University of Cambridge

Date: 23/12/08

Credit crunch lunch for Christmas – courtesy of Mrs Charles Darwin

Recipes used by Charles Darwin’s wife could help those planning a ‘credit crunch Christmas’ find inspiration in traditional Victorian fayre.

'Mrs Charles Darwin's Recipe Book' draws together more than 40 dishes from Emma Darwin's personal cookery notebook.

Among them is the Darwin household's recipe for such rare delights as turnip cresselly, broiled mushrooms and the grandly titled Lady Skymaston's pudding.

Other dishes with a more traditional Christmas flavour include cranberry sauce (pictured), baked apple pudding, compote of apples and Italian cream, while party staples such as cheese straws and ginger biscuits are also featured.

The original notebook is housed in Cambridge University Library and is used mainly by researchers and Darwin experts.

The new book owes its existence to the generosity of the University Library, which agreed to release the original recipes from its archives to authors Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway.

Apart from being a fascinating primer in Victorian cooking, the book is also helping to fund research into, and publication of, Charles Darwin's letters.

A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the University's Darwin Correspondence Project which, since 1974, has been publishing letters written by and to the great naturalist.

Dr Alison Pearn, assistant director at the Darwin Correspondence Project, explains the importance of the project: "Over the course of his working life, Darwin built up an impressive network of correspondents who provided him with data about plants, animals, and peoples from all over the world, and with whom he discussed his ideas as they were developing.

"The letters are a remarkable window onto his life and mind, and a chance to eavesdrop on conversations between some of the leading thinkers of the 19th century."

Adam Perkins, curator of scientific manuscripts at Cambridge University Library, said: "The dissemination of Darwin's actual ideas, rather than opinions of others about his ideas, is essential in the 21st century.

"His theory of evolution by natural selection is one of the most important in the history of science and we are still studying everything he wrote. But it's an expensive process and requires skilled people, so continued funding of the project is vital."

Darwin 2009

Reproduced courtesy University of Cambridge Office of Communications

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Organisation: University of Cambridge

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