Photo: Cath Bromwich

Apple Tansy is a popular sweet dessert in the USA today, but its origins as a recipe are to be found in 17th century Britain.

The common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) is found growing all over Britain and elsewhere. The yellow button-like flowers, that appear in mid-summer, and feathery green leaves (see photo below), were used as one of the ingredients of Tansy – a name given for a sweet omelette-style dish made with eggs and cream, and traditionally eaten at Easter.

Tansy first appeared as a recipe in a cookery book: The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. Opened, published in 1669, and was based on the travels of Sir Kenelme Digbie, an English courtier, around Britain and Europe.

The slightly spicy taste of Tansy made it a useful substitute for real spices, which until the 19th century were generally too costly for most people of modest income to use in cooking.   It was used to flavour both sweet and savoury dishes, although beware!  It has a strong flavour and should be used discreetly in cooking today.

People ate it in the past believing it was, not only a useful flavour addition, but also good for them; the flowers and leaves, for example, were also scattered on the floors of churches and law courts to deter the plague, as well as rubbed on meat in summer to keep the flies at bay!

However, don’t let all that put you off.  When used discreetly, as in Apple Tansy, it is definitely worth trying. It adds a rather citrus-style zest to this dessert dish.

Here’s a recipe by Cath Bromwich, a cookery teacher and forager, from Silsden in West Yorkshire.    Like most successful recipes, it adapts traditional ideas and presents a taste of both the past and the present.

Ingredients & Method

1. Cut an eating apple, e.g. a Cox, into eight thin wedges.
2. Gently fry the apple slices in a knob of butter in a frying pan until they soften and brown. Arrange the pieces in the frying pan in a  circular pattern.
3. Make an egg custard by mixing 4 eggs with 100 ml of full cream milk, or cream, two dessert spoons of sugar, and a few pinches of cinnamon or nutmeg – plus some generous pinches of the finely chopped Tansy leaves.
4. Beat all this up.  Heat up the frying pan again and add the custard mixture on top of the apples and cook until firm.  It can go under a grill to brown and firm it if necessary.
5. You will have, in effect, a sweet Spanish-style omelette.  Turn this out onto a plate, slice and serve it with cream or ice-cream.

Source:  Cath Bromwich: Facebook: foragercathyorkshire.