Smoked Chestnut, Wild Cranberry, Coastal Rosemary, and Wild Garlic Gomasio
An aromatic, nut-rich gomasio shaped from smoked chestnut, wild cranberry, coastal rosemary, and wild garlic – lightly smoky, gently tart, and herbaceous, made for daily winter nourishment and hearth-side eating.
 
This gomasio is built from stored winter abundance and coastal air – a seasoning that brings texture, lift, and nourishment to everyday food. It sits between hearth and shoreline, where smoke meets salt air and preserved foods are brought back to life.
 
Toasted seed forms the base – warm, nutty, and grounding. Smoked chestnut follows, adding starch, sweetness, and depth – a flavour that recalls winter stores and roasted grain. Wild cranberry threads through with a sharp red-fruit lift, cutting gently through the richness. Coastal rosemary rises next – resinous, pine-leaning, and clean – bringing clarity and breath to the blend. Wild garlic leaf finishes the arc with a green, sulphur-rich savour that anchors the seasoning firmly in food rather than ornament.
 
On the tongue, the experience is layered and tactile. Crunch arrives first, followed by smoke and nut, slight sweetness of the cranberries, then brightness and herb. The flavours unfold quickly but settle softly, leaving warmth, salt, and gentle sharpness behind. This is seasoning that feeds steadily – mineral-rich, textural, and suited to daily winter eating.
 
This is not a ceremonial garnish. It is pantry food – made to be reached for often, and believe me, once you taste it you will. Each scattering is an offering placed on the altar of the mouth, taken into the body as the earthly temple. Crafted with care and restraint, this gomasio carries the nourishment of seed, nut, leaf, and berry into the dark months, supporting the body through repetition rather than intensity.
 
Flavour pairings
Rice and grain bowls
Roasted vegetables
Eggs
Soups and broths
Flatbreads
Salads with bitter greens
Steamed greens
Simple fish dishes
 
Serving suggestions
Use as a finishing seasoning at the table or just before serving. Sprinkle generously to add texture, savour, and brightness. Particularly suited to everyday dishes where nourishment, balance, and ease are the intention.
 
Storage
Store sealed in a cool, dry place away from direct heat and light. Use a dry spoon. Best enjoyed within 6 months to preserve aroma and texture.
 
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 drying, 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.
 
Smoke, mineral depth, fat, bitterness, and brightness 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.