Medieval Fig Pottage in Three Colors | Harley MS 279 Fygeye
.Ciij. Fygeye | Harley MS 279, 1430s | New reconstruction, August 2026
I nearly missed the best part of this recipe.
When I added .Ciij. Fygeye to an older Rapeye post in 2021, I treated it as one more fig dish: figs, ale, bread, pine nuts, cinnamon, saffron, saunders. Useful, certainly. Interesting, yes.
But I had flattened the ending into an ingredient list, and the ending is where the cook has some fun.
The base is wonderfully simple. Figs are boiled until soft, pounded, mixed with ale, thickened with grated bread, and studded with whole pine nuts. Cinnamon is scattered over it at the dresser. Then comes the flourish:
if you want, color it in three ways.
One portion can remain the natural deep brown-purple of the figs. One can be colored red with saunders. One can be turned gold with saffron.
Suddenly this is not merely a bowl of cooked figs. It is a tiny lesson in medieval table color, presentation, and the delight cooks took in making familiar ingredients look surprising.
And unlike its sweeter Rapeye cousins, this recipe asks for no added sugar at all. The figs do that work themselves.
