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

@Thevelvelletes we did this in NE England also. They were rock hard to carve! I still remember the smell of burning turnip we had no nightlights just a stub of an ordinary candle in it. I didn’t see a pumpkin till I was an adult I always thought they were an American tradition.

Don't pick dandelions as you will wet the bed. Think this comes from the french name and the fact they act as a diuretic.

You have to tell the honey bees of any news that is going.

"Most recently, on the sad death of Queen Elizabeth II, the newspapers featured a story of the Royal beekeeper telling the bees kept on the grounds of Buckingham palace that their mistress had died and wrapped a black bow around each hive."

My mum used to say the Devil spat on them after October 1st. I admit I've told my children the same 😈

Black Country people used to keep a pig in the back yard. When it was slaughtered it was turned into pork, bacon, sausages, faggots, haslet, scratchings, etc, etc, etc.
The local saying is that the only part of the pig that wasn't used was its squeal.

Breads made on Good Friday keeps all year, doesn't go mouldy.

Weren't they an absolute bastard to howk (carve ) with a spoon and cut the top off to make a lid.like u say stubb o a candle.

Specifically latticing and treacle tarts
Is there much folklore around treacle tarts? - they are a fairly new invention, created after the rise of the sugar industry. Wiki page on treacle tarts.

This is an amazing page about lattice top tarts.

Or any related to sewing, spinning wool, weaving, etc...
Penelope (Mrs Odysseus), ofc.

As a child I heard a tradition that you should be careful to break up discarded egg shells before throwing them away, as otherwise witches use the egg shells as boats, they'll go to sea in them and do mischief like conjuring up storms to sink fishing boats. Of course!

I still find myself doing it.

Yes, in Wales too - I picked some as a young girl for my grandmother and she started screaming to get them out of the house. 😂😂😂

Smashing egg shells after eating a boiled egg was another one she used to tell us - otherwise evil spirits live in them. 😐😂

Can you hold off a couple of weeks and reserve this at the library? unbound.com/books/folklore

There is another one about passing the cake through a wedding ring for luck (or so the cake could be small).

Aran sweaters have various patterns that have meaning to them so they could be knitted to tell a story of sorts. Sorry I know that is not about food but I find it interesting.

https://www.sweatershop.com/blog/history-of-aran-sweaters#:~:text=Back%20in%20the%201950s%20on,re%20all%20familiar%20with%20today.

You know that Yorkshire Pudding was invented by an Angel don't you?

My mother would not pass a salt pot to anyone or take it from their hand, she would say, "passing salt passing sorrow". If she asked for the salt you had to put it down near her.

Salt used to be very expensive so spilling it was thought to be Satan trying to steal it. So you throw a pinch with your right hand over your left shoulder, "In to the Devil's eye" because your guardian angel stood behind you to the right.

Milk curdling for no reason was because a witch was about.

Blackberries must never be picked after Michaelmas because on this day, the Devil takes his revenge on the berries. He was thrown out of heaven and landed in a blackberry bush.

@Pemba I always make a hole in the bottom of the shell when I finish a soft boiled egg for this exact reason

Genuine Yorkshire pudding can only be made IN Yorkshire as you sit on the back step to whisk it and Yorkshire air goes into the batter

Ofc. This book is in its infancy. I've got a while I'll be working on it yet.

Thank you for the recommendation

this is so interesting because one of the biggest differences I noticed when I moved here from the US was the importance of Halloween.
there are a whole neighborhoods in America, where they have Halloween decoration contest and make haunted houses, and of course, there are jack-o'-lanterns plenty. I tried to use a turnip one year. It was a challenge, especially with how small they are in comparison

If you eat something with pits (cherries or plums) you count the pits afterwards with the rhyme, "Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief". The one you land on predicts what sort of man you'll marry.

We did that!!!
I completely forgot about it until I read your post.
I remember lining up the stewed plum stones on the edge of my bowl

@Georgyporky 'on the rag' is because that's literally what they used before sanitary towels were invented......old bits/rags of material.

Yes, but the Romans used tampons !

Yet another thing to add to "What have the Romans ever done for us ?"

Have you tried here? https://folklore-society.com/

This in my shelf has all sorts https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31956882270&searchurl=ds%3D20%26kn%3DA%2Bchronicle%2Bof%2Bfolk%2Bcustoms%26rollup%3Don%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet--srp0--title1

Or thought about setting your book in Ireland? https://www.duchas.ie/en

Oops, wrong one. Try this https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=17881234498&searchurl=ds%3D20%26kn%3DChronicle%2Bfolk%2Bcustoms%26rollup%3Don%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet--srp0--title3 for UK.

This has got to have something, surely. https://www.jstor.org/journal/folklore

My gran said never bring elderflower leaves or berries into the house as it meant death for any mother in the house! A few years later someone told me the old name for elderflower was "Mother-will-die"!

Yes to “tinker, tailor” rhyme, and you have to break the bottom of your empty boiled egg with a cross (two teaspoon pushes) otherwise witches ride out to sea in them and cause storms. I do this religiously and then glare at my husband until he does too whilst muttering about crazy women.

my gran, b.1910, used to say triumphantly that she’d get a new frock for christmas if she ever successfully peeled an apple all in one go.

Someone told me something about if you flicked a wine glass to make that resonating noise you should put your hand on the glass to stop it otherwise a sailor will drown?

I just googled it, apparently the ringing of the glass was similar to funeral church bells which was unlucky.