Food and Drink in Strotherhine, Lore 24: February

I am a brewer by trade, so I may have a strong bias about the significance of food and drink, but I think it is telling that so many great authors devote so much of their works to depicting these elements of their worlds. Food and drink are such vivid and tangible reflections of the people and place that they come from. Both tell so much about the society and time that produced and enjoyed them. But it isn’t just the finished food and drink that tell these stories, the customs and process that surround their preparation and enjoyment are also grounded in the cultural and historical roots of a society. So in thinking about what to write for my monthly Lore 24 posts I knew I wanted to devote at least one to the food and drink of Strotherhine. 

Strotherhine sits on the edge of the known world, and its citizens come from an empire that spans continents. Meaning that the people that make up Strotherhine will each have their own food traditions and techniques that may already be foreign to others who have come to live in this frontier village. Despite this, It takes months for ships to cross the ocean that spans between the empire and Srotherhine, so familiar ingredients may be hard to come by, or outright unavailable. All of these bits of existing lore create an interesting intersection, where the people of Strotherhine will be attempting to adapt their familiar recipes to the seasonally available ingredients of a new frontier and modest farms.

A major theme for this campaign is adapting and harmonizing to the wilds so I wanted the food and drink of Strotherhine to reflect that theme. This informed a decision to make the cuisine of Stortherhine hyper focused on the shifting of seasons and the availability of wild foods. Strotherhine isn’t a wealthy place, most who have come are there because they had few other options. Since Stortehrine exists on Earth in a far future version of the Mid-Atlantic, I have the benefit of being able to draw on my own knowledge of this region as inspiration for what that seasonality means. 

Early Spring is a time for planting crops and taking advantage of migrating fish looking to spawn up the many rivers of the region. This is a time of abundant smaller game such as turkey and squirrels, but it is a time when grown crops will be less abundant so reliance on wild plants, such as the starchy roots of marsh wapatos and tuckahoes, would be common. Weirs and gill nets would also be set up to catch fish mid-migration such as shad, herring, and alewife.

1d6 Dishes of Early Spring

Cornmeal Breaded and Fried Pokeweed Shoots

Field Salad (dandelion greens, chickweed, sea rocket leaves, basswood leaves, cat’s ear dandelion greens, and redbud blossoms)

Salt Cured Shad with Stewed Wild Greens (curly dock leaves, wild mustard greens, and amaranth leaves)  

Pickled Alewife with Braised Burdock and Field Thistle Roots

Squirrel sautéed with Morels and Ramps 

Watercress and Wapato Tuber Soup with Smoked Herring 

1d6 Drinks of Early Spring 

Chicory Root Coffee

Dandelion Root Coffee

Red Bay Leaf Tea

Stinging Nettle Tea 

Wild Ginger Root Beer (wild ginger and sassafras roots fermented with a small amount of sugar, would be little to no actual alcohol)

Spirits Infused with Wintergreen Leaves

From late Spring to Mid-Summer would be a good time to take advantage of the wild plants of the forest. Fishing and hunting would continue and the movement of large sturgeon up river during this time would make them the primary target for fishing. Grown crops would only just start to come in but dishes made with green corn and summer squash would be common on many tables. Wild berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and mulberries would also be available and it would be a time when their surplus would be preserved as wild berry wines or preserves. 

1d6 Dishes of Late Spring to Mid-Summer

Wild Grape Leaves Stuffed with Green Corn and Oyster Mushrooms   

Baked Sturgeon Stuffed with Crabmeat and Sea Purslane

Pan Fried Crappie and Greenbrier Vine Tips 

Braised Rabbit and Summer Squash

Juneberry Hand Pie  

Johnnycakes with Mayhaw Jam

1d6 Drinks of Late Spring to Mid-Summer

Shiso Tea 

Pineapple Weed Tea (served chilled)

Spicebush Leaf Sun Tea (served chilled) 

Pennywort Juice

Mulberry Wine 

Spirits Infused with Honeysuckle, Wisteria, and/or Elderberry Flowers  

Late Summer would bring the beginning of harvest and would mean an abundance of squash, corn, and beans as well as wild rice from the marsh, and the occasional maypop from the woods. Corn would be dried or cooked whole in water rich with lime, and things like cornmeal and hominy would be widely available. Wheat would not do well in Storthehine’s soggy soil and high humidity so corn would increasingly become the go to grain for producing flour. 

1d6 Dishes of Late Summer

Wild Rice and Seafood Paella, Seasoned and Colored with Cattail Pollen and Black Nightshade Berries

Fried Daylily Blossoms Stuffed with Fresh Cheese 

Stir Fried Burdock and Lotus Roots

Hominy Pozole 

Roasted Corn with Sautéed Golden Chanterelle and Plantain Seed Heads 

Catfish Smoked with Black Cherry Bark and served with a Black Cherry Sauce 

1d6 Drinks of Late Summer

Sumac-ade (tart drink made by soaking sumac berries in cool water)

Kudzu Flower Tea

Wild Jersey Tea 

Muscadine Wine

Beach Plum Wine

Summer Berry Wine (blackberries, blueberries, chokeberries, elderberries, gooseberry, and/or wineberries) 

The arrival of Autumn and early Winter would mark the largest part of the corn harvest as well as massive hauls of nuts (hickory, walnut, and pecans) and acorns. The nuts and acorns would be consumed by more than the people of Storterhine, and the deer would grow fat during this time, in preparation for winter. This would also make it the most common time of the year for communal hunting, especially of larger animals, and as a result also communal feasting. 

1d6 Dishes of Fall to Early Winter

Roasted Venison and Yellow Trout Lily Corms with Crinkleroot Cream Sauce  

Venison Stew with Wild Carrot Roots and Daylily Corms, seasoned with Spicebush Berries and thickened with Common Mallow Leaves

Boiled Peanuts

Persimmon Puddings and Quick Breads 

Hickory Nut, Butternut, and Black Walnut Pie 

Acorn Flour Biscuits with Hackberry Syrup 

1d6 Drinks of Fall to Early Winter

Rosehip Tea

White Clover & Yarrow Tea 

Goldenrod Tea

Crabapple Cider (often made with other fruit additions such as hawthorn berries, chokeberries, persimmons, and wild grapes)

Barley Beer (there is a small barley crop in Strotherhine and it is prominently used for beer making, most of this beer will also be brewed with corn, early in the season, while still near late summer these beers are brewed with what little hops are grown but most are flavored with other plants and fruits)

Wild Pear Brandy

Late Winter and the earliest bits of spring would be the hungry time of year, but waterfowl that had come south to winter would dot the marshes and provide another option for hunters. This would be when larders are emptied and food that had been set aside and preserved would be most common. Diets would include lots of fermented vegetables, cured meats, and dried versions of both.

1d6 Dishes of Late Winter

Juniper Wood Smoked Snow Goose Sausage  

Braised Venison Jerky with Sautéed Hoary Bittercress Greens

Corned Venison with a sauce of ground Black Mustard Seeds and Autumn Olive Vinegar

Roasted Duck Over Mashed Wapato Tubers and Boiled Marsh Marigold Leaves 

Oyster Stew with Field Garlic

Dried Persimmons stuffed with Wild Nuts (Hickory Nut, Butternut, and Black Walnut)

1d6 Drinks of Late Winter

Black Birch Beer (boiled and fermented sap from the trees, depending on boiling times could actually be quite potent)

Possum Pine Beer (pine needs fermented with a small amount of sugar, would be little to no actual alcohol)

Shagbark Hickory Beer (shagbark hickory bark boiled in water to make a syrup and then fermented, low alcohol content) 

Spicebush Twig Tea 

Sassafras Root Tea 

Spirits Infused with Juniper Berries

Because Strotherhine is meant to exist on the new coast of what was once the Chesapeake Bay there is another important food that is worthy of note: oysters. They would be available year-round and would be a common feature of many meals, this would mean lots of variants of oyster dishes. They would be eaten fresh, grilled, steamed, or fried. They would be pickled, put into soups, fermented into sauce and pounded into rustic old-school catsups. They would be made into pies with wild mushrooms and leeks, and mixed with eggs and sweet potatoes to form pancakes fried in lard. Oysters would become a regular protein of the town and likely would be a routine substitute for more traditional options when those are scarce. 

Below are lists of wild plants organized by various seasons and locations. There is some overlap that occurs here, but the hope in creating these lists was to make a sort of wild pantry to draw on when thinking about the food and drink of Strotherhine. I have used the most common names for these plants in order to make them easy to reference but I will use more flavorful names for them in Strotherhine, so Virginia Pine would be known by one of its other names: Possum Pine.  

Wild Plants of Early Spring

The Fenlands (and other coastal areas)

Glasswort Stems and Leaves

Juniper Berries

Pennywort Stems and Leaves 

Red Bay Leaves

Saltwort Leaves

Sea Purslane Leaves and Stems

Sea Rocket Leaves 

The Fields of Moseley (and other open sunny areas)

Asparagus Shoots

Basswood Leaves

Black Mustard Greens

Burdock Root

Cat’s Ear Dandelion Greens

Cattail Shoots, Flowers, and Pollen

Chickweed

Chicory Leaves and Roots

Common Amaranth, young leaves and stem

Curly Dock Leaves

Dandelion Leaves, Crown, and Root

Daylily Shoots

Evening Primrose Leaves and Root

Field Garlic 

Field Mustard Greens

Field Thistle Roots

Henbit

Jerusalem Artichoke Tubers

Juniper Berries 

Plantain Leaves

Purple Dead Nettle

Redbud Blossoms

Salsify Leaves and Roots

Shepherd's Purse Leaves

Stinging Nettle

Violet Leaves and Flowers

Virginia Pine Needles  

Wild Carrot Root and Leaves 

The Greenwids, The Burning Weald, The Snowless Wood (and other partially shaded areas)

Basswood Leaves

Beech Leaves

Black Birch Inner Bark and Twigs

Chickweed

Cleavers Stalks and Young Leaves

Cow Parsnip Steam, Leafstalks, and Flowers

Crinkleroot Roots

Daylily Shoots

False Solomon’s Seal Shoots

Field Garlic

Garlic Mustard Leaves and Roots

Greenbrier Tips and Roots

Ramps

Redbud Blossoms

Sassafras Bark and Roots

Solomon’s Seal Shoots

Spicebush Twigs

Violet Leaves and Flowers

Virginia Pine Needles

Wild Ginger

Wintergreen Leaves

Wood Nettle 

Yellow Trout Lily

The Rotfield Mire & The Fenlands (and other marshes, bogs, swamps, riverbanks, and lakesides)

Cattail Shoots

Cow Parsnip Stems, Leafstalks, and Flowers

Marsh Marigold Leaves, Stalks, and Flower Buds

Wapato

Watercress Stems and Leaves

Wild Plants of Mid-Spring to Mid Summer

The Fenlands (and other coastal areas)

Glasswort

Honeysuckle Flowers

Juniper Berries

Pennywort Stems and Leaves

Red Bay Leaves

Saltwort Laves

Sea Purslane Leaves and Stems

Sea Rocket Leaves

The Fields of Moseley (and other open sunny areas)

Asiatic Dayflower 

Asparagus Shoots

Basswood Blossoms

Black Locust Flowers

Black Mustard

Black Nightshade Berries

Burdock Root and Immature Flower Stalks

Cat’s Ear Dandelion Leaves, Stems, and Flowers

Chickweed

Chicory Roots

Common Amaranth Greens

Common Mallow Leaves

Crabapple Flowers

Curly Dock Flower Stalks 

Dandelion Flowers and Root 

Daylily Buds

Elderberry Flowers

Evening Primrose Leaves

Field Mustard

Field Thistle Shoots

Greenbrier Tips and Roots

Honeysuckle Flowers

Juneberry Berries

Juniper Berries

Kudzu Leaves

Lady’s Thumb

Lamb’s Quarters Greens

Milkweed Florets

Mulberry Berries

Pineapple Weed

Plantain Young Leaves

Pokeweed Shoots

Prickly Pear Pads

Purslane 

Red Clover Blossoms 

Salsify Shoots

Sassafras Leaves, Bark, and Roots

Sheep Sorrel

Shepherd’s Purse Shoots

Shiso

Sow Thistle Leaves and Shoots

Spiderwort 

Stinging Nettle

White Clover Blossoms

Wild Carrot Leaves and Roots

Wild Grape Leaves

Wild Lettuce 

Wild Onion

Wisteria Flowers

Wood Sorrel

Yarrow Leaves   

The Greenwids, The Burning Weald, The Snowless Wood (and other partially shaded areas)

Angelica Stems

Basswood Blossoms

Black Nightshade Berries

Chickweed

Cow Parsnip Stem, Leafstalks, and Flowers

Crinkleroot

Elderberry Flowers

Garlic Mustard Greens, Flowers, and Immature Seed Pods

Greenbrier Tips and Roots

Honeysuckle Flowers

Juneberry Berries 

Kudzu Leaves

Sassafras Leaves, Bark, and Roots

Spicebush Leaves 

Violet Young Leaves

Virginia Pine Needles 

Wild Ginger

Wintergreen Leaves

Wisteria Flowers

Wood Sorrel

The Rotfield Mire & The Fenlands (and other marshes, bogs, swamps, riverbanks, and lakesides)

Angelica Stems

Cattail

Cow Parsnip Stem, Leavestalk, Leaves, and Flowers 

Mayhaw Fruit 

Pickerelweed Leaves

Wapato Leaves and Leafstalk  

Watercress Stems, Leaves, and Flowers

Wild Plants of Mid to Late Summer

The Fenlands (and other coastal areas)

Beach Plum Fruit 

Glasswort Stems

Juniper Berries

Pennywort Steams

Red Bay Leaves

Saltwort Leaves

Sea Purslane Leaves and Steams

The Fields of Moseley (and other open sunny areas)

Asiatic Dayflower

Blackberry Fruit 

Black Cherry Fruit

Black Locust Seed Pods

Black Mustard Flowers, Seed Pods, and Seeds

Black Nightshade Berries

Blueberry Fruit 

Burdock Root and Stalk

Butternut

Chicory Flowers

Chokeberry Berries

Common Amaranth Leaves

Common Mallow Leaves, Flowers, and Seeds

Dandelion Root

Daylily Flower and Pods

Elderberry Fruit 

Evening Primrose Flower Buds and Flowers

Field Mustard Flowers, Seed Pods, and Seeds

Field Thistle Roots

Goldenrod Leaves

Gooseberry Fruit 

Greenbrier Tips and Roots

Hawthorn Fruit 

Honeysuckle Flowers

Juniper Berries

Kudzu Flowers

Lady’s Thumb Leaves

Lamb’s Quarters Greens

Loomis’ Mountains Mint

Maypop Fruit 

Milkweed Florets and Pods

Mulberry Fruit

New Jersey Tea Leaves

Oxeye Daisy Leaves

Pawpaw Fruit 

Pineapple Weed

Plantain Seeds

Purslane Leaves and Stem

Red Clover Flowers

Rose Leaves and Flowers

Salsify Flower Buds

Sassafras Leaves, Roots, and Bark

Sheep Sorrel

Shepherd’s Purse

Shiso

Spiderwort 

Sumac Fruit 

White Clover Flowers

Wild Carrot Flowers and Seeds

Wild Grape Leaves and Fruit 

Wild Plum Fruit 

Wild Rice

Wild Strawberry Berries

Wineberry Berries

Wood Sorrel

Yarrow Leaves 

The Greenwids, The Burning Weald, The Snowless Wood (and other partially shaded areas)

Angelica Seeds

Asiatic Dayflower

Basswood Seeds

Blackberry Fruit 

Black Birch Twigs and Bark

Black Cherry Fruit 

Black Nightshade 

Blueberry Fruit 

Chickweed 

Cow Parsnip Stem, Leafstalks and Seeds

Crinkleroot Roots

Elderberry Fruit 

False Solomon’s Seal Fruit 

Garlic Mustard Seeds

Greenbrier Tips and Roots

Hawthorn Fruit 

Honeysuckle Flowers

Kudzu Flowers 

Loomis' Mountain Mint

Mayapple Fruit 

Mayhaw Fruit 

Pawpaw Fruit 

Sassafras Leaves, Bark, and Roots

Spicebush Leaves and Twigs 

Wild Ginger

Wild Grape Leaves

Wineberry Fruit 

Wintergreen Leaves and Fruit 

Wood Sorrel 

Yellow Trout Lily Bulbs 

The Rotfield Mire & The Fenlands (and other marshes, bogs, swamps, riverbanks, and lakesides)

American Lotus Tubers and Seeds

Angelica Seeds

Black Birch Inner Bark

Cattail Flowers and Pollen

Chokeberry Fruit 

Cow Parsnip Stem, Leafstalks and Seeds

Pickerelweed Leaves

Wapato Leaves, Leafstalks, and Flower Stalks 

Watercress Flowers

Wild Plants of Fall

The Fenlands (and other coastal areas)

Juniper Berries

Pennywort Stems and Flowers

Red Bay Leaves

Saltwort Leaves

Sea Purslane Leaves and Stems

Sea Rocket Leaves 

The Fields of Moseley (and other open sunny areas)

American Hazelnut Nuts

American Persimmon Fruit 

Apples

Asiatic Dayflower 

Autumn Olive Berries

Basswood Fruit 

Beech Nuts

Black Mustard

Black Nightshade Fruit

Black Walnut Nuts

Burdock Root

Butternut Nuts

Chickweed

Chicory Roots and Leaves

Common Amaranth Seeds

Common Mallow Leaves, Flowers, and Seeds

Crabapple Fruit 

Curly Dock Seeds

Dandelion Root

Daylily Corms 

Evening Primrose Seeds

Field Garlic 

Field Mustard 

Field Thistle Roots

Ginkgo Fruit 

Goldenrod Leaves and Flowers

Hackberry Fruit 

Hawthorn Fruit 

Hickory Nuts and Bark 

Jerusalem Artichoke Tubers

Juniper Berries

Kousa Dogwood Fruit 

Lady's Thumb Leaves  

Lamb’s Quarters Seeds

Oak Acorns

Prickly Pear Fruit and Seeds

Rose Hips

Salsify Roots

Sassafras Bark and Roots

Virginia Pine Needles

Watercress Leaves and Stems

White Clover Blossoms

Wild Carrot Leaves and Roots 

Wild Grape Fruit 

Wild Pear Fruit 

Yarrow Leaves  

The Greenwids, The Burning Weald, The Snowless Wood (and other partially shaded areas)

American Hazelnut Nuts

American Persimmon Fruit 

Beech Nuts 

Black Birch Inner Bark and Twigs

Black Nightshade 

Black Walnut Nuts

Butternut

Chickweed

Chokeberry Fruit 

Cow Parsnip Seeds

Crinkleroot Roots 

Field Garlic 

Garlic Mustard Roots and Leaves

Hackberry Fruit 

Hawthorn Fruit 

Sassafras Bark and Roots

Spicebush Berries and Twigs

Virginia Pine Needles

Wild Ginger

Wild Grape Fruit 

Wild Pear Fruit 

Wintergreen Leaves and Berries

Yellow Trout Lily Bulbs  

The Rotfield Mire & The Fenlands (and other marshes, bogs, swamps, riverbanks, and lakesides)

American Lotus Tubers

Black Birch Inner Bark and Twigs 

Cow Parsnip Seeds

Pickerelweed Seeds

Wapato 

Watercress

Wild Plants of Winter 

The Fenlands (and other coastal areas)

Juniper Berries

The Fields of Moseley (and other open sunny areas) 

Black Birch Inner Bark, Twigs, and Sap

Chickweed

Field Garlic 

Hickory Bark

Horary Bittercress Leaves and Flowers 

Sassafras Bark and Roots

Spicebush Twigs

Virginia Pine Needles

Wintergreen Leaves and Berries

The Greenwids, The Burning Weald, The Snowless Wood (and other partially shaded areas)

Black Birch Inner Bark, Twigs, and Sap

Chickweed

Field Garlic 

Hickory Bark

Sassafras Bark and Roots

Spicebush Twigs

Virginia Pine Needles

Wintergreen Leaves and Berries

The Rotfield Mire & The Fenlands (and other bogs, swamps, riverbanks, and lakesides)

American Lotus Tubers

Black Birch Inner Bark, Twigs, and Sap

Marsh Marigold Leaves, Stalk, and Flower Buds

Wapato 

Watercress Leaves and Stems