The Nordic Food Lab

From the website: "Nordic Food Lab is a non-profit, open-source organisation that investigates food diversity and deliciousness. Established in 2008, we combine scientific and humanistic approaches with culinary techniques from around the world to explore the edible potential of the Nordic region – the flavours that say something about us and imbue the foods we eat with a connection to this place and this time. We work to broaden our taste, generating and adapting practical ideas and methods for those who make food and those who enjoy eating.

Diversity is our starting point and our goal. It forms a loop of feedback mediated by ecology, necessity, and appetite. There is no single food that can nourish us on its own. The pursuit of good food is in itself also the pursuit of biocultural diversity, the pursuit of a future where everyone can not only eat but eat well. Diversity – of autochthonous genetic material, of organisms, of cultural practices, of ideas – is what keeps our world at its most resilient and robust. It is the cloth that weaves our fates together and upon which we share our meals.

Yet infinite choice can be paralysing. By acknowledging geography as the foundation of gastronomy we give ourselves limitation, a constraint through which we gain freedom to experiment and play. Exploration of our edible surroundings offers a possibility to create foods that speak truly of their birthplace and their future.

By taking inspiration from humanities, sciences and arts, we undertake work which other research facilities, rooted in one side of the arbitrary science/craft divide, might not attempt. For example, often those working directly with complex foods at an artisanal level understand little of the biochemistry, and those who study them at a biochemical level have little applied knowledge of gastronomy. We seek to put these approaches and their experts in dialogue, using modern and traditional methods to combine craft and science for delicious results. We share our work with home cooks, chefs and industry to offer a multi-tiered contribution to the threads of the Nordic culinary fabric.

Our research is open source. We collaborate with other projects locally and internationally.
Our work is supported by independent foundations, private businesses, and government sources."


http://nordicfoodlab.org/
http://nordicfoodlab.org/archive/

T bouck va wondre - newly translated Dutch soap recipes

Soap recipes from the Dutch Book of Secrets Dat batement van recepten (That House of Recipes); part of T bouk va wondre (The book of wonders) which was printed in 1513. I include both the original Middle Dutch, and my version of the modern English translation.

© Translations by Susan Verberg, 2016.

32. Om seepe te maken, die, suyuere ende wt doe alderhande smetten, hoe dat si oock zijn.

Neemt steenaluyn, bernes een pont ende maket in poeder, wortelen van vlammen oft waterlelien van Florence, ghepulueriseert een half pont, een versch ey, twee pont ende een half spaensche seepe, stampt die voor(screu)en poederen met dat ey ende die seepe, ende maectere ballekens af. Ende dunct v dat een ey niet genoech en is, nemter also vele als ghi wilt, oft als ghi sien sult behoeflijc te zijn,

om dat voorgenoemde te maken.

Ende als ghi die smette wt doen wilt, neemt schoon water, ende baeyt oft wascht die voorscreuen smette van beyde siden van dat laken, ende dan wrijuet met dat voorscreuen balleken, ende laken op laken; dat ghedaen, wascht die vuylicheyt wt met versch water, dat laken wringende om dat vet wt te doen gaen, dan wascht dat laken noch wederom met versch water, ende het sal schoon blijuen.

32. To make soap, that, purifies all sorts of stains, whatever they might be.

Take rock alum, lees [or alum feces which is burned wine lees, or tartar] one pound and make this in a powder, rhizomes of flames or waterlilies of Florence (orris root), pulverized a half pound, a fresh egg, two pounds and a half of spanish soap, stomp the previously mentioned powders with the egg and the soap, and make little balls thereof. And if you think an egg was not enough, take as many as you like, or as you think is enough, to make the previously mentioned.

And if you want to do something to the stain, take clean water, and soak and wash the mentioned stain of both sides of the sheet, and rub with the mentioned ball, and sheet on sheet; that done, wash the dirtiness out with fresh water, and wring the sheet to get rid of the fat, and wash the sheet again with fresh water, and it will stay clean.

35. Om een smette te doen op scharlaken oft gheuerwet fluweel, sulcks dat die verwe niet en verandere noch bedoruen worde.

Neemt van dat cruyt dat die cruyniers ghemeynlijck heeten soponaria, oft volderscruyt, maecter sap af, hetwelcke ghi op die smette doen sult, ende daer een vre op laten, is 't dat in den somer is, ende is 't inden winter, den tijt van vier vren. Dan neemt laew water ende wascht dat laken bouen die smette, is 't dat v dunct datse niet suyuer wt en gaet, doeter noch van dat voerscreuen sap op.

Ende is 't dat scharlaken in geen greyn geverwet en is, doeter half swarte seepe op, ende half van dat sap van dat voorscreuen cruyt, ende plecket op die smette, dan wasschet met werm water, ende die smette sal vergaen, het is gheprobeert ende gheexperimenteert.

35. To do a stain on a scarlate or [gheuerwet] velvet, such that the dye does not change nor corrupts.

Take the herb that the grocer calls saponaria, or volderscruyt [volderskruid, vollerskruid, fullers herb: Saponaria officinalis], make sap of it, which you shall put on the stain, and keep it on an hour, if it is summer, and if it is winter, the time of four hours.Then take luke warm water and wash the sheet atop the stain, if you think that it does not clean, do more of the mentioned sap on top.

And if the scarlet is not dyed in grain, do half black soap on it, and half of the sap of the mentioned herb, and stick it on the stain, then wash with warm water, and the stain should go, it is tried and experimented.

50. Om schoon haye te maken.

Neemt hout van vaele oft eyloof, ende neemter die wterste schorsse af, sonder meer, ende maket tot asschen. Daerna neemt wy(n)gaertwater ontrent een mengele oft cuperken, maect daer looge af, dan wascht dat hooft seer wel daermede ende drooget in de sonne.

Ende als 't half drooge is, neemt witte seepe gewreuen ende wat ontlaten met de voors. looge, ontrent een half schotel vol, ende laet die seepe dunne zijn als honich. Dan maect v hant in die selue seepe nat, ende wrijfter v hayr mede, latet droogen, dan smeerter v hayr wederomme mede tot drie of vier reysen toe, v droogende als bouen, doet dat tweemael ter weeke, ende ghi sult seer schoon hayr hebben.

50. To make clean hair.

Take wood of vaele [?] or ivy, and take off the outer bark, without a doubt, and make it into ash. Then take vineyard water [?] about a mengele [?] or kuipje, make lye with that, then wash the head with it very well and dry in the sun.

And when it is halfway dry, take white soap lathered up with the mentioned lye, about a half dish full, and let the soap be thin like honey. Then make your hand wet in that soap, and rub it into the hair, let it dry, then rub the hair again to three to four more times, drying in between as above, do that twice a week, and you will have clean hair again.

70. Om welriekende seepe te maken teghen die crauwagie.

Neemt wel stercke looge, in de welcke ghi een weynich souts doen sult, ende latet wel t' samen resolueren.; dan neemt een weynich rooswaters, en 't sap van limoenen, ende also vele van die voors. gesouten looghe. Doet daerinne witte seepe gebroken ende wel cleyn gesneden, ende een weynich groffelsnaghelpoeder; dit suldi laten stil staen tot dat worde gelijc deech, het welcke ghi met eenen stoc omrueren sult in een diepe schotel, dan settet in die sonne tot dat die voors. seepe hert wordt, so dat ghi (daer) lichtelijken ballekens af maken moecht, van alsulcke groote als ghi wilt.

Nae dat ghijse gemaect sult hebben, laetse drooghen, ende daermede suldi alle morgen die handen wasschen, ende en hebt daerna geen sorghe meer van crauwagie, want ghi zijt seker datter niet in dit voors, en is dat v letten mach.

70. To make well scented soap against scabies.

Take strong lye, in which you will do a little bit of salt, and let it well dissolve together; then take a little rosewater, and the juice of lemons, and also much of the mentioned salted lye. Add into this white soap broken and cut up small, and a little gillyflower powder; let this stand until it becomes like dough, which you stir with a stick in a deep dish, then put it in the sun until the mentioned soap becomes hard, so that you can lightly make balls, of the size you like.

After you made them, let them dry, and use them every morning to wash the hands, and you will have no more worry of the scabies, because when you do this before, you won’t bother it.

74. Om een salue te maken, de welcke die weechluysen doot die in een coetse zijn.

Neemt quicsiluer, ende doeget in een schotel met een weynich swarte seepe, ende met den vinger sult ghijt so langhe roeren ende dooden, tot dat het quicksiluer heel met die voors. seepe geincorporeert si, daerna doeter al so veel ander seepen in als ghi wilt, daerna smeert die coetse met die seepe, ende ghi zijt seker dat die weechluysen steruen sullen, ende sult daer mede haer eyeren versmooren, datse

nemmermeer wedercomen en sullen.

74. To make a salve, which kills the wall lice [bedbugs] which are in a bed.

Take mercury, and do this in a dish with a little black soap, and with the finger mix it until the mercury is completely incorporated into mentioned soap, after that add as many other soaps as you like, then wipe the bed with this soap, and you do this to be sure all the wall lice will die, and smother her eggs, so they will never come weder again.

77. Om die luysen ende die neten te doden.

Neemt swarte seepe, een vnce ende een halue, aloen gestooten, een half dragme,

leuende solfer ooc ghestooten, eenen scrupulus, mengelt alle dese dingen t' samen,

brengtse in een maniere van een salue, met dat welcke smeert die plaetse daer die

luysen zijn, ende si sullen al met die neten steruen, het is wel geproeft.

77. To kill the lice and the nits.

Take black soap, one ounce and a half, broken [rock] alum, a half dragme, living sulfur [naturally found sulfur] also broken, carefully mix all these things together, and bring it into the manner of a salve, with which is wiped the place where the lice are, and you’ll kill all the nits, it is well proved.

132. Om seepe rosaet te maken om in bussen te doene.

Neempt seepe menichmael in rooswater gheweect, daerna neemt knoppen van roosen van Prouencen wel cleyne gesneden. Ende alle dage set die voors. gesneden roosen met die seepe in de sonneschijn, ende dat sult ghi vier dagen doen.

Daerna, als ghi die in bussen doen wilt oft in cleyn vaetkens, neemt een vnce ende een half poeder van groffelsnagelen, ende dat vierendeel yrias van Florencen, wel gestooten ende gewreuen met een weynich beniuyn. Dan sult ghi dit al met die seepe mengelen; weet dat tot elck pont seepen ghi moet2. hebben een pont ende een half roosen, ende als ghijse met die selue seepe doet, so willense versch ghesneden zijn, ende bywijlen daer rooswater in doen, ende dat mengelende, ende gheduerichlijck roerende.

132. To make soap roseat for containers.

Take soap soaked in rosewater many times, then take rose buds of the Provence [in France] cut very small. And every day put the mentioned cut up roses with the soap in the sun, and you should do that for four days.

Then, if you want to put it in containers or in clean small vats, take one ounce and a half powder of gillyflowers, and a fourth part of iris of Florence [orris root], well bruised and rubbed with a little benzoin. Then you should mix all this with the soap; know that to each pound of soap you have a pound and a half of roses, and the manner it is done with this soap, they have to be freshly cut, and add rosewater occasionally, and mix and stir steadily.

133. Om seepe girofflat te maken.

Neemt een pont seepen, set die te weeken in rooswater drie dagen in de sonne; ende als ghi v seepe maken wilt, neemt een vnce ende een half groffelsnagelen wel gestooten, ende die helft van die selue nagelen sult ghi in v seepe doen, ende dat seer wel mengelende. Met dander helft doet dat hierna volcht.

Neemt een cleyn potken met rooswater, ende doeghet ouer 't vier sieden, ende alst beginnen sal te sieden, doeter die reste van dat groffelsnagelpoeder inne, ende neemt den pot van dat vier, ende decten seer wel tot dat die bobbelen ghecesseert zijn, ende dattet water law geworden si, dan roeret met een houtken, ende also roerende, mengelet met v seepe. 
Ende is 't dat ghijer een luttel beniuyn toe doen wilt, ghi moeget doen, ooc sult ghi v seepe in een busse doen, ende si sal goede ruecke aennemen.

133. To make gillyflower soap.

Take a pound of soap, put it to soak in rosewater three days in the sun, and if you want to make soap, take an ounce and a half gillyflowers well crushed, and half of these same nagelen [nails] should you put into the soap, and mix very well. With the other half you do as follows.

Take a clean pot with rosewater, and cook it over the fire, and when it starts to boil, add the rest of the gillyflower powder, and take the pot off the fire, and cover it well until the bubbles seized, and that the water is luke warm, then stir with wood, and also stir, mixing with the soap.

And if you would like add a little benzoin, which you should do, also you should put the soap in a container, and it shall take on a good scent.

139. Seepe voor barbiers met weynich costs.

Neemt bloeme van spaensche seepe, oft seepe damasquin, also veel als ghijs behoeft ende als ghi wilt, ende snijdet in cleyn stucxkens, ende legtse in rooswater te weeken. Dan neemt yrias van Florencen ghepoedert, ende nagelen wel ghestooten, ende incorporeret al wel te samen, ende maecter ballekens af, van alsulcke grootte als ghi wilt, dan hebt ghi goede seepe om dat hooft ende den baert mede te wasschen.

139. Soap for barbers for little cost.

Take powder of Spanish soap, or damask soap, so much as you like and want, and cut it in small pieces, and let it soak in rosewater. Then take iris of Florence [orris sroot] powdered, and nagelen well crushed, and incorporate well, and make thereof small balls, of the size you like, then you have good soap to wash the head and the beard.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Recipes taken from Dat batement van recepten. Een secreetboek uit de zestiende eeuw. Anderwerf gecorrigeerd ende verbetert. Gheprint T Antwerpen op die Lombaerde veste teghen over den ijshont bij mij Hans de Laet van Stabroeck 1546.

That House of Recipes. A Book of Secrets of the 16th century. Otherwise corrected and improved. Printed in Antwerp at the Lombardse Veste opposite the icedog by me Hans de Laet van Stabroeck, 1546. (ed. Willy L. Braekman). Omirel UFSAL, Brussel 1990. This book is available at the Provincial Library in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands and was donated from the Bibliotheca Frisiae of J.H Halbersma (part of T bouck va wondre).

Zie voor verantwoording: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_bat002wlbr01_01/colofon.htm

T bouck van wondre, 1513 by H.G.Th. Frencken, Drukkerij H. Timmermans, Roermond 1934.

Zie voor verantwoording: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/fren007tbou01_01/colofon.htm

Of Hoppes; hops as mentioned in A Nievve Herball

  From A Nievve Herball Or Historie of Plantes by Gerard Dewes, 1579, comes this chapter on hops:

 

 

A Nievve Herball, Or Historie of Plantes : Wherin is Contayned the Vvhole Discourse and Perfect Description of All Sortes of Herbes and Plantes: Their Diuers [and] Sundry Kindes: Their Straunge Figures, Fashions, and Shapes: Their Names, Natures, Operations, and Vertues: and that Not Onely of Those Whiche are Here Growyng in this Our Countrie of Englande, But of All Others Also of Forrayne Realmes, Commonly Vsed in Physicke by Gerard Dewes, 1578 (779 pages), London.

Free download at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ifxNAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=A_Nievve_Herball_Or_Historie_of_Plantes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6je3O083OAhXDKCYKHQBJAwMQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=A_Nievve_Herball_Or_Historie_of_Plantes&f=false

Hoppho; Hildegard von Blingen on hops

The first mention of the use of Hops, according to my brewing book is in Physica Sacra or Die Physica der heiligen Hildegard by Hildegard of Blingen (born 1099 in Bechelheim), the German translation is from 1896 (and the English translation by Susan Verberg, 2016):

Cap . 61. H o p s (Humulus Lupulus). The hops is hot and dry, it has no particular benefit, and because it causes melancholy it makes men feel sad and the guts complain. But when it is added to beverages, its bitterness stops rot and promotes its durability ..

Cap. 61. H o p p h o (Humulus Lupulus). Der Hopfen ist warm und trocken, er hat keinen besonderen Nutzen, weil er Melancholie bewirkt, den Sinn des Menschen traurig macht und die Eingeweide beschwert. Seine Bitterkeit hält aber, wenn er Geträflken Zugesetzt wird, die FäulnisB ab und befördert ihre Haltbarkeit ..

Contemporary images of Renaissance Washerwomen in action

From the archives of the British Museum come the following images (found using the keywords 'washerwoman', 'washerwomen' and 'laundress'). Most date from the late 16th to mid 17th century. Enjoy!

 Five women washing clothes, formerly in an album originally containing
62 drawings; one sitting by a basket to right. Genoese, 1542-1585. 

Pen and brown ink, grey-brown wash, over black chalk by Luca Cambiaso.

 A bleaching field, from an album of 102 drawings; 

five women collecting or laying down clothing or sheets, a man with a basket of cloth
on a wheelbarrow and a dog by a kennel at right, a gabled house beyond. Dutch, 1620-1626.
Watercolor and bodycolor, over black chalk, heightened with silver & gold by Adriaen van de Venne.

Two women washing clothes in a well at left, a third woman kneeling and rinsing clothes in a pond in left foreground, a donkey at right, a tunnel cut in stone beyond; after Francisque Millet. 

French, Flemish, 1657-1700. Etching by Francois de Ligny.

 

 A laundress; whole-length figure, turned slightly to right, balancing the laundry basket on her head; from a series of fourteen plates. Dutch; 1635, Etching and engraving by Jan van Vliet.

Plate 9: The Laundry. Singerie with several monkeys doing the laundry in an interior, such as washing, drying and stiffing collars; second state with lettering; from a series of eighteen prints showing monkeys. Dutch, c.1562, Etching by Pieter van der Borcht

Laundresses; two women standing either side of a table at centre pressing clothes, another woman, seen from behind at r, is leaning out of a window; French 1698-1762.
 Red chalk on cream paper by Edme Bouchardon.

Figure studies of male and female peasants including a group of washerwomen. 

Etching with some hand colouring. German, 1700-1800. Anonymous.

 A laundress and a shepherd in conversation near a stream; the woman seen from behind,
kneeling at left, the shepherd standing in profile to left at right, leaning against a fence in
 front of which a goat is standing and over which a cow is peering. Dutch, 1610-1647.

Etching and engraving by Moyses van Wtenbrouck.

Animals standing in a stream with a washerwoman drying clothes on a rock; 

a youth stands on the rock watching; after Nicolaes Berchem. Dutch, 1660 (circa). 

Engraving and etching by Johannes Visscher.

Washerwoman and herd on the bank of a river; a shepherd sits and examines his foot
and a dog laps at the water; beyond on a path a woman carries a basket on her head;
third state with publisher's address; after Pieter van Laer. Dutch, 1650-1660.
Engraving and etching by Cornelis Visscher.

The ressaite to make Ypocras, and others.

page 187

The Ressaite to make Ypocras. 

For a galon and a pynt of red wy take synamon iij. vncis, gynger tryed an vnce, greynes and lone peper di. vnce, cloues amd masys, a q'rt' of an vnce, spigard a quartir of an vnce, suger ij. ll. 
 

The recipe to make Hypocras.

For a gallon and a pint of red wine take cinnamon iij. ounces, ginger tried an ounce, grains [of paradise] and long pepper di. ounce, cloves and mace, a quarter of an ounce, spikenard a quarter of an ounce, sugar ij. ll. [gill]

Clarey.

For xviij. galons synamo, di. a pute gynger, q'rt' of a ll. pepir, a q'rt' of a ll. greynes, a vnce safron, a quatir of an vnce colyaundir, ij, vnce calamose aromaticus.
 

Clary.

For xviij. gallons, di. [dix, French for ten?] cinnamon, a pute [a whole?] ginger, a quarter of a ll. [gill] of pepper, a quarter of a ll. [gill] of grains [of paradise], an ounce of saffron, a quarter of an ounce of coriander, ij ounces of Calamus aromaticus [sweet sedge].

The Crafte to make Ypocras and Braket and Clare.

Take a quarte of red wyne an vnce of synamo and half an vnce of gynger and a quartir of an vnce of greynes and half a ll. off suger, and brose all these not to small and than putt them in a bage of sullen clothe made therefore with the wyne and late it hange ouir a vessell till y wyne be rune thorow. And aftir thou mayst breke the spics smaller and putt new wyne ther to, and make more wyth the same stuff, but it can not be so good as the first, and this if thow wilt haue more quantyte of ypocras make thi quantite os spicis there aftir as is boue said.

The craft to make Hypocras and Braket and Clare.

Take a quart of red wine, an ounce of cinnamon and half an ounce of ginger, and a quarter of an ounce of grains [of paradise] and half a ll. [gill] of sugar, and bruise all these not too small and then put them in a bag of soaked cloth made thus with the wine [the wine is poured into the bag], and let it hang over a vessel till the wine be run through. And after you may break the spices smaller, and put new wine thereto, and make more with the same stuff, but it can not be so good as the first, and thus if you will have more quantity of hypocras make the quantity of spices thereafter [matching] as is said above.

page 188

For Clarre.

Take cloues and gilofre quibible, and mac? canll' gigner and spiguale off an in poudre and temper hem with good wyne and the iij. parte as much of fyn honi that is clarified and streine hem thorough a cloth and doo it into a clene vessel, and it may be made wyth ale &c?.

For Clare.

Take cloves and gillyflower quibible [could be qui belle, or very beautiful], and mac? canll' [much candied?] ginger and spiguale off [spigot, or drain off?] and in powder, and mix them with good wine and the iij. part as much of fine honey that is clarified and strain them through a cloth and do it in a clean vessel, and it may be made with ale, etc.

For Braket.

Take a pott of good ale and put thereto a porcion of hony and peper i this maner, when thou hast good ale lete it stonde in a pot ij. daies and tha drawe out a quarte or a potell of that ale and put ti the hony and set it ouer the fire and let it sethe well and take it of the fire and scinne and than set it ouer the fire and scinne it ayen and then lete it keele a while and put thertoo the peper and the set he on the fire and lete hem boyle wel togedur with esy fir; but peper take iiij. galons of good ale a pynte of fyn tryed hony and the mountenaunce off saucer full of poud' of peper, &c?.

For Braket [braggot].

Take a pot of good ale and put thereto a portion of honey, and pepper in this manner: when you have good ale let is stand in a pot ij. days and then draw out a quarter or a potell [2 quarts] of that ale and put in the honey and set it over the fire and let it simmer well and take it off the fire and scum it and then set it over the fire and scum it again and then let to cool a while and thereto the pepper and then set it on the fire and let it boil well together with a moderate fire; but pepper take iiij. gallons of good ale, a pint of fine tried honey and the mountenaunce [abundance?] off a saucer full of powder of pepper, etc.

Some clarification:

a gill is a British Liquid Measure of 4 ounces, or 0.1183 liters

a potell or a pottle is a unit of measurement, measuring 2 quarts

temper in medieval brewing is translated as to mix 

I translated greynes to grains of paradise as it makes the most sense; it could also be any other kind of grain like, barley wheat or pepper kernels. Grains of paradise can be substituted with cardamom.

With help from A Sip Through Time by Cindy Renfrow, 1996

© Translations by Susan Verberg, 2016


From The Customs of London: Otherwise Called Arnold's Chronicle, 1503
By Richard Arnold; Francis Douce, London 1811

Free download of the complete manuscript at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=BfxBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR5&dq=r.+arnold+the+customs+of+london+1811&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3sqWx-8vOAhVG3mMKHW0-Am44ChDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=r.%20arnold%20the%20customs%20of%20london%201811&f=false

Free Resources for Mediaeval Brewers

The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by Kenelm Digby, 1669.
Free download at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16441


The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley
Free download at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14377


the English Husbandman by Gervase Markham, 1613. An interesting manuscript with info on growing & harvesting hops, grapes and making cyder & perry.
Free download at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22973


The Egnlish Hus-wife: containg [sic] the inward and outward vertues which ought to be a compleat woman : as her skill in physick, chirurgery, cookery, extraction of oyls, banqueting stuff, ordering of great feasts, preserving of all sort of wides, conceited secrets, distillatians, perfumes, ordering the wool, hemp, flax, making cloth and dying, the knowledge of dayries, office of malting, of oats, their excellent uses in families, of brewing, baking and all other things belonging to an houshold : a work generally approved and now the eighth time much augmented, purged and made most profitable and necessary for all men and the general good of this nation by Gervase Markham (1568-1637), London 1675

The online catalog at UPenn (it's the first listed):
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/browse?type=title&index=15703&key=english+house+wife+containing+the+inward+and+outward+vertues+which+ought+to+be+in+a+compleat+woman&c=c
The direct link to the file:
http://mdc.cbuc.cat/cdm/singleitem/collection/fonsgrewe/id/37


A Way to get Wealth, CONTAINING Six Principal! Vocations, or Callings, in which every good Husband or House- wise may lawfully imploy themselves. Includes 3. The Office of a House-wife, in Physick, Chirurgery, Extractions of Oyles, Banquets, Cookery, Ordering of Feasts, Preserving of Wine, conceited Secrets, Distillations, Perfumes, Ordering of Wooll, Hemp, Flax, Dying, Use of Dayries, Maulting, Brewing, Baking; and the Profit of Oats. by Gervase Markham, 1668

Free download at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=A_ZEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA12&dq=a+way+to+get+wealth&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjB1pT748PMAhXMfhoKHSAqB2QQ6AEIMDAA#v=onepage&q=a%20way%20to%20get%20wealth&f=false


A Nievve Herball, Or Historie of Plantes: Wherein is Contayned the Whole Discourse and Perfect Description of All Sortes of Herbes and Plantes : Their Divers & Sundry Kindes ... and that Not Onely of Those Whiche are Here Growyng in this Our Countrie of Englande, But of All Others Also of Forrayne Realmes Commonly Used in Physicke ; First Set Foorth in the Doutche Or Almaigne Tongue, by Garrat D'Ewes (Gerard Dewes), dwelling in Pawles Churchyarde at the signe of the Swanne, 1578 (779 pages) - has a great chapter on hops.

Free download at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=nrspQgAACAAJ&dq=A_Nievve_Herball_Or_Historie_of_Plantes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ4KO978vOAhVLVWMKHVKMD7gQ6AEILDAC


A Booke of Secrets, London; Adam Islip, 1596. Has recipes for inks and paints; also a small treatise on "the ordering of wines". Page 22-37 are about making Wine "Certain Instructions for ordering of Wines: Shewing how to make Wine, that it may continue good and faint not, Neither become sour, nor [...] colour. And how you may remedie faint Wine, take away the hoariness, with other instructions for preparations of the same."

Free download at:
http://www.shipbrook.net/jeff/bookshelf/details.html?bookid=3


T Boucke va Wondre, a 1513 book with brewing recipes (and lots of ways to dye stuff). In medieval Dutch as part of a thesis of 1934 in modern Dutch (includes the chemistry behind the dyeing recipes and explanations of ingredients).

Free download at:
http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/fren007tbou01_01/fren007tbou01_01_0006.php


The Customs of London: Otherwise Called Arnold's Chronicle, 1503
By Richard Arnold, Francis Douce, London 1811

Free download at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=BfxBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR5&dq=r.+arnold+the+customs+of+london+1811&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3sqWx-8vOAhVG3mMKHW0-Am44ChDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=r.%20arnold%20the%20customs%20of%20london%201811&f=false

Description Of Elizabethan England, 1577 by William Harrison (1534-1593):
Near the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, Reginald Wolfe, the Queen's Printer, with the splendid audacity characteristic of that age, planned to publish a "universal Cosmography of the whole world, and therewith also certain particular histories of every known nation." Raphael Holinshed had charge of the histories of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the only part of the work ever published; and these were issued in 1577, and have since been known as "Holinshed's Chronicles." From them Shakespeare drew most of the material for his historical plays.

http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1577harrison-england.asp

Of particular interest is Chapter VI: Of The Food And Diet Of The English

http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1577harrison-england.asp#Chapter%20VI


The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (1597) John Gerarde, London
http://caliban.mpipz.mpg.de/gerarde/index.html (high resolution images)
Free download of the pdf (medium resolution images):
http://caliban.mpipz.mpg.de/gerarde/gerarde_herball.pdf


A Nievve Herball, Or Historie of Plantes : Wherin is Contayned the Vvhole Discourse and Perfect Description of All Sortes of Herbes and Plantes: Their Diuers [and] Sundry Kindes: Their Straunge Figures, Fashions, and Shapes: Their Names, Natures, Operations, and Vertues: and that Not Onely of Those Whiche are Here Growyng in this Our Countrie of Englande, But of All Others Also of Forrayne Realmes, Commonly Vsed in Physicke by Gerard Dewes, 1578 (779 pages), London.

Free download at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ifxNAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=A_Nievve_Herball_Or_Historie_of_Plantes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6je3O083OAhXDKCYKHQBJAwMQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=A_Nievve_Herball_Or_Historie_of_Plantes&f=false


For documentation on the recreation of period brews, please visit the Aethelmearc Brewers Guild at:
http://brewers.aethelmearc.org/resource.html