Secret Recipe: Ancient Cheesecakes with Bay, Elderberries, and Figs

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The figs in the garden droop from their branches, with the fertile plumpness of breasts heavy in my hands. In the forest, too, branches curve downwards, clusters of sky blue-tinged elderberries weighing down their flexible boughs, some nearly touching the ground. Sambucus cerulea, my favorite kind. These berries can be a bit tricky to assess as their dusting of wild yeasts that gives them their gorgeous cerulean color can obscure the true color of the berry. Wipe a bit aside; the ripe berries are a rich, deep purple, while any that are red need a bit more time on the bush. 

Time feels so strange in this season, as if all it would take to step back into an ancient world would be to walk between two magic elder bushes, or perhaps take a nap in their shade. Some say it’s because the veils between worlds are beginning to thin; to me, it’s more that the flavor of the space between summer and autumn is nostalgia itself. Whatever the case, it’s clear that there is ancient magic sparkling on the dew-dappled berries, gathered early on a cool morning, or tucked into the fragrance of the wild bay leaves that grow along the coast, a spicy transportation to open hearths, extravagant feasts, and prosperity spells. 

Get outside into the misty elderberry mornings or the sun-soaked fig afternoons. Sit for a moment with your back against a tree and let yourself melt into the swirls of time. Let the linear nature we have constructed dissolve into the ether as you feel the ancientness of the tree roots stretching below you, moving down through layers of deposited geologic history with so many stories to tell. Can you feel it? The ancient magic, the timelessness, the deep connection? Can you hold onto that magic as you clip heavy clusters of berries or pluck aromatic leaves, can you sense your ancestors perhaps doing the same? Humanity’s dance with these plants stretches back into pre-history. We know each other well. Will you allow yourself to be known to them, just as they will become known to you in the woods, in the garden, and in the kitchen? 

One beautiful thing about food and its preparation is that it is constantly changing. New cultural influences can change the entire culture of a civilization’s food story. New technology offers new ways of processing flavors or keeping food fresh. And as long as we are human, our food will continue to change to tell our stories, whether gathered around an ancient campfire or pulled from a sous vide waterbath. Some recipes, however, have stayed with us for thousands of years, relatively unchanged. Some still carry the flavor of worlds long gone, cultures that have died out or been replaced over and over. Recipes far older than the cultures that gave birth to them, edible archaology that has survived out of sheer deliciousness and the curiosity of others obsessed with gustatory time-travel. Come back in time with me, and let us celebrate the magic of one such recipe. 

Ancient Cheesecakes with Bay, Elderberry, and Figs

According to archaeologists, it is believed that some of the very first cakes ever made were simple concoctions of soft goat cheese, honey, and sometimes a little bit of grain. These cheesecake tarts are my homage to those ancient cakes. The flaky pastry crust gets a nutty flavor from buckwheat flour, but has also been adapted to be gluten-free. The filling is an aromatic mixture of homemade bay leaf-infused goat cheese and honey. A gorgeous topping of elderberry honey sauce really dresses these up, and a roasted fig with honey is the perfect compliment to the richness of the cheesecake below.

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