Whisky Witches, lotions and potions

On this episode of Scran we're fully embracing this time of year and investigating some of the more macabre elements of Scottish food and drink history.

Earlier this year Rosalind was lucky enough to attend Whisky & Witches Presents Mythical Beasts, an immersive, mystical, musical whisky tasting produced and presented by Christine Kammerer and Jane Ross. The show touched on the history of women and whisky in Scotland and explained how women who distilled whisky were turned upon by the church and society. These alewives and brewsters were often framed as what we would now recognise as witches. Singer and composer Christine and whisky aficionado Jane who runs The Mother Superior in Leith, join Rosalind to talk all about how women became vilified for distilling and how even today there are challenges around being a woman in the whisky industry.

Connotations of witchcraft and herbalism have gone hand in hand for centuries, and delving into the ancient art of herbology is a great way to explore some natural magic in the run up to Halloween. On the second half of the podcast Rosalind chats to Catherine Conway-Payne, author of Herbology- A Psychic Garden Pharmacy, a book being published by The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in the coming weeks, which includes an illustrated guide that brings herbology to life. (rbgeshop.org)

Catherine takes us back to a time when insects, frog spawn and basically all sorts was used in medicine and self care. She tells Rosalind all about how, even now, some of the remedies and uses from the past can be found in modern products such as snail slime in beauty products. She also shares some of the lessons to be learnt from the book including some brilliant uses for cleavers, more commonly known as sticky willy.

Thanks for listening and have a spooky, tasty halloween!

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