Check my latest substack article about experimenting with pie fillings for an upcoming project and the idea of sharing photos of things that aren't perfect. medievalfoodwithjennie.substack.com/p/jennies-mo...

Jennie’s Moving Castle

Testing fillings and shapes for a medieval chastelet recipe

medievalfoodwithjennie.substack.com

Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma wrote in 1631 on whether it was hot or cold in the Galenic sense, and concluded that it was both: its parts were of different temperaments. Chocolate (Theobroma cacao), in the Materia Medica: thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/chocolate 🗃️ #history #histsci

The importance of being malted: a brief account of how how #malt, malting and making malt sugars were discovered by the earliest gatherers of wild cereal grains in the ancient Near East. The first maltsters. merryn.dineley.com/2025/12/the-...

The importance of being malted: making malt and malt sugars from cereals in the Palaeolithic.

The Shanidar Cave: one of the places where the ancient magic of malt was first discovered. (image: Wikimedia)  I should have presented this...

merryn.dineley.com

Charles Sprague Sargent: The nuts, valued by the Indians of the Mississippi Basin, are still gathered and sometimes sold. Black walnut (Juglans nigra), in the Materia Medica: thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/black-walnut 🗃️ #history #histsci

I've been known to say that if archaeologists are looking for a ritual activity then they should consider the magical transformation of grain into malt, malt sugars and ale. 🫠 #ritual #archaeology please note: the wonderful Orkneyjar web pages no longer exist. merryn.dineley.com/2021/03/lost...

lost blogs #1: The prehistoric transformation of grain into ale: magic, ceremony, ritual and more

Lost blogs? What might they be? I thought it would be fun to look at and review the blogs that we wrote several years ago for other people's...

merryn.dineley.com

My new book is finally out! A short, readable overall history of beer tracing the long lines in the development of beer. Seeing history like that inevitably brings out an overlooked side of the history of beer: beer as a source of massive power. Please repost! www.garshol.priv.no/download/pow...

The Power of Beer

Personal site of Lars Marius Garshol.

garshol.priv.no

The brewers were paid well, so it seems, for doing such important work. Also, the ale was kept under lock and key. There's some lovely details in this translated account of the brewers at Rochester Priory.

Dr Christopher Monk@medievalmonk.bsky.social · 6d ago

Groats and malt, dregs and wages My new translation on the brewers at Rochester Priory is here. Cheers!

Nice short read here about 13th century monastic brewing 🍻

Dr Christopher Monk@medievalmonk.bsky.social · 6d ago

Groats and malt, dregs and wages My new translation on the brewers at Rochester Priory is here. Cheers!

Charles F. Millspaugh: The tincture of the whole fresh plant is a brilliant orange-red by transmitted light, with a bitterish odour and a decidedly sweet taste. Ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora), in the Materia Medica: thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/ghost-pipe 🗃️ #history #histsci

Groats and malt, dregs and wages My new translation on the brewers at Rochester Priory is here. Cheers!

Groats and malt, dregs and wages

My new translation on the brewers at Rochester Priory is here. Cheers!

modernmedievalcuisine.com

Mrs. M. Grieve: The seeds “were held in high repute among the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans for medicinal and culinary purposes.” Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), in the Materia Medica: thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/fenugreek #history #SuperstitionSat

Gerard says it “quickeneth the senses and memory, strengtheneth the sinewes, restoreth health to those that have the palsie.” Sage (Salvia officinalis), in the Materia Medica: thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/sage 🗃️ #history #FolkloreThursday

Out today: Floriano Canale, On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched (1614), in English. Diagnosis before treatment, with a never-printed rite from a 1663 copy. Hardcover $64.99, ebook $19.99. thethinkingpress.org/project/discerning-and-healing-the-bewitched 🗃️ 💙📚 #earlymodern

Hello, In just 7 days, 17th of October 2026 the second Serve It Forth Food History Festival takes places, online, and all day! I do hope you all going to join me and my colleagues fellow food historians, Sam Bilton, Neil Buttery and Alessandra Pino!

Anyone for a spot of #autumn colour, courtesy of our back garden #blueberry bushes? All the crimson, scarlet, maroon, orange and gold you could possibly crave. A few more pics on the blog: orchardnotes.com/2026/10/04/g... 🌱

The Apples and People project, on @museumofcider.bsky.social's heritage orchards in Breinton. "Varieties have been collected and grafted from trees across Herefordshire, the West Midlands and South-West ... All varieties are being genetically tested to help confirm their identity."

Savouring Old Apple Varieties

applesandpeople.org.uk

Perfect to start your day, eating your brekkie or on commute to work! 22 minutes of what is happening on the 2nd Serve it Forth Food History Festival! (online only, you can attend from all over the world!) 17th of October! Ticket link in the show notes! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... #history

What's on the menu of Serve It Forth 2026?

Podcast Episode · The Delicious Legacy · 11 September · Bonus · 24min

podcasts.apple.com

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

A Traditional Jewish Greek Recipe from Thessaloniki

Podcast Episode · The Delicious Legacy · September 9 · 18m

podcasts.apple.com

✨ For me - the crowded window and improvised petrol station bring back Open All Hours – Arkwright’s shop, Granville’s till – and some of those pub, grocery and funeral director combinations I once came across in Ireland. But where is it? 🤔 Find out here: www.digest.andymarsh...

An interesting raspberry doughnut recipe via @orchardnotes.com. I don't have a glut of raspberries from my own rather old patio plants, though they've been very tasty. I just tend to pop them unadorned into my mouth, to be honest. But if you've a sweet tooth... orchardnotes.com/2026/09/17/e...

What are the weird and wonderful foods of Philippines? What are the rare artisanal ingredients that we need to preserve, and learn about! Dinosaur egg salt, kaong vinegar, cordillera black pig, pickled wild bananas... Listen all about them in the latest episode! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

I love, love, love miso and soy and the subtle deliciousness that are imparting in my dishes. Japan has a 1200 year long history of perfecting both, but even before this, China has 2000+ of seasoning their foods with their ancestors! Listen here to learn more: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

www.medievalists.net/2022/09/medi... Fascinating discovery with items going the earliest to the Carolingian era as early as the 9th century. Carolingian era dates from Charlemagne yod 814 @medievalists.bsky.social @medievalmonk.bsky.social @jem-duducu.bsky.social @pseudoisidorus.bsky.social

'Forgotten archive' of medieval books and manuscripts discovered in Romanian church - Medievalists.net

A team of researchers in Romania has discovered over 200 books and manuscripts in a church in Mediaș. It includes dozens of early printed works and manuscript fragments dating back to as early as the ...

medievalists.net

What an excellent resource for all things fruit. Many thanks to @orchardnotes.com for his work on this. orchardnotes.com/links-library/

Still have a few gorgeous butterflies flitting about, there were even three hummingbird hawk moths the other evening.

I love reading about medieval life, especially from primary sources. In my latest blog post, you can find out what went on in a thirteenth-century monastic bakery. You can read the medieval sources for yourself (my translations thereof). Fascinating stuff!

Bread for the monks, perks for the senior bakers, and stripping off to bolt the flour

Would you like to know what went on in a thirteenth-century monastic bakehouse? Read on.

modernmedievalcuisine.com

I love reading about medieval life, especially from primary sources. In my latest blog post, you can find out what went on in a thirteenth-century monastic bakery. You can read the medieval sources for yourself (my translations thereof). Fascinating stuff!

Bread for the monks, perks for the senior bakers, and stripping off to bolt the flour

Would you like to know what went on in a thirteenth-century monastic bakehouse? Read on.

modernmedievalcuisine.com

You can find this delightful guide to Castleton from 1948 in our #LocalStudies library. It has been beautifully illustrated with pen sketches by the Rev. S. J. Heald. #LocalHistory #1940s

I think Deborah Nicholls-Lee does an excellent job of marshalling her sources to give us a highly readable and thought provoking piece. www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...

'Chest-thumping machismo': The Bayeux Tapestry reveals the bloody, bawdy truth about the Middle Ages

In the 11th-Century masterpiece's tale of a contested throne, virility is equated to power – and the largest and proudest appendage. It tells a story that feels familiar today.

bbc.co.uk

I think Deborah Nicholls-Lee does an excellent job of marshalling her sources to give us a highly readable and thought provoking piece. www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...

'Chest-thumping machismo': The Bayeux Tapestry reveals the bloody, bawdy truth about the Middle Ages

In the 11th-Century masterpiece's tale of a contested throne, virility is equated to power – and the largest and proudest appendage. It tells a story that feels familiar today.

bbc.co.uk