10 Healing Lammas Recipes Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen

10 Healing Lammas Recipes Inspired by Hildegard of Bingen

When Lammas arrives — also called Lughnasadh, August 1st — the ancient world celebrated the first harvest. This is when grain ripens, when wheat and rye and barley turn gold in the fields, when the scythe begins its work. The first loaves from new grain are baked. This is the festival of bread, of labor rewarded, of summer's abundance being gathered and stored.

Hildegard of Bingen lived this season intensely. By August 1st at her Rupertsberg monastery, the grain harvest was underway — the year's most critical work. Fields of spelt and wheat stood ready for cutting. The monastery's survival through winter depended on this harvest being brought in successfully. But Lammas also brought abundance: fresh grain for bread, peak vegetables, early apples, elderberries ripening, fresh herbs still abundant, milk and cheese flowing.

In her Physica, Hildegard celebrated grain above all: "Spelt is the best grain...it produces healthy blood and provides a joyful spirit." She valued August's vegetables, herbs, and first fruits as medicine and nourishment. She wrote that goat liver "should be eaten often until mid-August" for healing — timing specific to Lammas season.

For Hildegard, Lammas called for thanksgiving for grain, celebration of successful harvest, and acknowledgment of the labor that transforms summer's growth into winter's survival.

🌾 10 Lammas Recipes from Hildegard's Harvest

These recipes celebrate August's grain harvest and peak summer abundance.

1. Harvest Bread (First Grain)

Historical note: This is THE Lammas recipe. The first loaf from newly harvested grain, blessed and shared. Hildegard: spelt is "the best grain."

Ingredients

  • 4 cups fresh spelt flour (or wheat flour)

  • 1 packet active dry yeast

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water

  • 2 tbsp honey

  • 2 tbsp butter

  • 1 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Dissolve yeast in warm water with honey.

  2. Mix flour and salt in large bowl.

  3. Add yeast mixture and butter.

  4. Knead 15 minutes until smooth.

  5. Let rise 1-2 hours until doubled.

  6. Punch down, shape into loaf.

  7. Let rise 45 minutes.

  8. Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes until golden.

  9. Break and share while warm.

✨ Bread from new grain — blessed food, labor's reward, life made solid.

2. Roasted Chicken with Grain Stuffing

Historical note: Chicken is "good for humans to eat." August chickens, grain-fed all summer, at their fattest. Stuffed with fresh grain — harvest bird.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken

  • 2 cups cooked spelt or wheat berries

  • 1 onion, chopped

  • 3 tbsp butter

  • 2 tbsp fresh sage

  • 2 tbsp fresh thyme

  • 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Sauté onion in butter.

  2. Mix with cooked grain, herbs, nuts, salt, pepper.

  3. Stuff chicken cavity.

  4. Rub chicken with butter, salt, pepper.

  5. Roast at 375°F for 1.5 hours.

✨ Chicken stuffed with harvest grain — bird and bread united.

3. Pike with Elderberry Sauce

Historical note: Hildegard praised pike. Elderberries ripen in August. Together they make harvest luxury. Note: Elderberries MUST be cooked.

Ingredients

  • 4 pike fillets (or other firm white fish)

  • 1 cup elderberries (fresh or dried, reconstituted)

  • 2 tbsp butter

  • 2 tbsp honey

  • 1/4 cup white wine

  • Fresh herbs for garnish

  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Season fish, sauté in butter.

  2. Remove fish, keep warm.

  3. Add elderberries, honey, wine to pan.

  4. Cook until berries soften, 5-8 minutes.

  5. Pour over fish.

CRITICAL: Raw elderberries are toxic. All stems and green parts must be removed. Berries MUST be cooked.

✨ River fish, August elderberries — purple harvest sauce, cooked safe and sweet.

4. Goat Liver with Fresh Herbs

Historical note: Hildegard wrote: "A person with stomach pain should roast the liver of a goat and eat it often until the middle of August." Lammas is prime goat liver season.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb goat liver (or lamb/chicken liver)

  • 3 tbsp butter

  • 3 tbsp fresh sage, chopped

  • 2 tbsp fresh thyme

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Slice liver into pieces.

  2. Heat butter, add garlic and herbs.

  3. Add liver, sauté quickly 2-3 minutes per side.

  4. Don't overcook - liver should be pink inside.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

✨ Goat liver before mid-August — healing food in its proper season, herbs at peak.

5. Summer Squash & Grain Casserole

Historical note: August squash abundant, fresh grain. Hildegard: squash "are good for both sick and healthy to eat."

Ingredients

  • 3 cups summer squash, sliced

  • 2 cups cooked spelt or wheat berries

  • 1 onion, chopped

  • 3 tbsp butter

  • 1 cup grated cheese

  • 2 tbsp fresh sage

  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Sauté onion in butter.

  2. Add squash, cook until tender.

  3. Mix with cooked grain, half the cheese, sage.

  4. Pour into baking dish.

  5. Top with remaining cheese.

  6. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes.

✨ Squash and grain together — vegetable abundance meets grain harvest.

6. Apple & Grain Breakfast Bowl

Historical note: First early apples, fresh grain. Hildegard: apples "are good for healthy people" and spelt brings "joyful spirit."

Ingredients

  • 1 cup spelt or wheat berries, cooked

  • 2 early apples, chopped

  • 3 tbsp honey

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • 1/2 cup toasted walnuts

  • Fresh milk

Instructions

  1. Cook grain until tender.

  2. Stir in chopped apples, honey, cinnamon.

  3. Top with walnuts.

  4. Serve with fresh milk.

✨ First apples, fresh grain — two harvests in one bowl, August's double blessing.

7. Fresh Bean Salad with Grain

Historical note: Peak August beans, cooked grain. Hildegard valued chickpeas and beans as "light and easy to eat."

Ingredients

  • 3 cups fresh green beans, blanched

  • 1 cup cooked spelt or wheat berries

  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

  • 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

  • 3 tbsp olive oil

  • 1 tbsp wine vinegar

  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Blanch beans until tender-crisp, cool.

  2. Toss with cooked grain and herbs.

  3. Whisk oil, vinegar, salt, pepper.

  4. Dress salad, serve at room temperature.

✨ Green beans at peak, fresh grain cooled — harvest salad celebrating labor.

8. Elderberry & Apple Tart

Historical note: August elderberries (MUST be cooked!), early apples. Both ripen for Lammas.

Ingredients

  • 1 spelt pastry crust

  • 2 early apples, sliced

  • 1 cup elderberries (stems removed, cooked)

  • 1/4 cup honey

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • 2 tbsp spelt flour

  • 2 tbsp butter

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

  2. Cook elderberries 5 minutes, cool.

  3. Mix elderberries, apples, honey, cinnamon, flour.

  4. Pour into crust.

  5. Dot with butter.

  6. Bake 40 minutes until golden.

CRITICAL: Elderberries must be cooked. Raw berries, stems, and leaves are toxic.

✨ Purple berries, golden apples — August's first fruits baked into harvest tart.

9. Harvest Grain Pudding

Historical note: Fresh cooked grain sweetened with honey. Celebrating successful harvest.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked spelt or wheat berries

  • 3 cups milk

  • 3 eggs

  • 1/3 cup honey

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Beat eggs, milk, honey, spices, salt.

  3. Stir in cooked grain.

  4. Pour into buttered baking dish.

  5. Bake 45 minutes until set.

✨ Grain made sweet — harvest transformed into comfort, labor's sweetness.

10. Lammas Herb Tea

Historical note: Fresh herbs still abundant in August. A blessing tea for successful harvest.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp fresh sage

  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme

  • 1 tbsp fresh mint

  • 1 tsp dried rose petals

  • 3 cups boiling water

  • Honey to taste

Instructions

  1. Tear fresh herbs.

  2. Mix with dried roses.

  3. Pour boiling water over.

  4. Steep 10 minutes.

  5. Strain, sweeten.

✨ Herbs for harvest workers — sage for strength, mint for refreshment, blessing for abundance.

✨ Closing Blessing

Lammas teaches us about work and reward. All summer, grain grew. Now it must be cut, gathered, threshed, winnowed, ground, stored. Backbreaking labor. But when the first loaf from new grain emerged from the oven — warm, fragrant, golden — the labor was worth it. This bread would sustain life through winter.

Hildegard knew this reality intimately. At her monastery, August meant all hands to harvest. Success meant survival. Failure meant starvation.

But Lammas was also celebration. The first sheaf was ceremonially cut. The first grain was ground. The first bread was blessed and shared. After months of watching grain grow — finally, the reward. Food. Life. Continuation.

Her recipes for Lammas center on grain — bread above all — celebrating harvest's success. She adds August's other abundance: peak vegetables, first fruit, herbs, fish, goat liver in its proper season.

As you cook these recipes, imagine Hildegard on August 1st, watching the first loaf from new grain emerge from the oven. This bread represents months of work. This bread is life itself.

This is Lammas. This is harvest. This is bread.

Note: Elderberries must be cooked — raw berries and all green parts are toxic. Remove stems completely.

DietChristine PalmaHildegardComment