Book IV, chapters 8–10: Housekeeping and the increase of household-stuff

CHAP. VIII.

How the Ancients, when they had put their fruit into certain vessels, and so shut them up close, did put them also into some other vessels full of liquor.

HOwsoever the Ancients, by making up their vessels close, did shut out and keep away the air as being the Author of all putrefaction, so that it could not come in to the fruit: yet they did not by this means keep away the air out of those places where the vessels were laid, but that as the circumstant air was changed, either being disposed to heat, or cold, or drouth, or moisture, to the air also that is within, mustneeds be changed, and consequently, the fruit also must be affected with the same change. Wherefore, for the avoiding of all inconveniences which this way might ensue, after they had plaistered their fruit-vessels, and so made them up fast, they did drown these vessels in divers and sundry kinds of liquors. And surely not without great reason, as experience shews. For I have oft-times observed it, being seriously imployed in these affairs, that if the air be uniform, and without alteration, the fruits and flowers that have been shut up in vessels of glass, have lasted long without any putrefaction: but when once they felt any alteration in the air, presently they began to putrifie. For this cause are those vessels to be drowned in Cisterns, or ditches, o[…] some places underneath the ground, that so the variable alterations of the air may not be felt by the fruit. And, to descend to experiments, we will first shew,

How Quince-pears being shut up close, may be drowned for their better preservation.

An experiment which Democritus hath set down. You must put your Quince-pears into a new earthen-vessel, and then cover it, and pitch it all over, and so put it into a but of wine; but so, that they may have scope to swim upon the top of the Wine: for by this means shall you keep your fruit fresh and good for a long time; and besides, the wine wherein they float, will have a very fragrant savour. Likewise

Apples being shut up close, and then put into Cisterns, will last long,

As Palladius sheweth. You must put your apples, saith he, into earthen vessels, well pitched and made up close: and when you have so done, drown those vessels in a Cistern, or else in a pit. Pliny putteth apples in earthen Basons, and so lets them swim in wine; for, saith he, the wine by this means will yield a more odoriferous smell. Apuleius saith, that Apples are to be put into a new pot, and the pot to be put into a Hogs-head of wine that there it may swim, and play on the top of the wine; for so, the Apples will be preserved by the wine, and the wine will be the better for the Apples. So

Figs being shut up close, may be drowned for their better preservation,

As Africanus affirmeth. They take figs, saith he, that are not very ripe, and put them into a new earthen vessel; but they gather them with their tails or stalks upon them, and lay them up every one in a several cell by it self: and when they have so done, they put the vessel into an Hogs-head of wine, and so preserve their figs. I have also proved it by experience, that

Peaches being shut up in wooden Cisterns, have been well preserved by drowning.

And I have proved […] also in other kinds of Apples, that if they be shut up in a small vessel that is very well pitched on the utter side, and so drowned in the bottom of a Cistern of water, and kept down by some weights within the water, that it may not float, they may be preserved many moneths without any putrefaction. By a sleight not much unlike to this,

Pomegranates may be preserved in a Pipe or But that is half full of water,

as Palladius sheweth. You must hang up your Pomegranates within the But; yet so, that they must not touch the water; and the But must be shut up close, that the wind may not come in. And as fruit may be thus preserved, if the vessels be drowned in water or other liquor; so there are some of opinion, that, if you hide those vessels underneath the ground, you may by this means also eschew the danger of the alterations that are in the air. Columella sheweth, that

Cervises being shut up close, and so laid under ground, will thereby last the longer.

When you have gathered your Cervises charily by hand, you must put them into vessels that are well pitched, and lay also pitched coverings upon them, and plaister them over with morter: then make certain ditches or trenches about two foot deep in some dry place within doors; and in them so place your pitchers, that the mouth may be downward: then throw in the earth upon them, and tread it in somewhat hard. It is best to make many trenches, that the vessels may stand asunder, not above one or two in a trench; for when you have use of them, if you would take up any one of the vessels, none of the rest must be stirred; for if they be, the Cervises will soon putrifie. Pliny reports the like out of Cato: that Cervises are put into earthen vessels well pitched, the covering being plaistered over with morter, and then put in certain ditches or pits about two foot deep; the place being somewhat open, and the vessels set with the mouth downward. And Palladius writes out of those two Authors, that Cervises must be gathered while they be somewhat hard, and laid up even when they begin to be ripe; they must be put in earthen pitchers, so that the vessels be filled up to the top, and covered over with morter, and laid in a ditch two foot deep, in a dry place where the Sun cometh; and the mouths of the vessels must stand downward, and the earth must be trodden in upon them. The same Author writeth that

Pears being shut up in vessels, and so laid under the ground, will last the longer.

You must take those pears which are hard both in skin, and in skin and substance: These you must lay upon an heap; and when they begin to wax soft, put them into an earthen vessel which is well pitched, and lay a covering on it, and plaister it over with morter. Then the vessel must be buried in a small ditch, in such a place as the sun doth daily shine upon. Others as soon as the pears are gathered, lay them up with their stalks upon them in pitcht vessels, and close up the vessels with morter or else with pitch; and then lay them abroad upon the ground, covering them all over with sand. Others make special choice of such pears as are very sound, somewhat hard and green; and these they shut up into a pitcht vessel, and then cover it and set the mouth of it downward, and bury it in a little ditch in such a place as the water runs round about it continually. In like manner also

Apples being shut up close, may be hidden within the ground for their better preservation,

As Pliny sheweth. You must dig a trench in the ground about two foot deep, and lay sand in the bottom of it, and there put in your apples; then cover the pit first with an earthen lid, and then with earth thrown upon it. Some put their apples in earthen basons, and then bury them. Others put them into a ditch that hath sand cast into the bottom of it, and cover it onely with dry earth. The like device it is whereby

Pomegranates are preserved in small Buts which have sand in them.

You must fill a small But up to the middle with sand, and then take your pomegranates, and put the stalk of them every one into a several cane, or into the bough of an Elder-tree; and let them be so placed asunder in the sand, that the fruit may stand some four fingers above the sand: but the vessel must be set within the ground in some open place. This also may be done within doors, in a ditch two foot deep. Others fill up the But half full of water, and hang the pomegranates within the But, that they may not touch the water; and shut up the But close that no air may come in. Cato sheweth how

Filberds may be preserved within the ground,

You must take them while they be new, and put them into a pitcher, and so lay them in the ground; and they will be as fresh when you take them forth, as when you put them in. In like manner Palladius sheweth that

Chestnuts may be preserved,

if you put them in new earthen vessels, and bury them in some dry place within the ground. He saith also that

Roses being shut up, may be buried in the ground for their better preservation,

if they be laid up in a pot, and well closed, and so buried in some open place. But now we will shew

How all things that are shut up, may be preserved for many years.

Fruits are to be laid up in vials of glass, as we shewed before: and when the pipe or neck of the glass is stopt close up, then they are to be drowned in cisterns, and they will last good for certain whole years. Likewise, flowers are to be closed up in a vessel that is somewhat long, and the neck of it must be stopt up, as we shewed before, and then they must be cast into the water: for by this means they may be kept fresh for a long time. I have also put new wine into an earthen vessel that hath been glazed within, and have laid it in the water with a waight upon it to keep it down; and a year after, I found it in the same taste and goodness, as when I put it into the vessel. By the like device as this is, we may preserve

Things that are shut up, even for ever,

if we wrap them up in some commixtion with other things, so that the air may not pierce them through; but especially, if the commixtion it self be such, as is not subject to putrefaction. I have made trial hereof in Amber; first reducing it to a convenient softness, and then wrapping up in it that which I desired to preserve: For whereas the Amber may be seen thorow, it doth therefore represent unto the eye the perfect semblance of that which is within it, as if it were living, and so sheweth it to be sound, and without corruption. After this manner I have lapped up Bees and Lyzards in Amber, which I have shewed to many, and they have been perswaded that they were the Bees and the Lyzards that Martial speaks of. We see every where that the hairs of beasts, and leaves, and fruits, being lapped up in this juice, are kept for ever; the Amber doth eternize them. Martial speaks thus of the Bee, A Bee doth lie hidden within the Amber, and yet she shines in it too; as though she were even closed up within her own honey: A worthy reward she hath there for all her labours; and, if she might make choice of her own death, it is likely she would have desired to die in Amber. And the same Author speaks thus of the Viper, being caught as it were in the same juice: The Viper comes gliding to the dropping Pine-tree, and presently the Amber juice doth overflow her: and while she marvails at it, how she should be so entangled with that liqour, upon the sudden it closeth upon her, and waxeth stiff with cold. Then let not Cleopatra boast her self in her Princely Tomb, seeing the Viper is interred in a Nobler Tomb then she. But if you desire to know how to make Amber soft, though there be divers ways whereby this may be effected, yet let this way alone content you, to cast it into hot boiling wax that is scummed and clarified: for, by this means it will become so soft and pliant, that you may easily fashion it with your fingers, and make it framable to any use. Onely you must bee sure that it be very new.

CHAP. IX.

How Fruits may be drenched in Honey, to make them last for a long time.

THe Antients finding by experience, that the shutting up of fruits in vessels, and the drenching of those vessels in water, was a notable preservative against corruption, did thence proceed farther, and began to drench the fruits themselves in divers kinds of liqours; supposing that they might be the longer preserved, if they were sowsed in honey, wine, vineger, brine, and such like, in as much as these liquors have an especial vertue against putrefaction: For honey hath an excellent force to preserve, not fruits onely, but also even the bodies of living creatures from being putrefied, as we have elsewhere shewed that Alexanders body, and the carkass of the Hippocentaur were preserved in honey. Meer water they did not use in this case; because, that being moist in it self, might seem rather to cause putrefaction. But of all other liquors, honey was most in request for this purpose, they supposing it to be a principal preserver against corruption. Columella saith

That Quinces may be preserved in honey without putrefaction;

We have nothing more certain by experience, saith he, then that Quinces are well preserved in honey. You must take a new flagon that is very broad brimmed, and put your Quuinces into it, so that they may have scope within, that one may not bruise another; then when your pot is full to the neck, take some withy twigs, and plat them over the pots mouth, that they may keep down the Quinces somewhat close, least when they should swell with liquor, they should float too high: then fill up your vessel to the very brimme with excellent good liquefi'd honey, so that the Quinces may be quite drowned in it. By this means, you shall not onely preserve the fruit very well, but also you shall procure such a well relished liquor, that it will be good to drink of. But in any case take heed, that your Quinces be through ripe which you would thus preserve: for if they were gathered before they were ripe, they will be so hard, that they cannot be eaten. And this is such an excellent way, that though the worm have seized upon the Quinces before they were gathered, yet this will preserve them from being corrupted any farther: for such is the nature of honey, that it will suppress any corruption, and not suffer it to spread abroad: for which cause it will preserve the dead carkass of a man, for many years together, without putrefaction. Palladius saith, that Quinces must be gathered when they are ripe, and so put into honey, whole as they are, and thereby they will be long preserved. Pliny would have them first to be smeared over with wax, and then to be sowsed in honey. Apitius saith, Quinces must be gathered with their boughes and leaves, and they must be without any blemish, and so put into a vessel full of honey and new wine. The Quinces that were thus dressed, were called Melimela, that is to say, Apples preserved in honey: as Martial witnesseth, saying, Quinces sowsed in pure honey, that they have drunk themselves full, are called Melimela. Likewise Columella sheweth that

Other kind of Apples may be so preserved,

Not onely the Melimela, but also the Pome-paradise, and the Sestian Apples, and other such dai[…]ties may be preserved in honey: but because they are made sweeter by the honey, and so lose their own proper relish which their nature and kind doth afford, therefore he was wont to preserve them by another kind of practise. Palladius saith, That

Pears may be preserved in Honey,

if a hey be so laid up therein, that one of them may not touch another. So Africanus reporteth, That

Figgs may be long preserved in Honey,

if they be so disposed and placed in it, that they neither touch each other, nor yet the vessel wherein they be put; and when you have so placed them, you must make fast the lid of the vessel upon them, and there let them lie without troubling them. And Palladius reports the same: Green Figs, saith he, may be preserved in Honey, if you place them so that they may not touch each other. Florentinus also sheweth, That

Cherries may be preserved in Honey,

if you put them into a vessel that is strawed in the bottom with Savory, and so cast some honey upon them; but your honey must be somewhat sharpe. So likewise

Medlars may be preserved in Honey,

to last a great while without rotting, as Palladius sheweth: but then they must be gathered before they be throughly ripe. Martial sheweth also, That

Nuts may be preserved in Honey,

to be green all the year long; and he speaks it of his own trial and experience. You must take green Nuts, and pluck them out of their shells, and so let them be sowsed in honey: and the honey wherein they are sowsed, will become very medicinable, insomuch that if you make a potion of it, it will be very helpful to cure the Arteries, and the Jaws. Palladius saith, That

Peaches may be preserved in Honey,

if you take out the stone before you sowse them; and besides that they will last long, this will also make them to be very well relished. He saith also that they may be well preserved in the liquor Oxymel. To be brief, Columella saith plainly that there is no kind of fruit but may be well preserved in honey. But he prescribes it for a general rule in this case, that every kind of fruit should be preserved in several by it self: for if you lay up divers kinds of fruits together, one of them will corrupt and marre the other. So also

Grapes may be preserued in Honey,

and they will last long without any blemish in them, if they be so preserved, as Didymus writeth. But we will shew now,

What kinds of fruits are best preserved in Honey.

For, I have endeavoured my self in this Practise, how to keep fruits without putrefaction, and for this cause, I laid up all kinds of fruits in vessels of glass filled with honey, that so I might prove, which might be preserved longest: and I found great difference among them, some kinds lasting long and some but a little while. For, the fruits that were by their own kind, full of moisture, did attaint the honey; so that the honey being it self attainted, was not possibly able to preserve the fruit from putrefaction. Grapes, Figgs, and Peaches are soon putrified by reason of their moistness; Quinces, Apples, and Pears do last longer uncorrupted; but Nuts will will last green and sound a whole year together.

CHAP. X.

How fruits may be long preserved in ordinary wine, or sodden wine, or new wine, or else in wine-lees.

THe Ancients likewise perceiving, that wine would keep all things, and that grapes-stones lighting into the wine as it was barrelled up, did continue whole in the barrels for the space of a whole year; thence they gathered, that those fruits which were laid up in wine, would be well preserved from putrefaction. Neither did they stay there, but also proceeded to use sodden wine, new wine, vinegar, and wine-lees, for that purpose, because all these have a smatch of the substance of wine it self. But we considering that there may be a very pure and durable liquour extracted out of the substance of wine (for wine, as it is of it self, will sooner be corrupted) have therefore used the help of that extraction, whereby to preserve things sound and good time out of mind. But to return to them, and set down their examples. Palladius sheweth, That

Quinces may be preserved in wine.

For, if we lay them up in vessels filled with very good wine, half with ordinary wine, and half with new wine, we shall by this means preserve Quinces a great while. Others sowse them in barrels of new wine onely, and so close them up; whereby they cause the wine to yield a very fragrant smell. So Democritus makes choice of the fairest and soundest quinces, and putteth them into barrels of new wine, and thereby doth preserve his quinces and better his wine. So

Apples may be preserved floating in wine,

as the same Author sheweth. You must put some few apples into a barrel of wine that they may float up and down, and so shall you also better the wine. Democritus would have them to be put into earthen pots; but Apuleius would have them put into barrels, and so closed up; and thus, saith he, shall you procure an admirable sweetness and pleasantness in the wine. Others would have them put into a new pot, and the pot to be drenched into a barrel of wine, so that they may there swim, and then the barrel to be made up close; for this will be best both for the wine and also for the apples. Likewise

Figgs may be long preserved in wine,

as Africanus sheweth. You must make a new earthen pot, not altogether round, but rather somewhat square, having a good sound bottom; then you must gather your figs with their sprigs and stalkes, and that before they be through ripe; then put them fresh into your vessel, and place them so that they may lie from each other a pretty distance; and so put them in a barrel full of wine, and there let them swim; but the barrel must be very well closed up, that the air get not in: and until the wine change and become sowrish, the figs will never change, but continue in the same estate as when they were put in. Palladius doth report the very same experiment out of the very same Author. Beritius sheweth, That

Mulberries may be preserved in wine:

But it must be such wine as is made of Mulberries; and the vessells wherein they are put, must be made up very close. Likewise Pamphilius sheweth, That

Damosins may be preserved in wine,

if they be put into Hogsheads either of sweet wine, or else new wine, there to swim up and down, and the Hogsheads well covered. Palladius also teacheth, That the fruit,

Ziziphum may be preserved in wine.

so that it shall not have any screwls or wrinkles: for, if it be fresh gathered, and suppled with drops of new wine, it will continue plumpe and full without any wrinkles. Didymus sheweth

How Grapes may be preserved in wine,

You must take a barrel that is half full of new wine, and therein hang up your grapes in such sort, as the clusters may not touch each other, nor any of them touch the wine: for by this means they will continue as sound as they were upon the Vine. Some do preserve them in wine that is alayed with water. Grapes thus preserved in wine, have been in great request among the Ancients. Athenaeus makes mention of them out of Eubulus in Agglutinat[…]: you must, saith he, minister unto him good store of grapes preserved in wine: And Pherecrates, among other things that are to be eaten, makes mention of grapes that were taken out of wine. Cato sheweth, That

Pears may be long preserved in sodden wine,

especially the Tarentine-pears, and the Must-pears, and the Gourd-pears. Varro saith, That the pears called Anciana, and Sementina are to be preserved in sodden wine. Pliny saith, That the Tarentine-pears, and the Anciana are so preserved. Palladius saith, That they may be preserved either in sodden wine or else in new wine; but, saith he, The vessels which they are put into, must be filled up with that liquor wherein they are to be preserved; which very same precept he learned out of Democritus. Columella sheweth how to make this kind of sodden wine of that sweet wine which is called Mustum. Palladius sheweth also, how that kind of

Peaches, which hath the hardest stone, may be preserved long in sodden wine,

You must fill up the Navel of the Peach (or that place wherein the stalk was fastned) with a drop or two of scalding pitch, so that the wine may not get into the peach by that passage; and then shut up the vessel very close, that the air may not get in. Columella saith, That

Cervises may be long preserved in new wine,

if you plat some dry fennel above them, to keep them under, that still the liquor may overflow them: but the coverings or lids of the vessels must be well pitched, and plaistered over with morter, that the air may have no access unto them. Pliny saith, That Cervises are to be preserved in sodden wine, by the judgement of Cato. Palladius also saith, That Cervises may be preserved long in sodden wine. Columella sheweth

That Grapes may be preserved in new wine,

You must take a barrel that is well pitched, and put into it a certain quantity of new wine; then make a hurdle as it were, of good stiff rods platted together, a little above the liquor: then place upon those hurdles, certain new earthen vessels, and therein so dispose your grapes that they may not touch each other; then cover your vessels and stop them up, after that, make another such a loft of hurdles, and then another, and so forward, as far as the greatness of the barrel will give you leave; and in every one of those rooms place your grapes, as in the first: then take the pitched cover of your barrel, and smear it all over with good store of new wine, and when you have laid it upon the barrel, make it up close, and lay ashes upon it. Others make no more ado, but onely put their new wine into the barrel, and make certain hurdles over the wine, and there hang their grapes out of the reach of the wine, and so cover the barrel and stop it up. The same Author likewise reporteth, That

Damosins may be long kept in new Wine.

About harvest time, you must gather Damosins not being throughly ripe, nor yet too green, (but they must be wilde Damosins, such as are in colour like to the Onix[…]one) and you must dry them in some shadowy place, the third day after they were gathered: then you must mingle vineger with new Wine, or else with sodden wine, in equal portions, and so put your Damosins into it. But they will be preserved the better, if you make your medley of a certain quantity of vineger, blended with twice so much water. Or else you may take the purple-coloured Damosins, and lay them up in an earthen vessel well pitched, and then fill it either with new, or else with sodden wine, so that the whole fruit may lie under the liquor; and then lay the covering upon the vessel, and plaister it up. We may also preserve

Cucumbers in the Lees of Wine,

as the Quintiles are of opinion. You must, say they, put your Cucumbers into the Lees of White-wine, before it be sowre, and see that your vessel be top-full; for by this means your Cucumbers will last fresh and good a great while. Didymus writes, that

Olives and Grapes may be kept together.

You must take Grapes while they be fresh, and new, and whole, and lay them up in a vessel amongst Olives, so placed, that every Olive may stand betwixt two Grapes, and so every Grape betwixt two Olives; and thus, the vessel being well closed up, they will preserve each other. Columella saith, that

Corneile, or Hamberry may be kept in Lees;

and if it be well preserved so, it will serve to be used in the stead of Olives. Ovid declares this in the eighth book of his Metamorphosis. Columella shews that

Grapes may be preserved fresh and green in the Lees of wine.

You must gather your grapes when they are of a reasonable ripeness, and then lay them upon certain hurdles, so that one cluster may not touch the other: then bring them within doors, and tuck away the dry, and withered, and rotten grapes with a pair of tuckers: and when they have lyen a while cooling out of the Sun, take three or four clusters according as the bigness of your pot is, and put them into it amongst the Lees; and let the lid be made up fast with pitch, that the liquor may not break forth. Then you must take a great many of Vine-stalks, and squeeze or press them well, with their grapes upon them: then lay the stalks and husks in the bottom of a barrel, and therein place your pots that you have filled with Lees and Grapes, and let their mouths stand downward, and let them stand in distance each from other, so that you may ram in good store of Grape-kernels betwixt them: and when you have filled the room with Grape-stones stuff[…] in hard about the pots; you must make a second room like the first, and fill it up in the same manner: likewise you must make a third room and so forward, till the barrel be thoroughly filled even to the very brim, with pots, and Grape-stones crammed in fast and thick about them; then straightway cover the barrel and make it up close, and lay ashes upon it. But you must look to it, when you take forth any of the pots, that you take out a whole row together: for the Grape-stones being stamped in thick together must not be stirred; if they be, they will become sowrish very soon, and so they will marre the grapes. The Quintiles say, that

Cucumbers may be preserved in vineger;

and that very fresh and in their natural strength, if you hang them up in a vessel that hath some vineger in it, that they may not touch the vineger, and then close up the vessel fast, that the air may not pass into it; for by this means you may have green and new Cucumbers in the Winter-time. So all other fruits may be preserved in vineger: but because vineger doth mar the taste of them, therefore we will not speak of such preservings. But hereby we have learned to preserve, time out of mind,

All things with distilled wine:

for wine is of it self subject to putrefaction many wayes: but when it is often distilled, that the quintessence be extracted from it, this extraction is free from all putrefaction whatsoever: wherefore all things that are drenched in this kind of liquor, if the vessel be carefully closed up, must needs last unputrified even for a whole age, nay for all eternity. At Rome, I saw a fish that was drenched in the water that had been distilled out of the Vine, and she was preserved five and twenty years, as fresh as while she was alive: and at Florence, I saw the like of fourty years continuance: the vessel was made of glass, and made up with the seal of Hermes. And I make no question, but that all things that are sowced in this kind of liquor, will last sound and good for many ages. How many sorts of things I have preserved by this one means, it were too long here to rehearse.