This Week on the Pantry Shelf: Fuarag — A Beltane Tradition from the Heart of Cape Breton

Today is May 1st — and if your ancestors came from the Scottish Highlands, that means something a little more than just the first day of a new month. Today is Beltane, the ancient Celtic festival of fire, renewal, and the return of summer. It sits directly opposite Samhain on the Celtic calendar, and for thousands of years it has been the day communities came together to celebrate light winning out over darkness, and the warmth of the season finally returning.

When the Highland Scottish settlers crossed the ocean and made Cape Breton their home, they brought Beltane with them — in their music, in their stories, and in their food. Fuarag (pronounced foo-ar-ak) is one of those foods. Simple, ancient, and deeply meaningful — toasted oatmeal folded into cold cream with a touch of sweetness and a coin hidden somewhere inside for luck — it is the kind of recipe that connects you to something much bigger than your kitchen.

On Beltane, the coin in the Fuarag isn't just a bit of fun. It's a wish for prosperity in the season ahead. A hope for good harvests, good health, and good fortune for everyone gathered at the table. The Celts understood what we sometimes forget — that the turn of the seasons deserves to be marked, celebrated, and shared with the people you love.

So today, on this first of May, we invite you to toast some oatmeal, pour the cream, and make something your great-great-grandmother would have recognized. Light a candle if you're feeling it. Welcome the summer in. And whatever spoon finds that coin — may the rest of your year be just as sweet.

Fuarag (pronounced foo-ar-ak) is a beloved Cape Breton tradition brought over by Highland Scottish settlers. It’s simple, rustic, and—if you’re the one who finds the coin—potentially lucrative!

Here is how to make this classic "Beltane Cream."

In Cape Breton Gaelic tradition, what you find in your spoonful predicts your year ahead:

The "Soggy" Factor: Fuarag is best served immediately. If it sits too long, the toasted oats lose their crunch and become soft (though some people actually prefer it that way!).

Safety First: If serving to children, make sure they know there are small objects inside to avoid any "unfortunate" dental or choking incidents!

Boil the Tokens: Always boil your coins and rings for a few minutes before hiding them in the dessert for hygiene.

My grandmother was not what you'd call a sentimental woman. She was practical, efficient, and deeply suspicious of anything she considered unnecessary fuss. Decorations were unnecessary fuss. Long goodbyes at the door were unnecessary fuss. Crying at weddings — unnecessary fuss, the lot of it.

But every year on the first of May, without fail, something quietly remarkable happened.

She would get up before anyone else in the house, and by the time we came downstairs rubbing our eyes, there would be a bowl of Fuarag sitting on the kitchen table, cold and ready, with a little sprig of something green laid beside it. We never knew where the green sprig came from. We never asked. Some things in Cape Breton you just accept.

We'd sit down and she'd say, very matter-of-factly, "It's Beltane. Eat."

We ate. We passed the spoons around. We searched hopefully for the coin. And every year, my grandfather found it — every single year, without exception, which frankly defied all reasonable probability and led several of us to develop serious theories about how exactly that coin was being placed.

When I was about twelve I finally asked her how Grandpa always managed to find it.

She looked at me for a long moment. Then she said, "Because I always make sure he does."

She turned back to the stove like she hadn't just said the most romantic thing I'd ever heard in my life.

Happy Beltane, everyone. May your summer be long, your cream be cold, and your coin always find the right spoon.

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"I wanted to write in because reading The Pantry Dispatch has brought back something I thought our family had completely lost. My great-grandmother came over from the Isle of Lewis as a young woman and she spoke Gaelic in the house until her very last years. She made Fuarag every Beltane morning without exception — called it her way of saying thank you to the season for coming back around.

When she passed, the tradition went with her. Nobody in our family knew quite enough to keep it going, and I think we all felt quietly sad about that without ever saying so out loud — which, if you know Cape Breton people, is basically how we handle most things.

This May 1st, my daughter and I are making Fuarag together for the first time. We found great-grandmother's old bowl at the back of a cupboard. We're going to use it. I just wanted someone to know that some things, even when they seem lost, have a way of finding their way back home."

— Frances D., Iona

Frances, we are so glad The Pantry Dispatch could play even the smallest part in bringing that tradition back to your table. Your great-grandmother would be so proud. Please give that old bowl a good wash, fill it up, and welcome summer in the way your family always has. Some roots run deeper than we know.

Happy Beltane, Pantry Dispatch family — from our kitchen to yours.

You know how every Cape Bretoner has that one place they don't really want to tell too many people about? The road you turn down on purpose. The coastline you keep quietly to yourself. The spot where the wild blueberries grow so thick you can't take three steps without staining your shoes purple?

For a lot of us, that place is Richmond County and the Framboise Coast.

While everyone else is lined up bumper to bumper on the Cabot Trail — God love them, it's beautiful, we know — there's a whole other Cape Breton sitting quietly on the other side of the island, waiting patiently for the people who know enough to look. Rolling barrens stretching down to the sea. Tidal ponds so still they look like mirrors on a calm morning. Wild blueberries growing right at your feet like they've always belonged there, because they have.

This is Richmond County. And it has been the best kept secret on this island for long enough.

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