Thomas Tryon, Ep.4

I am grateful to Thomas Tryon (1634-1703) for providing virtually all of the content for my blog posts – including ‘recipes’ for the day - during this busy week. Several of Tryon’s Seventy-Five Noble Dishes include ‘spinnage’, but today I am going to give you a selection of his ideas on other vegetables. Tomorrow we will see if he has anything to offer us in the way of sweet treats.

27. Asparagus, boiled and eaten with Bread, Butter and Salt, is a most delicious Food, they afford a clean nourishment, and are friendly to the Stomach, opens Obstructions, loosens the Belly, and powerfully purges by Urine.
28. Artichokes boiled, and eaten with Bread, Butter, and Salt are an excellent Food, and generates a substantial nourishment; a Man may make a noble Meal of them.
29. Green Beans, boiled and eaten with Salt, Butter and Bread, is a most pleasant food, they gently open the Belly, affording a good nourishment, if you eat temperately of them, for they are an enticing Food. Let all People, subject to windy diseases, eat them sparingly.
30. French, or Kidney-Beans boiled in plenty of Water with a brisk Fire, and eaten with Bread, Butter, and Salt, makes a brave delightful Dish of Food, of a cleansing opening nature and operation, they purge by Urine, and gently open the Belly, affording a good nourishment, provided they are eaten temperately; which is chiefly to be regarded in all green Foods.
31. Green Pease boiled, and seasoned with Salt and Butter, and eaten with Bread, makes a most pleasant Dish of Food; their nourishment is not strong, they are windy if not sparingly eaten.
32. Dry Pease being boiled in plenty of good soft Water, being seasoned with Salt and Butter, makes a substantial Dish of Food, and affords a strong nourishment, and are good for all strong labouring Men.
33. Boiled Turnips make a very good Dish of Food, being seasoned with Salt and Butter, and eaten with Bread, especially for all young People; they open and cleanse the Passages, and are easie of digestion, and may with safety be eaten plentifully; their colour declares their excellent Virtues.
34. Parsnips boiled in plenty of good Water, seasoned with Salt, Vinegar, Butter and Mustard makes a brave substantial hearty Dish of Food, and are friendly to most Constitutions.
35. Carrets boiled and seasoned with Salt and Butter, and eaten with good Bread, is a fine Dish of Food, very pleasant and wholsom, and are of easie Concoction; the deep red are best.
36. Roasted or boiled Potatoes eaten with Butter, Salt, and Vinegar, makes a pleasant Dish of Food, very grateful to the Stomach, and are easie of digestion; now and then a Meal of them may do well.

Quotation for the Day

Consider also, that thy Life is near and dear to thee, that like is to be understood of all other Creatures, as I have at large demonstrated in our Way to Health, Long Life, and Happiness.
Thomas Tryon.