Archives in Action - Tasting History
Tasting History with Sticky Fingers!
First taste of archives, first taste of pea soup … we worked with amazing partners Hoole Young Chefs and volunteers at Hoole Community Centre to run a half-term food storytelling activity. An irresistible mix of have-a-go cooking, taste-testing and discovering fantastic facts about historic recipes from our collections.
Our starter? A choice of 250 year-old soup made with dried peas or a modern version made with frozen peas. There are so many pea soup recipes in northern cookbooks – dried peas were a reliable protein keeping us full through the winter months. Against all expectations, both pea soups were taste-tested with the cunning use of breadsticks to dip. The verdict? An even split.
Next course - wafer pancakes flipped from the pages of Elizabeth Raffald’s Experienced English Housekeeper. A vote on a modern crêpe compared with these 18th century pancakes resulted in a win for the crêpe, but all said they enjoyed the older recipe too, reminiscent of an egg custard. Pancake testing was aided by fruit and maple syrup, honey, and an awful lot of sticky fingers!
Next on our culinary journey was a familiar recipe from 19th century Cheshire. All Souls Day in November was a big event in the life of Victorian schoolboy Norman Pring, in his diaries he describes going from house to house ‘souling’. The reward? A cross between a scone and a spiced biscuit. Everyone got to work making the dough, rolling out and cutting their soul cakes. More sticky hands and dough - pass the flour please!
To finish - Cheshire cheese and marmalade tarts featuring two local ‘oldest’ ingredients – one of the earliest named cheeses in the country, and orange marmalade. In our collections you’ll find the oldest marmalade recipe written in English. A delicious nibble and yet more sticky fingers.
An exceptionally busy, exciting and sticky day, with our smiley-face feedback showing 40 children had enjoyed it, tried a new skill, a new food and a small taste of the past.
Recreate your own historic tasting menu using our featured recipes!
Recipe booklet available here (PDF 1.25MB)
By Kate Tobias-Buick (Archivist) and Heather Vernon (Local Studies Librarian)
