstruction decisions, recipe testing, and final editorial responsibility remain the author’s own.
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