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Chapter Five

Appears in
Fool's Gold: A History of British Saffron
Fool's Gold

By Sam Bilton

Published 2022

  • About
  • 1 Housman (1930), p. 212. Captain the Honorable Colwyn Erasmus Arnold Philipps, Royal Horse Guards, Flanders, November 13, 1914.
  • 2 Duffett (2011), pp. 453-73. Bully beef is a variety of salt cured or ‘corned’ minced beef mixed with gelatin. Hard tack biscuits were hard, dry biscuits made from wheat flour, water and salt.
  • 3 Housman (1930), p. 79. From a diary letter describing the Battle of Arras. Rev. Creighton was eventually killed by an aeroplane bomb in France on 15 April 1918 at the age of 35.
  • 4 Housman (1930), p. 212. Captain the Honorable Colwyn Erasmus Arnold Philipps, Royal Horse Guards, Flanders, November 13, 1914 Captain Philipps was killed in action in Flanders, on 13 May, 1915 at the age of 27. Although the available food was dull it was initially plentiful. However, there were shortages towards the end of the war.
  • 5 KKA DCNEW/243/47. A note on the Kresen Kernow archives date base suggests that the letter was written by Lance-Corporal Fred H Passmore reported dead in the Newquay Express, 17 May 1918. He is recorded as husband of Mrs Passmore who managed the Domestic Bazaar, and son of late Baptist minister, Reverend FT Passmore. He was killed in France on 1 May 1918 and had been in France for two years. Prior to this he worked for Mr Robert E. Pearce, chemist.
  • 6 ‘Parcels For the Boys’, Newquay Express, 14 December 1917, p. 8.
  • 7 KKA DCNEWQ/243/79 Kresen Kernow archives. Ennor was reported in the Newquay Express, 13 October 1916, as being as being ‘well known in soccer circles as the Cornwall County half-back’. He was the son of John Ennor surveyor to the Newquay Urban Council. His brother Reginald died on the front line in 1916, aged just 24.
  • 8 Duffett (2011), pp. 453-73.
  • 9 KKA DCNEW/243/43
  • 10 Courtney (1890), p. 6; Clinnick (1926), p. 31.
  • 11 Courtney (1890) p. 1; Woods (2013), pp. 76-7.
  • 12 Martin (1930), pp.18-9.
  • 13 Quiller Couch (1963), p. 124.
  • 14 Edwards (1965), pp. 35-80. Despite his assertion that ‘I bear the rich and love the poor; therefore I spend almost all my time with them,’ (September 20, 1764) Wesley was actually dismissive of the agricultural classes. He believed agricultural labourers to be ‘grossly stupid’, and considered them to be on the same level ‘as a turk or a heathen’ in terms of their religious understanding.
  • 15 ‘John Wesley and Methodism’, Cornwall Guide <https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/history/people/john_wesley.htm> (accessed 30 December 2021).
  • 16 Edwards (1965), p. 67
  • 17 Thompson (2005), pp. 74-5. John Wesley himself was against tea drinking and wrote a pamphlet in 1748 warning of the ill effects of this beverage.
  • 18 Merrick (2010), p. 47; Courtney (1890), p.26.
  • 19 Markham (1998), p. 115.
  • 20 Dawson (1587) No page given.
  • 21 Herrick, Robert. ‘To Dianeme. A Ceremony In Gloucester’, luminarium.org <http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/simnel.htm> (accessed 30/12/21)
  • 22 Chambers (1864), p. 336.
  • 23 Boorde (1542), p. 261.
  • 24 Boorde (1542) p.80; Wilson (1985), pp. 46-52.
  • 25 Brillat-Savarin (1994), p. 13.
  • 26 Woolgar (2018), pp. 1-20.
  • 27 Woolgar (2018), pp. 1-20.
  • 28 Wilson (1991), pp. 17-26. Kitāb al-TabÄ«kh was translated by A. J. Arberry in 1939 and for a long time was the ‘only medieval Arabic cookery book known to the English speaking world’. It was reissued in 2001 by Prospect Books as ‘A Baghdad Cookery Book’ in Medieval Arab Cookery.
  • 29 Woolgar (2018), p. 3.
  • 30 Craig, W.J., (ed.) The Winter’s Tale, Act Act IV. Scene II. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, London: Oxford University Press: 1914.
  • 31 Cosman (1995), p.71. Aromatic herbs like parsley were also used to create green breads and sanders (produced from the red sandalwood tree) was added to create pink or red tinged breads. Woolgar (2018), pp. 15-6.
  • 32 Woolgar (2018), pp. 15-6; Woolgar (1992), p. 14. For details of the Countess of Norfolk’s household accounts, see Ridgard (1985), pp. 86-128. Bond (2017), p. 72.
  • 33 Woolgar (1992), pp. 7-8. While the wardrobe accounts dealt with the luxuries the diet accounts kept a record of the daily incomings and outgoings of the household. This included the pantry, buttery, kitchen and marshalsea. The expenses were entered for each day – per dietas – hence diet or week by week.
  • 34 Ridgard (1984), pp. 103-4.
  • 35 Ridout (2011), pp. 1-6. Officers for King Henry III’s household had visited the fair in 1250 to buy cloth. Kings Hall bought provisions from the fair including saffron, almonds and mustard seeds.
  • 36 KKA AR/37/41/1.
  • 37 Cokayne, G. E. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant, London: St Catherine’s Press. (1910) pp. 374-5. This assault was far from an isolated incident. Cokayne adds ‘In August 1397 he was accused by the Abbot of Hartland of breaking into the latter’s houses, assaulting him and chasing him into his chamber, and ill-treating his servants.’ KKA AR/37/44.
  • 38 Woolgar (2018), pp. 1-20.
  • 39 Austin (1888), p. 23. Dairy and almond milk were excellent at taking on colour.
  • 40 Woolgar (2018), p. 15.
  • 41 Pegge (2008), p. 81. Serpell was a name for wild thyme. The addition of saffron makes this sauce the most vivid green.
  • 42 Austin (1888), p. 35. Curiously, despite the title of the recipe there is no ginger in it. Woolgar (2018, p. 8) notes that Saracen dishes were often coloured red with Sandalwood.
  • 43 Austin (1888), p. 93. A little further on in the manuscript a similar recipe called ‘Risshewes de Frut’ instructs the cook to make a paste (pastry) including saffron.
  • 44 Wilson (1991), p. 19-20; Woolgar (2018), p. 13. Le MĂ©nagier de Paris was an instruction manual written by a wealthy, older gentleman for his very young wife who was inexperienced in household matters.
  • 45 Austin (1888). See p. 47 ‘Tartes de Chare’ and p. 40 ‘Cokyntryce’ respectively.
  • 46 Austin (1888), p. 81.
  • 47 Cosman (1995), p. 63.
  • 48 Pegge (2008), p. 94. Note that the initial instruction is to make a green batter with parsley although saffron, which would produce a golden colour, is suggested as a substitute.
  • 49 Cosman (1995), pp. 63-4; Power (1928), p. 310.
  • 50 Anon (1740), p. 355.
  • 51 Byron (1915), p. 117.
  • 52 Woolley (1670), p. 74.
  • 53 Marshall (1894), advertising appendix p. 23. The Food Standards Agency website explains that food colours were being used to disguise poor quality food and to mislead the consumer into believing they were buying something else. As a result, food poisoning was common and in 1851, approximately 200 people were poisoned in Britain, 17 of them fatally, as a result of eating coloured lozenges. This would eventually lead to the introduction of the Adulteration of Food and Drink Act of 1860. <https://www.safefood.net/food-colours/history>

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