Tasting History on Sour Cherry Jelly by Nostradamus

Back in the depths of the UK’s first National Covid Lockdown last year, I discovered a bright spark in the YouTube firmament that has kept me entertained and thoroughly educated ever since: the delicious and delightful Tasting History with Max Miller.

Max specialises in rediscovering and then recreating historical recipes¹I do quite a bit of rediscovering myself, via the historical orchard recipes section of the site, but so far, not so much recreating, although that’s something I hope to set right before too long…, effortlessly blending an informative few minutes of historical background of the dish in question with a modern interpretation of the original recipe, to make it as accessible as possible for today’s cooks and kitchen enthusiasts.

I’ve been waiting for ages for him to record and broadcast an orchard-related edisode²Actually, that should be another orchard-related episode, as his fifth instalment looked at eating apple muse as a bubonic plague cure, but that was over a year ago and Max’s presenting style is even better after twelve months’ practice. so I can have an excuse to give his channel a proper shout-out. This week he delved into the cookbook of none other than Nostradamus – yes the Nostradamus – and plucked out a sour cherry jelly that, according to the author of the recipe, is pretty much the best sour cherry jelly in the world that has ever been, ever³Sounds like old Nostradamus wasn’t shy when it came to shouting about how great old Nostradamus was.. Here’s the episode in question:

When you’ve finished enjoying that one, do remember to subscribe to the Tasting History Channel for a weekly instalment of historical food fun, as well as the new, bonus ‘Drinking History’ episodes that he’s recently started recording. Hopefully there will be something cider-related on there before too long.

Footnotes

• 1
  I do quite a bit of rediscovering myself, via the historical orchard recipes section of the site, but so far, not so much recreating, although that’s something I hope to set right before too long…
• 2
  Actually, that should be another orchard-related episode, as his fifth instalment looked at eating apple muse as a bubonic plague cure, but that was over a year ago and Max’s presenting style is even better after twelve months’ practice.
• 3
  Sounds like old Nostradamus wasn’t shy when it came to shouting about how great old Nostradamus was.