HERRING

18th April 2024

Photo Credit: HenrikNorway (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

Go thy ways, old Jack. Die when thou wilt.

If manhood, good manhood, be not forgot upon the

face of the earth, then I am a shotten herring.

There lives not three good men unhanged in England,

and one of them is fat and grows old.

God help the while. A bad world, I say.

FALSTAFF: Henry IV, Part 1, Act 2, Scene 4

HERRING (Atlantic Herring: Clupea harengus)

Falstaff, old and disillusioned, compares himself with a shotten Herring, a Herring that has spawned and is diminished and weakened. Herring appear in several contexts in Shakespeare, often associated with Herring roe and spawning, as a food, but also as an insult, ‘a plague o’ these pickle herring!’ in Twelfth Night.

The Good Huswife’s Handmaide for the Kichin (1594) contains several recipes for Herring, including stewed Herring with ale and puddings mades of Herring roe and almond milk and Herring Pies with rosewater and saffron. The fish and also the female eggs and male milt of the Herring are eaten.

There are around 200 species of fish classed as Herring but the species most recognised in Britain is the Atlantic Herring (Clupea harenga) which has been an important food stuff on both sides of the Atlantic. The Marine Stewardship Council and the Marine Conservaiton Society have identified and certified many sustainable sources of Herring.

More Information

Folger Shakespeare: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Foods of England: A Good Huswife’s Handmaide in the Kichin (1594)

Marine Conservation Society: Herring

Marine Stewardship Council: Herring