Noir Truffle Soil
A dark sweet soil of caramelised birch sugar, burnt honey, white truffle, tonka, and embered citrus
 
A sweet soil for the winter table – not a sugar, not a confection, but a finishing element shaped for depth, contrast, and atmosphere.
 
Noir Truffle Soil is crafted from caramelised birch sugar and burnt honey, worked until amber-dark and mineral-warm, then layered with white truffle, tonka bean, orange zest, and a faint ember note. Sweetness is present, but it is restrained and grounded – carrying bitterness, smoke, and woodland depth rather than lightness or shine.
 
This is a soil in the Michelin sense: a textured, crumb-fine landscape ingredient, intended to be scattered, brushed, or laid beneath and around food. It is used sparingly, where a small amount brings structure, contrast, and quiet decadence to a plate.
 
Noir Truffle Soil belongs firmly to winter – when sweetness deepens, bitterness is welcomed, and flavour is asked to linger rather than sparkle.
 
Flavour Architecture
Top – burnt honey, bitter orange zest
Heart – tonka bean warmth, almond-vanilla depth
Base – white truffle, caramelised birch, embered mineral notes
Overall – dark, bittersweet, earthy, quietly luxurious
Sweetness arrives slowly, grounded by bitterness and truffle depth rather than lifted by sugar.
 
Ways of Working with Noir Truffle Soil
This is a finishing soil, applied at the very end.
Use with restraint – a pinch, a line, a scatter – never a spoonful.
 
Plating and landscape use
Scatter lightly beneath roasted or baked pears, figs, or apples
Create a dark ground beneath panna cotta, custards, or rice puddings
Brush a crescent of soil alongside plated desserts to anchor sweetness
Dust sparingly over dark chocolate desserts, flourless cakes, or cacao tarts
 
At the winter table
Sprinkle over warm porridge, oats, or winter grains just before serving
Finish yoghurt, cream, or custards with a whisper of soil for depth
Use as a final accent on baked fruit or nut-based desserts
 
This soil is not designed for baking or stirring – it is a last gesture, a way of shaping flavour and atmosphere on the plate.
 
Storage Guidance
Store airtight in a cool, dark cupboard, away from humidity.
Avoid refrigeration – moisture dulls aroma and texture.
Always use a dry spoon or fingertips.
Best within 4 months, when truffle and citrus notes are most vivid.
Remains usable for up to 12 months if kept dry and sealed, with flavour gradually deepening and softening over time.
 
Winter Hearth Soulfoods – Mother Tongue of the Cailleach Country
The Winter Soulfoods collection is an immersive body of work set in Cailleach country – the boglands of Béarra – approached as ecosystem, archive, threshold, and kitchen. It imagines what it might mean to work from within the Cailleach’s own domain, drawing flavour, nourishment, and craft from deep ground, slow water, turf fire, and time.
 
The bog is not treated as symbol or backdrop. It is a keeper of strata – layers of matter and memory held intact. A place where time is thickened rather than spent. A preservative ground where fermentation, storage, and patience are not techniques, but ways of living in relationship with the land around you, and the land within you.
 
Within this terrain, food is ceremony and commitment. Ingredients are gathered as the year unfolds, worked slowly, and held back for winter – not for spectacle, but for sustenance. Fermentation, sap-sweetness, mineral depth, bitterness, and gentle heat shape flavours meant to be met with attention, feeding the body deeply, strengthening bones, warming, soothing, and replenishing marrow through the dark months.
 
These soulfoods are acts of natural pace and continuity – ways of staying in relationship with place, season, and deep time. Crafted through hand, hearth, and long devotion, they carry the quiet authority of a path walked faithfully, day after day, in preparation for the dark.