![]() ![]() Doctors tended to want to reject them, but since their patients wouldn't take their fears into account, doctors would recommend eating the fruits cooked rather than raw and gave strict rules altogether for eating these dangerous fruits. Medieval dietetic considerations toward fruits were full of wariness. Wild strawberries and melon, in the mean time, because they are so close down to earth are fruits of lesser interest. ![]() ![]() Like poultry and birds, fruits are particularly good for the delicate stomach of elites. Since fruits grow in trees, nearer to the heavens, fruits are considered the most noble of earth's produce. So beware, when you read the word orange in a medieval text, it always refers to the bitter orange!įruits are classified both on a sociological scale and depending on dietetic considerations. The sweet orange (citrus sinencis), that we know of today, appeared only in the 15th century, and it was not found in cookery before the 16th century. To those, coming from the Arabic countries, were added lemon (citrus limonicum) and bitter orange (citrus aurantium).īitter oranges and an orange (upper left) - Photo Jacques Bouchutīitter orange is a citrus fruit close to the orange, but very bitter and it must be cooked or candied to be good tasting. Citron is a citrus fruit resembling lemon but more bitter still.įruits known by the Romans were again found in the Middle Ages and at the Renaissance. The Romans, however, knew only citron (citrus medica) of the citrus fruits, which is simply citrus in Latin texts. The Romans were already familiar with tree grafts.ĭates imported from Northern Africa or from Syria were also used in Roman cookery. In the Naturalis Historia (liber XV, fruit) Pline listed the fruits that grew in Italy: 15 varieties of olive, the pine cone (for its small pine nut), quince, pomegranate, peach, grape, 12 kinds of plum, 30 kinds of apple, 41 kinds of pear, 29 varieties of fig, nuts (the generic term included walnut, hazelnut and almond), the chestnut, the cherry, and a few fruits nowadays forgotten: sorb (fruit of the service tree), carob, the fruit of the European Cornel. They introduced Asian fruits into Europe: peach, apricot, cherry. They ate watermelon, wild strawberry, melon, blackberry, medlar. Fruits were also used in main courses, combined with garum and vinegar: the Romans were fond of sweet and sour dishes. The traditional meal in Roman antiquity generally starts with eggs and ends with fruit. In Sparta, the meal was generally made up of cheese, a barley gruel and figs. The importance of fruit in European cookery has changed considerably through the ages. Taken from the Livre de la chasse by Gaston Phébus, 15th century, BnF Orchard surrounded by a fence of wickerwork The garden of the fruit trees, apart from bearing fruit, can be the cemetery in abbeys, but it is also the favourite place of rendez-vous for lovers in the courtly literature, starting in the 12th century: in Le Roman de la Rose, 13th century, the Rose lives in the orchard of Love and Amant (Lover) is invited to a dance in the orchard of Déduit (Delight). But the orchard can also be opened to the neighbouring countryside. When observing medieval iconography, you can notice that the orchard is often surrounded by a fence of wickerwork or by a wall. ![]()
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