OF SUNDRY HERBS 121 



three or four days; then strain it, and let it settle, then 

 draw it off from the Dregs. Ibid. 



SKIRRET 



" Skirret roots boiled in milk are excellent restorative 

 to people who have suffered through long illness." TRYON. 



Skirrets are only just beginning to find their way back 

 into our gardens, but our ancestors valued them highly. 

 According to Gerard they were seldom eaten raw, but 

 they were boiled, stewed, roasted under the embers, baked 

 in pies whole, sliced or in pulp. He solemnly adds : " Tis 

 reported they were heretofore something bitter; see what 

 culture and education effects." Evelyn tells us that the 

 Emperor Tiberius liked them so much that he accepted 

 them for tribute. 



Sow skirret early in April in drills twelves inches apart. 

 Thin the plants to a foot apart. The roots are fit for use 

 in autumn. Old roots throw off offsets in the spring, 

 and the plants may be increased by taking these and plant- 

 ing them. Skirrets like a light, rich, loamy soil. 



SKIRRET PIE. Take your skirrets and boil them, skin 

 them, then cut them to Lengths about two or three inches. 

 Wash them with yolks of eggs and season with salt, ginger, 

 cinnamon, nutmeg. Put to them some chestnuts boiled 

 and blanched and some yolks of hard-boiled eggs split, 

 and lay over some sliced lemon. Put over butter and 

 close it in a raised coffin. From The Receipt Book of 

 Joseph Cooper, Cook to Charles I, 1654. 



FRIED SKIRRETS. Boyle your skirrets and peel them : 

 this done roul them in Batter made with eggs, ginger, 

 cinnamon, flower of wheat and salt. If you will have 

 them green put in your juice of spinage and fry them in 

 Butter very carefully, for they are apt to stick together 

 and burn ; if you fry them brown, for the sauce after take 

 Butter, sugar and the juice of an orange and dish them. 

 If green take Butter, sugar, and sliced Nutmeg, the yolks 



