- Wafres A
flat
cake baked in an iron form resembling an old-fashioned waffle iron.
Wafers
were often commercially made and were widely popular with many names: cialdone,
nevole, nelles, neules, lozanges, oublies,
hosties, waifurs, wafron, & wastel.
They
were mostly eaten as a separate food item, but had some limited use in
the kitchen as well, with layers of wafers being used as alternative
way
of preparing a pastry crust for the bottom or top of a pie. In Lent,
wafers
could be made with fish included.
"And wafres, pipyng hoot out of the gleede" - The Miller's
Tale
A
recipe
for Wafres
- Wafereres Makers
and sellers of wafers and cakes. Often wafereres would make their wares
on the streets to sell to passersby.
"Syngeres with harpes, baudes, wafereres" - The Pardoner's
Tale
A medieval
illustration of a waferer
- Walsh-note Walnut.
Nuts played an enormous role in medieval diet and walnuts were among
the
many sorts of nuts that were constantly kept on hand in larger
kitchens.
They also had the added value of being able to be made, like almonds,
into
both a milk and an oil.
"Under a walsh-note shale." - The Hous of fame
A walsh-note shale is a walnut shell.
- Wastel-breed A
fine white-bread; cake bread. One of the best grades of bread in
ordinary
use, reserved for the upper classes. In the Middle Ages, four grades of
bread were recognized: payndemayn, wastel, and two cheaper kinds.
Wastel
bread was the best of the grade in ordinary use. Chucer's Prioress fed
it to her little dogs, indicating that her priory ate only the best.
"With rosted flessh, or milk and wastel-breed." - Prologue
to The Canterbury Tales.
- Were A
trap for
fish.
"This strem yow ledeth to the sorweful were
There as the fish in prysoun is al drye" - The Parlement of Foules
- Wort, Wortes Herbs;
also greens such as spinach and cabbage, etc. These plants were leafy
enough
to provide cover for Chaucer's sly col-fox to hide in waiting for
Chauntecleer.
"And in a bed of wortes still he lay" - The Nun's Priest's
Tale
"Among the wortes on a boterflye" - The Nun's Priest's
Tale
"Wortes or other herbes tymes ofte." - The Clerk's Tale
- Wyn Wine.
Universally
known and loved, wine was one of the most vital food items of the
Middle
Ages. Its production and trade was a major commerce, and it was used
daily
by nearly everyone, from kings to commoners. Qualities of wine ranged
from
superior to barely consumable, and hundredes of types and varieties
existed.
In addition, a muititude of beverages were made from wine, such as ypocras
and clarree.
Doctors and physicians recommeded it, and its uses in cooking were
endless.
To mention all the roles this substance played in Medieval culture
would
take far more space and time than allowed here; needless to say, wine
was
probably the most important beverage in the Middle Ages, if not in all
of history itself.
"The wyn anon, and whan so that yow leste" - Troilus
and Criseyde
"Wel loved he by the morwe a sop in wyn;" - Prologue
to The Canterbury Tales
"As ever moote I drynken wyn or ale" - Thw Wife of Bath's
Tale
'And brynge us breed and wyn ful prively." - The Pardoner's
Tale
"No wyn ne drank she, neither whit ne reed;" - The Nun's
Priest's Tale
"And for to drynken strong wyn, reed as blood;" - Prologue
to the Canterbury Tales
"And eek the wyn, in al this melodye" - The Squire's
Tale
"Strong was the wyn, and wel to drynke us leste" - Prologue
to The Canterbury Tales
"They fette hym first the sweete wyn" - Sir Thopas
"The spices and the wyn is come anoon" - The Squire's
Tale
- Wyn Ape
Ape-wine;
wine that makes a monkey out of the drinker, wine that makes one
foolishly
drunk.
"I trowe that ye dronken han wyn ape" - The Manciple's
Tale
