Pottery Sieve from Headington, Oxford: 3rd/4th century

Some of the earliest Oxford wares were coarse kitchen vessels like cooking-pots, jars and plain bowls. These continued in production throughout the life of the industry.

The sieve is an unusual find. It would have been used for draining boiled vegetables or shellfish; pasta did not arrive in the Mediterranean (from China) until Medieval times.

Apicius, the author of the only ancient Roman cookery book to have come down to us, gives the following recipe for cabbage, for which the sieve would have been useful:

‘Boil and halve the cabbage, mince the tender parts of the leaves with coriander, onion, cumin, pepper, passum (a sweet cooking wine) or caroenum (boiled-down wine), and a little oil.’