foodstuffs on the British Isles, but more due to influence from Arab cuisine through the Norman conquest of Sicily. The Arab invaders in the 9th century had cultivated their lifestyle culturally and economically to such a degree that the Norman invaders inherited and adapted many of their habits, including cooking styles. Norman participation in the crusades also brought them into contact with Middle Eastern and Byzantine cooking. The subtlety (or entremet), the fanciful and highly decorative surprise dish used to separate one course from another, was brought to new levels of complexity and refinement by the English chefs. Among the specialties were pommes dorées ("gilded apples"), meatballs of mutton or chicken colored with saffron or a glaze of egg yolk. The Anglo-Norman variant, pommes d'orange, were flavored and coloured with the juice of bitter oranges. Scandinavia The climate in the far north of Europe made cultivation of cereals even more difficult, and the wheat so popular in the south was a luxury in northern Europe. Wheat could cost at least twice as much as the most common grains, barley and rye. Barley was the most widely grown, but a great percentage of the harvest went into the extensive beer production, while rye was the principal bread grain. Like in the rest of Europe, oats was considered only fit as animal fodder and was eaten only when no other choice was available, and then usually as porridge or gruel. Though grains were in the highest regard among medieval Scandinavians and were among the most frequently mentioned foods, other vegetable foods were an indispensable part of the diet: peas, turnips, beans, carrots, onions, leeks and various greens and herbs all provided essential nutrients and vitamins. Kale, a form of cabbage, was especially important in Denmark and Sweden and was a valuable source of fresh food in the winter months, since it kept well and could be harvested (and even tasted better) after the first frost had set in. Fish was of great importance to most of Scandinavia, and particularly so was the herring fishing in the Limfjord and Oresund. The great shoals of herring migrating from the Atlantic into the Baltic to feed were funnelled through certain narrow points and were caught in huge numbers. The amount of fish caught was more than enough to feed the local population and allowed for huge exports of smoked, and especially salted, fish. Great herring