Tansy was a traditional

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

food in medieval English cuisine. Its name came from the ''

Tanacetum vulgare Tansy (''Tanacetum vulgare'') is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant in the genus ''Tanacetum'' in the aster family, native to temperate Europe and Asia. It has been introduced to other parts of the world, including North America, and in ...

'' plant. The simplest version of the recipe was made by baking a batter flavored with green tansy juice. Later recipes, like the one from the 16th-century ''Good Housewife's Handbook'' added more ingredients like

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...

feverfew ''Tanacetum parthenium'', known as feverfew, is a flowering plant in the daisy family, Asteraceae. It may be grown as an ornamental plant, ornament, and may be identified by its synonyms, ''Chrysanthemum parthenium'' and ''Pyrethrum parthenium' ...

and

violets Violet identifies various plant taxa, particularly species in the genus ''Viola'', within which the common violet is the best known member in Eurasia and the common blue violet and common purple violet are the best known members in North America ...

to an egg batter that was fried like

pancakes A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan, often frying wit ...

, though with a slightly green coloring from the addition of tansy and other herbs. Baked tansy could also be given a green color by adding spinach juice. An 18th-century recipe from ''

The Compleat Housewife ''The Compleat Housewife; or, Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion'' is a cookery book written by Eliza Smith and first published in London in 1727. It became extremely popular, running through 18 editions in fifty years. It was the first co ...

'' added sack to the batter and sweetened the fried tansies with

gooseberries Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance. The berries of those in the genu ...

and a topping of crushed sugar. Cakes and wine were a common feature of Easter traditions. Some 19th-century authors believed that the tradition of eating tansy cakes, which had a sweet and bitter flavor, was connected to Jewish traditions of eating cakes made with bitter herbs. Sometimes the tansy was closer to a pudding than a pancake, like

Hannah Glasse Hannah Glasse (; March 1708 – 1 September 1770) was an English cookery writer of the 18th century. Her first cookery book, ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'', published in 1747, became the best-selling recipe book that century. It w ...

's 18th-century recipe in the ''

Art of Cookery ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'' is a cookbook by Hannah Glasse (1708–1770) first published in 1747. It was a bestseller for a century after its first publication, dominating the English-speaking market and making Glasse one of th ...

'', an elaborate dish with Naples biscuits, butter, cream, blanched

almonds The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of th ...

, eggs, grated bread,

rose water Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of rose ...

orange blossom water Orange flower Orange flower water, or orange blossom water, is a clear aromatic by-product of the distillation of fresh bitter-orange blossoms for their essential oil. Uses This essential water has traditionally been used as an aromatizer in ...

and other spices and sweeteners.

References

Easter cakes Medieval cuisine British cakes {{UK-dessert-stub