Like corned beef, cabbage, and stout beer, Irish soda bread is bound to grace many American tables this St. Patrick’s Day. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a dense but tender bread with a texture like a cross between a Southern biscuit and a scone.
Soda bread is a simple, no-frills sort of food, and that’s part of its charm. It is plainly made with flour, buttermilk, baking soda, salt, and not much else.
A Quicker Bake
Soda bread first appeared in Irish kitchens about 200 years ago—as a treat for the wealthy. They could afford the luxury of wheat, while poorer people lived on oat cakes (when anything could be had at all).
Jennifer McGruther is a nutritional therapy practitioner, herbalist, and the author of three cookbooks, including “Vibrant Botanicals.” She’s also the creator of NourishedKitchen.com, a website that celebrates traditional foodways, herbal remedies, and fermentation. She teaches workshops on natural foods and herbalism, and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.
