10 Healing Yule Recipes Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen
10 Healing Yule Recipes Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen
When the winter solstice arrives — Yule, December 21st, the longest night of the year — ancient peoples lit fires to call back the sun. This is the darkest moment, when night defeats day most completely, when the sun reaches its lowest point before beginning its slow climb back toward summer. Yet paradoxically, this moment of maximum darkness is also the moment of hope's return. From this night forward, light grows.
Hildegard of Bingen understood this deep winter season profoundly. In late December at her Rupertsberg monastery, the larders held the fruits of autumn's abundant harvest — nuts freshly gathered and still in their shells, root vegetables buried in straw-lined cellars, honey crystallizing in clay pots, grains milled from the fall threshing. Fresh evergreens — juniper, pine, fir — brought their resinous scent into the cold stone halls. Winter milk flowed pure and healthful, for as Hildegard taught, winter milk "does not draw into itself the variety of saps" that summer milk absorbs.
Her Physica is filled with wisdom for this darkest season: juniper berries "more hot than cold" to warm the body, chestnuts to "fill the empty brain," warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to "open the heart and make the mind joyful," and the ever-blessed spelt that "makes the spirit light and cheerful."
For Hildegard, Yule called for foods that fortify against cold, warm the spirit through darkness, and celebrate light's promised return.
❄️ 10 Yule Recipes from Hildegard's Winter Kitchen
These recipes use what would be available in late December — winter stores, preserved foods, and evergreen freshness.
1. Roasted Winter Chicken with Juniper & Sage
Historical note: Hildegard said chicken is "good for humans to eat." Winter chickens, grain-fed from harvest, provide nourishment when fresh food is scarce. Juniper and sage add warming properties.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs)
2 tbsp butter, softened
10 juniper berries, crushed
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 onions, quartered
2 cups winter root vegetables (turnips, carrots)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Mix butter, crushed juniper, sage, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Rub mixture all over chicken and under skin.
Stuff cavity with onion quarters.
Arrange root vegetables around chicken.
Roast 1.5 hours until golden and juices run clear.
Rest 10 minutes before carving.
✨ Juniper's evergreen warmth, sage's wisdom, chicken roasted golden — winter feast by firelight.
2. Mulled Wine with Juniper & Spices
Historical note: Juniper is "more hot than cold," wrote Hildegard. Medieval monasteries mulled wine with warming spices for winter celebrations and to ward off cold's harm.
Ingredients
1 bottle red wine
1/4 cup honey
6 juniper berries, crushed
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves
1 piece fresh ginger (thumb-sized), sliced
Instructions
Pour wine into pot, add honey and all spices.
Heat gently for 15-20 minutes (do not boil).
Strain through cloth.
Serve warm in wooden or clay cups.
Modern adaptation (not historically accurate): Many modern mulled wine recipes include lemon or orange zest. While citrus fruits did exist in the Mediterranean, they were costly imports to medieval Germany, not casually available. If you want to add citrus (knowing this is inauthentic), use the zest of 1 lemon or a few strips of orange peel. Hildegard's version would have relied entirely on juniper, spices, and honey for flavor — and honestly, it's extraordinary without citrus.
✨ Fire in a cup — juniper's evergreen warmth, wine's red life, honey's sweetness against winter's bite.
3. Winter Beef Stew with Ale & Roots
Historical note: Hildegard said ox/beef "is good to eat" for warm-natured people. Winter stews, slow-cooked with ale and roots, sustained monasteries through cold months.
Ingredients
2 lbs beef stew meat, cubed
2 tbsp butter
2 onions, chopped
3 cups dark ale or beer
2 cups turnips, cubed
2 cups carrots, cubed
2 cups parsnips, cubed
2 tbsp dried sage
1 tbsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Bread for serving
Instructions
Brown beef in butter in heavy pot.
Add onions, cook until soft.
Add ale, roots, and herbs.
Bring to boil, then simmer covered 2 hours.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot with bread.
✨ Beef slow-cooked in dark ale, roots from the cellar, herbs dried in autumn — winter warmth in a bowl.
4. Chestnut & Spelt Bread
Historical note: Hildegard said chestnuts "fill the empty brain" and spelt brings "joyful spirit." Freshly gathered chestnuts combined with stored grain make winter's most nourishing bread.
Ingredients
3 cups spelt flour
1 cup chestnuts, roasted, peeled, and chopped
1 packet active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
Dissolve yeast in warm water with honey.
Mix flour, salt, and cinnamon.
Add yeast mixture, butter, and chestnuts.
Knead 10 minutes.
Let rise 1 hour.
Shape into loaf, rise 30 minutes.
Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes.
✨ Bread studded with chestnuts — brain-filling nuts, joy-bringing grain, winter sustenance.
5. Pike in Wine Sauce
Historical note: Hildegard praised pike: "its flesh is healthy...good for sick as well as healthy people to eat." Winter rivers still yielded fish when other fresh food was scarce.
Ingredients
4 pike fillets (or other firm white fish)
2 cups white wine
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp fresh parsley (or dried)
1 tsp dried sage
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Simmer wine, onion, garlic, and herbs 10 minutes.
Add fish, poach gently 8-10 minutes until cooked.
Remove fish, keep warm.
Reduce wine sauce by half.
Whisk in butter.
Pour sauce over fish.
✨ River fish poached in wine — winter's clean protein, warming herbs, sustenance from cold waters.
6. Spiced Honey Cakes
Historical note: Stored honey and warming spices. Hildegard valued cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to "make the mind joyful" during winter's darkness.
Ingredients
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
Cream butter and honey.
Beat in eggs.
Mix flour, spices, and baking powder.
Fold dry into wet.
Drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet.
Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
✨ Sweet cakes spiced with warmth — cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg dancing against winter's cold.
7. Winter Root Salad
Historical note: Hildegard advised eating stored roots. This salad uses winter vegetables made healthful with vinegar and herbs.
Ingredients
2 cups turnips, grated
2 cups carrots, grated
1 cup parsnips, grated
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp dried sage (or fresh if available)
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Grate all roots & blanch 1–3 minutes.
Whisk oil, vinegar, honey, sage, salt, and pepper.
Toss with grated roots.
Let sit 30 minutes before serving.
✨ Winter roots made digestible with vinegar — crisp, sharp, alive even in December.
8. Baked Apples with Walnuts & Honey
Historical note: Stored apples and nuts, sweetened with honey. Hildegard said apples should be cooked, and walnuts provide winter strength.
Ingredients
6 large stored apples
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup wine or water
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Core apples, place in baking dish.
Mix walnuts, honey, and cinnamon.
Fill apple centers.
Top each with butter.
Pour wine around apples.
Bake 40 minutes until tender.
✨ Apples that slept in straw, roasted golden, filled with honey and walnuts — stored sweetness transformed.
9. Winter Squash Soup
Historical note: Hildegard said squash "are good for both sick and healthy to eat." Winter squash, stored from autumn, provided vegetables when nothing grew.
Ingredients
1 medium winter squash, peeled and cubed
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp butter
4 cups broth
1 cup milk
1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Sauté onion in butter.
Add squash and broth, simmer 25 minutes.
Purée until smooth.
Stir in milk, sage, and nutmeg.
Season with salt and pepper.
Modern adaptation (not historically accurate): Modern pumpkin soup recipes often call for pumpkin. Remember: pumpkins are New World crops that didn't exist in medieval Europe. Hildegard had squash (which she mentions in Physica), but not pumpkins. If you use pumpkin, know you're using an ingredient she never encountered.
✨ Golden squash from storage, warmed with sage and nutmeg — autumn preserved for winter's hunger.
10. Evergreen Winter Tea
Historical note: Fresh juniper and pine needles from winter evergreens, mixed with dried herbs. A tea for the darkest night.
Ingredients
4-5 fresh juniper berries, crushed
Small handful fresh pine needles (washed, young tips only)
1 tsp dried rose petals
1 tsp dried chamomile
3 cups boiling water
Honey to taste
Instructions
Crush juniper berries.
Wash pine needles thoroughly (use only young, tender tips).
Place evergreens and dried herbs in teapot.
Pour boiling water over.
Steep 10 minutes.
Strain, sweeten with honey.
✨ Evergreen tea on the longest night — juniper and pine still green when all else sleeps.
✨ Closing Blessing
Yule teaches us about faith in darkness. When the sun reaches its lowest point, when night is longest, when cold is deepest — that is precisely when light begins its return. Not after darkness passes, but in darkness itself, the turning happens.
Hildegard of Bingen understood this mystery. In late December at her monastery, darkness ruled. The sun barely rose above the horizon. Fields lay frozen. Nothing grew. But her storerooms held autumn's abundance — grain, roots, nuts, dried herbs, honey, apples. Her animals still gave milk and eggs. Fresh evergreens still stood green. Even in winter's depth, life persisted.
Her recipes for Yule use what winter offers: stored abundance from harvest, preserved foods carefully kept, fresh evergreens that defy winter, warming spices that kindle inner fire. This is not summer's easy plenty but winter's hard-won sustenance.
As you cook these recipes, imagine Hildegard on the winter solstice, standing in her monastery kitchen at dusk. The shortest day is ending. The longest night begins. But tomorrow — tomorrow the light will grow. Just a minute at first. Then two. Then more. The wheel is turning. Winter will not last forever. Spring will return.
So roast your winter chicken. Mull your wine with juniper. Make stew with stored roots and dark ale. Bake bread with chestnuts. Poach pike in wine. Make tea from evergreens still green. Light your fires. Sing your songs. Trust the turning. Light returns.
This is Yule. This is the darkest night. This is faith made into feast.
Note: When using pine needles for tea, use only young, tender tips from safe species (white pine, spruce). Avoid yew, which is toxic. When harvesting wild juniper or evergreens, ensure proper identification. As with all historical practices, these recipes are for educational enrichment. Consult healthcare providers before using herbs medicinally.