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Irish Food Guide by Zack Gallagher

The Irish Halloween History and my family Barmbrack recipe

Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2012 at 08:59 AM

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The Ancient Celtic Calendar cut in Stone

Halloween, celebrated on October 31st, is one of those true Celtic traditions that has become a world-wide celebrated occasion. Historically, it is based on the Celtic festival of "Samhain" which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "Summer's End".

With the plantation of Ulster in the early 1600's, the Scottish colonists brought with them the festival of All Hallow's Evening (All Hallows Even') celebrated on the same night and the two traditions merged. This was the night that the souls of the dead were thought to walk the earth and many people believed it a setting for supernatural encounters! I remember how Holy Water was sprinkled on the outhouses, sheds and farm animals to keep them safe during the night and mirrors in our house were covered with sheets so that the poor souls could not enter the living world.

The traditional bread served on the night was the Halloween Barmbrack, meaning speckled cake, which is a sweet fruit bread. The word Barm comes from an old English word, beorma, meaning yeasty fermented liquor and Brack comes from the Irish word brac, meaning speckled - which it is with the dried fruit and candied peel.

Barmbrack, the traditional Irish Halloween Bread

The bracks made with yeast are called "barmbracks" and those that use baking powder and fruit soaked in tea are called "tea bracks".

Each member of your family must get a slice and it was always a great treat, to find the penny in the cake as this meant you were going to be rich. Other items buried in the barmbrack are: a ring for the bride-to-be, a thimble for the one who would never marry and a small piece of cloth indicating the one who would be poor.

This is the recipe I have used for many years and it makes a 1 pound loaf.

My Ingredients:

450g plain flour (3½ Cups)

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon

1/2 tspn ground nutmeg

7g (1 sachet) dried yeast (2 teaspoons)

75g butter (4 tablespoons)

75g castor sugar (1/3 Cup)

250ml milk (1 Cup)

1 beaten egg

150g raisins (1 Cup)

100g currants (3/4 Cup)

50g chopped Dried Fruit Peel (1/4 Cup)

A little melted butter for greasing

My Method:

1. Warm the milk, add the butter and let it melt in the warm milk.

2. Mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add half the warmed milk mixture. Add the beaten egg.

3. Sift the cinnamon with the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour the yeast and liquid mixture into it. Sprinkle a little flour over the liquid and leave it in a warm place for 20 minutes until the yeast froths up.

4. Add in the remainder of the liquid and mix the whole lot into a dough. Turn it out onto a floured board, sprinkle on the sugar, raisins, currants and chopped peel and knead them into the dough.

5. Put the dough into a butter-greased large bowl, cover with clingwrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

6. Knead it back again and then shape into your greased bread tin. Brush the top with melted butter and cover until doubled in bulk again.

7. Bake for 40 minutes in a pre-heated hot oven at 200°C (400°F / Gas mark 6) until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. To give it a nice glaze stir 1 tablespoon sugar into 50ml (2 fl oz) boiling water and brush this over the top of the loaf when it comes out of the oven and is still hot. Leave to cool before cutting. Enjoy!

For more from Zack see www.irishfoodguide.ie

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Zack Gallagher | Nov 02, 2012, 10:34 AM EDT

Hey jamieLM that sounds just like what we would call a tea-brack with all the candied fruit. I'm glad you're enjoying my foodie stuff! Do share it on :) Thanks Z

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jamieLM | Oct 22, 2012, 05:55 PM EDT

This sounds a lot like the American fruitcake that we usually eat just at Christmas time. People either love or hate fruitcake and it's the butt of a lot of jokes. The Am. version of fruitcake is rather solid in texture (more like bread than cake) and is full of candied fruit, especially red and green maraschino cherries, dates, raisins, nuts, and citron. Calling someone a "fruitcake" means they aren't normal. Your recipe sounds better.

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