Almond and Celery Soup

Soups and dishes that were ‘white’ were a great old British speciality. They were very popular in the early Middle Ages, the white coming from pounded chicken or other pale meats, or from almonds. These nuts had been introduced from the Mediterranean, and had become an essential ingredient, added whole to dishes as a garnish, made into a milk (as we would coconut today), or pounded to use as a white thickening for a dish. In the past, cooks would have had to pound the whole shelled almonds