From Soporific Victoriana to A Cold Harsh
Via Lamb Bones, Shropshire Peas, Risqué Swedish Nymphs, The C Word & A Never Failing Cordial
Dearest Gentle Reader,
It is so lovely to be back with you after my monthly podcast week break. I know that lots of you are new and it’s a joy to welcome you. Would you like to know what to expect? I write about things that spike my interest, trying to find the magic in the spaces between food, folklore and history. There is also usually a vintage recipe and remedy for your delight. I also don’t send these out more than weekly and there is usually a one week break whilst my podcast launches itself for another month. I hope that’s the sort of thing you had in mind and that you’ll be happy here.
I had hoped to dazzle newcomers with my brilliance but I’ve been distracted by too many interesting things this week and it's November so I think the best we can hope for is some autumnal soft sunlight. Although considering my journey to work this morning, that would be a relief after the drenching rain.
I have been reading further into Shropshire Folklore, I am moving forward valiantly despite the soporific effects of this 3 volume exploration, so I will treat you to a couple of food divinations just in case you are missing the deluge of them available around Halloween. The first involves a lamb bone should you have one handy. You take the blade bone specifically, prick it with pen knife at midnight saying the following charm:
“Tis not the bone I mean to pick
But my love’s heart I wish to prick;
If he comes not, and speaks tonight
I’ll prick and prick till it be light”
You then pop it under your pillow. If, understandably, you don’t fancy this, I have a more vegetarian one which may suit better: if you have a pod of peas with nine peas, you place it over the door and your future spouse will share the same first name as the first person through the door. I am not assuming here that any of my lovely readers feel the need to find a spouse but I include these for information only.
Sometimes a spouse can be more trouble than they are worth as demonstrated in this short, slightly risqué story from Scandinavia, which I found when rereading my notes about garlic in folklore:
This tale is from Sweden and features the Huldra who were nymphs, some of which had the tendency to go after mortal women’s husbands. In this instance the Huldra Talle-Maja (or Pine Tree Spirit) had used her powers to attract and seduce the husband of a hard working woman. Every night this husband went to her in the forest to frolic together until he was too exhausted to work the next day . His wife had no power to keep him in the house once the Huldra had called to him. Extremely annoyed by the loss of her love and her income, one night the wife went out and met the Huldra before she reached the house, and asked the Huldra how one could keep a bull from wandering off at night. The Huldra told her to give the bull garlic, grass from the north side of the chimney and other ingredients. The wife gave this to her man-bull and he stopped responding to the Huldra’s call. The moral of the story appears to be that cooking with garlic can keep a straying spouse at home. If you want to, that is.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about food frugality and sharing my interests in food in times of austerity. I haven’t really reached a proper decision and would welcome your opinions. I’m edging towards the fact that the type of foods and food history that I talk about are not quite the same as eating incredibly extravagant meals and then posting about them at length in a sort of latter day Marie Antoinette kind of way. I won’t be sharing any food frugality tips unless I find out some new ones and get ridiculously excited about them. In my experience people who need to do so, already cook frugally and me suggesting tips to them would be condescending and unnecessary. I also think that historic cooking lends itself very well to reducing food waste which is something I am trying my utmost to avoid at the moment.
In my ongoing drive to engage more with the natural world without actually getting that close to it, my privileged attempts to reduce wasting food that someone has taken the trouble to grow and then pulled from the land, are probably not having much of an impact but it's a start. In that vein if anyone has any sensible ideas of what to do with a marrow the size of my arm please let me know. Before you suggest it, it’s definitely too late to drop it off anonymously at a Harvest Festival.
I am now going to use the C word. No, not that one. The one that British people can talk about after Bonfire Night but Americans have to wait until after Thanksgiving. Yes, its Christmas or Yule or Midwinter or the Winter Solstice. If you are a food and folklore person, this is a dream time of year especially if you throw in all the wonderful ghost stories that are perfect for this dark part of the year. I’m going to be sharing my 24 days of festive food and drink traditions via Twitter and also via my shiny new Mastodon handle. I spent a weekend there and I had such a lovely time with people old and new. I think it's a place where you can definitely build a community. My mastodon handle is @FairytalesFood@mstdn.social if any of you would like to come and find me.
I’m also going to try my hand at creating some seasonal menus which reflect some food folklore and astrological principles and enhance the magic of the season and, most importantly, taste amazing if anyone would be interested. I had the best time creating one for Halloween so I have high hopes of how these will turn out.
We should really consider our remedy, if I’m completely honest I chose this on a train on a miserable rainy dark morning and pictured it as something I would value as a remedy upon reaching home at the end of that day preferably served in a beautiful cut glass on a tray: the tree of life element is tricky to get these days and I assume is restricted as it is a South American hardwood. Everything else is pretty manageable and in small amounts probably won’t kill you unless you are allergic to any of the ingredients. Probably play it safe and only pop in the things you know are safe if you are recreating it:
I hope you find our vintage recipe interesting. I actually think I’d enjoy this if you left out the oysters. It isn’t that I don’t like them, more that they aren’t so keen on me. It would be perfect the day after some feasting. I’m pretty sure this name means Cold Hash but maybe it really is Cold Harsh.
Before I go did you know that Substack has a chat function? If you have the app, you can come and talk to me and other charming readers of this letter and tell me what you think about things I’ve shared. I have opened the chat and you can just pop along and leave your comments to join the discussion. It will only be for other subscribers so at least you will have one shared interest. This only works in the app which is (I’m very sorry to say) Apple only so only iphone or ipad users for the immediate future although an android app will be out shortly.
With that, Gentle Reader, I must bring this letter to a close. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch via the comments or via any of my social media profiles/my website . If you have enjoyed this and would like to read further such nonsense and have not yet subscribed, please don’t hesitate to subscribe for free at the button below. You’d be very welcome and it would be a joy to write to you.