Toil and trouble: Recipes and the witches in 'Macbeth'
Mince pies and mirth: Transcribed 17th-century recipes
A pumpkin pie recipe from 17th-century England
Salmon in pastry: A Renaissance recipe from Shakespeare's Kitchen by Francine Segan
Dig into the Folger's vault for #MuseumWeek
A recipe for 1610 rose cakes
A Renaissance recipe for citrus tarts
A recipe for Twelfth Night cake
Park’s Shakspearean Twelfth-Night Characters. Handcolored print, ca. 1830. Folger Shakespeare Library. Twelfth Night is a Christian holiday typically celebrated on January 5 or 6, concluding the 12 days of Christmas and celebrating the visit of the Magi (the three kings). Twelfth…
Renaissance cooking: Food historian Francine Segan and a recipe for 'pears' in broth (they're not really pears)
Francine Segan is a food historian with a taste for the Renaissance. She’s the author of six cookbooks, including Shakespeare’s Kitchen (2003) and the Opera Lover’s Cookbook, which was nominated for a James Beard award. This year she’s been spending…
From the archive to the oven: How to make a sweet potato pudding
“Let the sky rain potatoes… I will shelter me here.” Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor is referring here to a food that had but recently arrived to England, but was already on its way to popularity. A team of Folger researchers…
Recipe: How to make a sweet potato pudding
The Folger is home to the largest collection of early modern western European recipe books in the United States, and a team of Folger researchers recently uncovered a very early European potato recipe in our archives. This recipe, “to make a…
A perfect pairing: A recipe for almond jumballs and a podcast episode on "Recipes for Thought"
Early modern kitchens, food, and recipes offer an intriguing window on the world in which Shakespeare lived. Our new Shakespeare Unlimited podcast episode is a fascinating interview with Wendy Wall, who explores the role of food, kitchens, and other related subjects in…