The Kitchen Witch Companion

The Kitchen Witch returns in this beautifully illustrated companion book to Sarah Robinson’s bestseller Kitchen Witch: Food, Folklore & Fairy Tale...including many of the traditional and seasonal recipes referenced in that book.

Best-selling authors Sarah Robinson of Kitchen Witch, Enchanted Journeys, Yoga for Witches and Yin Magic and Lucy H. Pearce of Burning Woman, Creatrix and Medicine Woman combine forces with a diverse international coven of kitchen witches to share their favourite recipes, rituals and reflections on the magic that can be found…and made in the kitchen.

This is a book to be read curled up in a comfy chair, before being covered in earth as you gather in seasonal goodness and splattered with sauce as you cook! The first half of The Kitchen Witch Companion is a nuanced reflection on the fantasy and reality of making magic in the kitchen. The second half is a seasonal collection of recipes and crafts, foraging and ferments, spells and simmer pots, meditations and blessings to inspire you to create, celebrate and gather throughout the Wheel of the Year.

The Kitchen Witch emerges with a waft of cinnamon, summoned up with the pestle and mortar crushing cardamom, with the harvesting of fresh rose petals. She emerges any time a pan bubbles or cranberries pop or the scent of melted chocolate or orange zest fills the air. She is there in the bubbling of yeast, the rising of dough, the whipping of egg whites or cream into billowing clouds, and the scent of freshly baked bread. She appears as spices crackle in hot oil and when boiling water is poured over fresh herbs in a teapot. She is there in a wonky birthday cake made with love or a stew for a grieving family. She is there as we gather the season’s bounty from our gardens – a bunch of flowers to mark a birthday or a passing: roses for love, rosemary for remembrance. Her spirit is in the smell, sound and symbol, freed in the process of cooking, of transforming one thing into another. She is real here and now, in this strange modern world, if we choose to engage with her, if we allow her to awaken the dormant kitchen witch within us.

Full of magical recipes including:

Butterfly pea lemonade	Flower cookies
Gluten free soda bread	Summer's bounty fritters

The Kitchen Witch Companion includes a wide array of magical recipes celebrating the seasons. 95% of the recipes are vegetarian. 70% are vegan either by design or with use of non-dairy of milk/spreads. About 70% of the recipes are also gluten free and dairy free. My husband is coeliac, I am gluten intolerant and Sarah is lactose intolerant, so our recipes reflect this. (Lucy)

The book also contains many ferments from Penny Allen, head of fermenting at Ballymaloe Cookery School, we have recipes for:

• Cultured Buttermilk
• Winter Solstice Mead
• Dandelion Lemonade
• Autumn Kombucha
• Fire Cider
• Summer Pickled Vegetables
• Pickled Magnolia

There is also a big focus on foraged foods, edible flowers and, of course, herbs. Each recipe shares magical correspondences.

Just some of the magical recipes include:

• Cherry Blossom Jam
• Fairy Sandwiches
• Butterfly Cakes
• Rowan Berry Syrup
• Elderflower Cordial
• Lilac and Nettle Seed Oatcakes
• Cranberry Christmas Cake

As well as a Kitchen Charm, Wreath, Simmer Pot, Meditation and Blessing for each season.

Historical recipes include:

• Cattern Cakes
• Mince Meat
• Bannocks
• Soda Bread
• Colcannon with Wild Greens
• Gingerbread

Recipes make up about 30% of the total content of the book, the rest is writing on food, seasons, foraging, kitchen witchery, magic, spells, folklore and history.

About the Contributors

We teamed up with an international coven of kitchen witches, including Alice Tarbuck @alice_tarbuck (bestselling author A Spell in the Wild), Molly Remer @brigidsgrove (author Walking with Persephone), Sarah Napoli @thewoodlandwitchh, Jessica M. Starr (author Waking Mama Luna), Milly Watson Brown (founder Moon Time Chocolate) and many more who each share their expertise, insights and recipes.