[Sca-cooks] Peaches was Theatre food in Elizabethan England
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Sat Feb 27 06:31:06 PST 2010
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100129/od_nm/us_shakespeare_snacks
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>
> *****************************************
> "...imported food like peaches..."??
> Peaches grow in the UK don't they? I was given to understand they had been
> grown in England for most of the mediaeval period.
>
> Angharad
According to Davidson, the common wisdom has been that peaches were
introduced into England into the 16th Century; however, a reference to
peaches in Chaucer, two peach trees were at the Tower of London in 1275 and
peach pits excavated from a 2nd Century fishmarket in Billingsgate, suggest
that the common wisdom is in error. The current thinking appears to be
peach cultivation ceased for a time and was reintroduced from France in the
16th Century
I haven't chased down the Tower of London reference, but several sources
suggest that it is an account entry for two trees delivered to the Tower in
1275. The Chaucer reference appears to be from his (probable) translation
of Romance of the Rose, which, being of French origin, doesn't place peach
trees in England.
We know that Pliny wrote of the peach trees in Gaul and I have no problem
with the idea that the Romans introduced peach cultivation into England.
There is also some evidence that Charlemagne tried to expand peach
cultivation in France more or less unsuccessfully. Which leads me to the
question of yield. If the yields were low, then the peach could have been a
rare and expensive fruit even if grown locally. Espaliering fruit trees,
pruning them to open them up and increase yields, occurred in Europe in the
late 14th Century. It may be that peaches were in England, but were of
limited utility due to low yields until growers adopted the new techniques
of arboriculture. It's an interesting question.
Bear
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