[Sca-cooks] pickled lemons

[johnna holloway]

Johnnae llyn Lewis sends greetings.

Here are some additional and interesting articles
and books that deal with diet in the English navy,
and scurvy along with its prevention.

See the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 1990.
Fasting and Feasting, ed. Harlan Walker, London: Prospect Books, 1990.
Powers, Jo Marie. "L'Ordre de Bon Temps: Good Cheer as the Answer"
pp.164-172. --discusses Samuel de Champlain's efforts to survive
the winter of 1606-1607 in New France, knowing that as in the
previous two winters many would of scurvy during the bitter cold.

Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 1989.
Staple Foods, ed. Harlan Walker, London: Prospect Books, 1990.
Black, Maggie. "Survival Kit (16th Century Seaman's Fare)"
pp.57-60.  --includes the 1588 daily issue of food per sailor.

Thick, Malcolm. "Sir Hugh Plat's Promotion of Pasta as a Victual
for Seamen." Petits Propos Culinaires #40 [1992], pp.43-50.
--Yes, that Sir Hugh Plat who wrote Delightes for Ladies, spent
 a great deal of time between 1589 and 1607 promoting a better
diet for seamen. He especially promoted the use of dried macaroni.

Perry, Charles. "Preserved Lemons." Petits Propos Culinaires #50
[1995], pp.22-24.  --discusses the literature of preserving lemons
and the odd fact that there is little scientific literature on what
is happening when these fruits are preserved.

Shepard, Sue. Pickled, Potted, and Canned. How the Art and Science
of Food Preserving Changed the World. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
--contains a chapter "Navy Blues" on the provisioning of ships,
including a concise account of James Lancaster's efforts in 1600
to avoid scurvy on trips to the East Indies. Lancaster took with
him "bottles of lemon juice, of which he gave three spoonfuls every
morning to each man." (p.209)

Giles Milton. Nathaniel's Nutmeg, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999,
also describes in detail James Lancaster's voyages in chapters entitled
"Wonderfully Unwholesome Climes" and "Music and Dancing Damsels."

See also Carpenter, Kenneth J. The History of Scurvy and Vitamin C.
Cambridge: C.U.P., 1986.

Johnna Holloway


Stefan li Rous wrote:
>SNIPPED---
> There is no mention of the pickled lemons being used on long voyages
> during our period to prevent scurvy. Most evidence points to the fact
> that they did not know that such foods could prevent scurvy until
> well past 1600. Scurvy was not a problem for the Vikings if that is
> what you meant by Scandinavians. They were not at sea that long.
> Scurvy only became a problem when ships began to sail for extended
> time periods without making landfall such as the trips of the
> East Indian Trading Company.Well past period, the British started
supplying their sailors with
> limes, not lemons, specifically to prevent scurvy. This is the
> reason that these sailors came to be known as "Limeys".
> THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
> Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****