Irish Seaweed Christmas Kitchen

Honouring traditions. That’s what the Irish Seaweed Christmas Kitchen is about; honouring the customs of Christmas as we know them along the coast, culinary and otherwise, and fusing them with the even more ancient rhythms of the turning seasons and the use of edible seaweeds.

The recipes inside are designed to help you keep your food simple, healthy and well prepared for the days before Christmas when time is short, and also offer clever ways of integrating seaweeds into more traditional menus for Christmas day. Mince pies, puddings and desserts get a delicious seaweed twist, as do the vegetarian offerings. Lazy brunches get an exotic make-over, and go-to Christmas drinks and cocktails stun with the addition of simple seaweed sprigs.

Feeling ambitious enough to tackle your own sourdough bread or fermented carrots over the days of Christmas? Step by step instructions get you easily to the point where you can.

For the less ambitious, the book is packed with simple, delicious ideas, guaranteed to make your table a healthier place in minutes, seaweed pesto, nori butter, and seaweed chocolates coming instantly to mind.

Equally impressive is the section on making practical inexpensive gifts, even a face cream.

Part of the charm of Irish Seaweed Christmas Kitchen is the care with which Prannie inserts memories and insights with the preparation of food. The book slowly unfolds like a delicious food fairy tale with all sorts of good spirits leaping through the pages and a happy ending within your grasp. Many will recognise a custom, or a dish from their childhood, or remember a long forgotten Christmas kitchen smell.

Quiet, nostalgic reminders that food is a tradition that links us all together, no matter what time of year.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

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