Brambrack to the Next Level

Last week, after a lesson on the history of Halloween traditions during the previous week, Patrick McMichael, a sophomore RT student, felt inspired!

The class learned that the tradition of trick or treating may have derived from a tradition called "Souling" where the poor would go from door to door begging for food in exchange for praying for dead relatives. One popular tradition was to exchange "Barmbrack", a type of sweet bread made with dried fruit and spices. 

Patrick made two loaves and brought them in for our class. Some of the ingredients were dried cranberries, dates, nutmeg, and ginger!

Mrs Cozza made sure to write all of the ingredients of this traditional Irish bread on the board to avoid any allergies, should her students wish to make it It’s a good thing because one of them did! . 

When Patrick McMichael was in his Restaurant Trades Program, he earned permission to try his hand at making Irish Barmbrack and was pleased at the results! Some students found that they loved the taste of these spices and for others...it was a one-time taste.

Ms. Cozza loved the effort made by one of her students — to connect the lesson she shared with his culinary studies, but even more so, she loved the taste of the bread Patrick made! “Personally,” she shares, “I wish I had more to take home and eat with some butter and a hot cup of coffee! I loved seeing one of my students take their learning to the next level — with Irish Brambrack!!”