HERB - Re: cost of herbs

[sunshinegirl]

What does "2 s/lb   (10 p.)   stand for??  shillingings??  pence???   What
was the buying power  of it compared to the buying power today??

ie,  not only how much did a pound of nutmeg cost, in today's dollars, but
also how many day's wages was that??  There is a difference.
Melandra of the Woods

----------
> From: N.D. Wederstrandt <nweders at mail.utexas.edu>
> To: herbalist at Ansteorra.ORG
> Subject: Re: HERB - Re: cost of herbs
> Date: Thursday, June 25, 1998 11:04 AM
> 
>  I found these prices in Food and Feast in Medieval England by P.W.
> Hammond, pub by Alan Sutton, 1993.
> 
> 1264 sugar was 2 s./lb  (10 p.)
> 1334 sugar 7d./lb (3p.)
> pepper sold throughout the Middle Ages for about 1s/lb (5 p)
> saffron (after 1349 14s/lb (70 p)  Hammond says that saffron was the most
> expensive spice used in the Middle Ages.
> other spices ran anywhere from 2s to 4s (10 p. to 20p) the prices varying
> from season and other variables.
> 
> The only spice not imported was mustard which they said was cheap and
used
> quite a bit.
> 
> The Hammond book is fairly interesting as it breaks down the households
and
> what type of foods each household ate, how much ale and beer they drank,
> etc, etc.  It seems to cover the 14th and 15th centuries in particular.
> 
> I thought it also kinda neat that rice and sugar were considered spices
> until quite late.
> Clare
> 
> 
>
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