Today Over Coffee welcomes debut novelist Oberon Wonch. With
the “feasting season” beginning, I asked Oberon to talk about something
food-related from her medieval romance, Come to Me. Take it away, Oberon!
So, it’s not surprising that bees and beekeeping fascinate
me,
too.
Anyone else? I love the imagery of the old-timey wicker skep sitting in a
garden. Since
the heroine of my first book, Come To Me, is an English noblewoman living in 11
th century England, and we know from writings of the time that mead (fermented honey) was a widespread favorite of the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples
of post-Roman Europe, I wanted to include beekeeping and mead-making in my story.
Here is a fraction of what I learned about bee husbandry. 8,000-year-old cave paintings show that honey-gathering has been taking place since
pre-historic times when people risked life and limb to climb trees and rob wild hives of the sweet, gooey liquid. Ancient Sumerian, Greek, and Chinese writings
discuss managing bees and providing adequate, manmade habitats. Bee culture became supremely
important to the Egyptians, was adopted by Rome, and then spread through all of Europe.
Even back to our earliest days, we wanted a little
sweetener in our cuisine and went to great lengths to procure it, isn’t that something?
By the time of the Norman conquest of England in late 11th century AD, beekeeping was an indispensable industry. An Anglo-Saxon
noblewoman’s responsibilities included keeping bees (in those lovely, conical straw or wicker
baskets called skeps), extracting honey and beeswax, and overseeing mead production.
However, making the mead was incredibly simple and a tribute to the thriftiness of the medieval
housekeeper. Throughout the warm months as honey was gathered, comb was squeezed
through
linen
gauze to extract the last drop of honey for household purposes. The comb and the gauze were rinsed with water (the comb then rendered for its wax to
make candles), and the water was left in covered vats to ferment via the natural yeasts existing in the honey and surrounding air.
Variations in this process were practiced (for example, herbs and spices were added for
flavor),
and later written recipes called for boiling 4-to-1 parts water and honey rather than merely
using the strainings.
So, that’s my little peek into one tiny aspect of
life in the Middle Ages.
Are you as fascinated by bees and beekeeping as I am? Would you like to someday
try mead made in true medieval fashion?
A maiden’s duty becomes a woman’s desire…
In this twist on the classic Cyrano story, Bridget of Shyleburgh is ordered to help Count Grégoire FitzHenri, the new Earl of Shyleburgh and the man she secretly
loves, court another woman.
Mortified at first, Bridget soon finds herself completely
enthralled by the earl’s whispers of love and desire. His heated wooing tempts a fair maiden to stray
down a path filled with forbidden pleasures. But his words are meant for another… aren’t they? Read More at Amazon
Oberon Wonch has engaged in a love affair with books for as
long as she can remember. Penning her own stories from an early age, she later
earned a degree in World Literature while studying several languages--all in
order to learn what makes a tale endure the ages, but really just to read more
books. Her very favorite stories--both to read and write--are those that
celebrate the happily-ever-after. She enjoys connecting with readers. Contact
her through her website at www.oberonwonch.com or follow her on Twitter @OberonWonch and on Facebook.
