“Shallow. Nay, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour, we will eat a last year’s pippin of my own graffing, with a dish of caraways and so forth.”[24]
Carraway seeds were very largely used in Shakespeare’s time as a spice and condiment. The essential oil they yield has carminative properties. The seeds were often served with roast apples, a custom still said to be kept up at Trinity College, Cambridge.
“Iago. The food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida.”[25]
The coloquintida mentioned, is the old name for colocynth, a drug largely used in medicine at the present time. It was employed by the Greek and Roman physicians as a purgative, and was known in Britain as early as the eleventh century. It has a drastic, bitter taste, and is commonly known as bitter apple.
Shakespeare makes several allusions to the elder, a tree concerning which there are many old traditions. One of them will suffice.
“Holofernes.
Begin, sir, you are my elder.
“Biron.
Well followed; Judas was hanged on an elder.”[26]
The sambucus nigra, or black elder, has long been used in medicine as a discutient, yet tradition gives it an evil name. Judas was supposed to have hanged himself on an elder tree, which doubtless brought it into disrepute, although its flowers distilled with water make an excellent cosmetic.