jan 1, 1651 - greenginger

Description:

Green Ginger is the undried root of a tropical plant prized for its hot spicy taste and it was being imported into Yorkshire by the fourteenth century, possibly much earlier. The accounts of the abbot of Selby include money spent in 1397-8 <i>in viridi zinzibere et aliis speciebus </i>(YAJ15/415). Elsewhere I have noted: 1398 <i>ollis pro viridi gynger</i>, York (SS4/245) and 1421 <i>1 olla de grenegynger</i>, York (SS35/45), the former in the will of an apothecary. It was imported from Middelburg in the Low Countries and taken inland via the river Ouse: 1463 <i>1 parva barryl cum grenegyngour</i>, Hull (YRS144/63); 1535 <i>iij barrelles of grene gynger</i>, Stillingfleet (YRS45/129). Its possession seems to have conveyed status, and wills record special items of cutlery for its use, including a spoon in the form of a snail shell: 1434<i> two silver spoons cum le pyke pro grengynger; </i>1444 <i>also ij forkes for grene ginger of silver,</i> Nottingham (SS30/132); 1494 <i>j longum cocliar argenti et deaurati pro grenegynger</i>, York (SS35/344); 1537 <i>a long spone for grenegynger</i>, Wighill (SS106/66). The Land of Green Ginger’ is on record in Hull as a street name from 1651 (PNER) but its meaning and significance remain unclear.

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