Kitchen Witchery

I have heard it said that just simply cooking in the kitchen does not make a kitchen witch.

Now I wonder, if someone is already a witch, and magic is “the ability to change consciousness at will”, then is not the alchemy of cooking, or better yet baking, pure magic? and the woman doing it, practicing kitchen witchery?

Now I am the first to admit that the lazy Wednesday night of cooking spaghetti for the family is not very magical, or the practise of kitchen witchery, this is because when I am working my spells in the kitchen there is always an “intent” and this is where the magic happens, or rather the changing of consciousness, and this does not happen everyday.

I can create a warm and comforting feelings simply by baking something that invokes smells and tastes that awaken safe and homey memories, along with cravings for whatever is in the oven. This is turn pulls everyone from their corners of the house to gather in the kitchen, and this is where the best conversations happen, not easy to do as kids get older!  I can also energize the family into a Sunday morning hike by whipping up a serious smoothie with spirulia and other magical ingredients that get everyone feeling full of energy and open to the idea of getting outside–sneaky you say?

Yes I reply, for this is the magic and mystery of being the divine feminine force that inspires my family–this is what I am passing along to my kids, and what my daughter watches me do everyday.

In fact this is what cooking women everywhere do, and often not even realize it. So imagine what a little more intent put into that food, a sprinkle of love and a pinch of respect, with some magic stirred in, could do for those eating it, ourselves included!

This week everyone in my family came home with a case of the sniffles,  so my plans for whipping up some rosehip cordial/syrup were set in motion……

We have a wild rosebush in our back-yard, that this year decided that it liked our old apple tree and so it grew all over it and made a beautiful little cave for my outdoor shrine, bit it also had more rosehips this year then ever before, so it made good common sense that they go to some use!

My intent with this cordial was health and love, and this is what I stirred into it as I worked-kitchen witch style!

Here is my morphed recipe that I tweaked to suit my needs, I hope you like it!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of water
• 5 cups of rosehips
• 3 cups of white granulated sugar

The How to:

Tail the rosehips, this means take a pair if scissors and chop the furry end off of each one–kids love this job!

Bring your water to a boil, and while you wait for that..

Take the rosehips and chop them roughly in a food processor, or blender–they should look like this…..

Transfer the fruit into your by now, fast boiling water and bring it back up to a boil again.

Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to chill if you are using a jelly bag. If you have a really good metal sifter you can get to the next step right away.{see photo below for what I mean by metal sifter/sieve/colander.}

Pour through a sterilized jelly bag{you can sterilize by either ironing it or scalding it in boiling water.}/or muslin square, or your metal sieve, over a bowl to save the water–it should be a lovely bright color by now!

Return the pulp to your now empty pot and add 2.5 cups of fresh water and bring it back to a boil- At this point I totally cheated and threw in a bag of organic rosehip, raspberry tea, the color was great and the flavor of the raspberries made the whole thing come together–well worth the cheat!

Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to cool if using a jelly bag.

Strain through the jelly bag/metal sieve again squeezing out all access liquid. You can now compost the pulp.

Pour your precious cordial into a clean saucepan and boil to reduce the liquid to 1.5 pts-this takes some time approx 15-20 min’s

Lastly add the sugar and boil rapidly for another 5-6 minutes, you want to see the sugar gets a little thick, but ultimately it will still be quite liquidity and that is ok.

Pour into hot sterile bottles, seal immediately and enjoy!

The cordial takes yummy by the spoonful, but is also great on plain yoghurt, in tea or just about anywhere you want a hit of sour and sweet yumminess!

In my last post I also promised the recipe for Red Pear and Lavender Jam, but everyone over here was feeling so lousy yesterday so I made this cordial and some soup and skipped the Jam. However the pears are calling to me as I write this so perhaps it will be sooner rather then later!