alexanders

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Season:

January - September

Culinary:

The leaves and stalks can be blanched or steamed to add to soups, broths and stews. The plant tastes similar to celery. The flowers can be added as a spice and decoration to salads. The buds can be eaten pickled or fried.

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

"Brought over by the Romans this edible was once much used in British cooking but has now been very much replaced by celery." WildFoodUK

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Smyrnium olusatrum (alexanders, alisanders, horse parsley, black lovage)
- Milk St., City of London (Saxo-Norman)

Etymology

"Its earlier name meant ‘Parsley of Alexandria’ which was changed to Alexanders." Norfolk Wildlife Trust

chickweed cicene mete

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Season:

March - May

Culinary:

Medical:

chickweed . . . sow into wine add then oil which be from 'French nuts' (walnuts) drink that' (cicene mete . . . seow on wine do þanne ele to þe beo of frencissen hnutu drince þæt) was part of an invalid diet

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Stellaria media noted at 130 sites

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

late 14c., chekwede, applied to various plants eaten by chickens, from chick + weed (n.). In Old English such plants were cicene mete "chicken food."

cress cerse, cærse, cresse, cyrse

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Season:

March - November

Culinary:

Medical:

occurs in several remedies
has its own section in the Herbarium

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Notes:

Literary:

glossed as nasturcium

Species and Find sites:

Nasturtium officinale (watercress)
- Finck St., Greater London (Roman-Late Medieval)

Etymology

common name for a plant of the mustard family, Old English cresse, originally cærse, from Proto-Germanic *krasjon- (source also of Middle Low German kerse, karse; Middle Dutch kersse; Old High German kresso, German Kresse), from PIE root *gras- "to devour". French cresson, Italian crescione are Germanic loan-words.

fat hen melde, mielde, medles

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Season:

June - September

Culinary:

The unopened flower buds are just like elongated broccoli and can be treated as such.
The seeds are edible and like quinoa, a closely related plant but the seeds need the thin outer coating removed if possible as it contains saponins which can be quite bitter.
The leaves can be used fresh in salads or cooked like spinach, they have a cabbage like taste of their own.
when raw is quite high in nitrates and oxalic acid and should not be eaten in large quantities.

Medical:

leaves are a source of ascaridole, an oil used to treat infestations of round worms and hook worms
very high in vitamin A, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus and is a good source of protein, trace minerals, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, iron, and fibre

Notes:

aka lambs quarters, white goosefoot, melde, wild spinach
replaced by spinach and cabbage in the 16th c.
The seeds of Fat Hen were discovered to be Tollund Man's last meal - he was found in a Danish bog and dated from 400B.C.

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Chenopodium album identified at:
- very many sites in period

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

A herbaceous plant with mealy edible leaves, often considered to be a weed.

Late 18th century said to be so named because the seeds were eaten by poultry.

Middle English meldes probably fat hen (Chenopodium album)

fennel fenol, finol, finul, finel finugle, fynel

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Season:

August - October

Culinary:

leaves, seed and bulb can be used (bulb fennel is used as a vegetable)

Medical:

Dó in gléde finol & cassuc & récels bærn eal tosomne 'put upon a fire fennel and hassock and incense burn all together'
roots and seeds of fennel are also called for

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Foeniculum vulgare identified at:
- Eastgate, Beverley, Humberside (pre 8thc)

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

two subspecies, a hardy perennial (dulce), the seeds and leaves of which are used as culinary herbs, and the annual sweet fennel or Florence fennel (azoricum), with swollen leaf bases that are eaten as a vegetable

Etymology

Old English fenol, finul, finol "fennel," perhaps via (or influenced by) Old French fenoil (13c.) or directly from Vulgar Latin *fenuculum, from Latin feniculum/faeniculum, diminutive of fenum/faenum "hay," probably literally "produce".

Apparently so called from the hay-like appearance of its feathery green leaves and its sweet odour.

good king henry

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Season:

April - June

Culinary:

cook the young shoots like asparagus

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

An edible plant of the goosefoot family, with large dark green leaves and insignificant clusters of flowers, native to Europe.

Late 16th century of unknown origin.

Notes:

aka poor-man's asparagus, perennial goosefoot, Lincolnshire spinach, Markery, English mercury, or mercury goosefoot
similar to fat-hen

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Chenopodium bonus-henricus identified at:
- Coppergate, York (Anglo Scandinavian)
- Lloyds Bank, 6-8 Pavement, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
- Upper Thames St., City of London (to 8thc)

goosefoot

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Season:

March - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

genus (Chenopodium) - a plant of temperate regions with divided leaves which are said to resemble the foot of a goose. Some kinds are edible and many are common weeds.

Notes:

see also fat-hen and good king henry

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Chenopodium cf. ficifolium (fig-leaved goosefoot) identified at:
- Watling Court, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
- Penninsular House, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
- Norwich Castle Bailey, Norfolk (1000-1075)
- The Bedern, York (580-900)
- Melbourne St., Southampton, Hamwih (700-900)
- Eastgate, Beverley, Humberside (pre 8thc)
- Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Chenopodium murale (nettle-leaved goosefoot)
- River Exe, St. Thomas, Exeter, Devon (900-1300)
- Milk St., City of London (Saxo-Norman)
- Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Chenopodium polyspermum (all-seed, many-seeded goosefoot)
- The Bedern, York (580-900)
- Watling Court, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
- Penninsular House, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
- Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
- Ironmonger Lane, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
Chenopodium rubrum (red goosefoot)
- Abbotts Worthy, Winchester, Hampshire (middle Saxon)
Chenopodium urbicum (upright goosefoot)
- North Elmham Park, Norwich/Fakenham (800-850)

mallow mealwe, cottuc, georman-leaf, hoc, hocleaf

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Season:

March-April

Culinary:

see hen and mallow leaf broth

Medical:

occurs in 11 remedies

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

late 14c., spelling alteration of late Old English malwe and directly from Latin malva "mallows" (source also of Modern French mauve, Spanish and Italian malva), a word from a Mediterranean substrate language. The same lost word apparently yielded Greek malakhe "mallow."

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Malva sylvestris (common mallow) identified at:
- Milk St., City of London (Saxo-Norman)
- Whitefriars St., Norwich, Norfolk (975-1100)
- Abbotts Worthy. Winchester, Hampshire (middle Saxon)
- Coppergate, York (Anglo Scandinavian)

nettle netele, netle

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Season:

March - October

Culinary:

Saint Columba had nettle broth made for him after meeting a woman who was collecting nettles. (6th c.)

Medical:

features in several remedies

Husbandry, Horticulture, Agriculture:

Etymology

"herbaceous plant of the genus Urtica, armed with stinging hairs" (also used of other plants of the genus and of nettle-like plants, generally with a qualifying word), Middle English netle, from Old English netele, from Proto-Germanic *natilon (source also of Old Saxon netila, Middle Dutch netele, Dutch netel, German Nessel, Danish nædlæ "nettle"), diminutive of *nato-, of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE root *ned- "to bind, tie." "[N]ettles or plants of closely related genera such as hemp were used as a source of fibre" [Watkins].

Notes:

blinde netle blind or dead nettle; reádan netlan red nettle
nettles are extremely abundant and very useful for medicines, food, dying and fibre

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Urtica dioica (stinging nettle) and Urtica urens (annual nettle)
- very common at many sites in all periods
Lamium cf. purpureum (?purple dead-nettle)
- also common

Resources:

St. Cuthberts letter on the Death of Bede. Part of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Penguin Classica
BL Stowe MS 104 fols 112v and 113v
Online Etymology Dictionary
Bosworth & Toller Old English Dictionary
Leechdoms - Oswald Cockayne 1864
Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food - Anne Hagen (both volumes)
Archaeobotanical Database
lexico.com
Wild Food UK

History Visits

Greens

Index:

Alexanders

Chickweed
Cress

Fat Hen
Fennel

Good King Henry
Goosefoot

Mallow

Nettle

A

alexanders

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C

chickweed cicene mete

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cress cerse, cærse, cresse, cyrse

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F

fat hen melde, mielde, medles

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fennel fenol, finol, finul, finel finugle, fynel

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G

good king henry

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goosefoot

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M

mallow mealwe, cottuc, georman-leaf, hoc, hocleaf

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N

nettle netele, netle

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