10 Healing Imbolc Recipes Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen
10 Healing Imbolc Recipes Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen
When Imbolc arrives — February 1st, halfway between winter solstice and spring equinox — the ancient Celts celebrated the first stirrings of life. Imbolc means "in the belly" — the season when ewes are pregnant and their milk begins to flow. Deep beneath frozen earth, seeds wait. Days are noticeably longer. This is the moment when hope becomes tangible.
Hildegard of Bingen understood this threshold season. By early February at her Rupertsberg monastery, winter still gripped the land but subtle changes appeared. Ewes gave milk for the first time since autumn. Stored roots from cellars remained abundant. Dried herbs carefully preserved filled the monastery's stores. Honey from last year's bees still sweetened food. Winter milk flowed pure and healing, for as Hildegard taught, winter milk "does not draw into itself the variety of saps" that summer milk absorbs, making it especially healthful.
In her Physica, Hildegard celebrated this season's offerings: sheep's milk, stored roots and grains, dried healing herbs like rose petals and lavender, warming spices, and lamb — for this was lambing season, when new life began despite winter's persistence.
For Hildegard, Imbolc called for celebrating milk's return, honoring sheep who sustain us, and welcoming the first signs that winter will not last forever.
🐑 10 Imbolc Recipes from Hildegard's Late Winter Kitchen
These recipes use February's unique offerings — winter storage plus sheep's milk returning.
1. Braised Lamb with Winter Roots
Historical note: Hildegard wrote: "The sheep...has flesh that is good for both healthy and sick people to eat." Imbolc is lambing season — new lambs born, older sheep culled. A celebration of life and sustenance.
Ingredients
2 lbs lamb shoulder or leg, cubed
3 tbsp butter
2 onions, chopped
3 cups turnips, cubed
2 cups carrots, cubed
2 cups parsnips, cubed
2 cups ale or broth
2 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Brown lamb in butter in heavy pot.
Add onions, cook until soft.
Add all roots, liquid, and herbs.
Bring to boil, then simmer covered 1.5 hours.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot with bread.
✨ Lamb celebrating birth, roots from winter's cellar, herbs dried in autumn — Brigid's feast.
2. Sheep's Milk Pudding with Rose
Historical note: Winter sheep's milk is "pure and healthful," said Hildegard. Dried rose petals, preserved from summer, make "the heart joyful."
Ingredients
3 cups sheep's milk (or cow's milk)
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/3 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tbsp dried rose petals, crushed fine
Pinch of salt
Instructions
Heat 2 cups milk gently.
Whisk flour with remaining cold milk.
Add flour mixture to hot milk, stirring constantly.
Cook until thickened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Beat eggs with honey, rose petals, and salt.
Temper eggs with hot milk mixture, then combine.
Pour into bowl, chill until set.
Modern adaptation (not historically accurate): You can add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract for familiar flavor. However, vanilla comes from Mexican orchids and didn't reach Europe until the 1500s — over 300 years after Hildegard's death. She would never have tasted vanilla. The rose petals and honey provide all the flavor this pudding needs.
✨ Milk that just began flowing, rose petals saved from summer, honey from sleeping bees — winter's sweetness.
3. Winter Fish Chowder
Historical note: Hildegard praised perch: "Its flesh is sound and is good for healthy and sick people to eat." Winter rivers still yielded fish, providing fresh protein when little else was available.
Ingredients
1 lb white fish (perch, pike, or cod), cubed
3 tbsp butter
2 onions, diced
3 cups turnips, diced small
2 cups carrots, diced small
4 cups fish stock or water
2 cups milk
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried dill (if available)
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Sauté onions in butter until soft.
Add turnips and carrots, cook 5 minutes.
Add stock, simmer 15 minutes.
Add fish and milk, simmer gently 8 minutes.
Stir in herbs, season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot.
✨ Fish from cold rivers, roots from the cellar, milk newly flowing — sustenance when nothing grows.
4. Brigid's Oat Cakes
Historical note: Hildegard said oats "give a joyful soul and good color." Imbolc, sacred to Brigid, called for special cakes to honor the goddess/saint.
Ingredients
2 cups oat flour (or ground oats)
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Instructions
Mix oat flour, spelt flour, cinnamon, and salt.
Cut in butter until crumbly.
Mix honey and milk, add to dry ingredients.
Knead briefly, roll 1/2 inch thick.
Cut into circles.
Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes.
✨ Oat cakes for Brigid — goddess of fire, poetry, healing, and the forge that transforms.
5. Parsnip & Sage Fritters
Historical note: Stored parsnips, sweeter after frost, and dried sage. Hildegard said sage makes "the mind cheerful."
Ingredients
3 cups parsnips, peeled and grated
2 eggs
1/2 cup spelt flour
2 tbsp dried sage, crumbled
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Butter for frying
Instructions
Grate parsnips.
Beat eggs, mix with flour, sage, salt, and pepper.
Stir in grated parsnips.
Heat butter in pan.
Drop spoonfuls of batter, flatten slightly.
Fry until golden both sides.
✨ Parsnips made sweet by frost, sage for cheer — winter roots transformed by fire.
6. Honey-Roasted Turnips
Historical note: Hildegard said turnips are "easily digested." Roasting with honey transforms this humble winter root.
Ingredients
4 cups turnips, cut in wedges
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp dried rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Toss turnips with melted butter, honey, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
Spread on baking sheet.
Roast 35-40 minutes, turning once, until caramelized.
✨ Bitter turnips sweetened with honey, crisped with fire — February's alchemy.
7. Spelt & Milk Porridge with Dried Fruit
Historical note: Spelt brings "joyful spirit," fresh milk is "pure," and dried fruits (apples, pears) provide sweetness before fresh fruit returns.
Ingredients
1 cup spelt berries, soaked overnight
3 cups sheep's milk (or cow's milk)
1/2 cup dried apples, chopped
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Instructions
Drain soaked spelt.
Simmer in milk 45 minutes until tender.
Add dried apples, cook 10 more minutes.
Stir in honey and cinnamon.
Serve warm.
✨ Grain soaked soft, milk newly flowing, fruit dried last autumn — layers of time in one bowl.
8. Winter Herb Bread
Historical note: Stored grain, dried herbs from summer's garden. Hildegard valued sage, rosemary, and thyme for health and flavor.
Ingredients
3 cups spelt flour
1 packet active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm milk
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp dried sage
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
Instructions
Dissolve yeast in warm milk with honey.
Mix flour, herbs, and salt.
Add yeast mixture and butter.
Knead 10 minutes.
Let rise 1 hour.
Shape, rise 30 minutes.
Bake at 375°F for 35 minutes.
✨ Bread fragrant with summer's herbs — sage, rosemary, thyme preserved, baked into winter sustenance.
9. Carrot & Honey Tart
Historical note: Stored carrots and honey. Sweet vegetables sustained medieval people through late winter when other sweets were scarce.
Ingredients
1 spelt pastry crust
3 cups carrots, grated
3 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
Pinch of salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Beat eggs, honey, milk, and spices.
Stir in grated carrots.
Pour into crust.
Bake 40 minutes until set.
Modern adaptation (not historically accurate): Adding the zest of 1 lemon brightens the carrot flavor, but lemons were rare Mediterranean imports to 12th-century Germany, not everyday ingredients. Hildegard would have relied on the natural sweetness of winter-stored carrots combined with honey and warming spices. If you use lemon, know you're adding a flavor she almost certainly never experienced.
✨ Carrots sweetened through storage, honey from summer's labor, spices warming — February's golden tart.
10. Candlemas Tea Blessing
Historical note: February 2nd is Candlemas. Dried herbs, blessed and steeped, prepare the body for spring's coming.
Ingredients
1 tbsp dried rose petals
1 tbsp dried chamomile
1 tbsp dried lavender
1 tsp dried sage
3 cups boiling water
Honey to taste
Instructions
Mix all dried herbs.
Place in teapot.
Pour boiling water over.
Steep 10 minutes.
Strain, sweeten with honey.
✨ Herbs dried when summer was high, steeped at winter's end, blessed for the turning — tea for Brigid's fire.
✨ Closing Blessing
Imbolc teaches us about patience and perception. Nothing looks different yet. The ground is still frozen. Trees are still bare. Snow still falls. But beneath the surface, everything is changing. Ewes give milk. Days lengthen. Seeds prepare. Life stirs.
Hildegard of Bingen understood this hidden transformation. In early February at her monastery, winter still dominated. But the ewes' milk flowing was proof — spring was coming. Not today, not tomorrow, but coming. The wheel was turning. Light was growing.
Her recipes for Imbolc honor this threshold time. Lamb from the new lambing season. Fresh milk after months of scarcity. Stored roots that survived winter. Dried herbs from summer's garden. Everything bridging the old and new, honoring both past abundance and future hope.
As you cook these recipes, imagine Hildegard on Imbolc, standing in the monastery dairy, watching ewes' milk flow into wooden buckets. This milk is proof. Winter will not last forever. Spring will return. Life persists. The wheel turns.
So braise your lamb. Make pudding from new milk. Cook fish from winter streams. Bake oat cakes for Brigid. Roast turnips with honey. Steep herbs in blessing. Light your candles. Sing your songs. Trust the hidden transformation.
This is Imbolc. This is milk's return. This is faith in what we cannot yet see.
Note: When using dried herbs, ensure they're from safe, unsprayed sources. As with all historical practices, these recipes are for educational enrichment. Consult healthcare providers before using herbs medicinally.