Howe to take awaie a great part of that ranke and vnsauourie tast of Beanes , Pease , Beechmast , Chestnuttes , Acornes , Veches , and such like .

IF this may in some good measure bee performed , then I doubt not but that the bulke and body of our meale and flower will be much increased and multiplied at the least for the poore mannes Table : then receiue mine owne experience therein . Boile your beanes , pease , beech mast , &c. in faire water , and if they be not yet pleasing inough , change your water againe , and at the second or third boyling , you shall finde a strange alteration in taste , for the water hath sucked out & imbibed the greatest part of their ranknesse , then muste you drie them ( and if you thinke good , you may also hull them , according to the maner set down hereafter in the Abstract of Anchora Famis , &c. ) or else you may grinde them vnhulled , & then make bread thereof , either simplie of it selfe , or with the addition of some third or fourth part of other wheat flower ; or else for better expedition at the least in drinke , if not in bread , you may take the ground meale of them , and infuse warme water thereon , and as it beginneth to coole , dreyne the same away , and reinfuse fresh warme water till the taste please you : then drie vp the meale , and make bread thereof either simplie , or compounded as before . And as concerning the Chestnuts , we haue the experience of France therein already , where in great abundance they are spent and consumed in their vsuall bread in diuers partes of that Country .

The beech mast doth yeeld a most sweet and delicate oile , and euery waie comparable with the nut it selfe , and therfore it is very probable that it wil make an excellent bread with a very smal correction : & if there might be some easie waie or maner found out for the ready husking or hulling of them ( which seemeth no matter of any great difficulty ) then I durst promise a most rich & plentiful oile of our own growing and seruiceable for many necessarie vses . But if notwithstanding my former preparation of beans , pease , &c. the meale thereof do not yet content you , then worke it into paast , with a liquor first strengthened with some brused Annis seedes , licoras , or sweet Fennell seedes , or with the seedes themselues incorporated in the paast , or for the auoiding of charge with pepperwort , Thime , wintersauery , penniroyal , &c. For if you can but deceiue the taste , you shall find the bread very harty , wholsome , & nourishing . And whatsoeuer is here spoken of beanes , pease , &c. may bee generally vnderstoode of all other graine , seedes , plants , pulse , rootes , &c. And that which is seruiceable for bread , wil be much more tollerable in drinke : for the making wherof in some more cheap maner then as yet is known or vsuall amongst vs you shal find some few notes of mine vpon the Abstract following , in their seueral places .

Certaine strange and extraordinarie waies for the relieuing of a prisoner , or other poore distressed creatures , when al hope of vsual victual is taken from him

THese as I dare not warrant , so yet because I haue receiued them either from good Authors , or from the credible report of men of woorth , I will deliuer them as faithfully as I haue receiued them .

1 And first of al Paracelsus himselfe affirmeth , that a fresh turfe or clod of earth , applyed euery daie vnto the stomach of a man , will preserue him from famishing for some smal number of daies .

2 I haue heard many trauailers deliuer of their own knowledge and experience , that a man may liue 10. or 12. daies by sucking of his owne bloud .

3. Bapt. Port. telleth vs of a poor fellow vpon whom a ruinous house fel , and the man so hedged in with the floores and timber that fel vpon him , as that not being able to get out , he was forced to relieue himselfe with his owne vrine for 9. or ten daies , making his hand his cup to drinke in .

4 But the strangest and most incredible of all the rest , is that story which Parson Bateman , sometime Parson of Newington , had by relation of that reuerend father D. Grindal then Archbishop of Canturbury , from the mouth of two English captiues , that were imprisoned in Turky , and for their offence condemned to bee famished to death , and escaped by this means . The keeper affecting his prisoners for those good parts which he found in them , hauing receiued an oth of their secrecie , deliuereth vnto each of them a smal peece of Allom , which hee willed them fiue or six times a day to rowle vppe and downe in theyr mouthes . Howe at tenne daies ende , the great Turk sending to know if the christians were dead or aliue , and being informed of their liues , he commaunded that vppon paine of death no manne should dare to relieue them with any maner of food . Now when 10 daies more were expired , and the like inquirie & returne made as before . Wel , qd. the Turk , if they can continew yet 10. daies more without food , I will say that the God of the christians wil haue them preserued , and they shal be enlarged . The last 10. daies expiring , and the prisoners liues certified vnto the Turke , they were forthwith deliuered out of prison , and returned for their own countrey , and here discouered the secret . The reason , and probabilitie hereof I will leaue for better ▪ Magitians then my selfe . For though we might suppose that the salt of nature might receiue some strength or vigour from this minerall salt , yet howe the guts should bee filled with so small a proportion I cannot gesse much lesse determine .

¶ A sift foode but receiuing some helpe from come was commended by Mendozza himselfe , wherewith he assured me vpon his honor that he had relieued a Spanishe towne , in an extreame dearth , and scarcity of victual , and therewithall shewed mee a loafe of that composition , which was of wheate straw , chopt into short peeces , and grounde with som proportion of wheat into meale . But since I haue beene farther informed , that the same practise hath beene vsuall in harde yeares in some partes of England , and for mine owne better satisfaction , I caused some of the same flower to bee kneaded into bread , but it was verie browne in colour , and verie grettie in the mouth , and therefore it shoulde seeme that our stones be not so apt for the grinding of it , & I haue heard some affirme , that the same cannot wel be ground but in a steele mill , or hand mil.

6 And the East Indians , as I haue read , do vse to make little balles of the iuice of the hearbe Tabaco , and the ashes of cockle shels wrought vp together , and dryed in the shadowe , and in their trauaile they place one of these balles betweene their neather lip , and their teeth , sucking the same continually , and letting downe the moysture , and it keepeth them both from hunger and thirst for the space of three or foure daies .

7 The seuenth and last of this kind , is that sweet root called Licoras , which beeing chewed onely ( if we may beleeue Pliny ) doth in small quantitie satisfie both thirst and hunger , and yet maintaine sufficient strength in the body .

How to make an excellent bread of the rootes of Aaron called cuckowpit , or starch rootes .

THe making thereof is set downe by a late writer in this manner . First , the rootes that are large must be clensed from all skin and filth , and then cut into small and thin slices , the thinner you make them the sooner they are prepared , seeth them in boyling water , so long as you finde the water hot and biting , and til the roots begin to waxe sweet . Then change your water , and poure fresh water vnto them , and so continue boyling vntill the water become sweet , and that the roots haue lost al their acrimony . Then take them out , and lay them abroad vpon Canuas , supported with frames , and being drie grinde them with hand mils , and they make a most white & pure meale , which either of it selfe , or by the mixture of one thirde of wheate meale with it , maketh a most faire & sauory bread . This carieth some good sence and likelihood of truth with it , for we finde by dailie experience , that it maketh as faire , if not a fairer starch , then our wheat . And therfore it were to be wished , that some good husbandry were vsed in the planting , and multiplying of these rootes , obseruing the nature of such soile and place wherein they most delight . And though it should faile vs in this kind , yet we shall finde our labor richlie requited , if wee conuert them into starch only . But here it is to be remembred , that the root must be gathered when it is plump full , and in his pride , which is about the latter end of March , and April al : for when it beginneth once to spire , and that the sap is run vp into the leaues , then the root shrinketh , & also loseth much of his vertue . Here a iust occasion is offered to practise the like vpon the Turnep , whereof there are both good store and the price of them likewise very reasonable .

Bread , and other food made of Pompions .

THis fruit being both cheape , and great , doth also make a very sauorie bread , if a little meale bee mixed therewith , yeelding food to a great number with a smal charge . And if you bestowe sugar , and other sauce vppon it , it may also passe for a delicate dishe . The maner of making the same is thus discribed by Porta : Choose the greatest and ripest Pompions , cut them into thinne slices , and take away the hard crust or coat , and the inner marrowe or softnes , seeth them in boyling water , & bring them to a pulp or pap , and then streine it , adding therto a third part of meale or flower , and make it vp into bread , the fresher you eate the same , the more pleasant & delicate you shal esteeme it . But with mine Authors fauor : I thinke you wil find it in his best forme , and of farthest extention , when it is in his pap or pulpe , for his body is exceeding waterish , and vanisheth away to a small substance if you seeke to dry it . This I write by mine owne triall , yet peraduenture the Goord of Naples , which he calleth Cucurbita , may bee of a differing nature from our Pompions .

How to saue much flower , or meale that is lost in all our vsual Corne mils , that grinde either with winde or water .

IF I teach the Miller so to grinde his wheat , as that neither the starchmaker ( if I be not deceiued ) shal haue stuffe to make his starch with , except he grinde for himselfe after the ancient maner ; nor the brown Baker any bran to make horsebread withall , I hope that my fault will be pardonable at this time , because I hold it much better to want flower about our necks then in our bellies , and that horses should starue before their maisters . The conceit is short , and easie , and I hope without controlment . Let euerie Mill that grindeth corne , haue also a boulting mil annexed vnto it , that the same mouer may play vpon both , and by shaking of the boulter make a diuision of the bran from the flower . This bran as soone as it is diuided from the flower must be returned againe into the hopper amongst the rest of the wheat that is vnground , and so as fast as you gather any branne , you must mixe it with more corne : and by this meanes you shal haue much lesse bran , and also more flower , thogh you would notwithstanding this course , passe the same through a fine boulter againe . It is an vsual maner in the higher part of Germany to boult with these milles , but not to grinde ouer their bran againe in the first mill , for ought that I know , or as yet can learne .

How to make starch without any corne .

IT is wel knowne that those Aaron rootes before mentioned , wil make a white and delicate starche . You must gather them in March or Aprill , washing them cleane , and paring away all the filthe , or foule skinnes from them , and after slicing them into thin slices , and so leauing them in faire cleere water , and changing your water euery 12. houres , for the space of foure or fiue daies , till they become exceeding white and cleane ; then stampe them , and force them through a strainer with cleane water , and when the substance of the starch is setled in the bottom , which will be in a few houres , then dreine away al the cleere water that fleeteth on the top , very gently , and expose the rest being in flat earthen pans or cleane tubs to the Sun , which will attract or drawe vp all the water , and leaue a hard cake in the bottome . But in the winter time , when you cannot haue the Sunne of a sufficient force for this purpose , then set your stone pannes , or pewter basons wherein you haue strained out your starch vpon a pot with scalding water , and so you may drie the same in a sufficient quantity for your own vse all the yere long . And if you wold harden the same without charge , then place your pan vpon your biefe pot , & so you shall make one fire to performe seuerall actions at once . But because these rootes are not to be had in all places , nor at all times of the yeeare , therefore for a second supplie I haue thought good to set downe this receit following .

Take of the whitest Gumme Arabique that you can buy at the Grocers , let them beat the same into peeces for you as big as hafell nuttes in their great morters , then take 3. ounces of this gumme , & first wash it in faire conduit water , in a stone bason , stirring it vp and downe with your hands to take the filth from it ; then wash it againe with some more water , and powre that also away , and then to euery 3. ounces so washed put a wine pint of faire conduit water , stirring it vp and downe 3. or 4. times a daie to procure a speedie solution or dissoluing of the gumme : then couer your pan , and when all the gum is dissolued , streine the water through a cleane and thin linnen cloth , and reserue the same in glasses well stopt , till you haue cause to vse it . It will last sweete at the least three weekes after it is made . When you would vse this starch , if you desire to haue your ruffes to carie a pure & perfect white colour , you must mingle some blew with the water , stirring it vp and downe with your finger in a porrenger , and before the blewe settle to the bottome , wet your ruffe therein , and presentlie wring it out againe ; then pat it till it be cleare , and after set it , as you doe in your common starch , I doe finde by experience , that halfe the time that is lost in the other maner of starching , is here gained ▪ for by reason that your starch is in a thinne water , the Lawne & Cambricke wil be soone cleared , and with much lesse beating . And I think that a second profit will here likewise fall out by the way , viz. that your Lawne and Cambricke wil last much longer : for ( if I be not deceiued ) the continuall patting , or beating thereof betweene the hands in our vsuall starching , worketh a great fretting and wearing of the same . And I doubt not , but that there be many other sortes of graine , pulse and rootes , which wil make as good starch as wheate , which at this time I leaue vnto the studious indeuours of those that are carefull for the common good . It may bee that at my better leisure I may handle this subiect more at large , but now the present times inforce me , to deliuer that knowledge which I haue . And thus much for starch .

Sweete and delicate cakes made without spice , or Sugar .

SLice great and sweete parsnep rootes ( such as are not seeded ) into thin slices , and hauing washed & scraped them cleane , dry them , and beat them into powder ( here a mil would make a greater dispatch ) searcing the same through a fine searce , then knead two partes of fine flower with one part of this ponder and make the same into cakes , and you shal find them to tast very daintily . I haue eaten of these cakes diuers times in mine owne house Quaere , what may be done in carots , turneps , and such like rootes after this maner .

Here I thinke it not impertinent to the purpose , which I haue in hand , to wish a better suruey to bee made of my booke of Husbandry , being a parcell of the Iewel house of Art and Nature , printed an. 1594. Wherin sundry new sorts of Marle are familiarlie set down , and published for the good of our English farmers : amongst the which , those waste ashes of the Sopeboilers ( for such as dwel neer vnto the Citie of London , or may by easy water cariage conuey them vnto their hungry and leane grounds ) haue a principal place for the inriching of al cold , moist & weeping grounds . The book is to be had at the Greyhound in Paules churchyard . And if there were such plenty as I could wish of those shauings or cuttings of horne , wherof those the work for lanthorns only make the greatest store , I would then in respect of the infinit extention therof , commend that before any other manuring of ground whatsoeuer , & for the only garden doung that I know , although for arable ground I must needes confes , that I haue one secret , not as yet made knowen or common to the world , that wold proue more general , & more easie of price then any other whatsoeuer that I as yet haue either heard , or read of , but for som reasons best knowne vnto my selfe , I doe as yet forbeare the discouery therof .

There is also a certaine victuall in the forme of hollow pipes , or wafers , wherewith , as also with a defensatiue oile for his armours , peeces , and other weapons , I furnished sir Frances Drake in his laste voyage , which hath beene well approued and commended by sundry of his folowers vpon their return for England , whereby I was the more encouraged to make a second triall thereof in the Beare which went latelie for CHINA . This foode I am bold to commende in this place , both bicause it argueth ad propositum , and for that I knowe that if the maisters , owners , or Mariners of ships , would aduisedlie looke into it , they shoulde finde it one of the moste necessarie , and cheape prouisions that they could possibly make , or carie with them . The particular commendation whereof , resteth vppon these few branches following :

1 ¶ First , it is very durable , for I haue kept the same both sweet and sound , by the space of 3. yeares , and it agreeth best with heat , which is the principal destroyer of Sea victuall . 2 It is exceeding light : for which qualitie Sir Frances Drake did highly esteeme thereof , one man may carie vpon any occasion of land seruice , so much thereof , as will be sufficient to relieue two hundred men a day . 3 It is speedily dressed , for in one halfe houre , it is sufficientlie sodden , by which property it may also saue much fewell and fiering , which occupieth no small roome in a ship . 4 It is fresh , and thereby very pleasing vnto the Mariner in the midst of his salt meats . 5 It is cheape , for in this dearth of corne , I dare vndertake to feed one man sufficientlie , for 2. pence a meale . 6 It serueth both in steede of bread and meate , whereby it perfourmeth a double seruice . 7 Not being spent it may be laide vp in store for a second voyage . 8 It may be made as delicate as you please , by the addition of oyle , butter , sugar , and such like . 9 There is sufficient matter to bee hadde al the yeare long , for the composition thereof . 10 And if I might once finde any good incouragement therein , I would not doubt but to deliuer the same prepared in such sort , as that without anye farther dressing thereof , it should bee both pleasing , and of good nourishment vnto a hungry stomach .

¶ Al those which are willing to victual their ships therewith , if they repaire vnto me , I wil vpon reasonable warning , furnish them therewith to their good contentment .

A speedie or present drinke which Trauailers may make for themselues ( extempore ) when they are distressed for want of good beer or ale at their Inne .

TAke a quart of faire water , put thereto fiue or six spoonfuls of good Aqua composita , which is strong of the Annis seedes , and one ounce of Sugar , and a branch of Rosemary , brew them a prety while out of one pot into another , and then is your drinke prepared . Or if you leaue out sugar , it wil bee pleasing enough . I haue beene crediblie informed that diuers Gentlemen of good credit , when they trauail abroad , and cannot like the taste or relishe of theyr drinke , that they vse no other then the aforsaid composition , and find the same both to refresh and coole them very well , neither are they troubled with the rawnesse of cold water , by reason that it hath receiued some correction by the Aqua composita , & that the Annis seedes doe giue a delicate taste vnto it . It were not amisse for all Seaman to cary some store of Aquauitae with them , that when their wine , Cider , Perry , and beer are spent , they may transmute theyr water into the saide drinke .

A cheape liquor for poore men , when malt is extreme deere .

IF a poore man in the time of flowring , doe gather the toppes of Heath with the flowers , which is vsually called and knowne by the name of Linge in the Northerlie partes of this Realme , and is that plant whereof our common heath brushes are made , and laie vppe sufficient store thereof for his own prouision being well dried and carefully kept from putrefying or molding , he may at all times make a very pleasing and cheape drinke for himselfe , by boiling the same in faire water , with such proportion thereof , as may best content his owne taste . And this liquor is commended vnto mee , by one of the most sufficient professours of Physicke of our times , and that vpon his owne and often experience , for a most wholesome and medicinable drinke , as well for the Liuer as the Spleene . It may be graced with a little licoras in the decoction , if he see cause .

¶ I haue also heard Sir Frances Drake affirme , that faire water and vinegar mixed in a due proportion , doth make a fine cooling and refreshing drinke in hot wether , which he esteemed for a rare secret at the Sea . And I haue also knowne them that haue made a voluntary drinke thereof on the lande , when they haue hadde sufficient choice of others before them .

How to brew good and wholsome Beere , without any Hoppes at al.

SInce my profession in this booke , is in some sorte to anatomize both Art and Nature , without anie regard of priuate mens profits , whom it either may essentiallie or accidentallie touch , I am bolde therefore , without crauing any leaue to doe good : to renue , or rather to confirme and ratifie an ancient opinion & practise , which long since in the great dearth and scarsitie of hops , many brewers of this land haue beene inforced to put in vse for the better suportation of their weake and declining estates . But bicause they failed in proportion ( without the which there can be nothing compleat or absolute ) they suffered a good conceit to die in the birth . And no maruell then , if wormwood notwithstanding it bee a simple so highly commended of all the ancient and newe Herbarists , for his great and singular effects in Physicke , be in a maner vtterly abandoned of al the bruers in our time ( except a fewe that can make a difference betweene fiue shillinges , or 5. pound charge , when hops are solde for 50. s. an hundred ) seeing as yet not any one of them hath so clerkly wrought vpon this simple , as to couer and hide the tast therof , from the wel mouthed ale-cunners of our commonwelth , which weaknes of theirs , bicause it consisteth wholy in the want of a due proportion between the mault and other beere corne , in respect of wormwood , I haue thought good to set downe a sufficient direction for those that are wise , and willing to doe good both to themselues , and to their countrey , wherby they may easilie euen in one daies practise attaine to the full perfection therof . Supposing then that your wormwood is either cut down in the leafe before it be seeded , or being seeded that it is cut into short peeces , whereby there may be made an equal mixture of the whole bulke together ( for you muste note that the seedie tops are much stronger and much more oylie then the rest of the leaues or stalkes ) make first a decoction of 4. ounces of hoppes with nine gallons of water ( which is the proportion which some Bruers in some sorts of drinke doe vse ) and when you haue gotten out by ebulition or boyling , the full strength and vertue of them , keepe the same , and begin likewise with some small proportion of wormewoode to the like quantitie of water as before ; and when you haue bestowed as much time and fire therein , as you did about the hops , then taste each of them by it selfe , and if you finde the same to exceede the first in bitternesse , then beginne with a lesse proportion of Wormewood , and so reiterate your worke , till you haue equally matched the one with the other : then may you safely proceed by the rule of proportion to a barrell , and from thence to a tun , and so to a whole bruing . Neither let the bitternesse of Wormwood in his present taste any thing dismay you , for if you did but taste the decoction of hoppes onelie before the mixture of ground malt ( which doth wonderfully sweeten the same ) you would thinke it a very vnapt licour to be wrought vp into so pleasing a drinke as our ordinary beere doth shew it selfe to bee : for it is the hop onely which maketh the essential difference betweene beere and ale , and that by alaying the exceeding lusciousnes of malt by his bitternes , whereby both vniting themselues togither , become a sauourie and wholsome drinke for mans bodie : which may be in euery respect as well performed in wormwood , as in the hop , yea , & peraduenture with Centaury , artichoke leaues , or Aloes hipatique , as some work maisters haue confidentlie affirmed vnto mee . And though the hop bee vsuallie in drinke , and the wormewood onely in medicine , wherby some may happilie be perswaded , that it is inconuenient for men that are in health to drinke a medicine continuallie to their meate : yet let this be a sufficient answer to that obiection , that it is the dose only that maketh the difference heerein . For I can assure you in mine owne experience , and by the experience of one of the best experienced Bruers in London , who yet liueth , that if you giue a double or treble quantitie of English hoppes to an ordinarie guile of strong beere , you shall finde the same to bee a sufficient preparatiue to your body for the best purgation that shall be ministred after . And this is the reason whie Venice Turpentine , which being ministred in a smal dose , is giuen for the strengthening of the back , and to stay the running of the reynes : yet if it be taken in the quantitie of an ounce at once , it will purge sufficientlie in diuers bodies . So then either let there be no more taste of wormewood , then there is of hops in our drinke , and we shall finde no difference in effects , but such as shall commend and grace the wormwood beyond the hoppe ; or let beere bee aduanced with the hop to the bitternes of wormwood wine , & so we shal find the hop far to exceed the wormwood in his maligne qualitie .

Thus much I haue thought good to publishe , for the credit of wormwood and for the benefit of this Iland in sundry respectes , which I shall not neede to particularize at this time , because they are so commonlie knowne to all men . And though I knowe I may be ouerweyed either with the Flaunders Merchants , or with the great hop maisters of Englande , whose foundation is so deeply laide , that a fewe loose lines can neither shake nor stir the same : yet eyther knowing or at the least perswading my selfe to maintaine the truth , before I giue it ouer , I will craue the libertie of the schooles , quòd fiat controuersia . And in the meane time , those which will not bee satisfied of the wholsom and rare medicinable helps of the one , togither with the weake and feeble vertues of the other ( which was but a hedgebird the other daye , thogh now it be perking so proudlie vpon his poles ) I wil refer them to the learned Herbals of Dioscorides Matheolus , Doctor Turner , Dodoneus , Turnizerus , and the rest .