Food During the Elizabethan Era
Everyone loves food. Its needed to survive and a staple of everyday life. During the Elizabethan period, food was a staple of social structure and a unique way of cooking was established along with many other methods that are still used today. Wealth was a very crucial part of the social chain and based on the wealth of a person their diet, varied.
Wealth is something, then and now, that people strive to have. Wealth means a lot of things, it's in the eye of the beholder. Wealth can mean access to luxury foods like sweets wine sugar quality bread and more (Picard). However, wealth does not always mean the financial stability of a person. according to Queen Elizabeth “To pass time with the good company along …show more content…
Unlikely things that are taken as common household items were considered luxury items back them. For example, sugar and salt. Cooking was commonly made to be sweet. Sugar was imported and way more expensive than honey (Rubel). When things were imported they were sold in a rather weird form of measurement. Butterbeer, herring, salmon, fish, eel and wine were sold by the barrel. Honey and thick liquids were sold by the Bolle. Limes were sold by the cartload. Soft fruits were sold by the frael. Salt quicklimes and shells were sold by the chaldron. Don’t forget about napkins, they are sold by the diker. The equivalent of these measurements are broken down like so, a tun is 2 butts or 4 hogsheads or 252 gallons. A puncheon is 84 gallons. A runlet is anything smaller than a puncheon (Rubel). Back in the day water was not safe to drink. Any type of alcohol was way safer to drink than water so that is typically all they drank, but keep in mind it had a very low alcohol content, around 1-2 % (Rubel). There are tons of different wines ale and beer. Perry is a slightly alcoholic pear cider. Verjuice is a sharp vinegar made from grapes used for cooking or sometimes as a condiment. Rhenish is a German wine typically strong. Claret comes from Gascony (south France). Cahary is a white wine from the Canary Islands. Sack is from Spain and sweetened with sugar. Beer is ale made from hops and can be flavored with anything. Pepper ivy is made from rosemary and cupis. Wine is typically heavy and sweet ut should be strained before drinking because can contain solid matter floating in it. Wine was only meat for formal events unless you were rich. Beer ale and mead was drank more often. Mead is ale sweetened with honey. All there was to drink was beer ale and wine, tea and coffee were not a thing. Along with wine there were many different types of bread. Manchet is a fine white bread
Everyone loves food. Its needed to survive and a staple of everyday life. During the Elizabethan period, food was a staple of social structure and a unique way of cooking was established along with many other methods that are still used today. Wealth was a very crucial part of the social chain and based on the wealth of a person their diet, varied.
Wealth is something, then and now, that people strive to have. Wealth means a lot of things, it's in the eye of the beholder. Wealth can mean access to luxury foods like sweets wine sugar quality bread and more (Picard). However, wealth does not always mean the financial stability of a person. according to Queen Elizabeth “To pass time with the good company along …show more content…
Unlikely things that are taken as common household items were considered luxury items back them. For example, sugar and salt. Cooking was commonly made to be sweet. Sugar was imported and way more expensive than honey (Rubel). When things were imported they were sold in a rather weird form of measurement. Butterbeer, herring, salmon, fish, eel and wine were sold by the barrel. Honey and thick liquids were sold by the Bolle. Limes were sold by the cartload. Soft fruits were sold by the frael. Salt quicklimes and shells were sold by the chaldron. Don’t forget about napkins, they are sold by the diker. The equivalent of these measurements are broken down like so, a tun is 2 butts or 4 hogsheads or 252 gallons. A puncheon is 84 gallons. A runlet is anything smaller than a puncheon (Rubel). Back in the day water was not safe to drink. Any type of alcohol was way safer to drink than water so that is typically all they drank, but keep in mind it had a very low alcohol content, around 1-2 % (Rubel). There are tons of different wines ale and beer. Perry is a slightly alcoholic pear cider. Verjuice is a sharp vinegar made from grapes used for cooking or sometimes as a condiment. Rhenish is a German wine typically strong. Claret comes from Gascony (south France). Cahary is a white wine from the Canary Islands. Sack is from Spain and sweetened with sugar. Beer is ale made from hops and can be flavored with anything. Pepper ivy is made from rosemary and cupis. Wine is typically heavy and sweet ut should be strained before drinking because can contain solid matter floating in it. Wine was only meat for formal events unless you were rich. Beer ale and mead was drank more often. Mead is ale sweetened with honey. All there was to drink was beer ale and wine, tea and coffee were not a thing. Along with wine there were many different types of bread. Manchet is a fine white bread