Recipe

Winter warmers are always a hit in our house but, Hmm smoked mulled apple cider? Mulled cider is delicious but im not sure about the addition of tea.  Though I have it on good authority that this is a good combination to try. Sadly i haven’t had the opportunity to test it yet but thought it would be worth passing it on. I think the original recipe came to them courtesy of the London Tea Company. The addition of the tea gives it a bit of a caffeine hit and also provides it with its smokey taste. (You could substitute…

Rowan berries are everywhere right now and I’ve just come across a recipe by F. Marian McNeill in her book the “Scots Kitchen (its lore and recipes)” (1929, Glasgow) for rowan berry jam. It seems she was quite an accomplished recipe gatherer before she entered into the world of folklore (well I guess it was the 1920’s…) but then again the book is full of the lore of the kitchen too. It’s full to bursting of old-fashioned recipes and bannock suggestions for all the major quarter days, as well as blood puddings and  sowans etc. If you’re into traditionally celebrating your feasts,…

The below recipe for Mugwort and Lemon Beer has been taken from Grow Forage Cook Ferment. I have just changed it a little bit and put it here for prosperity. This recipe is from  The New Wildcrafted Cuisine by Pascal Baudar ad it’s well worth a look. So, let’s begin … The first step with any home brewing recipe is to make sure that everything is properly sanitised.  There are many sanitisers to choose from, but to save a bit of money you can use a Milton tablet for sterilising baby bottle tops etc. (honestly it’s A LOT cheaper) or you can use…

Spring cleaning the house cleaning is always a chore, I’m not sure that anyone enjoys it. One thing we need to do though is to keep the house clean especially after it has been closed up all winter. The point is to  remove things that might cause illness, reduce the likelihood of moulds growing and circulate air through the house. The first thing we do on a good enough day is to crack open the windows a little bit. Get the air circulating and clean the house as much as we are able to. We don’t use household cleaners that you…

It’s still cold outside. The second part of winter is here. It’s still great to be indoors.  Especially, after all, those storms and ice still hanging about on roads and ponds. Staying warm in bed is always my favourite option. Drinking tea with milk and honey and eating warm stodgy foods. Watching films with friends and loved ones, eating a few too many takeaways. Yep, we are definitely still in our hibernation mode. Its time for Spring Tonics like dandelion and burdock root tea. In the years gone past we would not have been able to just lie in bed, indulging so much.…

Cough cough sputter its cough season in our house. Both myself and my better half have caught a wee cough and so it was time to bring out the good old cough cures! In Celtic times it was thought that by passing someone under the belly of a white horse you might get rid of their coughing as the cough would pass to the animal, sadly we don’t have any white horses around so I figured its best to stick to the herbal remedies and this one is for herbal cough tea and cough drops for dry coughs. There are…