Taste of Dales days gone by

To weather-worn Dalesfolk, grafting in the fields from dawn to dusk, food and drink followed the seasons as closely as did their farming work.

Traditional favourites included clap cake, picnic honey cake, Yule bread, treacle scones and cowslip wine, which are among 101 recipes and handy hints kept in the archives of the Nidderdale Museum at Pateley Bridge.

The material was originally gathered by Joanna Dawson, a dairy farmer, keen historian and Methodist preacher who cared deeply for the traditional way of life in her native Yorkshire Dales.

It was a way of life that was fast disappearing after the Second World War; farmers were taking on new methods, lead and stone industries had declined and families were becoming dispersed.

In 1975, Joanna founded the Nidderdale Museum to preserve the local heritage.

She scoured the area tirelessly, talking to people and keeping a record of their stories, anecdotes and knowledge of Dales customs.

Joanna amassed a vast collection of material, which she planned to sort through when she retired; but just a few months after retirement, she discovered she was terminally ill. She asked the museum to take on the task of sorting through the information she had lovingly collated.

Now her work is the focus of this delightful book, Mrs Hibbert’s Pick-Me-Up And Other Recipes From A Yorkshire Dale, compiled by Nidderdale Museum Society.

Joanna’s tips, recipes and stories set a scene of farmhouse kitchens from times past, when steaming suppers awaited workers after a long day in the fields, and farmers’ wives stood at their ranges, passing down knowledge and skills through the generations.

Book editor Joanna Moody was “enchanted” by the material: “Here was a celebrated local historian, an enthusiastic traveller and a welcome visitor into people’s homes – a ‘squirrel’ collector of miscellaneous information.

“I discovered a fragrant scene of farmhouse life... when events such as chapel outings, sheep washing, hay-making and the maypole brought people joyfully together to share recipes and hints among themselves.”

Recipes include Pateley Fritters, elderflower champagne, Lovefeast bread, cucumber pickle, Sunday School Treat Cakes and Brimham Rocks Scripture Cake.

The book offers seasonal dishes, sweet and savoury teas, suppers and field lunches, hedgerow conserves and pickles, fruit beverages and the intriguing Mrs Hibbert’s Pick-Me-Up, involving half a ‘breakfastcupful’ of boiling water on enough cayenne pepper to cover a threepenny piece.

The recipes follow the seasons, from Shrovetide in early spring to the end of the year, when various remedies are designed to prepare for a long, cold winter.

“Not all have been recently tested so please be very careful if using any unusual ingredients: we cannot be held responsible for any accidents or unforeseen reactions which may occur as a result of trying them out,” Joanna Moody warns.

Throughout the book, the reader is offered tips, from making handcream using surgical spirit and lavender oil to putting corks in the bed to ease night cramps.

And it’s all beautifully illustrated, with pen and ink drawings of items from old kitchens – including brass kettles, stone jars and invalid beakers – and delightful old photographs taken in the Dales a century ago, evoking a sense of how life was for the folk who cooked and enjoyed these recipes.