Medieval Fig & Raisin Rapeye | Harley MS 279 Recipe

.Liij. Rapeye – Medieval Fig, Raisin, Currant & Pine Nut Pottage

Harley MS 279, 1430s | Originally published March 16, 2017 | Fully revised August 2026

Some old recipes grow when you revisit them. This one multiplied.

I first made .Liij. Rapeye in 2017: figs and raisins cooked in wine, pounded smooth, enriched with currants and pine nuts, sweetened, spiced, and served thick enough to stand. In 2021 I returned to the post and tucked two more Harley MS 279 recipes underneath it, .Cxxj. Rapeye and .Ciij. Fygeye, because they also contained figs and seemed closely related.

That was useful for comparison, but not especially kind to the recipes.

They are not three versions of the same fig sauce. One is a thick wine-and-dried-fruit pottage with pine nuts. One combines figs and raisins with almond milk and cooked pear, then finishes with an extravagant scattering of spices. The third cooks figs in ale with bread and pine nuts and can be presented in three different colors.

So in this revision I am giving them back their individual identities. This article returns to the recipe I actually cooked in 2017: .Liij. Rapeye. The pear-and-almond Rapeye and the three-colored Fygeye are becoming reconstructions of their own.

And this first Rapeye is more interesting than I gave it credit for.

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A Potage of Roysons: Medieval Apple and Raisin Rice Porridge from Harleian MS 279

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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.

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