Food folklore

[AllieDeCorbeau]

Hello,
I am wondering if anybody has any food folklore to share? Or any related to sewing, spinning wool, weaving, etc...
i'm doing research for a fiction book. It takes place in Britain before the start of World War II. I know there was some folklore about never giving your husband a perfectly knitted sweater lest he run of in it.

so I'm looking for this kind of stuff but around food. Even if you have one that you don't think was widespread, I would love to hear it.

thank you in advance

I wish I did. Your project sounds fascinating!

Specifically latticing and treacle tarts

No idea if folklore, but my nan (born 1920) told my mum to never swallow cherry pips, because they would lodge in her appendix and cause appendicitis.
She also told her to never eat apple pips, because an apple would grow in her stomach! 🙄

Thank you! I don't want to give away too much this early but I'm excited by it.

My mom told me this about watermelon seeds. That one would grow in my belly.

Generations in my family telling kids to eat the crusts of bread and toast so your hair would become curly. 😅

Not specifically tarts, but DM - born 1921 - told me I should never make pastry when I was menstruating - or "on the rag" as she called it.
No idea why. Similarly I should never wash my hair during that time.

Actually Starry Gazey Pie has an old story attached to it.
I'm Cornish, and pasties too have stories attached to them - that miners used to leave bits of crush u ground for the piskies or knockers (fairies). A bit like an offering I suppose.
Also Heavy or Hevva cake has criss crosses marked on it to represent the nets used by fishermen.

This isn't food folklore but my mother always said that to have cut lilac in the house was unlucky. I'm in the West Country.

@Georgyporky - I also was told not to make pastry when on my period. Presume it’s a pretty common one! (You do get hotter when menstruating, and you need cold hands to make pastry, could it be connected?!)

a pinch of spilt salt has to be thrown over your shoulder to stop the devil turning up to join dinner.

One for unmarried women - if you go to a wedding and are given a slice of wedding cake to take home, put the cake slice under your pillow and you should dream of your future husband.

These are great! Keep them coming.

You mustn’t pick blackberries after the September as the Devil wee’s on them.

wisdom passed down by my grandmother, great grandmother and many generations of women in the family.

Yes, I've heard this one as well.

I feel like it's that you don't pick them after St Swithen's day because the devil will have spit on them in our house. But then I am not sure when St Swithen's day is so I'll have to check...

Quoting myself because I've definitely got that wrong as St Swithen's day is in July... I shall do some more digging.

Edit: I think it's after Michaelmas having done some googling.

There's this dish called revenge and it's best served cold.

(I'll see myself out.)

@Ineffable23 It was old Michaelmas which was the 10th October.

After the calendar reform of 1752, some activities traditionally associated with Michaelmas Day (29 September) moved forward eleven days to 10 October, which is sometimes called 'Old Michaelmas Day'. Mop Fairs or Hiring Fairs took place on an around Michaelmas Day.

Not sure if it fits the narrative, but pumpkins were carved into gruesome faces to keep evil spirits away on all hallows Eve when the veil between the spirit world and physical world is at its thinnest.

My grandma always said you should never do laundry on New Year’s Day because you wash away a member of your family.

we use to line up to stir the Christmas pudding and make a wish

you should never give a knife as a gift

you should never bake bread on your monthlies

there was something about dropping food on the floor, you should leave on the doorstep for the fairies?

I think there is one about peeling an apple in one go and if you throw the peel it shows the first letter of your future husband’s name.

Two from my rural Lincolnshire ancestors. The Christmas pudding was always made the day after bonfire night and left to mature. After pig killing, plates of pig fry (🤢) were sent out to friends and neighbours. The tradition was to return the plate unwashed but I don't know why.

In Scotland it was neeps that were used for lanterns.

Saving the top layer of a wedding cake for the christening?

We used to get told that any bubbles on the top of a cup of tea were ‘fairy money’. My late DF used to tell a story about the Irish potato famine and the spirits of those who died on a path. If walking along that path you had to have breadcrumbs in your pocket to keep you safe from the spirits (he told it a lot better than I have). Not folklore but we cooked onions chopped in milk heated until softened I still do it for pies/pasties it takes any bitterness out of the onions.

Not sure if this is what your looking for but apparently in Ireland women believed that you leave a bit of your soul in everything you crochet, so they would leave a ‘mistake’ in everything they made in order to let their soul escape.

If you spill salt, toss a pinch over your left shoulder. It’s where the devils sits.
There's various ones about butter not churning - it’s quite complicated to skim the top off the milk to get the cream with right fat consistency to make butter, has to be correct fat content and that can depend on what the cows have eaten so lots of reasons why it can sometimes fail. I think it doesn’t churn if the dairymaid has a secret lover.
My DF always put a bit of butter on a new cat’s paw before it was let out so that it would find its way home.
To cure warts, wipe the wart with raw meat/steak and bury the meat at a crossroads. when the meat had rotted, the wart would go.
Hanging up killed/shot pests on fence posts so that their kin would realise what was coming to them and disappear.
My DF was a country boy and weirdly superstitious. I do the butter thing and the salt. Haven’t shot any birds or hit rats over the head, fortunately 😂