What’s New at Give It Forth – June 2025 Update

 

Hello friends and fellow food historians!

There’s a lot simmering in the Give It Forth kitchen these days, and I wanted to take a moment to share a few exciting updates, improvements, and sneak peeks of what’s cooking.

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🧭 Improved Navigation

We’ve overhauled the site navigation to make it easier to browse recipes, feast planning resources, and historical FAQs. Look for the new sidebar Pages menu, where you’ll find links to:

• Frequently Asked Questions

• Ounce to Tablespoon Conversion Guide

• Comfits and Historical Confections

• ...and more coming soon!

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🔧 Link Updates & SEO Fixes

We’ve been busy hunting down outdated links, broken redirects, and dusty corners of the blog. Many posts are now refreshed with working links, better indexing, and improved discoverability (because even medieval mustard deserves the spotlight).

If you’ve ever stumbled across a 404 or an archived page — don’t worry, we’re on it.

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💬 New FAQ Resources

The brand-new FAQ Page is live and loaded with answers to your most common questions:

• Cooking conversions (dry vs liquid)

• How to plan a medieval feast

• What’s a dayboard?

• Where I get my sources

• And yes... how to make comfits without losing your mind!

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🍴 Coming Soon on the Blog

Keep your eyes peeled — these historical recipes are headed your way in the next few weeks:

• Gelo in bocconcini di piu colori
  Jelly in small bites, of many colors – from Bartolomeo Scappi

• Tortelletti d’herba alla Lombarda
  Herb tortellini in the Lombard style – Scappi again!

• Per far diverse minestre di zucche Turchesche
  A variety of Turkish squash dishes (Cap CCXX, Secondo libro, Scappi)

• Salsa di Mostardo amabile
  Sweet mustard sauce – perfect for meats, roots, and the curious palate

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💡 Support the Project

If you’ve found joy, ideas, or research help here, consider supporting Give It Forth on Ko-fi:
☕ https://ko-fi.com/giveitforth

Thank you for being part of this delicious journey through the past. Stay tuned — and stay hungry!

Yours in herbs and humors,

Yonnie

Kitchen Adventures – Help Me Keep the Past Alive: Why I’m Asking for Your Support

 Give It Forth began as a passion project—a labor of love, memory, and legacy.

It was born from a shared dream between me and my mother. Before she passed, we had planned to interpret and cook through the recipes in Harl. MS 279, using the edition published in Thomas Austin’s Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books. She bought that book for me, and we always imagined sitting down together to turn those cryptic medieval instructions into real, beautiful meals.

She didn’t get to finish that journey with me. But Give It Forth is how I carry that dream forward.

It’s how I honor her.

And it’s how I share the joy we both felt in exploring the past through food.

I’ve completed the first section of that project—the pottages—and I’m working to get them formatted, published, and available online to share with all of you. It’s just one small part of what I want to bring to life.

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But here’s the truth behind the curtain:
I haven’t been blogging as much lately—not because I’ve lost interest, but because life’s demands keep pulling me away. My husband is partially disabled, and most of the financial burden falls on me. Between work, caregiving, and just trying to keep the bills paid, there’s little left over—for time, energy, or breathing room.

I always feel like I’m behind the ball—robbing Peter to pay Paul—and it’s hard to justify spending hours researching a 15th-century sauce when something urgent (and unpaid) is waiting.

But this work—the history, the food, the storytelling—it matters to me deeply. And I believe it matters to others too.

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☕ So here’s where you come in:

If Give It Forth has ever made you smile, fed your curiosity, helped you plan a feast, or just made you feel more connected to the past—please consider supporting me on Ko-fi:
👉 https://ko-fi.com/giveitforth

You can:

• Leave a tip (every dollar helps more than you know)

• Download my historical recipe booklets

• Commission a custom dayboard or feast

• Subscribe monthly to support ongoing research and writing

Your support gives me the time and breathing room to keep doing this work—to finish the projects my mom and I started, and to keep bringing the past to life, one dish at a time.

With gratitude (and probably flour on my sleeves),

Yonnie
Give It Forth