Frumenty (sometimes ''frumentee'', ''furmity'', ''fromity'', or ''fermenty'') was a popular dish in

Western European Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

medieval cuisine Medieval cuisine includes foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, which lasted from the fifth to the fifteenth century. During this period, diets and cooking changed less than they did in t ...

. It is a

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...

, a thick boiled grain dish—hence its name, which derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

word ''frumentum'', "grain". It was usually made with cracked

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeolog ...

boiled with either

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulati ...

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...

and was a

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

staple. More luxurious recipes include eggs, almonds, currants, sugar,

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma (botany), stigma and stigma (botany)#style, styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly ...

and

orange flower water Orange flower Orange flower water, or orange blossom water, is a clear aromatic by-product of the distillation of fresh bitter-orange blossoms for their essential oil. Uses This essential water has traditionally been used as an aromatizer i ...

. Frumenty was served with meat as a

pottage Pottage or potage (, ; ) is a term for a thick soup or stew made by boiling vegetables, grains, and, if available, meat or fish. It was a staple food for many centuries. The word ''pottage'' comes from the same Old French root as ''potage'', ...

, traditionally with

venison Venison originally meant the meat of a game animal but now refers primarily to the meat of antlered ungulates such as elk or deer (or antelope in South Africa). Venison can be used to refer to any part of the animal, so long as it is edible ...

or even

porpoise Porpoises are a group of fully aquatic marine mammals, all of which are classified under the family Phocoenidae, parvorder Odontoceti (toothed whales). Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals ...

(considered a "fish" and therefore appropriate for

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and L ...

). It was also frequently used as a subtlety, a dish between courses at a banquet.

In England

History

Florence White, founder of the English Folk Cookery Association, wrote in '' Good Things in England'' (1932) that frumenty is England's "oldest national dish". For several centuries, frumenty was part of the traditional Celtic Christmas meal. According to an 1822 ''Time's Telescope'', in Yorkshire, on Christmas Eve: It was often eaten on Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday of

, i.e. late spring. On that day many servants were allowed to visit their mothers and were often served frumenty to celebrate and give them a wholesome meal to prepare them for their return journey. The use of eggs would have been a brief respite from the Lenten fast. In Lincolnshire, frumenty was associated with

sheep-shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a ''shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

in June. A diarist recalled of his youth in the 1820s that "almost every farmer in the village made a large quantity of frumenty on the morning they began to clip; and every child in the village was invited to partake of it". A second batch, of better quality, was produced later and taken round in buckets to every house in the village. Food historian

Polly Russell Polly Elisabeth Russell is a food historian and curator at the British Library with responsibility for research on social science and food. She writes a food history column for the weekend magazine of the ''Financial Times'' and from 2015 has be ...

describes one of the first English recipes for it in the 1390 manuscript ''

The Forme of Cury ''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Middle French : 'to cook') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most fa ...

'', and how this served as the inspiration for the 2013 Christmas menu at

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is a restaurant in London, England, created by Heston Blumenthal. Opened in January 2011, it received a Michelin star within a year and earned its second in 2014. In April 2014, it was listed fifth on The World's 50 ...

, transforming Victorian

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

food for paupers into modern luxurious dining.

Literary references

''Frumentee'' is served with

at a banquet in the mid-14th century North Midlands poem '' Wynnere and Wastoure'': "Venyson with the frumentee, and fesanttes full riche / Baken mete therby one the burde sett", i.e. in modern English, "Venison with the frumenty and

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...

s full rich; baked meat by it on the table set". The dish also appears, likewise paired with venison, at the New Year feast in the Middle English poem known as ''The

Alliterative Morte Arthure The Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'' is a 4346-line Middle English alliterative poem, retelling the latter part of the legend of King Arthur. Dating from about 1400, it is preserved in a single copy in the early 15th-century Lincoln Thornton Manus ...

'' (c.1400): "Flesh flourisht of fermison, with frumentee noble." The dish, described as 'furmity' and served with fruit and a slug of rum added under the counter, plays a role in the plot of

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wo ...

's novel '' The Mayor of Casterbridge''. It is also mentioned in

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

's ''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' (also known as ''Alice Through the Looking-Glass'' or simply ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a novel published on 27 December 1871 (though indicated as 1872) by Lewis Carroll and the ...

'' as a food that snapdragon flies live on. Snapdragon was a popular game at Christmas, and Carroll's mention of frumenty shows it was known to him as a holiday food. And it appears in a girl's recitation of holiday traditions, in '' My Lady Ludlow'', published 1858, by

Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...

: "furmenty on Mothering Sunday, Violet cakes in Passion Week." (Chapter 2)

Recipes

Steve Roud, librarian and folklorist, compiled a compendium of ''The English Year'' including three recipes for frumenty.Roud, Steve (2006), ''The English Year'', ; p.536 They show considerable variation with place and time. A healthy dose of spirit is often mentioned as accompanying the frumenty.

Elsewhere

A dish made with boiled cracked wheat and soured milk was made in

Ancient Persia The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Step ...

, and is still used, often as the basis for a soup, in Greece and Cyprus (as ''trahanas''), and in Turkey (''

tarhana Tarhana is a dried food ingredient, based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or fermented milk, found in the cuisines of Central Asia, Southeast Europe and the Middle East. Dry tarhana has a texture of coarse, uneven crumbs, and it is ...

''). '' Kutia'' is an Eastern European dish to a similar recipe.

References

External links

Middle Ages recipes
{{Puddings Puddings Porridges Medieval cuisine English cuisine Christmas food Wheat dishes