This is my personal version of what might just possibly be the oldest Yule recipe of all.  In one form or another, this dish is ritually served literally Europe-wide—from Ireland to Armenia, from Russia to Sicily—and virtually always at some occasion constellated around the Winter Solstice (Christmas, New Year’s, Epiphany, St. Barbara’s Day…).

The form that it takes is simple: whole grains (wheat, barley, rice) boiled in liquid (milk, water, almond milk), sweetened with honey, enriched with nuts and/or dried fruits. In Poland, it’s said to date from the time “before there were mills to grind the grain.” Ancestral to England’s plum pudding (frumenty, as it was called, was an invariable part of the medieval English Yule-board), the origin of Scandinavia’s Yuletide rice puddings, the recipe surely dates back to—if not precedes—the advent of agriculture.

Remember that the ancestors didn’t get sweets very often, and probably reserved them for the highest of holidays (such as the Winter Solstice, a date of major significance to agricultural communities virtually everywhere). Then the standard boiled-grain pottage that everyone ate everyday would be embellished with a hoarded lump of honeycomb in honor of the occasion. Bear in mind also that virtually everywhere religious ritual tends to preserve archaic cultural forms that have otherwise died out in everyday usage.

So it’s more than possible—likely even—that this dish may date to Neolithic times, perhaps to the very discovery of cereal agriculture itself, more than 11,000 years ago.

Below is the version that my coven serves on Midwinter’s Eve, based originally on a Russian recipe. It’s the first dish in our thirteen-course Yule feast (one course for each moon of the coming year). By the light of a lone beeswax taper thrust into the middle of the pudding, we ritually renew our familial solidarity by together eating from the shared central bowl, just as our ancestors did more than ten thousand years ago.

Kutyá: Yule Wheat

1 cup wheat berries

2 cups blanched almonds

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup whole blue poppy seeds

3-5 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon rose water

Soak wheat berries overnight in water to cover. In a separate bowl, soak 1½ cups of the almonds in 3 cups of water, also overnight.

Next day, puree the soaked almonds with their soaking water. Add 3 more cups of water to the puree and strain through a cloth, wringing well to extract as much almond milk as possible (I use an old pillowcase). Discard almond pulp.

In a non-reactive pan, bring drained wheat berries and almond milk to a simmer. Lower heat and continue cooking until wheat berries become tender (this is likely to take 2-3 hours, depending on the age and variety of the wheat berries). You’ll need to stir frequently (sunwise only, please!), especially towards the end of the cooking as the almond milk thickens. When the wheat berries are tooth-tender, add poppy seeds and salt, and cook 15-20 minutes more.

During the cooking, dry roast the remaining ½ cup almonds until golden brown, either in a skillet (stirring constantly) or in a 325° oven; this will take approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Sweeten the kutya with honey to taste, and stir in rose water. Turn out into serving bowl, and garnish with dry-roasted almonds. Serve hot, room temperature, or chilled.

Serves 13. (Of course.)

© Steven Posch