Medieval Cooking Basics - The Importance of Color in the Middle Ages

A Brief Overview of Color Theory in the 15th Century

For mourners, blacke, for the religious, white, Which is a sign of conscience pure and free. The greene agrees with them in hpe that live, And eeke [also] to youth this colour wee doe give. The yelowe next, unto the covetous wighte [person], And unto those whom jelousie doth fret. The man refus'd, in tannye [tawny] doth delite [delight].

Geoffrey Whitney's "Choice of Emblemes (1585)

I have become fascinated by the array of colors that could be found in the food of this particular time period. Here is one such example that I found in Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55 Thomas Austin, which uses the simplest of ingredients to create a drink whose name is also it's color.

While doing research for this dish I ran across a very interesting book, Renaissance Colour Symbolism - By Roy Osborne. I confess I have only begun to read it, but I have developed a much greater respect for this recipe because of it. I did not realize how symbolic colors were in our late period and the early Renaissance. One of the more interesting things I discovered was the fact that it was believed that God infused all of his creations with symbolism, and nowhere was this more present then in color.

Colors represented virtues. For example, the "seven worldly virtues" identified by Jean Courtois (Le Blason de toutes armes et escutz-The Blazon of all Arms and Escutcheons, 1420) which identified armorial tinctures thus:

Gold (or) - wealth (richesse)

Silver (argent) - purity (purete)

Red (gules) - eminence (haultesse)

Blue (azure) - loyalty (loyaulte)

Green (vert) - happiness (lyesse)

Black (sable) - modesty (simplesse)

purple (purpure) - abundance of goods (habondance de biens)

The Church identified the colors as faith (or), hope (argent), charity (gules), justice (azure), fortitude (vert) prudence (sable) and temperance (purpure). The seasons also were represented through color, spring as vert, summer as gules, autumn as azure and winter as sable. The planets also had representative colors:

Sun (or)

Mars (gules)

Moon (argent)

Jupiter (azure)

Mercury (purpure)

Venus (vert)

Saturn (sable)

Color symbolism was applied to humoral theory and the seven ages of man. For more information on medieval dietary theory, which includes a very brief synopsis on humoral theory, and the application of it in creating modern feast menu's, please see my research paper located here.

Sanguine (gules)

Choleric (azure)

Phlegmatic (argent)

Melancholic (sable)

Argent (infancy, up to seven years)

Azure (childhood, up to fifteen years)

Or (adolescence, up to twenty-five years)

Vert (youth, up to thirty-five years)

Gules (maturity up to fifty years)

Purpure (elderliness up to seventy years)

Sable (decreptitude to death)

Knowing how significant color was in this time period, I wanted to know if the final product had a significance attached to it. I was excited to find that it did. The color tawny which leans towards white or yellow displays contrition, innocence and feigned joy, while the regular color, represented by the "Tannye" found in the manuscript should be reddish represents great courage or false valor. Geoffrey Whitney's "Choice of Emblemes (1585), has a poem "In Colores" talking about the color associations common with the dyer's craft. In this poem we can see the name of the recipe, is actually a description of it's color.

For mourners, blacke, for the religious, white, Which is a sign of conscience pure and free. The greene agrees with them in hpe that live, And eeke [also] to youth this colour wee doe give. The yelowe next, unto the covetous wighte [person], And unto those whom jelousie doth fret. The man refus'd, in tannye [tawny] doth delite [delight].

HARLEIAN MS. 279 (AB 1430) - CXI. TANNYE

.Cxj. Tannye.—Take almaunde Mylke, & Sugre, an powdere Gyngere, & of Galyngale, & of Canelle, and Rede Wyne, & boyle y-fere: & þat is gode tannye. 111. Tannye - Take almond milk, and sugar, and powder ginger, and of galingale, and of cinnamon, and red wine, and boil fair; and that is good tannye. Ingredients 3/4 cup almond milk (I used quick almond milk) 2 tsp. or more sugar (to taste) 1/4 tsp. ginger (or half tsp. ginger if no galingale) 1/4 tsp. galingale Pinch of Cinnamon 1/4 cup red wine

Directions

1. Mix together all ingredients in a pan. Heat until just below simmer, remove from heat and then serve.

Note: there is the possibility that your almond milk may curdle when red wine is added and the drink is brought to a boil. Wine is acidic and adding acid to almond milk is how you make Fride Creme of Almaundys - Cold Cream of Almonds, a lenten alternative to butter or creamy cheese. The trick is to heat all the ingredients together to just below a simmer, and then serve. It's that easy. If it curdles, and they bother you, strain through a strainer before serving. I am ok with it, so you can see that my tannye got a little curdled. I let it get too warm. This is delicious, slightly reminiscent of mulled wine with the ginger being the main spice, the cinnamon warmly following, and the almond milk making it creamy. A must serve for a winter's revel.

17th Century Dessert - Spanish Wedges

Spanish Candy Wedges from A Book of Fruits and Flowers, 1653

Originally published:  Jul 2, 2022

https://giveitforth.wixsite.com/giveitforth/post/medieval-desserts-spanish-wedges

To Preserve all kinde of Flowers in the Spanish Candy in Wedges.

Take Violets, Cowslips, or any other kinde of Flowers, pick them, and temper them with the pap of two roasted Apples, and a drop or two of Verjuice, and a graine of Muske, then take halfe a pound of fine hard Sugar, boyle it to the height of Manus Christi, then mix them together, and pour it on a wet Pye plate, then cut it it in Wedges before it be through cold, gild it, and so you may box it, and keep it all the year. It is a fine sort of Banquetting stuffe, and newly used, your Manus Christi must boyle a good while and be kept with good stirring.

Download Recipe Here

Ingredients

2 apples (I used granny smith)
1-2 drops white wine vinegar (to replace verjuice)
1 grain of musk *opt.
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
Pinch of dried edible flowers

Directions

1. Peel and core your apples, cut into wedges, and roast in a 400-degree oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until apples have started to brown.

2. While apples are roasting bring your sugar and water and boil it until it reaches 245 degrees.

3. Add sugar syrup, roasted apples, white wine vinegar, or verjuice to a blender and blend until smooth. Opt. Add a drop or two of food-grade musk flavoring at this point.

4. Prepare a mold by spraying it with a little bit of oil and lining it with parchment paper.

5. Sprinkle flowers on the bottom of the tin, add the apple mixture. Be sure to sprinkle more flowers on top.

6. Allow drying until no longer sticky to the touch, cut as desired.When completely dry this candy has the texture of maple sugar candy, otherwise, it is very similar to fruit leather. Store in air tight container

NOTES:

There are two different ways this recipe can be read. The first is the method that I used where the pureed apple is added to the boiled sugar syrup and allowed to dry. The second is that the pureed apple is added to the sugar and water and that mixture is then brought to a boil before being poured into your mold.

It took several days for this beauty to dry completely. When it had dried became a crystalized sugar candy. I did allow it to dry overnight in the oven before removing it from the mold. I veered from the recipe by using a 6" tart pan instead of an 8" pie pan, and I believe this made the candy thicker than originally intended.

I also believe that this very thick candy should have been allowed to dry two or three days before I removed it from the mold and cut it into wedges. The thing that I would do differently in the future would be to make a thinner candy by using a larger plate.

I believe this is a very luxurious treat, that would enhance any dessert course at an event. The taste is a very sweet apple, with just a touch of floral note at the end of the bite. I cut this 6" tart-shaped treat into 12 wedges and I would not want to make it any bigger. At this size, it creates a two to three-bite candy.

TOA Documentation

Source

"The Project Gutenberg Ebook Of A Book Of Fruits And Flowers". Gutenberg.Org, 2022, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13265/13265-h/13265-h.htm?fbclid=IwAR1UD2bx6I7bO97kplgubSC10fQE05PsXq0GMT8gFpH9C-xvmtRwouCh_x8.