AMYGDALiE DULCES. 



245 



according to Hcldreich/ the bitter variety is truly wild. The almond- 

 tree matures its fruit in the south of England, but is liable to destruc- 

 tion by frost in many parts of central Europe. 



History — The earliest notice of the almond extant is that in the 

 Book of Genesis,^ where we read that the patriarch Israel commanded 

 his sons to carry with them into Egypt a present consisting of the pro- 

 ductions of Palestine, one of which is named as almonds. 



From the copious references to the almond in the writings of Theo- 

 phrastus, one cannot but conclude that in his day it was familiarly 

 known. 



In Italy, M. Porcius Cato ^ mentions towards the middle of the 2nd 

 century B.C. Avellmice Grmcce which we know from later authors signi- 

 fied ahnonds. Cokimella, who wrote about A.D. 60, calls them Nuces 

 GrcBcm. Bitter almonds (^' Amygdali amari") are named about this 

 latter period by Scribonius Largus. 



As to more northern Europe, almonds are mentioned together with 

 other groceries and spices as early as A.B. 716, in a charter granted by 

 Chilperic II., King of France, to the monastery of Corbie in Normandy.* 

 In 812 Charlemagne ordered the trees (Amandalarii) to be introduced 

 on the imperial farms. In the later middle ages, the cultivation of the 

 almond was carried on about Speier and in the Rhenish Palatinate. 

 We learn from Marino Sanudo ® that in the beginning of the 14th 

 century, almonds had become an important item of the Venetian trade 

 to Alexandria. They were doubtless in large part produced by the 

 islands of the Greek Archipelago, then under Christian rule. In Cyprus 

 for instance, the Knights Templar levied tithes in 1411 of almonds, 

 honey, and sesamd seed.*' 



The consumption of almonds in medifeval cookery was enormous. 

 An inventory made in 1372 of the effects of Jeanne d'Evreux, queen of 

 France, enumerates only 20 lb. of sugar, but 500 lb. of almonds. 



In the Form of Cwry, a manuscript written by the master cooks of 

 King Richard II., a.d. lS90,are receipts for " Creme of Almand, Greivel 

 ofAlmand, Catudel of Almand 3Iijlke, Joivt of Almand Myllce," &c. 



g 



by 



undredr i.e. 108 lb. 

 and 1350 as 2d., and 



Kogers^ gives the average price between 1259 

 between 1351 and 1400 as 8|d. per lb. 



Description— The fruit of the almond tree is a di'up^ with a 

 J'elvety sarcocarp which at maturity dries, splits, and drops off, leaving 

 bare and still attached to the branch, an oblong, ovate^pomted stone, 

 pitted with irregular holes. 



length 



67. 



f oblong, more or less compressed, pointed at the upper, blunt at the 

 lower end, coated with a scurfy, cinnamon-brown skm or testa. 1* is 

 connected with the stone or putamen by a broad funicle, which runs 



' Leber Appreciation de h. fortune privie 

 an moyen-dge, M. 2, Paris, 1847. 95 



8 Published by Pegge, Lond. 178U.— 

 Boorde in his Dyftaryof Helth, k>42, men- 

 tions Almon Mylke and Almon Butter, the 

 latter " a commendahle di/x^c, apecyallye in 



Lent." . ,, , r • 



'Agriculture and Prices m hnglnwi, i. 



(1866)641. 



^^utzpjlanzen Griechenlands, Athen, 1862. 



3 S" j?^"A- ^-^^'^ ^'u™- xvii. s. 



^ p1?5. ^«^^'^^. cap. viii. 



3 



ChartiBf etc. , 



Pans 1849. ii. 309. 



1611 S" '^*^^''^'°'"""* Fldelium, ed. Bongars, 



