94 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



Botargo ; Skirrets ; Cabbage Pudding ; Lemon Sallet ; 

 TafFeta Tarts; Razar Fish; and Broom Buds, cold."i 

 These are only a very few out of an immense variety 

 that are also named. 



Many recipes for a "Tansy" exist, and very often 

 have only the slightest resemblance to one another, 

 but this is rather a nice one and is declared by its tran- 

 scriber to be " the most agreeable of all the boiled 

 Herbaceous Dishes." It consists of: Tansey, being 

 qualify'd with the juices of other fresh Herbs ; Spinach, 

 green Corn, Violet, Primrose Leaves, etc., at entrance of the 

 spring, and then fry'd brownish, is eaten hot, with the 

 Juice of Orange and Sugar." Isaac Walton speaks of a 

 " Minnow Tansy," which is made of Minnows " fried 

 with yolks of eggs ; the flowers of cowslips and of 

 primroses and a little tansy; thus used they make a 

 dainty dish of meat." Our ancestors seem to have had 

 a great love of " batter," for it is a prominent part in 

 very many of their dishes. Mrs Milne Home says, " In 

 Virginia the Negroes make Tansy-tea for colds and at a 

 pinch, Mas'r's cook will condescend to use it in a sauce," 

 but in English cookery, it has absolutely disappeared. 



Tansy had many medicinal virtues. Sussex people 

 used to say that to wear Tansy-leaves in the shoe, was a 

 charm against ague. 



Wild Tansy looks handsome when it grows in abund- 

 ance on marshy ground ; and, indeed, its feathery leaves 

 are beautiful anywhere, and it has a more refreshing scent 

 than the Garden-Tansy. " In some parts of Italy people 

 present stalks of Wild Tansy to those whom they mean to 

 insult,"^ a proceeding for which there seems neither rhyme 

 nor reason. Turner tells tales of the vanity of his con- 

 temporaries, masculine as well as feminine, for he says : 



• Complete Account of the Coronations of the Kings and Queens of 

 England, J .Roberts. 

 »Folkard. 



