Image: Thomas Cotes · CC0
Theatrum Botanicum
- Year
- 1640
- Era
- 17th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- Dairy/Brewing/Garden
Theatrum Botanicum, issued in 1640, stands as the most comprehensive English herbal of its century, surveying some four thousand plants arranged into tribes or classes according to use and virtue. John Parkinson, apothecary and royal botanist to Charles I, gathered medicinal, culinary, and garden species alike, recording kitchen herbs, salading greens, and orchard fruits alongside their preparations. The work remained a standard reference for English gardeners, cooks, and physicians well into the following century.
Cooking from this book
Candied Eringo Roots
Signature dishAmong the many plants catalogued by Parkinson, the sea holly or eringo holds a special place, its long taproots traditionally preserved in sugar to make a glittering sweetmeat much prized in seventeenth century England. Parkinson celebrates the eringo for its supposed restorative virtues as well as its place in the still room, and his great herbal helped fix the candied root in the English imagination as both confection and cordial.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
