One of Britain's oldest curry recipes is found among snail water and horse dung remedies for plague and scurvy in 1688 cookbook kept in family for centuries

A cook book from 1688 that contains 'wacky' home remedies to tackle serious diseases such as tuberculosis and the plague with 'infused horse dung' and 'snail water' may also contain the oldest curry recipe in Britain.

This book, which has belonged to the same unnamed family since it was written, was added to until around 1755, with the curry recipe one of the last entries.

The earliest known UK recipe for curry was written in a 1747 cookbook by London-based chef Hannah Glasse.

Experts believe this family's method was most likely written in the 1750s based on a handwriting analysis and dates on other recipes, with four people thought to have contributed to the book over the decades.

Another reason the recipe was likely written after 1747 is the mention of soy, which was not commonly used in western Europe until the 1770s, although it would have been available to wealthy families earlier.

The book was started in 1688 by Mrs Sarah Jackson, who worked as a cook for the household and has access to many of the ingredients mentioned.

The more peculiar tonics include snail water, which is made by grinding garden snails in a pot with herbs and fennel before boiling them in milk and then adding mint and sweetening with sugar to taste. The concoction would then be given to those suffering from tuberculosis, a disease of the lungs that caused sufferers to cough up blood and usually killed half of those who had it through weight loss and fever until the mid 1900s when vaccines were created.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6855709/300-year-old-cook-book-bizarre-recipes-goes-auction.html

Hmmmm, never been highly into curry....