Things start to get fruity in this third episode. Neil chooses almonds, fuelling a historical debate that goes a bit nuts. Apricots are more Allie’s jam as she looks at their use in literature and Sam takes the less beaten track of the aubergine, sparking memories of the time she made a parmigiana…on TV!

Useful Links

Neil's recipe for - or, rather, interpretation of - medieval blanc mange and modern, sweet blancmange.

‘Almond trees in Ancient Greek lore’ on the Greek News Agenda website

History of the Bimberlot Festival. ‘A French Party 600 Years in the Making’ by Hugh Thomas on the Smart Mouth Substack.

‘The "pretty art" of detecting pregnancy in The Duchess of Malfi’ by Claire McEwen Duncan via University of British Colombia Open Collections.

‘Eggplant (aubergine) — A Mad Apple with a Dark Liaison’ on the Vegetarians in Paradise website

‘Eggplant (aubergine) Symbol Timeline in Love in the Time of Cholera’ on the LitCharts website

Suggested Reading

In Search of Lost Time (1913) by Marcel Proust

The Experienced English Housekeeper (1769) by Elizabeth Raffald

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1605) by William Shakespeare

Apricot Jam and Other Stories (2008) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking (1987) by Hilary Spurling (based on the late sixteenth century manuscript notebook belonging to Elinor Fettiplace)

The Duchess of Malfi (1613) by John Webster

Pride and Pudding: The History of British Puddings, Savory and Sweet (2016) by Regula Ysewijn

Anything to add? Don’t forget we want to hear your suggestions for future topics.

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Ever wondered what the origins of the word jerk are? Or how you can tell whether your allspice is fresh? Sam, Neil and Allie seek answers to these questions in this mini bonus episode.

Suggested Reading

Hans Sloane, A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, with the natural history ... (Volume 1) (1707)

Hans Sloane, ‘A Description of the Pimienta or Jamaica Pepper-Tree, and of the Tree That Bears the Cortex Winteranus,’ in Philosophical Transactions (1686)

Melissa Thompson, Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook (2022)

We’ve been fine tuning our olfactory organs and immersing ourselves in a cloud of wonderful scents. In this episode Neil explains why asafoetida is a substitute for garlic and onions by some religious groups; Sam chats to food writer and broadcaster Melissa Thompson about jerk seasoning (which includes allspice) and Allie has a gripe about a literary misappropriation of aniseed.

Useful Links

For more information on Melissa Thompson visit the FOWL MOUTHS: Food & Recipe Project website or Instagram. Melissa’s book Motherland is a great read as well as being packed with mouthwatering recipes.

Neil’s recipe for Yorkshire Curd Tart and Seed Cake

Dogs and anise

Pepper cake recipe on Traditional Yorkshire Recipes blog

‘The Wandering Womb’ article in the New Yorker

Suggested Reading

• The History and Natural History of Spices: The 5,000-Year Search for Flavour by Ian Anderson, (2023)
• ‘Christopher Columbus, Gonzalo Pizarro, and the Search for Cinnamon’ by Andrew Dalby. Gastronomica, (2001)1(2), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2001.1.2.40
• The English Huswife (1615) by Gervase Markham
• Allspice Pepper Seasoning: Mexican Case by Miguel Angel Martinez Alfaro Virginia Evangelista Oliva, Myrna Mendoza Cruz Cristina Mapes and Francisco Basurto Peña
• ‘A Description of the Pimienta or Jamaica Pepper-Tree’ by Hans Sloane, in Philosophical Transactions (1686)
• A Natural History of Jamaica (1705) by Hans Sloane
• The Hobbit (1937) by JRR Tolkien
• Spice: The History of Temptation by Jack Turner. London: Harper Perennial (2004). Turner says that in Le Paradis sexuel des aphrodisiaques (1971) Marcel Rouet advocated rubbing your penis with pepper oil and allspice before intercourse (as an alternative to raw chillies) to drive your partner wild with excitement!