A larder is a cool area for storing food prior to use. Originally, it was where raw meat was larded—covered in fat—to be preserved.
Stone larders were designed to keep cold in the hottest weather. They had slate or marble shelves two or three inches thick. These shelves were wedged into thick stone walls. Fish or vegetables were laid directly onto the shelves and covered with muslin or handfuls of wet Juncaceae were sprinkled under and around.
Essential qualities
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Cool, dry, and well-ventilated.
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Usually on the shady side of the house.
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No fireplaces or hot flues in any of the adjoining walls.
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Might have a door to an outside yard.
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Had windows with wire gauze in them instead of glass.
Description
In the northern hemisphere, most houses would be arranged to have their larders and kitchens on the north or west side of the house
where they received the least amount of sun. In
Australia and
New Zealand, larders were placed on the south or east sides of the house for the same reason.
Many larders have small, unglazed windows with window openings covered in fine mesh.
This allows free circulation of air without allowing flies to enter. Many larders also have tiled or painted walls to simplify cleaning.
Older larders, and especially those in larger houses, have hooks in the ceiling to hang joints of meat.
Etymology
Middle English (denoting a store of meat): from Old French
lardier, from medieval Latin
lardarium, from
laridum.
History
In
Middle Ages households, the word "larder" referred both to an office responsible for
fish, jams, and
meat, as well as to the room in which these commodities were kept. It was headed by a
larderer. The
Scotland term for larder was
spence,
and referred specifically to a place from which stores or food were distributed,
hence in Scotland
(also
and
) were known as
spencers.
The office generally was subordinated to the kitchen and existed as a separate office only in larger households. It was closely connected to other offices of the kitchen, such as the saucery and the scullery.
Larders were used by the Indus Valley civilization to store bones of goats, oxen, and sheep. These larders were made of large clay pots.
Animal larders
Places where animals store food for later consumption are sometimes referred to as 'larders', a well-known example being the hoards of seeds and nuts hidden by
to provide a store of fresh food during the leaner months of the year.
[Halliday (1994), p. 63.]
For alligators and crocodiles, larders are underwater storage places for their fresh kills until such time as they wish to consume the carcass when its flesh is rotten. These larders are usually dug into the side of a land bank, or wedged under a log or tree root.
See also
Bibliography
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Halliday, Tim, gen. ed. (1994). Animal Behavior. Oklahoma: UOP.
