Foods in Season: September, 1861

It's a new month, so it's time to once again check Beeton's Book of Household Management to see what's in season (in/around London) in September:

Fish- Brill, carp, cod, eels, flounders, lobsters, mullet, oysters, plaice, prawns, skate, soles, sturgeon, turbot, whitling, whitebait.

Meat- Beef, lamb, mutton, pork, veal.

Poultry- Chickens, ducks, fowls, geese, larks, pigeons, pullets, rabbits, teal, turkeys.

Game- Blackcock, buck venison, grouse, hares, partridges, pheasant. 

Vegetables- Artichokes, asparagus, beans, cabbages sprouts, carrots, celery, cresses, lettuces, mushrooms, onions, pease, potatoes, salading, sea-kale, sprouts, tomatoes, turnips, vegetable marrow, various kitchen herbs.

Fruit- Bullaces, damsons, figs, filberts, grapes, melons, morella-cherries, mulberries, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, quinces, walnuts.

While overall diversity remains high, September sees multiple changes in almost every cateogry. Fish saw extensive turnover, with 11 removals and 5 new varieties added. Pork has come into the meat category, making the first change there since May.  Buck venison did come off the meat list, but only because it moved to the game category, which saw the addition of partridges and pheasants. Poultry saw ducks and turkeys replace ducklings and turkey poults (understandably), as well as larks and teals replacing plovers, wheatears, and wild ducks. Cauliflower, cresses, endive, and radishes are all off the vegetable list, though tomatoes have come onto it. Bullaces, damsons, morella-cherries, and quinces have replaced currants, gooseberries, pineapples, and raspberries on the fruit list.

The "green goose" listed back in August refers to its diet: a goose culled in summer that has been eating green grass versus the "stubble goose" of the autumn that is turned loose on on harvested grain fields to feed. It's not clear to me whether Beeton is using "goose" in the list here to mean "stubble-fed goose" or in a more general sense indicating that multiple varieties are available. Stubble-fed geese, I am told, are traditional at Michaelmas in late September, so this might be a case where there's variation between what is available at the beginning and end of the month.