April seems like the month when spring should be flowering, and gardens should be bursting with lovely early peas, but this was not always the case in Regency England. Heavy rains, thunderstorms, and even frosts could dampen the spirits of most, and wreck havoc with crops and gardens. Snow is even reported to have fallen on Easter Sunday in 1816–a very cold year. Easter was also meant to mark the beginning of the London Season. (The royal family were generally in residence in London, from October to December and from April to July, and that would influence upper class social events.)

Easter fell on April 14 in four different years in the Regency era, including 1805, 1811, and 1816. Other years with Easter in April inlclude:

1800: April 13
1801: April 5
1802: April 18
1803: April 10
1804: April 1
1805: April 14
1806: April 6
1808: April 17
1809: April 2
1810: April 22
1811: April 14
1813: April 18
1814: April 10
1816: April 14
1817: April 6
1819: April 11
1820: April 2

Easter, of course, gives us Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, with Hot Cross Buns and perhaps lamb for a meal. However, The Epicure’s Almanack (1815) notes, “Pork in this month disappears from all polite tables, but roasting pigs are in request.” Gunter in his Confectioner’s Oracle also notes that April is, “Lamb, ham and green peas.”

Maundy Thursday was the Thursday before Easter, which has a movable feast date. The King was meant to distribute “alms” and Maundy Baskets to the poor—the Prince Regent had to take over these duties in his stead. “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum, or the Vulgate’s translation of Jesus’ words in the washing of the feet. Maundy Baskets might be given to the poor with mutton, beef, and bread. An 1803 record notes four pounds of beef and four three penny loaves in each basket.

Fish in season in Regency England includes: crawfish, trout, tench, chub, carp, mullets, skate, soles, turbot, salmon, prawns, lobsters, crabs, and smelts. John Farley (pictured at right) in The London Art of Cookery gives us this recipe for Salmon Pie.

“Having made a good crust, cleanse a piece of salmon well, season it with salt, mace, and nutmeg, lay a piece of butter at the bottom of the dish, and lay the salmon in. Melt butter according to the pie. Take a lobster, boil it, pick out all the flesh, chop it small, bruise the body, and mix it well with the butter, which must be very good. Pour it over the salmon, put on the lid, and bake it well.“

April is certainly the month to start getting gardens and pastures ready for production. John Loudon’s 1822 book An Encylopaedia of Gardening sets up these tasks for the month:

“Ploughing and Planting, Lay down grass, Mares foaling, Hedging, Clearing fields, Plantings, Seeding, Polling trees”

Polling is where the upper branches of a tree are pruned, creating firewood while still allowing the tree to live and grow. Loudon offers up this list of produce and fruit that would show up, mostly in London markets since spring comes late to the north of England.

Culinary Vegetables from the open Garden, or Garden Stores.

Brussels’ sprouts, borecoles, brocoli, coleworts. Haricot beans, and soup-peas from the seed-room. Potatoes, Jerusalem
artichoke, yellow turnip, carrot, red-beet, parsnip, skirret, scorzonera, and salsify. Spinach, orache, wild spinach, sorrel, fat-hen, herb-patience. Bulbed and young onions, ciboules, and Welch onions; garlick, shallots, rocambole, &c. from the stores. Sea-kale and asparagus at the end of the month; hop-tops, campion-tops, and thistle-tops throughout the month. Lettuce, endive, celery, American and winter-cress; burnet, water-cress, and other salads. Parsley, purslane, tarragon from the garden; horse-radish and dried herbs, from the herb-room. Thyme, sage, mint, rosemary, lavender, tansey, from the open garden.

The others of this class from the herb-room.

Rhubarb-stalks, from covered plants; angelica, elecampane, and thistle-stalks from the garden. The seeds and dried herbs of this class from the stores. Samphire and buds of marsh-marigold. Nettle, campion, thistle, bryony, burdock, ox-tongue, sauce-alone, and other tops; chickweed, wild-rocket, sea-belt, and other leaves. Mushrooms from covered ridges. Dulse, tangle, and other fuci, in a fresh state; sea-belt preserved; and floating fucus pickled.

Hardy Fruits from the open Garden, Orchard, or Fruit-Room, from the fruit-cellar.

Some dried grapes from the fruit-room, chestnuts, filberts, from the fruit-room or cellar. Apples, pears, Almonds, walnuts.

Culinary Productions and Fruits from the forcing Department.

Kidney beans, peas. Potatoes, carrots, radishes. Sea-cale, asparagus. Small salads, lettuce, onions. Parsley, purslane, mint, &c. Rhubarb. Mushrooms. A pine occasionally; grapes, cherries, peaches, cucumbers, melons, strawberries. Oranges, lemons, limes, pomegranates. Loquats, pishaminnuts, and dried lee chees, and long-yens. Yams and Spanish potatoes.

Unfamiliar names includes:

• Borecoles –  comes from the Dutch word boerenkool and is another type of kale (also sometimes spelled cale).
• Coleworts – a cabbage, one of the mainstays of the medieval diet.
• Skirret – a root plant which means hardy for winter, is said to taste like carrot.
• Scorzonera – another root vegetable that tastes a bit like an artichoke.
• Salsify – a root vegetable, also called the “oyster plant” since it is said to taste like oysters.
• Orache – sometimes called French spinach since it is similar.
• Herb-patience – also called patience dock, and a plant from the buckwheat family, and useful in soups.
• Ciboules – another name for a green onion.
• Rocambole – another name for a shallot, which can still be found in many modern markets.
• Burnet – a herb with a cucumber-like taste.
• Purslane – a succulent with a lemony flavor and can be eaten raw or used in soups and stews.
• Tansey – a herb with a yellow flower used to flavor puddings and omlettes, but could also be placed on window sills to repel flies with its camphor-like odor
• Angelica – a herb sometimes called wild celery.
• Elecampane – also called elfdock, and from the sunflower family, it can be candied or made into syrups due to its flavor that is similar to ginger.
• Sauce-alone – also called garlic-mustard or hedge garlic.
• Eulse – this refers to sea weed.
• Fuci – this is the plural for Fucus a type of seaweed
• Loquats – this fruit does best in a walled garden.
• Pishaminnuts – another name for pine nuts.
• Dried lee chees – an older spelling for lychee, and this fruit would definitely need to be in a glasshouse, and this frist appears in England in the late 1700s. 
• Long-yens – another spelling for Longan fruit, also called “dragon’s eye,” which is related to lychees, which first shows up in England in the late 1700s.