FOODSTUFFS
Plums
Plums are related to apricots, peaches, and cherries, and appear to
be native to central Europe. They are not mentioned in ancient
sources until the first century A.D., when a number of different
kinds were already in existence. Medieval Europeans cultivated the
plum proper in their gardens, and differentiated it from bullaces
and the small, oval, sour damsons named after the city of Damascus
in Syria. Plums make occasional appearances in upper-class cook-
books, in the form of fruit mousses, for instance. To physicians the
plum was a cold and moist fruit that hindered digestion and was
taken as a laxative.
Peaches
Indigenous to China, peaches moved west to Persia and from there
were supposedly brought to Europe by Alexander the Great. Their
Latin name persica reflects their Persian provenance. From the
Mediterranean, peaches spread to northern and western Europe in
Roman times, and by the thirteenth century peach trees were growing
in England. Physicians generally took a dim view of peaches, which
they thought caused putrid humors in the body. Eaten at the begin-
ning of a meal they stimulated the appetite, but at the end of a meal
they corrupted the other food consumed, and acted as a laxative, it
was argued.
Cherries
Both the sweet and sour cherry are native to western Asia. The two
kinds reached the Mediterranean sometime before 300 B.C. and were
highly prized by the Romans, who introduced cherries to Britain. In
the Roman cookbook of Apicius instructions are given how to pre-
serve them in honey. In the Middle Ages cherries were grown com-
mercially, but also in many a monastic or lay garden for private
consumption. In the cookbooks cherries appear in fruit mousses and
preserves, tarts, and a cherry beverage that, in Germany at least, was
reserved for high-ranking officials. Because of their cold and moist na-
ture, cherries were considered bad for the stomach by the medical
community. Cooking the fruit and adding wine were two ways sug-
gested to reduce their harmful effects on the body.
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