Cooking with Snow

Photo: John Windmill/The Guardian

Well, as long as it's not yellow snow, I guess! And why not? Snow is in great abundance in many parts of the country this winter:

In Denis Cotter's brilliant For The Love of Food, there's a Canadian-inspired recipe for snow cakes. He calls for "fresh fluffy" snow, which is folded into fine cornmeal, dolloped into muffin cases and baked for 15 minutes. Topped with butter and maple syrup, these are surprisingly tasty with a crusty, crumbly texture – and a lot of fun to make.

If you don't mind getting strange looks from your neighbours, there's something magical about going out into the garden and gathering the sparkling stuff for use in the kitchen; it has an ethereal quality, like frozen bubble-bath for fairies. Cotter says: "[In] the early 60s … and before that, it would have been a practical matter. No indoor water or frozen water pipes meant that to make tea or breakfast bread involved going out to scoop up some snow. I don't think many people find themselves in that situation now, so it has become a bit of a cutesy folklore thing."

Another cutesy recipe that's still popular after 200-odd years is maple taffy, also known as sugar on snow. It's made by pouring hot maple syrup on to snow so that it sets instantly. My first attempt left me with a slushie rather than a toffee, so it's important to heat the syrup to the correct temperature, or at least until little bubbles appear. Twirl it around a lolly stick or fork, and eat quickly while still soft, as it will harden.

Sejal Sukhadwala of The Guardian tells us all about cooking with snow: Link