What is a Christmas pudding and how did it develop into the U.K.'s favourite festive dessert? What's inside one and, importantly, how can you make one in your kitchen?

In this episode we'll talk about the fascinating history of Christmas pudding and then dive into the practicalities of making your very own festive pudding.

What are the ingredients? How can you combine them? What's the cooking method? How do you serve it and what can you do with the leftovers?

We'll cover recipes from as far back as 1300 right up to the modern day and you will leave excited and ready to bring to life this traditional British Christmas desert in your own kitchen wherever you live in the world.

We'll both be cooking up a Christmas pudding this year, we love it if you would join us. Check out the free download with folklore, recipes and tips that's available for all listeners below.

Thanks to our supporters Andrea and I have recently invested in some new recording equipment. This means that future podcasts will be clearer. But, as we all know, new technologies have teething problems. And we experienced them here. This episode is clear, but, some of it isn't as high-quality as you are used to from us and we apologise for that. It won't take away from your enjoyment of Christmas puddings.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

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For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

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Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our...

This is such a great episode covering Seven Ancestral Swap That Will Save You Money. We are assuming you are already well on the way to eating ancestral diet, so these are not swapping ancestral foods for conventional foods; these are swaps within the ancestral food paradigm that Alison and I have utilized to save money - within saving money. Everyone is tightening up their budgets right now and we are no exception to that. The conversation around fats, dairy products and drinks and so much more in this episode is so interesting; and the last, most complex swap is a very interesting one that has saved our family thousands of dollars, and it is well worth the time and effort it takes to investigate it.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

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Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

To read more about becoming a patron and explore the various levels, click here!

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What we cover:

• Use regional fats
• Swap sour cream for other home-made milk...

Today we got to sit down again with Meredith Leigh, a butcher and author of The Ethical Meat Handbook, and ask her a lot of questions about Confit, Rilette and Terrines. Meredith has a course on these three items - including headcheese, by the way - a course which Alison and I both took, and made use of in our own kitchens, and we loved the tasty results so much we wanted to ask Meredith more and get her on the air so you could hear her talk about these incredible versatile and thrifty preparation and preservation methods of storing meat, fat and scraps that honestly would often otherwise end up in the trash. Gary and I learned to make our new favorite lunch meat spread by going through this process, and made what is now going to be a staple every time we process a pig - and we cannot wait to try these processes with ducks, sheep, beef, turkey and other animals we raise on the farm. I look forward to hearing about all the variety of spices and means you will use to make these delightful, ancestral dishes. Enjoy the episode, and - warning - you might get a little hungry.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

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Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

There are so many supplements out there that, if we believe the advertising, we should be taking. It's confusing and even when we have the funds to dip our toes in, it's challenging to know where to start. Today's guest, Ben Greenfield, knows a lot about supplements and ancestral living in general. My family has been learning from his work for over a decade. We first heard about the light toxicity of modern devices and the benefits of cold exposure from him.

In this episode Ben and I talk about so many things: light, dentistry, the importance of eating in a parasympathetic state, Ben's daily family routine and his philosophy on parenting and homeschooling, and then we dive into Ben's expertise on ancestral superfood supplements and cover two different ways of thinking about how to choose supplementation for yourself and your family. Ben really knows his stuff - this episode is absolutely chock full of information and insight.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

To read more about becoming a patron and explore the...

The question we receive the most is how do you do it?

How do you cook 3 meals a day, 365 days a year for your families?

We thought it was about time we tackled this head on, and do it in a practical way. So in this episode you will hear two real-life examples of how we took one cooking session and let it guide the food we served and ate for a whole week.

If you’ve ever thought or felt that you don’t have enough time. If you’ve ever wondered how we come up with the goods at every meal-time. If you’ve opened the fridge and felt that sinking feeling, what today, this episode will help!

To get your copy of the printable PDF that accompanies this show and houses all the add-on recipes we talk about, visit https://patreon.com/ancestralkitchenpodcast and join at the companionship or above level.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

What does "raw honey" really mean? How do you know if your honey is truly raw - is just the label enough? Are there different benefits to truly raw honey vs heated honey - even low heat temperature honey? And - how do you use truly raw honey? Does it ever go bad? How is it produced? Alison and I had so many questions all about honey and in this episode, Prenten, a beekeeper in Utah in the United States did an excellent job answering all of our questions - with some surprising answers.

Join our Patreon to support the podcast and check out the 40-minute Aftershow where Prenten and I went even deeper down some of the rabbit holes connected to beekeeping and raw honey. It was a wonderful visit, Alison and I both learned so much and we are excited to share this episode with you.

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

To read more about becoming a patron and explore the various levels, click here!

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The personal views and opinions of...

Every month, we record not only the episodes you listen to here on Ancestral Kitchen but also a special show for supporters of the podcast - that is, our patrons.

The episode you’re about to hear is one of these patron-exclusive shows from earlier in the year. In it you’ll get a taste of the sort of things we cover - we regularly talk about what’s happening in our own lives, often sharing things we wouldn’t in the main episodes and we also, as you will hear, answer really juicy questions from our patrons.

If you’d like to continue to listen to these episodes plus get access to a back-catalogue of nearly 40 more, along with so many more interesting and supportive goodies, check out our patreon community at https://patreon.com/ancestralkitchenpodcast

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

To read more about becoming a patron and explore the various levels, click here!

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Many of the questions Alison and I receive on a constant basis relate to topics that we covered in early foundational episodes of the podcast, so we decided to bring a few of those archive episodes to the front and highlight them for new listeners to enjoy. This episode is one of our very earliest - it's only our fourth episode on the podcast; and we were covering five of the most expensive foods to buy that are ironically some of the cheapest foods you can make.

In this episode, we cover bone broth; sourdough bread; kombucha and water kefir; kefir and yoghurt; and sauerkraut. We compare the price of purchasing high quality versions of these foods compared to making them at home, and some of our resources for each of them. This is an excellent episode with a lot of really good show notes, so be sure to check the show notes for all of our many, many, many resources on all of these topics!

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One Earth Health make the grass-fed organ supplements we use and trust. Get 15% off your first order here and 5% off all subsequent orders here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

For more tips, inspiration and recipes sign up for Alison's newsletter here!

Get our two podcast cookbooks:

Meals at the Ancestral Hearth

Spelt Sourdough Every Day

Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course is here, with a 10% discount applied!

Get 10% off any course at The Fermentation School: click here and use code AKP at checkout.

Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP.

Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies.

Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our podcast is supported by Patrons in ancestral kitchens around the world!

Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group.

To read more about becoming a patron and explore the various levels, click here!