Barm brack is a traditional Irish tea bread made with dried fruit soaked in hot tea before baking. It is served toasted and buttered with tea. It is traditionally eaten on Halloween and contains tokens that predict one’s fortune. It is also eaten on the feast day of Santa Brigida. Commercial versions may contain a toy ring.
Barm brack, also called báirín breac, is a traditional Irish tea bread. This lifted fruit bread is slightly sweet and studded with raisins, candied citrus peel, currants, sultanas (yellow raisins), and other bits of dried fruit. It is served toasted and generously buttered, accompanied by a cup of tea.
There is some discrepancy about the origin of the name “barm brack”. Some sources claim that it comes from barm, which means “yeast”, and brack, which means “bread”. Other sources state that the words mean “little speckled cake.” Perhaps the dilemma is appropriate, as the bread itself appears to be a bit of both.
Although some versions of barm brack are leavened with yeast or baking soda instead of yeast, one thing that seems to be common in most forms of this bread is the preparation of the fruit. Before raisins and other dried fruits are added to the batter or dough, they are steeped for a period in hot tea until plump and rehydrated. This gives them a uniquely soft character in the finished product.
In Ireland, it is customary to eat barm brack on Samhain, or Halloween. Traditionally, it was part of an annual fortune-telling ritual. Individually wrapped in some waxed paper and baked in the loaf were several small tokens imbued with symbolism for whoever served the slice that contained them. Family and friends gathered for tea and stirrups of barm, with each eagerly, perhaps fearfully, anticipating the news their slice would bring.
The tokens baked into the loaf were a pea or thimble, a scrap of cloth, a coin, a staff, and a gold ring. If your slice contained the pea or the thimble, you could expect another spinster year. If, on the other hand, your slice reveals the gold ring, you could expect to be married within the year. The staff, however, was a harbinger of a bad marriage, one that would require “a staff to beat the wife with.” The scrap of cloth, meaning rags, predicted poverty or misfortune in the coming year. The coin was a fortuitous omen: there were good things, hopefully, riches.
In addition to Halloween, barm is also eaten on the feast day of Santa Brigida, which falls on February 1st. It can be eaten as bread for breakfast or at teatime, and some establishments in Ireland serve this bread with every meal.
In Ireland, barm parent is sold commercially, particularly around Halloween. These store-bought loaves will often contain a toy ring.
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