Folklore, Food and Fairytales

In which we discover that cherries can restore your wealth, spiders can be the reason for miracles, mulled cider can result in treasure and that trifle is devoid of folklore. Christmas Pudding, however has plenty to share.

This is the fourth of four seasonal story and festive food related episodes to take us through December and lead us to the big midwinter celebration of your choice. I hope you enjoy the slightly different focus. I will again let today’s story to speak for itself and allow it to weave its seasonal magic spell.

The Stories in this episode are Sir Cleges & The Christmas Cherries, Christmas Tree Spiders and The Apple Tree Man.

You can visit my website if you would like my recipe for Pear & Ginger Trifle or to see any of the historic recipes I mentioned. There are also links and information about all the books I mentioned.

As I mentioned in the podcast this will be the last podcast with new content until 18 January as even storytelling, folklore-loving, amateur food historians need a short festive hibernation period. I have prepared some collections of just the stories from the podcast in case you need something to occupy you whilst you lie on your sofa with a wonderful leftovers sandwich and the world's biggest mug of tea. I hope to see you in the New Year with some wonderful new stories and the folklore and food to accompany them.

In which we discover that a Tartalo can actually be grateful, that every time you save a princess you need a new horse, a new outfit and a new sword and that you should always dispose of any dragon's heads responsibly. Additionally, we learn that you can know nothing about gardening and still grow beautiful vegetables and that it can take up to three days to kill a dragon.

The story for this episode is The Grateful Tartalo and the Erensugue as adapted from Basque Legends With an Essay on the Basque Language - Wentworth Webster, 1879

The recipe for this episode is Slow Simmered Broad Beans with Egg

If you would like to know a bit more about some of the links and books I used to research this episode you can find them at Further Reading.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog. If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me on Twitter or Instagram at @FairyTalesFood.

In which we find out that princesses definitely can decide their own destiny, that seeking your fortune can take a very long time and that the gift of pomegranates is always welcome.
This Armenian folk tale incorporates wonders, adventures, giants, jewels beyond price and even incredible embroidery.
You can find the story that my tale is based in this wonderful contemporary collection. The Punjabi folktale Kupti & Imani with some lovely similarities to our tale can be found here.
If you would like to cook this episode's recipe then you can find it on my website.
It is also the place to find further reading about these fantastic tales, pomegranates and historic recipes.

In which we discover that princesses aren't always heroines, that gardener's boys can be heroes and that being buried in flowers isn't necessarily a good thing. There are also fantastic forests of jewels, fairies, miraculous laurel trees, enchanted princes and the sheer joy to be found in dancing.

This tale for this episode is The Slippers of Twelve Princesses, it's a Romanian tale with some dark elements but its also beautiful in places

The episode recipe is Cauliflower Cheese, perfect cheesey comfort food for any occasion.

If you want to find out anything about the books or links I mentioned in the podcast you can find them in Further Reading. This is also where you would find more information about the history of flowers as food and other sources of information in this week's podcast.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog. If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me on Twitter or Instagram at @FairyTalesFood.

The Stories in this episode are: Old Tommy & The Spectre, Box on the Ears and The Cook & the Goblin adapated from Ruth Manning Sanders

This is another just the stories episode, this time for All Hallows Eve. There are three traditional tales involving food which are just a little bit scary but also a little bit clever and maybe also just a little bit kind in the case of the last tale. I hope you enjoy these tales even if you prefer yours a bit more bone chilling normally.

You can also subscribe (or just read) my free newsletter for further snippets of folklore, history, stories, vintage recipes, herblore & the occasional cocktail.

You can also find out more at Hestia's Kitchen which has all past episodes and the connected recipes on the blog. If you'd like to get in touch about the podcast you can find me on Twitter or Instagram at @FairyTalesFood.