Harvest, Mabon and the arrival of autumn
Threshing (caraway) cake recipe
Isn’t it funny how I often can’t remember what I ate for dinner last night (weird for a food writer, I know) and yet a nursery rhyme I learned in primary school easily comes to my mind and lips? The particular song I’m thinking about right now is Oats and Beans and Barley Grow. It was a song that we sang pretty much every year at harvest festival. We’d all head to the church up the hill from our little school and have a special service – one where we’d all bring a tin of beans or packet of dry pasta or some such non-perishable that would inevitably be given to a retirement home, where they’d never heard of pasta, let alone cooked it.
To my memory, the service itself wasn’t particularly religious, more of a celebration of harvest and crops, charity, thankfulness, and the changing of the seasons. But then harvest also has roots in pagan traditions that predate Christian worship in Wales. The autumn equinox and harvest are given the name Mabon.
Strictly speaking, Mabon is a neo-pagan name for the ritual and change of season into autumn, but the celebration itself dates back much further. It is a time of change, of taking stock, of enjoying the hard work and crops of the year, and of stocking up in preparation for winter. Autumn is my favourite season, and I can’t wait to see the pumpkins, marrows, squashes, figs, sprouts and other seasonal fruit and veg start gracing the shelves of the supermarkets.
The name Mabon, incidentally, comes from Welsh, Celtic and Arthurian folklore. He was a god and the Child of Light – his full name being Mabon ap Modron – and his story goes that he was taken from his mother at just three days old and imprisoned, only to be rescued by Arthur and his aids later in life. Modron, Mabon’s mother, was the Great Goddess of the Earth – and her name likely has the same root as matron. Perhaps it’s fitting that Mabon is the fruit of mother earth and at harvest time, we celebrate the fruits (and tinned goods) of mother earth.
The Recipe
Threshing cake
There are various versions of this threshing cake recipe – the oldest I could find strongly encourages the use of bacon fat and ‘moist’ sugar – and they intermingle with shearing cake. Both tasks, either reaping the cereal crop or trimming the sheep, require enormous reserves of energy, and I think a spot of this cake would give you a good boost – and not fall apart when being carried around the fields and hillsides. I love the mellow, fragrant aniseed-liquorice taste of caraway. I’ve done this in a loaf tin so it’s easier to slice after, but you could do it in a cake tin.
Ingredients (8-10 servings)
175g softened butter (our replacement for bacon fat)
175g soft brown sugar (our moist sugar)
3 eggs
100ml milk
300g self-raising flour (or plain/all-purpose flour with 1tsp baking powder)
125g dried mixed peel
2 tsp caraway seeds
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/ Gas Mark 4. Grease a loaf tin with butter.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth.
Gently beat in the egg and milk a little at a time, beating well after each addition. You might need to add a spoonful of the flour if it looks like it’s starting to separate.
Sift in the flour, add the mixed peel and caraway seeds and fold together until well combined.
Bake in the oven for about 45-50 minutes until a knife when inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool. Slice, and enjoy with a cup of tea.
This keeps quite well and if it does feel a little stale, a good slathering of butter will sort it out.
If you try the recipe out, don’t forget to tag any photos with #mywelshkitchen.
The Playlist
To me, cooking and music go hand in hand, whether that’s singing at the top of your voice using a wooden spoon as a microphone while waiting for pasta to boil, or dancing around with the oven gloves on as the oven timer counts down. Here are this week’s ideas for your Welsh Kitchen playlist.
First up, we have Treorchy Male Voice Choir with the ever lovely Annie’s Song. When, in 1895, Treorky (yes, with a K) Male Choir sang for Queen Victoria in St George’s Hall, Windsor, the Queen is said to have remarked that ‘they behaved like gentlemen and sang like angels’. Second this week is Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, a wonderfully quirky rock band from Cardiff, with a song that should get you jigging (and air guitar-ing) around the kitchen table.
Annie’s Song by Treorchy Male Voice Choir
You by Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard
The Pantry
Good food is nothing without good ingredients and thankfully there are plenty of fantastic Welsh products on the market. Here is where you’ll find recommendations to stock up your cupboard, fridge or fruit bowl, or a really great place for food.
Charlene Hopkins Art cwtch tea towel
This beautiful tea towel caught my eye recently on the All Things Wales Twitter feed (follow it if you don’t already). This particular design is by artist Charlene Hopkins whose illustrations and products centre around Welsh heritage.