There
was a bee named Sweetie Pete
his
hair was slick he smelled so sweet.
He'd
take a bath each day at home.
Then
comb his hair with honeycomb.
Bee Receepees
Contents
v Inigo Jones’ Balkan Wine
v Honey
Crunch Highland Biscuits
v Chopped
Nettle or Chive Honey Spread
Cover the bucket tightly with a cloth (secure the cloth – a tea towel
will do just fine – around the bucket lip) and, after one week, listen for
the fizz of fermentation.
Listen twice a day and once the fizzing stops, you know the fermentation
is almost complete.
Have a sip. How does it taste?
Strain the beer into bottles or demi-johns and allow the fermentation
to continue. The longer it lasts, the stronger the beer.
“Oh
weans! Oh weans! The morn’s the Fair
Ye
may na eat the berries mair
This nicht the Deil gangs ower them a’
To
touch them with his poisoned paw”
Inigo
Jones’ Balkan Wine
This recipe will make one gallon of Inigo Jones’ Balkan Wine.
Put 3lbs of demerara sugar and 1lb of honey in a saucepan and dissolve them in 1 gallon of boiling water.
Put one large handful of walnut leaves into a bucket and pour on the boiling syrup. Some people also like to add a handful of nettles to embellish the flavour.
Cover the bucket and leave for one day. Then strain the mixture and add yeast.
Place an air lock in a cork and sterilise a demi-john. Pour the mixture
into the demi-john and keep in a warm
room to ferment. The brew will fizz and bubble showing that fermentation is
happening. Keep an eye on the brew
twice a day and once the fizzing stops, you know the fermentation is almost
complete.
When this happens, move the demi-john to a cool room for three days. Then
syphon or pour the wine out of the demi-john into corked bottles and lay them
down in a cool, dark place for at least six months.
“Tender
handed stroke the nettle
And
it stings you for your pains.
Grasp it like a man of mettle
And
it soft as silk remains”
Requirements
for the cake
8 ounces of Self Raising Flour
6 ounces of Honey
4 ounces of Butter
6 ounces of Sultanas or Raisins (or both)
2 Free Range Eggs
A pinch of Salt
Mix the butter and honey together until they make a creamy paste. Beat the eggs thoroughly and add them to the creamy paste in short pourings, alternately with the sifted flour and salt. It is worth keeping a tiny amount of flour back to add with the sultanas or raisins.
Stir the whole mixture firmly but gently.
Then turn in the sultanas or raisins and stir again.
Bake the cake mixture in a well buttered circular cake tin of about 6 ½ - 7 ½ inches diameter for 1 ¼ hours in a moderate oven (350 F / Gas No 4).
“One, two, three, four,
Mary at the cottage door,
Eating raisins off a plate,
Five, six, seven, eight.”
Requirements
for the cake
6 ounces of Butter
2 tablespoons of Honey (about 2 ounces)
4 tablespoons of Milk
2 ounces of Glace Cherries (cut into pieces)
1 level teaspoon of Mixed Spice
4 ounces of Castor Sugar
3 Free Range Eggs
6 ounces of Mixed Fruit
12 ounces of Self Raising Flour
Put EVERYTHING in a very large mixing bowl and stir vigorously until well blended. This will require at least 5 minutes of strenuous effort.
Place the mixture in a well buttered cake tin of at least 8 inches diameter. Smooth the top of the rough mixture with the back of a wet wooden spoon.
Bake the cake mixture for 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours in a moderate oven (350 F / Gas No 4).
“To market, to market, to
buy a fruit cake,
Back again, back again,
baby is late;
To market, to market, to
buy a fruit bun,
Back again, back again,
market is done.”
Honey
Crunch Highland Biscuits
Requirements
for the biscuits
2 ounces of Butter
2 ounces of Plain Flour
1 tablespoon of Honey
2 ounces of Granulated Sugar
3 ounces of rolled Scottish Oats
½ teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
Place a small saucepan on a very low heat and add the butter and honey. Melt them together. Once melted, remove them from the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda.
Put the flour, Scottish oats and sugar in a bowl together and stir them together. Add the molten honey butter liquid, stir again and allow to cool slightly.
Take biscuit sized blobs of the mixture and place them carefully onto a buttered baking tray. Flatten and shape them into bee shaped biscuits.
Bake the biscuits in a moderate oven (350 F / Gas No 4) for 12 minutes.
“Me, me oats and my Grannie
And a great lot mair,
Kicked up a row
Going home from the fair.
By came the Watchman
And cried “Who’e there ?”
“Me, me oats and my Grannie
And a great lot mair”
Requirements
for the Fudge
2 pounds of Granulated Sugar
4 ounces of Butter
4 ounces of Honey
½ pint of Full Cream Milk
½ teaspoon of Salt
Empty the sugar into the milk and leave to stand for at least one hour. Stir the mixture occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Take a saucepan measuring roughly 8 inches in diameter and 5 inches in depth. Place the butter in the saucepan and slowly melt it on a very low heat.
Add ALL the ingredients and bring to the boil. Boil furiously for 5 minutes during which time the mixture must reach the heady temperature of at least 240 degrees Fahrenheit.
Stir all the time taking care not to splash yourself.
Take the mixture off the heat, let it cool slightly then beat it until creamy.
Empty the mixture into a buttered Swiss roll tin. When it is nearly set, score it deeply with a knife into the size of fudge square required.
When cold, cut along the scores to create the fudge pieces.
“Twinkle twinkle sweet
fudge bar
Your dad drives a rusty car
Press the starter
Pull the choke
Off he goes in a cloud of smoke”
Requirements for the Slices
4 ounces of Butter
2 ounces of Brown Sugar
2 heaped tablespoons of Honey
1 Free Range Egg
A dash of Milk
4 ounces of Wholemeal Flour
¼ teaspoon of Salt
1 ½ ounces of Scottish Oats
The grated rind of 2 Oranges
2 ounces of chopped North African Dates
And
for the topping…
The juices of the 2 Oranges
Three handfuls of Caster Sugar
Mix together the butter, brown sugar and honey to form a gooey paste. Crack the egg into the paste and mix again.
Add all the dry ingredients, the orange rind and chopped dates. If the mix is too solid, add a splash of milk to lubricate.
Put the mixture in a well buttered 7 inch x 7 inch square cake tin.
Bake it in a moderate oven (350 F / Gas No 4) for 30 minutes.
On opening the oven door, the kitchen will fill with the scent of the rich fruits.
To make the topping, mix the juice from the squeezed oranges with handfuls of sugar until a thick syrup is formed. Pour the syrup over the baked mixture whilst it is still hot from the oven.
When the mix is cool, cut into slices in sizes proportionate to your appetite.
“When Jacky’s a good boy,
He shall have date slices
and custard;
But when he does nothing
but cry,
He shall have nothing but
mustard.”
Requirements
for the Tart
To
make the pastry base
4 ounces of Flour (an equal mix of Wholemeal and Self Raising Flour)
2 ounces of Margarine
A dash of Water
Three tablespoons of your favourite jam
Four Hawthorn Leaves
To
make the filling
8 ounces of Skimmed Milk Cheese (Quark)
2 ounces of Butter
2 heaped tablespoons of Honey
1 Free Range Egg
1 ounce of Currants
1 ounce of Ground Almonds
A sprinkling of grated Nutmeg
Mix together the flour and margarine to make the pastry mix. Add a dash of water when necessary. Line an 8 inch diameter pastry tin with the rolled pastry.
Spread a thin layer of your favourite jam onto the pastry.
On top of the jam, lay out the four hawthorn leaves symmetrically.
Then start on the filling. Mix together the butter, honey, quark and nutmeg with an egg.
Stir well till all the ingredients have fused with each other. Then add the almonds and currants.
Spread this filling onto the pastry taking care not to ruffle the hawthorn leaves.
Bake the tart in a moderate oven (350 F / Gas No 4) for 30-35 minutes.
“A fair maid who, the first
of May,
Goes to the fields at break
of day
And washes in the dew from
the hawthorn tree
Will ever after handsome
be”
Requirements
for the Scones
8 ounces of Self Raising Flour
2 ounces of Margarine
A pinch of Salt
1 ounce of soft Brown Sugar
2 ounces of Sultanas
3 fluid ounces of Milk
2 tablespoons of Honey
Sift the salt and flour into a bowl. Rub the margarine into the sifted mixture in the bowl with your fingertips and then stir in the sugar and sultanas with a wooden spoon.
Slightly warm the milk and stir in the honey. Gradually add the sweetened milk to the mixture in the bowl to form a soft dough.
Take a rolling pin and flatten the dough to ½ inch thickness. Stamp out the scone shapes with a dough cutter.
Brush the tops of each scone with milk.
Bake the scones at 400 Fahrenheit / Gas Mark 6 for 10-15minutes.
“Curly locks, curly locks
Wilt thou be mine ?
Thou shalt not wash dishes
Nor yet feed the swine.
But sit on a cushion
And sew a fine seam,
And feed upon strawberries,
Scones and fresh cream”
Requirements
for the Cake
8 ounces of Self Raising Flour
4 ounces of Margerine
8 ounces of Honey
2 Free Range Eggs
A pinch of Salt
Mix the butter and the honey together until they are well creamed. Beat the eggs with a whisk or a fork. Sift the flour. Mix the whisked eggs alternately with the sifted flour into the butter/honey cream then add the pinch of salt.
Take your baking tin and grease it well then add the mixture.
Bake the cake in a moderate oven (350 F / Gas No 4) for 45-60 minutes.
If anyone asks you what you are cooking, you can reply “ma dear ah honey cake”.
“A
duck and a drake,
And
a nice Madeira cake,
With
a penny to pay the old baker;
A
hop and a scotch
Is
another notch,
Slitherum,
slitherum, take her!”
Requirements
for the Nuts
6 ounces of Plain Flour
2 ounces of Butter
7 level teaspoons of freshly ground Ginger
5 tablespoons of Honey
4 ounces of soft Brown Sugar (Muscovado)
Mix the butter, sugar and honey into a creamy paste. It is a good idea to leave the butter out of the fridge for an hour before embarking on this recipe. Sift the plain flour and add it to the creamy paste along with the ground ginger. The resulting Nut Mixture should be like dough and you should be able to shape it as a solid clay-like mass. If too runny, add a little more flour but be sure to mix it in well.
Take the Nut Mixture and break it into as many individual ginger nut balls as you want. These quantities should make about two dozen nuts.
Traditionally they will be round and biscuit shaped but you can make them into any shape you want so long as they are not too thin. Bees, bee hives or even Green Woodpeckers.
Bake the Nuts in a moderate oven (350 F / Gas No 4) for 15-20 minutes.
“Ginger,
Ginger, broke the winder,
Hit
the winder--Crack!
The
baker came out to give 'im a clout
And landed on 'is back.”
Requirements
for the Toffee
1 tablespoon of Wine Vinegar
1 tablespoon of Honey
½ teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
½ ounce of Butter
8 ounces of white granulated Sugar
Dissolve the Bicarbonate of Soda in two teaspoons of hot water.
Grease a shallow baking tray.
Melt the butter and add the vinegar and honey over a very low flame. Then stir in the sugar slowly and gently until it all dissolves. Bring to the boil, on and up to 310 Fahrenheit. Remove the mixture from the heat.
Add the dissolved Bicarbonate of Soda to the toffee mixture.
Pour the mixture onto the greased baking tray and allow it to cool.
Attempts to sample the toffee too early will result in nasty burns to the tongue! Wait till it is properly cooled down.
“Tiffy taffy toffee
on the flee flo floor
Tiffy taffy toffee
on the dee doe door
Kiffy kaffy coffee
in the jig jag jug.
Kiffy kaffy coffee
in the mig mag mug.”
Michael Rosen
Chopped
Nettle or Chive Honey Spread
This spread is lovely on Orkney oatcakes, rice cakes, cheese biscuits and as a dip.
You can always use other herbs which you may prefer. A very mild and delicious spread can be made using young nettle leaves.
Requirements
for the Spread
1 handful of Chives or Nettles
4 ounces of Cream Cheese
3 tablespoons of Honey
Chop the nettles or chives very finely.
Mix up all the ingredients in a bowl with a small wooden spoon.
Serve on Orkney oatcakes.
“Tender handed stroke the nettle
And it stings you for your pains.
Grasp it like a woman of mettle
And it soft as silk remains”