In every celebration one can expect lots of foods on the table, whether they be sumptuous chicken, brisket or pudding, foods never go out of season. However, Halloween isn’t your typical gathering, so what do we really expect to see — and eat?
Food with apples
Since apples are harvested around the Halloween season, its availability makes it common to this tradition.
Toffee apple or candy apple is made by covering an apple in caramel or melted sugar usually tinted red and may be sprinkled on with cinnamon. The caramel is heated to a point where it cools to a hard coating making it fun to bite and chew on.
Apple cider is a non-alcoholic beverage from pressed apples. It is more sour and cloudy than your average apple juice. It is a popular drink on Halloween and may be heated during the cold season.
Pumpkins everywhere
Pumpkins aren’t only for lanterns; they’re good food, too. These fruits are popular during fall, and can be cooked with a range of variety.
Pumpkin soup is easy to serve and hearty to eat. This is mainly your baked pumpkin flesh squashed or blended and cooked with cream and seasonings. Some prefer the addition of sweet potatoes or peanut butter. Some use sour cream, others use chicken stock. There are a number of recipes to choose from.
Pumpkin pie is a traditional North American food also served during Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s a sweet dessert popular during the fall season. Others use maple syrup in place of sugar, and nutmeg is optional. These pies are usually baked without a top crust so whipped cream or set chocolate will also do. Yum!
Don’t throw out your pumpkin seeds yet! Also known as pepita, which is Spanish for little seed, this can be roasted and eaten as a snack. Did you know that the tradition of eating seeds goes as way back as the Aztecs? Research has also shown that pumpkin seeds are of medicinal value — from lowering cholesterol levels, to treating anxiety disorders, and helping with irritable bowel disorders.
Corn
It seems like a good idea to gather around a bonfire at the middle of the night and tell each other spooky stories, and what better way to do this than with roasting corn? Sweetcorn is usually used, spiked through long sticks and soaked in water to avoid burning. Guests can also dip their corns in butter before roasting.
Popcorn is also a favourite during Halloween. These can be served salted or sweetened (also called as caramel corn).
Bring out the cake!
Though Halloween has its fair share of influences from both the Pagan Celtics and the Christians alike, both share the similarity that during this time of the year, cakes are offered to the dead. Christian soul cakes, which are small round cakes, were also given to beggars in exchange of their prayers. These cakes are usually filled with sweet spices and marked with the cross on the top to indicate it was alms. Belgian myth has it that one cake consumed will release one soul from purgatory.
King Cake or Barmbrack is a popular Irish fruit cake and often served toasted with butter and a cup of tea in the noon. Objects were placed in the cake before baking and the results were used as a type of fortune-telling. Most commonly placed inside the King Cake is a plain ring, which when received in the slice, will have the person find their true love in the coming year.
So there you have it, your common Halloween foods. And in the spirit of Halloween, why not make do with any food and shape it in the form of Halloween objects? Bon appétit!