"hot cross buns" news and stories

One of the year's most festive meals features the same components that make up perhaps the most standard plate in the American repertoire: eggs, bread and pork – commonly recognized as the nation's breakfast triumvirate – are the defining ingredients of Easter celebrations the world over.

Of course, few holiday observers plan to serve up scrambled eggs, bacon and toast on Easter Sunday: Diners will instead indulge in stout pink hams, hot cross buns, sweet yeast cakes, currant biscuits, cream-filled chocolate eggs, smoked kielbasas and gaudily decorated hard boiled eggs, paying homage to traditions forged in medieval Europe. While Americans have modified many of their inherited menus, the essential elements have changed little since the first Christians devised their holiday meals.

Hot cross buns are everywhere these days, tempting us with sweet flavors like cinnamon, currant, and lemon striped with creamy white frosting.

Rumors run rampant for the historical basic of the buns -- from Babylonians honoring Ishtar to the ashy remains in Pompeii. Traditions also extend beyond the realms of worship: Are the buns a Celtic symbol of male and female unity or should we believe the superstition that friends should break the treat while saying, "Half for you and half for me. Between us two shall goodwill be."

Before we get wrapped up in history, let us introduce you to yet another concept you might not have yet encountered: Savory hot cross buns. Adding cheese, meats and veggies to the classic yeasty dough is like wrapping a rich sandwich in a bun and taking it "to go." A stellar addition to the brunch table, these would also make a great match for soup or salad.

Now, I know that Easter is over, but I'm a sucker for vintage recipes, so this image of hot cross buns taken with the old cookbook in the back caught my eye. I've never thought of taking a picture of a finished food product in front of the recipe, but having seen this, I'm definitely going to give it a shot. This image comes to us from Flickr user You Can Count on Me, and you can find the recipe over at her blog, Everybody Likes Sandwiches.

Source

A Hot Cross Bun has been hung in the window of the Widow's Son in London's Docklands every Good Friday since the early 19th century.

The story goes that the collection commemorates a poor widow who originally lived on the site now occupied by the pub. Every Good Friday she baked a Hot Cross Bun in expectation that he son, a sailor, would return home. He never did. When the pub was built one of the terms of the lease was that a sailor should hang a bun each year in memory of the widow's devotion.

Hot Cross Buns are a relic of the pre-Christian era, the church taking pagen rites and adapting them. They are descendents of small cakes made in celebration of spring and the goddess Eostre. Both the Greeks and Romans had similar spring cakes. Their cross was a symbol of the sun, a circle bisected by two right angle lines. This cut the bun into four quarters representing the four seasons.

[Photo Andrew Barrow]