Christmas Fare
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Making Medieval Gingerbread - Tasting History > .
What would you have eaten for Christmas in medieval times?
Medieval people celebrated all 12 days of Christmas, from December 25 through to Epiphany – the day the three kings turned up with gifts for the newborn Jesus – although they did not usually feast every day. Some households had their big feast on Christmas Day. For others it was the first of January or the 6th, depending on local custom.
Preparations for winter would have begun in the late autumn. Humans and animals both ate the same basic foodstuff: grain. Poorer people did not have enough grain for animals over winter so most pigs and cattle were fattened up on acorns and slaughtered. Calendars commemorate this strategic act for the months of November and December as in the images below, paired with the relevant signs of the zodiac (Sagittarius and Capricorn).
Of course, the wealthy could continue to keep their animals alive, so they had fresh meat all winter. It’s not true that they used spices to liven up rotten meat: cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper were imported from India or Indonesia, so if you could afford them you could afford good meat. The rich could also afford sugar – candied fruit, sugared almonds and sweets have always been popular Christmas treats.
The poor would have eaten sausage and bacon instead, salted fish if they could get it, stored or dried apples, peas and beans, perhaps a bit of honey, and would only have had the added flavours of onion, leeks and garlic. Even salt was expensive. The hungriest time was actually not the months that we associate with winter cold, but the months of April and May. It was then that stores had run out and there would be little growing yet in the garden. Nor was there much dairy as hens naturally lay less in winter and cows don’t produce milk until after they have their spring calves.
The best way to find out what the wealthy ate is to turn to their financial accounts and cookery books. Cookery books such as the Forme of Cury, written for the household of King Richard II (1377-1399), provide some tasty recipes. For a recent project we made recipes from this text and others for the public to try at festivals and markets around Yorkshire. In Castleford Market in December 2012 we prepared seasonal tastes such as gingerbread, mutton stew (mounchelet) and apple pudding (pommesmoile).
But it was nigh on impossible to prepare the main dishes that the rich had at their feasts. Turkey originally came from the Americas so was not found on English tables until the late 16th century. It probably replaced a showier but much less tasty bird: the peacock. The price of these birds meant that most people had to be content with another large expensive bird, the goose, which was a traditional Christmas main course until relatively recently. Also closely associated with Christmas was the wild boar – a boar’s head was often brought into the hall to accompanying carols. But it wasn’t always intended for eating.
And then elaborate displays of prepared meat, sugar or wax in the form of fantasy animals, angels and castles were often part of the entertainment, sometimes even moving mechanically or exploding.
https://theconversation.com/what-would-you-have-eaten-for-christmas-in-medieval-times-35234
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8102?msg=welcome_stranger
Feasting in the Middle Ages
https://youtu.be/OWsZfJz4mTI?t=8m5s
https://youtu.be/tTXKAYO6Z80?t=8m5s
Medieval boar's head & Norse Yule log
https://youtu.be/b_autVoFg-0?t=584 .
Medieval people celebrated all 12 days of Christmas, from December 25 through to Epiphany – the day the three kings turned up with gifts for the newborn Jesus – although they did not usually feast every day. Some households had their big feast on Christmas Day. For others it was the first of January or the 6th, depending on local custom.
Preparations for winter would have begun in the late autumn. Humans and animals both ate the same basic foodstuff: grain. Poorer people did not have enough grain for animals over winter so most pigs and cattle were fattened up on acorns and slaughtered. Calendars commemorate this strategic act for the months of November and December as in the images below, paired with the relevant signs of the zodiac (Sagittarius and Capricorn).
Of course, the wealthy could continue to keep their animals alive, so they had fresh meat all winter. It’s not true that they used spices to liven up rotten meat: cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper were imported from India or Indonesia, so if you could afford them you could afford good meat. The rich could also afford sugar – candied fruit, sugared almonds and sweets have always been popular Christmas treats.
The poor would have eaten sausage and bacon instead, salted fish if they could get it, stored or dried apples, peas and beans, perhaps a bit of honey, and would only have had the added flavours of onion, leeks and garlic. Even salt was expensive. The hungriest time was actually not the months that we associate with winter cold, but the months of April and May. It was then that stores had run out and there would be little growing yet in the garden. Nor was there much dairy as hens naturally lay less in winter and cows don’t produce milk until after they have their spring calves.
The best way to find out what the wealthy ate is to turn to their financial accounts and cookery books. Cookery books such as the Forme of Cury, written for the household of King Richard II (1377-1399), provide some tasty recipes. For a recent project we made recipes from this text and others for the public to try at festivals and markets around Yorkshire. In Castleford Market in December 2012 we prepared seasonal tastes such as gingerbread, mutton stew (mounchelet) and apple pudding (pommesmoile).
But it was nigh on impossible to prepare the main dishes that the rich had at their feasts. Turkey originally came from the Americas so was not found on English tables until the late 16th century. It probably replaced a showier but much less tasty bird: the peacock. The price of these birds meant that most people had to be content with another large expensive bird, the goose, which was a traditional Christmas main course until relatively recently. Also closely associated with Christmas was the wild boar – a boar’s head was often brought into the hall to accompanying carols. But it wasn’t always intended for eating.
And then elaborate displays of prepared meat, sugar or wax in the form of fantasy animals, angels and castles were often part of the entertainment, sometimes even moving mechanically or exploding.
https://theconversation.com/what-would-you-have-eaten-for-christmas-in-medieval-times-35234
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8102?msg=welcome_stranger
Feasting in the Middle Ages
https://youtu.be/OWsZfJz4mTI?t=8m5s
https://youtu.be/tTXKAYO6Z80?t=8m5s
Medieval boar's head & Norse Yule log
https://youtu.be/b_autVoFg-0?t=584 .
Fish Farming
Fish farming, cooking carp
https://youtu.be/G1IUm3V546k?t=44m15s
https://youtu.be/G1IUm3V546k?t=44m15s
Aquaculture, Mariculture ↬
From Fish Weir to Table
Tudor monastery - Fish & fish farming - salmon, pike, carp
The fish industry was a vital element of the medieval European economy, and fueled lots of movement around the continent. However how did they get onto the trestle tables and trenchers?
Most medieval industries aren’t fully documented, however there is a surprisingly high volume of material relating to medieval fishing, fish collection, fish trading, and fish farming. Simple devices like fish hooks and spears were used by individuals, but fish harvesting happened on a commercial scale too. “Fisheries” and “kiddles” were used to gather large amounts of fish intended for sale or trade. Fisheries were usually made of semi-permanent fish traps, while kiddles used nets. Bede’s 8th century text mentions Bishop Winfrid of Colchester using eel nets during a food shortage:
“[he]…found so much misery from hunger, he taught the people to get food by fishing. For, although there was plenty of fish in the seas and rivers, the people had no idea about fishing, and caught only eels. So the Bishop’s men got together eel nets from all sides, and threw them into the sea. By God’s help they caught three hundred fish, of all different kinds.”
To my knowledge, no medieval nets have survived in large enough sections to be positively identified. It’s difficult to say what materials were used to make nets, however it may have been hemp, horsehair, or flax. Women and men were both involved in the creation of nets and used small netting needles, a special tool for creating the knots and patterns in net-making. You can get your own reproduction netting needle if you want to have a go!
However it wasn’t all net in the Middle Ages. In streams, rivers, and coastal areas with moving water, fishing weirs or traps made of hazel and willow rods were commonly used. These traps left behind posts and other refuse, such as in Essex and Bradwell-on-Sea. These locations reflect thousands of square feet of complex patterns designed to funnel fish and eels into basket-woven boxes and nets. The Essex tidewater sites, known as the Blackwater sites, show evidence of fish traps from the 7th century. More evidence exists throughout the medieval period for fishing in this area. The Domesday books documented fisheries in this area too: three at Mersea, two at Bradwell, one at Osea and one at Tollesbury.
Extensive data collection at seven sites in 2006-2008 through aerial surveys and fieldwork reveals large enclosures in either a V or L shape, placed on gently sloping coastline or on river estuaries. Relatively long sections survive, some up to 1600 meters long! With this high level of preservation, archaeologists can form a comprehensive image of the efficacy of medieval fish traps like these. Four of the seven are now included on England’s Schedule of Ancient Monuments.
Of course many medieval people were not associated with commercial fishing operations and only collected fish for their own household using a rod, line, or small net. A boy’s grave in Balnakeil near Durness in Sutherland offers a glimpse of this type of fishing. The boy was buried between 850-900 a.d., and his grave included adult weapons with the other objects. While many of the objects were highly corroded, x-rays and comparative studies allowed a reconstruction of a pumice stone, pair of iron shears, iron needles and a wooden needle divider bound with thread, and an iron fishhook and thread.
People still enjoy going out and casting their line, but in the later Middle Ages the fishing industry moved into increasingly deeper waters. Researchers from Cambridge, York, and the Max Planck Institute identified a shift in the type of fish consumed around 1000 a.d. Locally caught freshwater fish were on the decline while ocean fish were swimming upstream in the medieval food chain.
The development of ocean fishing escalated in the late 1500’s when ships began to use nets to gather larger quantities of fish. Larger ships which crossed greater distances more quickly developed in the Age of Exploration meant that fish made it to market more efficiently, affecting the economic dynamics around local fish industries. The shift to a different economy and the use of new technology marked a new age and new tastes.
http://www.medievalists.net/2017/04/fish-on-friday-fish-weir-to-table/
Fish on Friday I: Economic Blessing or Dietary Sacrifice?
http://www.medievalists.net/2017/03/fish-friday-economic-blessing-dietary-sacrifice/
Edwardian Trout Farming
From Fish Weir to Table
Tudor monastery - Fish & fish farming - salmon, pike, carp
The fish industry was a vital element of the medieval European economy, and fueled lots of movement around the continent. However how did they get onto the trestle tables and trenchers?
Most medieval industries aren’t fully documented, however there is a surprisingly high volume of material relating to medieval fishing, fish collection, fish trading, and fish farming. Simple devices like fish hooks and spears were used by individuals, but fish harvesting happened on a commercial scale too. “Fisheries” and “kiddles” were used to gather large amounts of fish intended for sale or trade. Fisheries were usually made of semi-permanent fish traps, while kiddles used nets. Bede’s 8th century text mentions Bishop Winfrid of Colchester using eel nets during a food shortage:
“[he]…found so much misery from hunger, he taught the people to get food by fishing. For, although there was plenty of fish in the seas and rivers, the people had no idea about fishing, and caught only eels. So the Bishop’s men got together eel nets from all sides, and threw them into the sea. By God’s help they caught three hundred fish, of all different kinds.”
To my knowledge, no medieval nets have survived in large enough sections to be positively identified. It’s difficult to say what materials were used to make nets, however it may have been hemp, horsehair, or flax. Women and men were both involved in the creation of nets and used small netting needles, a special tool for creating the knots and patterns in net-making. You can get your own reproduction netting needle if you want to have a go!
However it wasn’t all net in the Middle Ages. In streams, rivers, and coastal areas with moving water, fishing weirs or traps made of hazel and willow rods were commonly used. These traps left behind posts and other refuse, such as in Essex and Bradwell-on-Sea. These locations reflect thousands of square feet of complex patterns designed to funnel fish and eels into basket-woven boxes and nets. The Essex tidewater sites, known as the Blackwater sites, show evidence of fish traps from the 7th century. More evidence exists throughout the medieval period for fishing in this area. The Domesday books documented fisheries in this area too: three at Mersea, two at Bradwell, one at Osea and one at Tollesbury.
Extensive data collection at seven sites in 2006-2008 through aerial surveys and fieldwork reveals large enclosures in either a V or L shape, placed on gently sloping coastline or on river estuaries. Relatively long sections survive, some up to 1600 meters long! With this high level of preservation, archaeologists can form a comprehensive image of the efficacy of medieval fish traps like these. Four of the seven are now included on England’s Schedule of Ancient Monuments.
Of course many medieval people were not associated with commercial fishing operations and only collected fish for their own household using a rod, line, or small net. A boy’s grave in Balnakeil near Durness in Sutherland offers a glimpse of this type of fishing. The boy was buried between 850-900 a.d., and his grave included adult weapons with the other objects. While many of the objects were highly corroded, x-rays and comparative studies allowed a reconstruction of a pumice stone, pair of iron shears, iron needles and a wooden needle divider bound with thread, and an iron fishhook and thread.
People still enjoy going out and casting their line, but in the later Middle Ages the fishing industry moved into increasingly deeper waters. Researchers from Cambridge, York, and the Max Planck Institute identified a shift in the type of fish consumed around 1000 a.d. Locally caught freshwater fish were on the decline while ocean fish were swimming upstream in the medieval food chain.
The development of ocean fishing escalated in the late 1500’s when ships began to use nets to gather larger quantities of fish. Larger ships which crossed greater distances more quickly developed in the Age of Exploration meant that fish made it to market more efficiently, affecting the economic dynamics around local fish industries. The shift to a different economy and the use of new technology marked a new age and new tastes.
http://www.medievalists.net/2017/04/fish-on-friday-fish-weir-to-table/
Fish on Friday I: Economic Blessing or Dietary Sacrifice?
http://www.medievalists.net/2017/03/fish-friday-economic-blessing-dietary-sacrifice/
Edwardian Trout Farming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vlR26074LU .
Fish on Friday II: Monastic Meals
http://www.medievalists.net/2017/04/fish-on-friday-monastic-meals/
Medieval Food Archive
http://www.medievalists.net/tag/medieval-food/
Disrupting spawning beds
Salmon largely disappeared from our waters due to the construction of water mills, ecologists [from university in Netherlands] conclude. The construction of water mills caused the destruction of the gravel beds in streams, making them unsuitable for salmon to spawn. Whereas it was previously thought that water contamination was the most likely explanation, archival research demonstrates that salmon stocks had already dwindled prior to the invention of the steam engine.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160720094432.htm
It would be very hard to say at some point in time, that all fish have spawned.
Spawning time might vary from season to season due to variations in natural environment and in healthy populations it stretches over considerable amount of time (you could look on this as some sort of natures safety element).
It is best to take a walk now and then by your stream and you will notice spawning holes (reeds) on the ground. It was described in literature that brown trouts actually start digging them weeks before actual spawning. But that would be a reliable method to determine spawning time in your river/stream.
Brown trouts will attack lures through the whole winter so i doubt that there would be any serious non-feeding time after spawning. Although it is closed season, we do catch them while hucho fishing. In fact I have the feeling they are even more aggressive at that time.
In previous years, up to and including 2009, I've observed trout migrating from the main river (Wye) in September and October, as we would expect.
Yes they have stopped spawning. Brownies spawn on day length, hence why they spawn in December.
Quite right - rainbows and salmon too! Some fish farmers trick the fish into spawning early or late by keeping them in controlled light environments. By keeping the day length longer during the autumn you can delay spawning time until after 'normal' fish have spawned. That way you can produce more eggs and fry and not have all the tank space used up at the same time.
We used to select broodstock from the very earliest fish to spawn and the very latest fish to spawn and by doing it year after year we increased the spawning period by several weeks at each end of the season. This was another way of producing more fry from the same number of available tanks.
http://www.flyforums.co.uk/trout-grayling-fishing/65806-spawning.html
Trout Production: Handling Eggs and Fry
Trout eggs are usually shipped when they reach the “eyed” stage, which is more than halfway through the incubation period.
Incubation time is temperature dependent. At 55 °F, rainbow trout eggs will hatch approximately 3 weeks after fertilization, or within 4 to 7 days after being received as “eyed” eggs. At 45 °F, the eggs will hatch approximately 7 weeks after fertilization.
Egg incubation
All types of egg incubators should be covered to protect developing embryos from direct light. However, if the eggs are more than 3 days from hatching, dead eggs should be removed regularly to limit fungal infections. Removing dead eggs is more effective than chemical treatment at controlling fungus, but can be very time consuming.
Handling sac fry
Hatching rate depends on water temperature, but usually will be completed within 2 to 4 days after commencing. Empty shells should not be allowed to accumulate in the incubating units. If the eggs are incubated separately from the rearing troughs, the sac fry should be transferred into troughs shortly after hatching is complete. Up to 30,000 fry can be stocked into a standard fry trough 10 feet long and 18 inches wide. The water flow rate should be 8 to 10 gallons per minute for most facilities. Keep the water level in the trough fairly shallow (3 to 4 inches) and the flow reduced until fry “swim up,” approximately 2 weeks after hatching at 55 oF. Any dead fry, egg shells or deformed fish should be removed regularly.
When about 50 percent of fry “swim up,” begin feeding with a small amount of starter mash on the surface three to four times daily. Continue until most fish are actively feeding. Feed every 15 minutes if possible, but not less than hourly at this stage. A large kitchen strainer makes an excellent tool for distributing the starter feeds throughout the tank. Automatic feeders are certainly more convenient than feeding by hand, but many are not well suited to distributing the smallest feed sizes.
Feed approximately 10 percent of the fish weight per day for 2 to 3 weeks, or until fry are about 1 inch long (approximately 1,000 per pound); then feed according to a published feeding chart. Fry feed should be formulated to contain approximately 50 percent protein and 12 to 15 percent fat. Excess feed and fish waste must be removed from the troughs at least daily. Small paintbrushes or feathers work well for cleaning the rearing troughs.
Siphons also can be used if care is taken to avoid the fish. After the fry have been actively feeding for 2 weeks, sample count the fish every week and adjust the feeding rate and feed size accordingly. Adjust the fish densities in the troughs as necessary to prevent overcrowding. In the standard fry tank described previously, fish are typically kept below 1 pound of fish per cubic foot of water volume. Monitoring dissolved oxygen levels will help determine when fry density should be reduced. Ideally, the dissolved oxygen level should not be lower than 6 ppm. The fry will be ready to move into larger tanks in the hatchery when they grow to 1 inch in length. In areas where Yersinia ruckeri, the causative agent of enteric redmouth disease (ERM), has been detected, the fish should be vaccinated 2 weeks before moving them to a production facility. The recommended minimum size for immersion vaccination of trout against ERM is 4.5 grams, or approximately 100 fish per pound.
http://www.arkive.org/brown-trout/salmo-trutta-fario/video-fa09b.html
Breeding
All trout return to the rivers and streams to spawn. Timing will depend on latitude (day length), but here on the Tay it takes place in November/December. The trout seek out gravel beds (stones about the size of a pea are best) with good water flows over it to bring in oxygen and to carry away silt. The hen fish cuts a trench (redd) into the gravel with her tail fin. Once dug she is joined in the hole by the male. Hundreds of eggs and milt are squirted into the base of the redd simultaneously. Thus fertilised the eggs absorb water and sink. They are quickly covered up by the female. Inevitably eggs miss the redd and drift downstream. Fish including other trout will eat them, but some will find their way into other cracks and crevices where they may well develop.
http://www.fishingnet.com/brown_trout.htm
Brown trout Salmo trutta fario
Size Length: up to 50 cm (2)
Weight up to 2 kg (2)
For more information on the brown trout, visit:
• BBC Wildlife Finder:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Brown_trout
• Fishbase species account, available at:
http://www.fishbase.org
Inhabits well-oxygenated streams and rivers (4).
This fish feeds on invertebrates, insect larvae, aerial insects, and molluscs, as well as the occasional fish and frog (3). Spawning occurs between January and March, when females are accompanied by a number of males. The eggs, which are fertilised externally, are covered with gravel by the female. For the first days after hatching, the young fish (fry) derive their nutrients from their large yolk sacs; they then feed on small arthropods, such as insect larvae (2). The maximum-recorded life span of a brown trout is 5 years (3).
The brown trout is found throughout Europe; those that live in rivers which empty into the North Sea and the Baltic Sea belong to the subspecies Salmo trutta fario, those that live in rivers that empty into the Black Sea are of the subspecies Salmo trutta labrax, and those in rivers emptying into the Mediterranean belong to the subspecies S. t. macrostigma (2). The brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) is found throughout the British Isles (4).
The brown trout is a beautiful fish, similar in general shape to the salmon; the back is dark, the sides pale, and both are flecked with variable reddish spots that have pale borders (4). The belly is a creamy yellowish-white. Juveniles and immature adults can be distinguished as they have bluish-grey spots, and adult males have a strongly curved lower jaw (2).
Larvae: stage in an animal's lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Brown_trout
The specific epithet trutta derives from the Latin trutta, meaning, literally, "trout".
The lacustrine morph of brown trout is most usually potamodromous, migrating from lakes into rivers or streams to spawn, although there is some evidence of stocks that spawn on wind-swept shorelines of lakes. S. trutta morpha fario form stream-resident populations, typically in alpine streams but sometimes in larger rivers. There is evidence that anadromous and non-anadromous morphs coexisting in the same river can be genetically identical. In common usage, the name "brown trout" is often applied indiscriminately to the various morphs.
Semelparous organisms reproduce only once in their lives and then die. The most well known ones are Pacific salmon that perish after spawning. Other examples are squid, mayflies and plants which die after setting seed (annuals). The adult diverts resources into producing huge amounts of offspring to ensure sufficient numbers reach maturity without any parental care. This is why bears largely ignore dead salmon after they've spawned - all the salmon's fat has gone into producing sperm and eggs and little nutrional value is left.
Distilling wine
https://youtu.be/G1IUm3V546k?t=46m58s
Fish on Friday II: Monastic Meals
http://www.medievalists.net/2017/04/fish-on-friday-monastic-meals/
Medieval Food Archive
http://www.medievalists.net/tag/medieval-food/
Disrupting spawning beds
Salmon largely disappeared from our waters due to the construction of water mills, ecologists [from university in Netherlands] conclude. The construction of water mills caused the destruction of the gravel beds in streams, making them unsuitable for salmon to spawn. Whereas it was previously thought that water contamination was the most likely explanation, archival research demonstrates that salmon stocks had already dwindled prior to the invention of the steam engine.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160720094432.htm
It would be very hard to say at some point in time, that all fish have spawned.
Spawning time might vary from season to season due to variations in natural environment and in healthy populations it stretches over considerable amount of time (you could look on this as some sort of natures safety element).
It is best to take a walk now and then by your stream and you will notice spawning holes (reeds) on the ground. It was described in literature that brown trouts actually start digging them weeks before actual spawning. But that would be a reliable method to determine spawning time in your river/stream.
Brown trouts will attack lures through the whole winter so i doubt that there would be any serious non-feeding time after spawning. Although it is closed season, we do catch them while hucho fishing. In fact I have the feeling they are even more aggressive at that time.
In previous years, up to and including 2009, I've observed trout migrating from the main river (Wye) in September and October, as we would expect.
Yes they have stopped spawning. Brownies spawn on day length, hence why they spawn in December.
Quite right - rainbows and salmon too! Some fish farmers trick the fish into spawning early or late by keeping them in controlled light environments. By keeping the day length longer during the autumn you can delay spawning time until after 'normal' fish have spawned. That way you can produce more eggs and fry and not have all the tank space used up at the same time.
We used to select broodstock from the very earliest fish to spawn and the very latest fish to spawn and by doing it year after year we increased the spawning period by several weeks at each end of the season. This was another way of producing more fry from the same number of available tanks.
http://www.flyforums.co.uk/trout-grayling-fishing/65806-spawning.html
Trout Production: Handling Eggs and Fry
Trout eggs are usually shipped when they reach the “eyed” stage, which is more than halfway through the incubation period.
Incubation time is temperature dependent. At 55 °F, rainbow trout eggs will hatch approximately 3 weeks after fertilization, or within 4 to 7 days after being received as “eyed” eggs. At 45 °F, the eggs will hatch approximately 7 weeks after fertilization.
Egg incubation
All types of egg incubators should be covered to protect developing embryos from direct light. However, if the eggs are more than 3 days from hatching, dead eggs should be removed regularly to limit fungal infections. Removing dead eggs is more effective than chemical treatment at controlling fungus, but can be very time consuming.
Handling sac fry
Hatching rate depends on water temperature, but usually will be completed within 2 to 4 days after commencing. Empty shells should not be allowed to accumulate in the incubating units. If the eggs are incubated separately from the rearing troughs, the sac fry should be transferred into troughs shortly after hatching is complete. Up to 30,000 fry can be stocked into a standard fry trough 10 feet long and 18 inches wide. The water flow rate should be 8 to 10 gallons per minute for most facilities. Keep the water level in the trough fairly shallow (3 to 4 inches) and the flow reduced until fry “swim up,” approximately 2 weeks after hatching at 55 oF. Any dead fry, egg shells or deformed fish should be removed regularly.
When about 50 percent of fry “swim up,” begin feeding with a small amount of starter mash on the surface three to four times daily. Continue until most fish are actively feeding. Feed every 15 minutes if possible, but not less than hourly at this stage. A large kitchen strainer makes an excellent tool for distributing the starter feeds throughout the tank. Automatic feeders are certainly more convenient than feeding by hand, but many are not well suited to distributing the smallest feed sizes.
Feed approximately 10 percent of the fish weight per day for 2 to 3 weeks, or until fry are about 1 inch long (approximately 1,000 per pound); then feed according to a published feeding chart. Fry feed should be formulated to contain approximately 50 percent protein and 12 to 15 percent fat. Excess feed and fish waste must be removed from the troughs at least daily. Small paintbrushes or feathers work well for cleaning the rearing troughs.
Siphons also can be used if care is taken to avoid the fish. After the fry have been actively feeding for 2 weeks, sample count the fish every week and adjust the feeding rate and feed size accordingly. Adjust the fish densities in the troughs as necessary to prevent overcrowding. In the standard fry tank described previously, fish are typically kept below 1 pound of fish per cubic foot of water volume. Monitoring dissolved oxygen levels will help determine when fry density should be reduced. Ideally, the dissolved oxygen level should not be lower than 6 ppm. The fry will be ready to move into larger tanks in the hatchery when they grow to 1 inch in length. In areas where Yersinia ruckeri, the causative agent of enteric redmouth disease (ERM), has been detected, the fish should be vaccinated 2 weeks before moving them to a production facility. The recommended minimum size for immersion vaccination of trout against ERM is 4.5 grams, or approximately 100 fish per pound.
http://www.arkive.org/brown-trout/salmo-trutta-fario/video-fa09b.html
Breeding
All trout return to the rivers and streams to spawn. Timing will depend on latitude (day length), but here on the Tay it takes place in November/December. The trout seek out gravel beds (stones about the size of a pea are best) with good water flows over it to bring in oxygen and to carry away silt. The hen fish cuts a trench (redd) into the gravel with her tail fin. Once dug she is joined in the hole by the male. Hundreds of eggs and milt are squirted into the base of the redd simultaneously. Thus fertilised the eggs absorb water and sink. They are quickly covered up by the female. Inevitably eggs miss the redd and drift downstream. Fish including other trout will eat them, but some will find their way into other cracks and crevices where they may well develop.
http://www.fishingnet.com/brown_trout.htm
Brown trout Salmo trutta fario
Size Length: up to 50 cm (2)
Weight up to 2 kg (2)
For more information on the brown trout, visit:
• BBC Wildlife Finder:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Brown_trout
• Fishbase species account, available at:
http://www.fishbase.org
Inhabits well-oxygenated streams and rivers (4).
This fish feeds on invertebrates, insect larvae, aerial insects, and molluscs, as well as the occasional fish and frog (3). Spawning occurs between January and March, when females are accompanied by a number of males. The eggs, which are fertilised externally, are covered with gravel by the female. For the first days after hatching, the young fish (fry) derive their nutrients from their large yolk sacs; they then feed on small arthropods, such as insect larvae (2). The maximum-recorded life span of a brown trout is 5 years (3).
The brown trout is found throughout Europe; those that live in rivers which empty into the North Sea and the Baltic Sea belong to the subspecies Salmo trutta fario, those that live in rivers that empty into the Black Sea are of the subspecies Salmo trutta labrax, and those in rivers emptying into the Mediterranean belong to the subspecies S. t. macrostigma (2). The brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) is found throughout the British Isles (4).
The brown trout is a beautiful fish, similar in general shape to the salmon; the back is dark, the sides pale, and both are flecked with variable reddish spots that have pale borders (4). The belly is a creamy yellowish-white. Juveniles and immature adults can be distinguished as they have bluish-grey spots, and adult males have a strongly curved lower jaw (2).
Larvae: stage in an animal's lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Brown_trout
References
1. National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (Jan 2003):http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn/
2. Cihar, J. (1991)A field guide in colour to freshwater fish. Silverdale Books, Leicester.
3. Fishbase species account (Jan 2003):http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Salmo&speciesname=trutta%20fario
4. Buczacki, S. (2002) Fauna Britannica. Hamlyn, London.
http://www.arkive.org/
http://www.arkive.org/brown-trout/salmo-trutta-fario/video-fa02.html#text=All
About
The brown trout (Salmo trutta morpha fario and S. trutta morpha lacustris) and the sea trout (S. trutta morpha trutta) are fish of the same species.
They are distinguished chiefly by the fact that the brown trout is largely a freshwater fish, while the sea trout shows anadromous reproduction, migrating to the oceans for much of its life and returning to freshwater only to spawn. Sea trout in the UK and Ireland have many regional names including sewin (Wales), finnock (Scotland), peal (West Country), mort (North West England) and white trout (Ireland).
1. National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (Jan 2003):http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn/
2. Cihar, J. (1991)A field guide in colour to freshwater fish. Silverdale Books, Leicester.
3. Fishbase species account (Jan 2003):http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Salmo&speciesname=trutta%20fario
4. Buczacki, S. (2002) Fauna Britannica. Hamlyn, London.
http://www.arkive.org/
http://www.arkive.org/brown-trout/salmo-trutta-fario/video-fa02.html#text=All
About
The brown trout (Salmo trutta morpha fario and S. trutta morpha lacustris) and the sea trout (S. trutta morpha trutta) are fish of the same species.
They are distinguished chiefly by the fact that the brown trout is largely a freshwater fish, while the sea trout shows anadromous reproduction, migrating to the oceans for much of its life and returning to freshwater only to spawn. Sea trout in the UK and Ireland have many regional names including sewin (Wales), finnock (Scotland), peal (West Country), mort (North West England) and white trout (Ireland).
The specific epithet trutta derives from the Latin trutta, meaning, literally, "trout".
The lacustrine morph of brown trout is most usually potamodromous, migrating from lakes into rivers or streams to spawn, although there is some evidence of stocks that spawn on wind-swept shorelines of lakes. S. trutta morpha fario form stream-resident populations, typically in alpine streams but sometimes in larger rivers. There is evidence that anadromous and non-anadromous morphs coexisting in the same river can be genetically identical. In common usage, the name "brown trout" is often applied indiscriminately to the various morphs.
Semelparous organisms reproduce only once in their lives and then die. The most well known ones are Pacific salmon that perish after spawning. Other examples are squid, mayflies and plants which die after setting seed (annuals). The adult diverts resources into producing huge amounts of offspring to ensure sufficient numbers reach maturity without any parental care. This is why bears largely ignore dead salmon after they've spawned - all the salmon's fat has gone into producing sperm and eggs and little nutrional value is left.
Distilling wine
https://youtu.be/G1IUm3V546k?t=46m58s
Foraging - Wild Food
Wild Food and Medicine
Catching and Cooking [Food] in Wild
CCW playlist contents.
Ray Mears Bushcraft
RMB playlist content.
Catching and Cooking [Food] in Wild
CCW playlist contents.
Ray Mears Bushcraft
RMB playlist content.
Ice Houses, Yakhchāl, Ice Merchants
.How people kept stuff cold before refrigerators > .
The ice trade, also known as the frozen water trade, was a 19th-century and early-20th-century industry, centring on the east coast of the United States and Norway, involving the large-scale harvesting, transport and sale of natural ice, and later the making and sale of artificial ice, for domestic consumption and commercial purposes. Ice was cut from the surface of ponds and streams, then stored in ice houses, before being sent on by ship, barge or railroad to its final destination around the world. Networks of ice wagons were typically used to distribute the product to the final domestic and smaller commercial customers. The ice trade revolutionised the U.S. meat, vegetable and fruit industries, enabled significant growth in the fishing industry, and encouraged the introduction of a range of new drinks and foods.
The trade was started by the New England businessman Frederic Tudor in 1806. Tudor shipped ice to the Caribbean island of Martinique, hoping to sell it to wealthy members of the European elite there, using an ice house he had built specially for the purpose. Over the coming years the trade widened to Cuba and Southern United States, with other merchants joining Tudor in harvesting and shipping ice from New England. During the 1830s and 1840s the ice trade expanded further, with shipments reaching England, India, South America, China and Australia. Tudor made a fortune from the India trade, while brand names such as Wenham Ice became famous in London.
Increasingly, however, the ice trade began to focus on supplying the growing cities on the east coast of the U.S. and the needs of businesses across the Midwest. The citizens of New York City and Philadelphia became huge consumers of ice during their long, hot summers, and additional ice was harvested from the Hudson River and Maine to fulfil the demand. Ice began to be used in refrigerator cars by the railroad industry, allowing the meat packing industry around Chicago and Cincinnati to slaughter cattle locally, sending dressed meat east for either the internal or overseas markets. Chilled refrigerator cars and ships created a national industry in vegetables and fruit that could previously only have been consumed locally. U.S. and British fishermen began to preserve their catches in ice, allowing longer voyages and bigger catches, and the brewing industry became operational all-year around. As U.S. ice exports diminished after 1870, Norway became a major player in the international market, shipping large quantities of ice to England and Germany.
At its peak at the end of the 19th century, the U.S. ice trade employed an estimated 90,000 people in an industry capitalised at $28 million ($660 million in 2010 terms), using ice houses capable of storing up to 250,000 tons (220 million kg) each; Norway exported a million tons (910 million kg) of ice a year, drawing on a network of artificial lakes. Competition had slowly been growing, however, in the form of artificially produced plant ice and mechanically chilled facilities. Unreliable and expensive at first, plant ice began to successfully compete with natural ice in Australia and India during the 1850s and 1870s respectively, until, by the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, more plant ice was being produced in the U.S. each year than naturally harvested ice. Despite a temporary increase in production in the U.S. during the war, the inter-war years saw the total collapse of the ice trade around the world. Today, ice is occasionally harvested for ice carving and ice festivals, but little remains of the 19th-century industrial network of ice houses and transport facilities. At least one New Hampshire campground still harvests ice to keep cabins cool during the summer.
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An Ice house, or icehouse, is a building used to store ice throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator. Some were underground chambers, usually man-made, close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwater lakes, but many were buildings with various types of insulation.
During the winter, ice and snow would be cut from lakes or rivers, taken into the ice house, and packed with insulation (often straw or sawdust). It would remain frozen for many months, often until the following winter, and could be used as a source of ice during the summer months. The main application of the ice was the storage of foods, but it could also be used simply to cool drinks, or in the preparation of ice-cream and sorbet desserts. During the heyday of the ice trade, a typical commercial ice house would store 2,700 tonnes (3,000 short tons) of ice in a 30-by-100-foot (9 by 30 m) and 14-metre-high (45 ft) building.
Yakhchāl (Persian: یخچال "ice pit"; yakh meaning "ice" and chāl meaning "pit") is an ancient type of ice house that functions as an evaporative cooler. Above ground, the structure had a domed shape, but had a subterranean storage space. It was often used to store ice, but sometimes was used to store food as well. The subterranean space coupled with the thick heat-resistant construction material insulated the storage space year round. These structures were mainly built and used in Persia. Many that were built hundreds of years ago remain standing.
During the winter, ice and snow would be cut from lakes or rivers, taken into the ice house, and packed with insulation (often straw or sawdust). It would remain frozen for many months, often until the following winter, and could be used as a source of ice during the summer months. The main application of the ice was the storage of foods, but it could also be used simply to cool drinks, or in the preparation of ice-cream and sorbet desserts. During the heyday of the ice trade, a typical commercial ice house would store 2,700 tonnes (3,000 short tons) of ice in a 30-by-100-foot (9 by 30 m) and 14-metre-high (45 ft) building.
The trade was started by the New England businessman Frederic Tudor in 1806. Tudor shipped ice to the Caribbean island of Martinique, hoping to sell it to wealthy members of the European elite there, using an ice house he had built specially for the purpose. Over the coming years the trade widened to Cuba and Southern United States, with other merchants joining Tudor in harvesting and shipping ice from New England. During the 1830s and 1840s the ice trade expanded further, with shipments reaching England, India, South America, China and Australia. Tudor made a fortune from the India trade, while brand names such as Wenham Ice became famous in London.
Increasingly, however, the ice trade began to focus on supplying the growing cities on the east coast of the U.S. and the needs of businesses across the Midwest. The citizens of New York City and Philadelphia became huge consumers of ice during their long, hot summers, and additional ice was harvested from the Hudson River and Maine to fulfil the demand. Ice began to be used in refrigerator cars by the railroad industry, allowing the meat packing industry around Chicago and Cincinnati to slaughter cattle locally, sending dressed meat east for either the internal or overseas markets. Chilled refrigerator cars and ships created a national industry in vegetables and fruit that could previously only have been consumed locally. U.S. and British fishermen began to preserve their catches in ice, allowing longer voyages and bigger catches, and the brewing industry became operational all-year around. As U.S. ice exports diminished after 1870, Norway became a major player in the international market, shipping large quantities of ice to England and Germany.
At its peak at the end of the 19th century, the U.S. ice trade employed an estimated 90,000 people in an industry capitalised at $28 million ($660 million in 2010 terms), using ice houses capable of storing up to 250,000 tons (220 million kg) each; Norway exported a million tons (910 million kg) of ice a year, drawing on a network of artificial lakes. Competition had slowly been growing, however, in the form of artificially produced plant ice and mechanically chilled facilities. Unreliable and expensive at first, plant ice began to successfully compete with natural ice in Australia and India during the 1850s and 1870s respectively, until, by the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, more plant ice was being produced in the U.S. each year than naturally harvested ice. Despite a temporary increase in production in the U.S. during the war, the inter-war years saw the total collapse of the ice trade around the world. Today, ice is occasionally harvested for ice carving and ice festivals, but little remains of the 19th-century industrial network of ice houses and transport facilities. At least one New Hampshire campground still harvests ice to keep cabins cool during the summer.
Kitchens - Medieval
Tudor cook-along - Mince Pie > .
Medieval Peasant Women - Work, Food, Life - HiHi > .
Cook-along, Cookbook, Kitchens, Feast - Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian - arch >> .
Lean-to penthouse to house kitchens
The character of the smaller (Gloucester) cottages which lined the side lanes of the central area and the outer areas, such as St. Mary's Square, Hare Lane, and Watering Street (later St. Catherine Street), is indicated by a building lease of 1413 for four tenements on the west side of Craft's Lane (later College Court). Each was to have a hall and shop on the ground floor and a solar on the jettied upper floor, while a lean-to penthouse (shura) with brick chimneys was to be built along the back of the tenements to house kitchens.
By the end of the period many additions, in the form of penthouses, posts to support jetties, and the occasional new chimney, had been made to houses on the principal streets and side lanes of the central area. The resulting encroachments, though an added source of income, were sometimes a matter of concern to the town corporation, as in 1497 when it disputed alterations made by Gloucester Abbey to a house in the central row of buildings at the top of Westgate Street. Built wider and given cellar steps, steps up to the doorways, and shutters to the windows, it had narrowed the roadway on either side.
........
"Penthouse" (outbuilding) can be traced back to the Anglo-Norman word pentis (defined in AND#1 as ‘pentice’ and ‘small building’). This word, pentis, is an aphetic form (i.e. a word that loses its prefix, a process which is not uncommon in Anglo-Norman) of apentiz (also listed, separately, in the AND as ‘penthouse’ or ‘outbuilding’).
A pentis seems to have referred to any kind of structure appended to the wall of another building, and the evidence suggests that this structure may have been anything from a covered walkway, projecting porch, or shelter to a shed, annex or outhouse. Thus, a small house or annex with a sloped roof – which, as the dictionaries suggest, was one of the interpretations of what a medieval pentis could be.
http://anglonormandictionary.blogspot.ca/2015/04/word-of-month-penthouse.html
Henry VIII's kitchens at Hampton Court Palace
Henry VIII's Kitchens - Hampton Court Palace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwr68gROYM0
Anne Of Cleves House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gscm_IG7Mlw&t=7s
Wealden House
https://youtu.be/Gscm_IG7Mlw?t=1m41s
Kitchen
https://youtu.be/Gscm_IG7Mlw?t=7m6s
Turnspit dogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GRM4FO3Pc
History of the toilet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZHm3vkavgM
House & Home, Plumbing & Killers
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs5H4V1x-xBiK97zjWoyrsoC3m_Dg22Z7
Tudor Christmas Cookalong: Sauge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT_955ErcAE
Tudor Christmas Cookalong: Cormarye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUzWRfGGQVA
Cook-along, Cookbook, Kitchens, Feast - Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrYzzr8yja6HUcS_CAj7kMmiXCo__ulcP
Tudor - atlatli >> .
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL64-uvJRwJ5mdL6jKFF9IbBJzzF9EI9PA
Cook-along, Cookbook, Kitchens, Feast - Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrYzzr8yja6HUcS_CAj7kMmiXCo__ulcP
Cook-along, Cookbook, Kitchens, Feast - Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian - arch >> .
Lean-to penthouse to house kitchens
The character of the smaller (Gloucester) cottages which lined the side lanes of the central area and the outer areas, such as St. Mary's Square, Hare Lane, and Watering Street (later St. Catherine Street), is indicated by a building lease of 1413 for four tenements on the west side of Craft's Lane (later College Court). Each was to have a hall and shop on the ground floor and a solar on the jettied upper floor, while a lean-to penthouse (shura) with brick chimneys was to be built along the back of the tenements to house kitchens.
By the end of the period many additions, in the form of penthouses, posts to support jetties, and the occasional new chimney, had been made to houses on the principal streets and side lanes of the central area. The resulting encroachments, though an added source of income, were sometimes a matter of concern to the town corporation, as in 1497 when it disputed alterations made by Gloucester Abbey to a house in the central row of buildings at the top of Westgate Street. Built wider and given cellar steps, steps up to the doorways, and shutters to the windows, it had narrowed the roadway on either side.
........
"Penthouse" (outbuilding) can be traced back to the Anglo-Norman word pentis (defined in AND#1 as ‘pentice’ and ‘small building’). This word, pentis, is an aphetic form (i.e. a word that loses its prefix, a process which is not uncommon in Anglo-Norman) of apentiz (also listed, separately, in the AND as ‘penthouse’ or ‘outbuilding’).
A pentis seems to have referred to any kind of structure appended to the wall of another building, and the evidence suggests that this structure may have been anything from a covered walkway, projecting porch, or shelter to a shed, annex or outhouse. Thus, a small house or annex with a sloped roof – which, as the dictionaries suggest, was one of the interpretations of what a medieval pentis could be.
http://anglonormandictionary.blogspot.ca/2015/04/word-of-month-penthouse.html
Henry VIII's kitchens at Hampton Court Palace
Henry VIII's Kitchens - Hampton Court Palace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwr68gROYM0
Anne Of Cleves House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gscm_IG7Mlw&t=7s
Wealden House
https://youtu.be/Gscm_IG7Mlw?t=1m41s
Kitchen
https://youtu.be/Gscm_IG7Mlw?t=7m6s
Turnspit dogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GRM4FO3Pc
History of the toilet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZHm3vkavgM
House & Home, Plumbing & Killers
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs5H4V1x-xBiK97zjWoyrsoC3m_Dg22Z7
Tudor Christmas Cookalong: Sauge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT_955ErcAE
Tudor Christmas Cookalong: Cormarye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUzWRfGGQVA
Cook-along, Cookbook, Kitchens, Feast - Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrYzzr8yja6HUcS_CAj7kMmiXCo__ulcP
Tudor - atlatli >> .
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL64-uvJRwJ5mdL6jKFF9IbBJzzF9EI9PA
Cook-along, Cookbook, Kitchens, Feast - Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrYzzr8yja6HUcS_CAj7kMmiXCo__ulcP
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