One hemp soup and tortelli with hemp blossoms, please! – Historical hemp recipes rediscovered

Hemp in the Kitchen: From Monasteries to the Pope

If you browse through Jean de Bockenheim's "Registrum coquine," which was likely created between 1431 and 1435, you will find a recipe for a hemp soup that is easy to create. First, hemp flowers and leaves are boiled in water. After they are strained and well pressed, the hemp water is set aside. In a separate pot, onions and breadcrumbs are sautéed in olive oil, and the hemp water is gradually added. Finally, the soup is seasoned with milk, saffron, and spices. It was not only recommended for the sick, but likely enjoyed by Pope Martin V as well, since in the introduction to the "Registrum coquine," the author mentions that he had served as a cook in the service of the Pope after he was elected at the Council of Constance! Melitta Adamson's "Regional Cuisines of Medieval Europe" also presents a hemp soup recipe from German monks at Tegernsee. The author is a leading expert in the field of medieval cuisine. In her book, experienced historians discuss the special delicacies of medieval Europe. Intended for 40 monks, the six pounds of hemp (English measurement) used for the soup corresponded to about 67 grams per person—a substantial amount that surely consisted of leaves and hemp flowers in addition to hemp seeds. Together with wine, white bread, mashed apples, vinegar, and spices, it was likely a fine and extremely popular monastic meal! Feeling hungry? Best to browse through our recipes on the HANAFSAN Blog and get inspired.

Hemp Soup in the Middle Ages – Healthy and Popular

Traces of hemp as a culinary ingredient also lead to Italy. The first printed cookbook in Italy dates back to 1475. Its author, the Italian humanist and librarian Bartolommeo de Sacchi Platina, gave it the promising title "De Honesta Voluptate Et Valetudine" – "The Honorable Pleasure and the Honorable Health." The book became a bestseller and was translated into numerous languages. It mentions the use of hemp in wine or cakes. For a health drink, cannabis is heated with oil in an iron pot. While the hemp is boiling, it is crushed until a juice is formed, so to speak, cannabis nectar.

Tortelli with Hemp Flowers: Italian Specialty from 1884

Another enticing recipe can be found in "Frammento di un libro di cucina del Sec. XIV: edito nel di delle nozze Carducci-Gnaccarini," a work by the Italian writer Olindo Guerrini: For "Tortelli con fiori di canapaccio," the hemp flowers are cooked without leaves with bacon. When the bacon is almost done, more hemp flowers are added, cooked as well, and then everything is finely chopped. Together with grated cheese, this hemp filling is used to prepare the tortelli!

Hemp in the Monastic Kitchens of Austria

Hemp was also cooked in the St. Dorothea Monastery in Vienna. The delicacies are recorded in a handwritten recipe collection from the 14th and 15th centuries, which is now kept in the Austrian National Library. For a sweet hemp curd ("ein Hanif schotten"), raw hemp seeds are taken and crushed, washed, and then sifted twice through a cloth to make them clean. Then they are cooked, and the resulting curd-like mass, the curd, is placed in a small pot with oil. Four or five apples are cut into small pieces and roasted in oil. These are then placed on the curd and sprinkled with sugar. If cooked hemp is crushed and sifted through a nice cloth along with white bread and seasoned with spices, a fine "hanifmues" can be made. From this hemp puree, a good hemp soup can also be prepared with wine, steamed bread, a chopped apple, and an onion (both roasted in oil)! Additionally, there was "kese von hanif" in the monastery. For this, raw hemp seeds are crushed and sifted two or three times with boiled water. Then a lot of isinglass, a binding agent made from the collagen-rich swim bladder of sturgeon, and half a lot of almonds are added to sweet milk. The lot was a mass measurement unit before the introduction of grams, somewhat imprecise but illustrative, equivalent to about a spoonful or, depending on the country, between 14 and 18 g. This creates a savory hemp cheese. You could garnish it as you liked, but just don't oversalt it, and one should be knowledgeable, as the recipe instructions were not always very precise back then!

Imperial Recipes: Hemp at Maximilian I.

The "Innsbruck Recipe Book" is a manuscript from the 15th century that deals with cooking and medicine and also contains some hemp recipes: "Wildu machen ein hamff suppen..." – a hemp soup seemed to be popular everywhere! Here, the hemp curd is also processed into a thick puree, and honey is added to the spices. The thick paste was also pressed and then sprinkled with a sweet spice powder as a dessert. Additionally, a cake could be baked from the paste – "Wildu ein chuechen dar aus machen," so press the paste through a sieve and then let it bake in a mortar. The baked hemp could be served according to taste, with lard, in a pepper broth or sauce, and also as a sweet variant! Enjoy your meal! En Guten! Buon appetito!

Sources:
Hartmann, Milan: "CBD – Healing with Hemp," 2021; Hans-Nietsch-Verlag
www.geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2013/9337/pdf/RegistrumCoquineMaier.pdf
www.archive.org
Aichholzer, Doris: "Wildu machen ayn guet essen…Drei mittelhochdeutsche Kochbücher," 1999; Lang Verlag Bern (www.hanf-magazin.com)
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