September 24 was the day associated with harvest in much of medieval England, and this continued into Regency era, although weather was always a factor since too much rain or an early frost can ruin a crop.
During harvest time, Corn Dollys would be crafted. By tradition the dolly held the spirit of the corn (and do remember that corn in England means any grain). The dolly would be tied in a design specific to the area, so a Yorkshire dolly would be different from one made in Shropshire. One favorite was usually a plait (or braid) of three straws that was tied into a loose knot to represent a heart. If a young man gave this to a girl and she wore it next to her heart he knew his love was reciprocated.
In September, peaches, figs, mulberries, nectarines, grapes, and early apples and pears would be ripe and ready for harvest. At the end of the month, medlar, a small, brown apple-like fruit is edible but only after it has begun to decay. The medlar has been in England since Roman times, and had a variety of uses in various dishes and in local wines. Quinces could also be harvested, but must be cooked to be edible, and if you’ve never had one, these are very tasty.
With this harvest of fruits would come time to put up stuff in jams and jellies. Grapes could be dried into raisins and currants, and plums dried into prunes. “Plum” was a term applied to almost any dried fruit. The Jane Austen Cookbook includes a recipe for “black butter” which is really a jam of just about any fruits boiled down with sugar into a reduction.
Almost every house of any size boasted a stillroom near to the garden, with racks to dry herbs and flowers, and tables on which home remedies could be made, along with perfumes, and even wine. Mead—made with honey, and seasoned with a variety of spices and/or fruits—was also a traditional beverage made by most estates, as well as by most who lived in rural areas with access to beehives. Cider from apples is still a popular local drink in England.
Nut harvest in September includes filberts and hazelnuts. Nuts—oddly enough—were often classified in with fruits. They were, after all, often served up as afters for a meal, or integrated into desserts such as cakes and biscuits.
For fish, depending on how close one lived to a shore, one might have skates, haddock, plaice, thornback, sturgeon, turbot, whitings, and mullets. For shellfish, one could have crayfish, crab, prawns, and shrimp (prawns are different from shrimp, and some folks think they are sweeter). As of September 1, oysters come back into season. They were cheep and plentiful, with many oyster houses in London. They might be used in stews, pie, put into sauces for use with pork or mutton, or to make sausage, were stuffed inside fowl, and might be roasted and the liquid produced from that might be made into a sauce to be poured over fowl. From rivers, one might get salmon, trout, flounder, pike, and eels. In general, fish were plentiful, and were not considered a luxury item—oh, how times have changed.
The warmer weather brings cauliflower, which always seems to take forever to grow), peas, carrots, beans of all types, artichokes. Quite a number of New World vegetables had become staples in England by the 1800s. This included potatoes, pumpkins, and corn, but these were not adopted by everyone—the innovators would love these, but traditionalist would not. While tomatoes were considered by some as “ornamentals” (or poisonous) others did integrate them into meals (the acid in a tomato will actually leach out the lead from a pewter plate, so they actually could be deadly for the lower class or those clinging to the old ways of metal plates).
For meats, beef and pork were staples that could be had year-round, with the meat being salted, hung to dry, or otherwise cured so that it could be stored. Mutton was another staple, but can be a fatty and tough meat, which is why it often ends up in stews.
Venison was something eaten in September, if you could get it, along with wild rabbit. Jane Austen and Food notes, “Prior to the eighteenth century the keeping of deer implied that the owner had been granted the right to ‘empark’ land for that purpose by his sovereign. There was no park without deer, and ‘Park’ is an ancient place name—as in Godmersham Park or Mansfield Park—carried that significance.”
Ham would be available, and many houses might cure their own pork, with pigs being raised for ham, being raised to be large, as in to produce a ham of up to fifty pounds in weight. Tongue was popular with almost everyone, along with trotters (pig’s feet), and brawn—the face of the pig. ‘Souse’ is noted as a pickled version of brawn, preserved with brine, wine, ale and verjuice, which is from the pressing of unripe English grapes.
Turtle was considered a meat and was extremely popular, but only available in certain seasons, and so mock-turtle was often served instead, made with calf’s head.
Potted meat was a common method for preservation. It involved cooking the meat (or fish), chopping it up, adding spices, and storing it in a small jar with a layer of fat over the top since clarified butter won’t spoil. It was an excellent way to serve up cold meat.
Most estates—and farms—had chickens, geese, capon, pea fowl, guinea hens, and even turkey. A goose was considered best in September, and Michaelmas Day, on September 29, was considered the day for goose. It was said that “Who eats goose on Michael’s day, shan’t money lack his debts to pay.”
Michaelmas Day, celebrates the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel and patron saint of the sea, of ships and boatmen, of horses and horsemen. Michaelmas was one of the main Quarter Days or Lady Days, the time when bills and wages might be paid, and also the time for Mop Fairs, when servants and laborers would hire themselves out again for the next year’s work. The name comes from maids would carry a small mop to denote their position—a shepherd had wool, a gardener carried flowers and so on.
What would become the infamous Bartholmew’s Fair near London was held in September and History Today reports that “Attractions when Wordsworth went in 1815 included albinos and Red Indians, ventriloquists, waxworks, and a learned pig which, blindfolded, could tell the time to the minute and pick out any specified card in a pack.”
For more information:
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/london%E2%80%99s-last-bartholomew-fair
http://www.cravinggraces.com/regency-michaelmas/#:~:text=Michaelmas%20is%20the%20feast%20day,still%20stuck%3A%20beautiful%20old%20Michaelmas
https://vanessariley.com/blog/2022/03/15/michaelmas/
https://www.countryfile.com/how-to/food-recipes/british-harvest-how-long-does-the-season-last-when-is-harvest-day-plus-history-and-traditions/
Article by Shannon Donnelly for The Quizzing Glass blog and The Regency Reader.
A great article. I know that alcohol was often heavily taxed, so I’m wondering if mead was too? Maybe because it’s fermented rather than distilled, it wasn’t…