The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is native to Asia but has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. Their original range...

Every so often, over the last decade at least, our modern-day bards, the media, regurgitate a story about 'European-looking' people in...

As costumed re-enactors know only too well there are occasions, especially in the height of yet another glorious British summer, when...

Salt is a chemical compound of sodium and chloride (NaCl) and is an essential nutrient, the amount of which in the diet has a direct...

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea italic) is a cultivar of wild cabbage, which originated along the northern and western coasts of the...

With the first week of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club's Championship in Wimbledon all but over, it got us thinking about...

Cacao seeds (Theobroma cacao), from which chocolate is derived, has been cultivated by many cultures in Mesoamerica for at least three...

An interesting and somewhat challenging day. After a 5 am start, we drove North through squally showers to spend the day at Birdoswald...

The Latin term 'craticula' is a diminutive form of 'crates' used to mean a gridiron (Martial, 14.221) [1], the bars of which give it the...

All Romans ate dormice didn't they? You may have been told that in school, and it's still a popular and persistent belief, but it's...

Cry "God for Harry! England and Saint George!" Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1. April 23rd, Saint George's Day Depending on who you...

The tomato is the edible, often red fruit/berry of the nightshade Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant. The species...

The wild carrot (Daucus carota [1]) is a root vegetable now native in Europe and southwestern Asia. It most likely originated in Persia,...

Cultivated potatoes all belong to one botanical species, Solanum tuberosum, but this includes hundreds, if not thousands, of different...

Back in 2015 BBC Two's re-ran its series 'Kew on a Plate' presented by Raymond Blanc and Kate Humble. They had spent the year at Kew...

One of the tasty recipes drawn from Apicius is for 'soft eggs in a pine kernel sauce' (Apicius 7.13.3). Should you wish to reproduce this...

In April 2005 David Sapsted, writing for The Telegraph newspaper, reported that: 'Years of division among academics over whether the...

Welcome to Tastes Of History's Blog where we intend to share our historical research and especially the recipes we re-create from...

Long pepper (Piper longum), sometimes called Indian long pepper, is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae. It is cultivated for its...