May 1st
Get your flower crown on and dance, dance, dance, but beware of moth attacks.
The History
Don’t Tell the Priest Where We’re Going
May Day celebrated the end of winter. It was a promise of things to come—spring and summer, harvest, good weather, and food!
The celebrations began the night before when everyone would gather around the bonfire to dance, drink, sing, and eat. They shared stories of previous years’ festivities and genuinely enjoyed themselves. On the eve of May Day, the party goers would all go out and gather flowers and branches; however, the church deemed these late night forages for foliage to be way too tempting for lust-filled young folk, so the gathering was rescheduled for daylight hours.
Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,
Or he would call it a sin;
But we have been out in the woods all night,
A-conjuring Summer in!
The maypole was placed in the center of the village as the main feature of the day. Long woven garlands of flowers and leaves draped from the pole while the children danced in circular patterns to weave these glorious flowers into spectacular patterns. La-ti-dah.
A “Queen of May” was chosen from the local young (and single) ladies, and she was given a special crown woven together with spring flowers and branches. And, like April Fools’ Day, a “Lord of Misrule” also wandered about playing the mischief-maker.
Also customary on this day—no work. Farm and land owners would supply large feasts for their tenants and workers. Special ale was made to toast their accomplishments and the end of a long winter. Be sure to tell that to your boss when you call in.
Faeries and Drunks Like Mugwort
Beltane is essentially the same thing as May Day, and comes from ancient Irish mythology. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal celebrations: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnassadh. The ancient Celts would perform rituals to protect their farms, livestock, and families. One of these rituals was to leave food and milk on the doorstep as an offering to the faeries.
In Romania, this day is called Mugwort Day or Drunkard’s Day. Between the amount of mugwort-flavored wine consumed, the fiddlers, and the roasted lamb, we’d say the Romanians win! Mugwort is a “magical” herb that was believed to cast out demonic possessions, prevent moth attacks, ward off wild woodland beasts, and alleviate fatigue. If you plant it in your garden you can expect a visit from the good faeries. This multipurpose herb was also used in the making of absinthe as it is very similar to wormwood. There are still home brewers throughout Europe that use this licorice-flavored herb to enhance their beer.
Elderflowers are from the elder tree (Sambucus nigra). They are native to Britain. Elderflowers have small white petals that give off a very strong, sweet smell. It blooms in the months of May and June and has become a symbol of the arrival of spring. This powerful plant has been used for a number of remedies since the Middle Ages. It can be used as an anti-inflammatory, to lower a fever, to soothe rashes, and most importantly to make liqueur for cocktails (ahem . . . also a remedy). All parts of this plant are useful: bark, flowers, leaves.
There are several brands of elderflower liqueur and syrup. For the liqueur, we recommend St. Germain. They happen to pick their elderflowers in the French Alps and the elegant bottle looks gorgeous on the table.
If you do purchase a bottle for the following recipe, the rest will not go to waste. We suggest you add a tiny bit to your champagne. Just a smidge. Very fancy and delicious.
“Spring Has Sprung” Cheesecake
Decadent and divine, goes well with wine (but what doesn’t?).
• This recipe creates a loaf cake first. You can eat this as is with your tea in the morning, or you can continue with the recipe and make an amazing crust for your cheesecake.
• This can be made hours or days in advance. In fact, the longer it has to stay, the better.
• When your gingerbread crust and cheesecake are all assembled (that is, if there’s any left at this point), drizzle with the cinnamon-honey caramel sauce. Oh, happy day!
Ingredients for Gingerbread Crust
1 cup honey
1 loaf bread, either a few days old or dried in the oven
1 Tbsp ginger
½ Tbsp cinnamon
¼ tsp white pepper
¼ tsp ground cloves
Directions for Gingerbread Crust
Clarify the honey by heating it in a saucepan. Remove any foam. Trim the loaf of bread to remove the crust.
Add the bread, in stages, to the food processor until the bread is finely ground. While the machine is on, add the spices and then drizzle the honey into the mixture. Make sure that the mixture is thoroughly mixed and you are not seeing any resemblance to bread. Just wait until you smell the spices—amazing!
Line a brownie/square cake pan with wax or parchment paper. Pour the mixture into the pan and press it down firmly and evenly. We used a tart press to help with this process. Fold wax paper over the top of the cake until completely covered. Put something heavy on top of the cake and keep it in a cool, dry place for a few hours or overnight. This is not your grandmother’s version of gingerbread. This is a strangely textured but delicious cake.
Ingredients for Cinnamon-Honey Caramel Sauce
1 cup honey
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, broken up into Tbsp sizes
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp sea salt
Directions for Cinnamon-Honey Caramel Sauce
When making this sauce, make sure that you can access it easily during the cooking process. If not, you will have an awful mess to clean up if it bubbles over.
In a heavy saucepan, add the honey, water, and sugar. Give it a stir and turn the heat on to medium. Cook for about 30 minutes until you can see it coat the back of a wooden spoon. You may need to lower the heat to low if it begins to bubble up.
Once the syrup has been reduced, remove from heat. Try not to stir too much. Add the cinnamon and stir. Add it back over medium heat and begin to add the pats of butter, one at a time, whisking it until it is melted and all the butter is gone.
Gently drizzle heavy cream into the mixture, stirring continuously as you pour. Take your time pouring the cream.
Lower the heat to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and add the salt and stir. The salt will take away some of the sweetness and make it taste more like butterscotch. Pour the cooled caramel into a pretty container and store in the refrigerator.
Ingredients for Cheesecake
½ cup flour
1 stick butter, melted
1 Tbsp honey
2 lb cream cheese
1 cup white sugar, plus 1 Tbsp
4 large eggs
¼ cup whole milk
2 tsp elderflower syrup, plus ½ tsp (you can use elderflower liqueur)
1 cup sour cream
Directions for the Cheesecake
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Remove gingerbread from pan. Put the gingerbread in a food processor and break down into pieces. Add ½ cup of flour and incorporate. While the machine is on, drizzle melted butter into the bowl. Immediately add honey and mix until it resembles sand.
Pour out ingredients into a prepared (buttered) 9-inch springform pan. This is where technique is important. Take your time and firmly press the ingredients into the bottom and sides of the pan. Pay close attention to the corners as they tend to be forgotten.
For the filling, put the cream cheese into a mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on medium-high and let it do its thing for a few minutes. Thoroughly whip that cream cheese good; you don’t want to see any lumps! Gently add in the sugar and beat until combined with the cream cheese and very smooth.
Crack the eggs into a separate bowl. With the mixer on, slowly beat in the eggs one at a time. Stop the mixing between eggs to scrape down splatter on the sides of the bowl. Also, pay attention to the very bottom of your mixing bowl; sometimes the cream cheese gets stuck there, so move your mixer around to prevent that. Turn it on again and add in the milk and the 2 tsp elderflower.
Keep beating until there are no lumps. Pour mixture (without eating it) into the prepared gingerbread crust. We always place our springform pan onto a cookie sheet, in case there are any leaks. Place it in the oven for about one hour. While you are waiting for your cake to finish, combine the sour cream, 1 Tbsp of sugar, and ½ tsp of elderflower in a small bowl.
After an hour, the cheesecake will still have some jiggle to it, which is the way it should be. Remove from the oven, but keep your oven on. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, and then gently add the sour cream mixture to the top of the cake. Put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. Store it in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 6 hours. Overnight is better.