Primary Menu
  • Home
  • About Gather Victoria
  • Wild Foods Are Ancestral Foods
  • Reclaiming the Magical Herstory of Food
  • Community Supported Foraging
  • Contact

Gather Victoria

ANCESTRAL FOOD. HERBAL WISDOM. MAGICAL COOKERY. SEASONAL CELEBRATION.

cropped-1-collages82.jpg

http://gathervictoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cropped-1-collages82.jpg

Liked it? Take a second to support Gather Victoria on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Share this:

  • Email
  • Tweet
  • More
  • Print
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

Posted by Danielle Prohom Olson

Whether its through wildcrafting, plant medicine, kitchen witchery or seasonal celebrations, I believe we can enhance personal, community and planetary well-being by connecting with mother nature!

Post navigation

cropped-1-collages82.jpg

Hello & Welcome!

Danielle Prohom Olson

Danielle Prohom Olson

The way I see it, gathering food is our oldest, most primal relationship to the earth and “wildcrafting'' (transforming the raw elements of nature into food, drink, and medicine) is the world's oldest magic. So join me. From spring, summer, autumn to winter, I revive the ancient culinary arts of bringing blessings to ourselves, our families, communities, and to our Great Mother, the Earth - one delicious bite at a time!

View Full Profile →

Popular Posts

Doe, A Deer, A Female Reindeer: The Spirit of Winter Solstice
La Befana Cake: Honouring The Old Witch of Winter
Baba Yaga's Wild Spiced Honey Cookies
Aromatic & Spicy Juniper Berry Sugar Stars
Remembering The Deer Mother Of Winter Solstice
Recipes for a Feast of Light: Reviving the Magical Foods of Imbolc
"Soul Cakes" for an Old-Fashioned All Hallows Eve
Winter Woodland Medicine: Delicious & Warming Tonic Syrups
Citrusy Spruce Glazed Shortbread: Flavour Of The Forest
Grand Fir Dark Nougat: Winter Solstice Sweets
  • Doe, A Deer, A Female Reindeer: The Spirit of Winter Solstice
  • La Befana Cake: Honouring The Old Witch of Winter
  • Baba Yaga's Wild Spiced Honey Cookies
  • Aromatic & Spicy Juniper Berry Sugar Stars
  • Remembering The Deer Mother Of Winter Solstice
  • Recipes for a Feast of Light: Reviving the Magical Foods of Imbolc
  • "Soul Cakes" for an Old-Fashioned All Hallows Eve
  • Winter Woodland Medicine: Delicious & Warming Tonic Syrups
  • Citrusy Spruce Glazed Shortbread: Flavour Of The Forest
  • Grand Fir Dark Nougat: Winter Solstice Sweets

Seasonal Posts

Recipes

More Magical Cookery at Gather Victoria on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

"featured autumn tag" "featured spring tag" "featured summer tag" "featured winter tag" "imbolctag" allium vineale Brigid Brigid Feast chickweed Chocolate cake conifers dandelion dandelion roots edible flowers fairies food magic foraged garlic mustard Goddess Halloween herbicides Imbolc imbolc foods invasive plants Lemon curd lovage magical herbs nettles oregon grape pesticide industry pesticides pine pineapple weed plant magic round-up samhain wildcrafted wild fennel wild food wild greens wild mustard Wild roses Wood Sorrel yoga and herbs yule

One of the oldest myths surrounding the death of vegetation and the hibernation of the earth is the story of the Greek Goddess Demeter’s descent into the underworld in search of her daughter Kore. In late October to early November the Thesmophoria, perhaps the most revered festival of the ancient world, took place. Demeter not only created agriculture and taught the secrets of making bread to humanity, but she was the Thesmophoros (phoros: bringer, bearer, thesmos: divine order) for which the festival is named. And clearly, her divine order required a great deal of magical baking. Philosopher Democritus( fondly recalled how during her festival the scent of freshly baked bread would permeate the air. Happy Halloween! Here’s my favorite recipe for Spiced Crabapple Pickles (below). Long associated with witchcraft and folk magic, crabapples are credited with all kinds of powers from scrying into the future to warding off evil spirits. The Celts and the Norse left them as grave offerings( dating back to 5000 BC) for souls waiting to be reborn. Crabapples were important for that other important activity – divination. A fermented alcoholic crabapple cider known as Witches Brew was often consumed during Samhain to provide inspiration for prophecy. So here’s a little witchy magic - Spiced Crab apples! Wonderful served with cheese & crackers! The Italian Castagnaccio is a nutty, rich delight made of chestnut flour and has a unique flavor and texture I can only describe as deliciously fudgy. Yet it contains no gluten, dairy, or eggs - and just a few tablespoons of sugar. While wonderfully healthy it is also an appropriate treat for Hallowtide. Chestnut has been connected since time immemorial with the remembrance of the dead as is rosemary, and cakes along with fruit and nuts have long been offerings to the dearly departed during 'La Festa dei Morti’, Feast of the Dead. In Italy the tradition of preparing the "sweets of the dead " is widespread, and Castagnaccio often appears in Italian bakeries and traditional trattories during this time of year. I made mine with dried mulberries (instead of raisins) brandied rosehips, and just a dash of juniper. Gather Victoria patrons the recipe is up now! You’ll find the recipe for these ”Colacii Mortului” or "Dead Man's Coils" and the very spooky story of how they came to be over at Gather Patreon - for free! Patreon has a new membership option that allows you to get little previews of all the posts, photos, and recipes I’ve published - and see what I’ve got cooking - but every once in a while I’ll be unlocking special seasonal posts to give members free access. Like this one! So pop over and take a peek! In honor of the season of ancestral remembrance, these savory and sweet yeasted buns are flavored with aromatic herbs and sprinkled with sesame and poppy seeds (long a food offering for the dead) and speak a language thousands of years old. May they bring blessings to you and your ancestors. These “Witches Treats” were my very last-minute trick for last year's Samhain celebrations. The cake I made was a disaster, and the second was carried off by crows while cooling outside. Casting around for a quick solution I spied the Barberry Bushes laden with berries that line our driveway and came up with this simple sponge that takes all 3 minutes in the microwave. It turns out similar to a steamed pudding but is drenched in a tart & wickedly delicious Barberry Syrup. And if you’ve got some Barberry bushes nearby (and it's very likely you do) this little dessert can be concocted in no time at all! Recipe here: Gather Victoria patrons this recipe for Pannelets is up now! This healthy All-Hallowed Treat is traditionally consumed in Spain during Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on November 2nd. The pannelet, or “little bread” is a small round cake made with a dough of sweet potato and almond flour and usually covered with pine nuts. Panellets today come in all shapes and designs, using different nuts (almonds, coconut) fruits (mostly quince), and flavors like chocolate. Baked treats made with sweet potato might sound strange but I assure you they are exceedingly scrumptious, even if you use a sugar substitute as I did. (I also added a touch of nutrient-rich rosehip powder to the dough and a dash of juniper berry sugar to the chocolate version. ) A kind of a cross between a cookie and cake, pannelets are tender inside and crispy and nutty outside, plus they're free of gluten and dairy. What's not to love? Halloween takes root in ancient festivals and feasts honoring the dead, which makes it time for cake…not just any cake, but a cake in remembrance of the Haliorunna. In touch with the spirits of the earth, these oracular priestesses of the “underworld mysteries” sang the leód-rūne or “song-mysteries over the earth mounds, passage tombs and barrows where the dead were interred. Their rites of ancestor veneration were extinguished by the Church who saw them as “witches” and “sorceresses”. So on Halloween night, tip your witch hat to the forgotten Haliorunna with a traditional offering to the ancestors – cake. These small round cakes are filled with wild berries, apples, nuts, and honey and are inspired by the rustic cakes long offered to the dearly departed during these hallowed nights. Recipe up at the Gather website. Link in bio. While we may think of all things pumpkin when it comes to Halloween, sweet little cakes, tart crabapples, and roasted hazelnuts were the original treats for both the living and the dead. In fact, these foods were credited with all kinds of powers from scrying into the future to granting eternal life, saving souls, and warding off evil spirits. So here’s my recipe for Crabapple & Hazelnut All Hallows Cakes (and while they are more like scones than cakes, they’re inspired by food traditions dating back thousands of years! Years ago while researching old-world recipes for Halloween food inspiration, I came up with this recipe for sweet little barmbrack “Soul Cakes”. Barmbrack is an Irish cake made with tea and spiced and speckled with berries, dried fruits, and nuts, and Soul Cakes are small round cakes also often featuring dried fruits and nuts. Barmbrack and Soul Cakes bridge pagan and Christian faith traditions as both are associated with Samhain and All Souls Day. I adapted recipes for both to make these All Hallows Cakes but instead of using the conventional raisins, currants, or dried fruit, I went with foraged berries of the season – and plenty of magical hazelnuts! Recipe is up at the Gather Victoria website now. Link in bio.
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gather Victoria (@gathervictoria)

Powered by WordPress.com.

%d bloggers like this: