Note 675 — A Ryght Pithy, Pleasaunt and merie Comedie: Intytuled Gammer gurtons Nedle: Played on Stage, not longe ago in Christes Colledge in Cambridge
Reading edition
A roasted crab-apple was placed in a bowl of ale to give it a flavour and take off the chill. Compare Midsummer Night's Dream, II. i. 48, and Nashe, Summer's Last Will and Testament:—
Sitting in a corner turning crabs, Or coughing o'er a warmed pot of ale.