Warm 4 of
the woodruff springs for 5 minutes in a preheated 200 degree F oven.
Mash half the strawberries with sugar and add the oven warmed
woodruff sprigs plus 8 raw sprigs. Pour wine over the mixture and
stir well. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours and strain. Pour liquid
into punch bowl and add remaining half of the strawberries, extra
woodruff and the violet and rose petals. Place a few whole blossoms
of both flowers to float in the center as decoration.
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ASPARAGUS WITH
CHIVES AND BLOSSOMS
1 pound Asparagus, washed
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 Tablespoon Sesame Seeds
2 Tablespoons Fresh Chives, snipped
16 Chive Blossoms
1/2 teaspoon Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste
Blanch the asparagus in lightly salted boiling water for about 3
minutes or until crisp-tender; do not overcook. Refresh under very
cold water and drain well. Remove the chive stalks to separate the
flowers. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the
sesame seed. Stir for 1 minute, add the snipped chives, and stir for
1 minute more.
Add the asparagus and soy sauce to the skillet with a few pinches of
salt and generous grindings of pepper; stir well, cover, and cook
for a minute or so. Remove the lid, sprinkle the chive blooms over
the asparagus, and cover for 1 to 2 minutes so that the chive blooms
steam briefly.
Stir lightly and taste for seasoning. Serve hot.
Comments: Bright lavender chive blossoms begin to bloom in the
garden about the time the asparagus bed is at its peak. Hence, this
is a natural combination and a simply tasty dish. Since chive
blossoms are so strong in flavor, add them at the last minute in
this recipe.
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MAY WINE
1 bottle of German White Wine
1/2 cup Fresh Strawberries, sliced
12 sprigs of fresh woodruff
Pour wine into carafe or wide mouth bottle. Add strawberries and
woodruff and allow to blend for at least an hour. Strain and serve
well chilled. Garnish with thin orange slice. The strawberries add a
wonderful flavour and the woodruff adds sweetness.
MEADE
1 gallon Water
4 pounds Honey
6 Cloves
2 Sticks cinnamon
Juice & peel from one lemon
1 teaspoon Activated dry yeast
In a large nonreactive pot, add the next four ingredients to the
gallon of water. Boil all together for 30 minutes, then strain into
a crock that will hold it with a little room to spare. When cooled,
add the yeast, dissolved in some of the liquid. Allow to ferment in
a cool place - 55 degrees is ideal - until it ceases bubbling and
the liquor clears, then bottle, cap tightly and store in a cool,
dark cellar. It should not be used for at least a month, and longer
is better. This meade, unlike many other drinks, does not improve
with really long aging, so it should be consumed within a year of
the time it was made.
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Caudle/Oat Bread/Wedding Ring
On the first of May, in the Highlands of
Scotland, the herdsmen
of every district hold their Beltein. They cut a square trench
in the ground, leaving the turf in the middle. On that they make
a fire of wood, on which they dress a large caudle of eggs, butter,
oatmeal, and milk, and bring, besides the ingredients of the caudle,
plenty of beer and whisky; for each of the company must contribute
something. The rite begins with spilling some of the
caudle on the ground, by way of libation. On that every one
takes a cake of oatmeal, on which are raised nine square knobs,
each dedicated to some particular being, the supposed preserver of
their flocks and herds; or to some particular animal, the real
destroyer of them. Each person then turns his face to the fire,
breaks off a knob, and flinging it over his shoulder, says — " This
I give to thee ; preserve thou my sheep : this I give to thee ;
preserve thou my horses :" and so on. After that they use the
same ceremony to the noxious animals — " This I give to thee O
Fox ! spare thou my lambs ; this to thee O hooded Crow ! this to
thee Eagle ! When the ceremony is over they dine
on the caudle,
etc. etc."
Something of this kind is retained in Northumberland, in the
syllabub prepared for the May-feast, which is made of warm milk
from the cow, sweet cake, and wine ; and a kind of divination is
practised by fishing with a ladle for a wedding-ring, which is
dropped into it for the purpose of prognosticating who shall be
first married. This divination of the wedding-ring is practised in
the midland counties on Christmas-eve ; and they have a peculiar
kind of tall pots made expressly for this purpose, called posset-pots.
I have myself fished for the ring on many a merry Christmas-eve.
One cannot avoid seeing in these ceremonies their most ancient
origin and consequently wide-spread adoption. The throwing
over the shoulder offerings to good and evil powers is exactly that
of all savage nations, the effect of one uniform tradition
-The Rural Life of England,William
Howitt, Thomas Bewick, Samuel Williams, 1840
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Food
and Drink