Wild Fruit Pudding
Place and Period: This dish would have been made in England during the Neolithic age, but not the Paleolithic Age. Paleolithic people would not have been able to make this recipe because of the lack of available goat’s milk. Whereas the Neolithic Age is marked by the domestication of animals, such as goats, which allowed the production of goat’s milk to be possible. Paleolithic people would have also needed to use another type of berry, as bilberries only grew in England during the Neolithic Era.
Ingredients: 12-15 raspberries, 10-12 blueberries, 2 tablespoons double cream, 50-70 hazelnuts
Equipment: small serving bowl, nutcrackers, chopping knife
Allergens: dairy, tree nuts
Anachronisms:
- Biliberries, a common berry that grew in England during the Neolithic time period is no longer available. As such a workable substitute are closely related to blueberries. Another substitute comes in the form of double cream being used in place of goats milk.
Serving Size: 10 people
Who would have eaten this in the past?
All of the ingredients of this recipe reflect that of the supplies that early farming communities would have had access to. The milk used in the recipe at the time of its creation was that of goat's milk, a relatively new product at the time that farmers would have had access to. As well as the berries and hazelnuts would have been seasonal food gathered by these early farming communities. This tells us a lot about them as it clearly indicates that the introduction of farming influenced their diet by changing the things they ate such as being able to harvest seasonal foods and use milk from domesticated animals. The ease of access of the ingredients also clearly tells us that this was probably a common food item that was consistently eaten.
Steps:
Gather all of your ingredients and materials, and place them on a clean workspace.
Wash the raspberries and blueberries and set aside in a bowl for later.
Using a nutcracker or knife, shell and chop the hazelnuts.
Place the chopped hazelnuts in the bowl with the berries
Measure and add the double cream to the berry and nut mixture.
Serve immediately, or save for later.
“Cookit!” Cookit!, 2009, http://cookit.e2bn.org/recipes/1485-wild-fruit-pudding-neolithic.html.
csm_001_antikebabyflaschen-_4__slider_9e455d3e63.jpg
"Milk of ruminants in ceramic baby bottles from prehistoric child graves", J. Dunne, K. Rebay-Salisbury, R. B. Salisbury, A. Frisch, C. Walton-Doyle & R. P. Evershed, Nature 2019
https://www.docsopinion.com/health-and-nutrition/diets/the-paleo-diet/
“DocsOpinion.” DocsOpinion, https://www.docsopinion.com/health-and-nutrition/diets/the-paleo-diet/.
Recipe & Information Sources:
http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/1520-wild-fruit-pudding-raspberry-and-blueberry-pudding.html
Gooii. “History Cookbook: Wild Fruit Pudding (Neolithic).” Wild Fruit Pudding (Neolithic) recipe - Cookit! East of England Broadband Network. Accessed April 8, 2020. http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/1485-wild-fruit-pudding-neolithic.html.
Jon M, Kiyanni M, Alesha W, Ava E