The Spellcaster's Source Hoodoo and Voodoo Witchcraft Blog of Talia Felix

Many sources online say the oldest pumpkin pie recipe is from the 1670s, but that's because they're specifically seeking American recipes. This 1650s recipe is from a cookbook by "Monsieur Marnette" called  The perfect cook: being the most exact directions for the making all kinds of pastes, with the perfect way teaching how to raise, season, and make all sorts of pies, pasties, tarts, and florentines, &c. now practised by the most famous and expert cooks, both French and English. If you like historical cookery the whole text is worth looking at here, at Early English Books Online.  To make a Tart of the mellow of Pumpkins, Gourds, or of Melons.  Take the mellow of a Pumpkin, or of a Gourd, or Melon, cut it into peeces as small as a Nut, let them be half boyled in the same water which they will yeeld, over a gen∣tle fire, and have a care sometimes to turn and stirre them that they may not burn, or stick to the pot. And that you may have the less trouble with them,...

Sugar spells are everywhere these days. People know you can “sweeten someone up,” and if you poke around online for five minutes, you’ll find love spells that ask you to write a name on a paper and put it in a jar with sugar, honey, syrup, or a piece of candy. It’s not just popular — it’s practically its own genre. But the real history of sugar in hoodoo is a little deeper, and as always, a little weirder. Traditionally, sugar was used to sweeten someone toward you — whether for love, kindness, better treatment, or even to grease a boss’s attitude at work. You’ll find older spells that use sugar to make a judge lenient or to keep someone from being angry. What’s rarely mentioned outside the tradition is that the type of sugar used could be significant. Yes, really. In older hoodoo practice, sweeteners were sometimes matched to the race or skin tone of the person being targeted. Molasses - thick and dark, was typically used if the person was Black. White sugar - for a white person. Hon...