The Lord of the Rings: Lembas

The Lord of the Rings: Lembas

Lembas is easily one of the most popular recipes from The Lord of the Rings so when I created a recipe for it I wanted it be perfect. There is an incredible amount of history tied to lembas and creating this recipe felt like I was digging a recipe out of the history books.

"Lembas, Elvish waybread. One small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man"

Lembas translates to journey bread and has said to leave a man filled for an entire days journey.  This waybread is supposedly tastier than cram and the recipe was closely guarded and was only given to outsiders once, the fellowship.  

The leaves from the Mallorn tree in Lothlorien wraps and keeps the lembas fresh for days if kept unbroken.  Mallorn trees grew in Lothlorien and the leaves turned gold in the autumn.  In this recipe I decided to use banana leaves because it helps keep the lembas fresh longer and and it helps impart flavor.  Keep reading to see how I wrapped the lembas.

The Hobbit Inspired: Cram

Cram, Inspired by The Hobbit

Far over the Misty Mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day,

To find our long-forgotten gold

- Misty Mountains

 Tolkien described cram as a biscuity type of food that was suppose to sustain you for very long journeys.  It wasn't the tastiest of foods and it was described as chewy but the important thing was that cram was able to help sustain and energize you.  So much so that the dwarves took some with them on their journey to The Lonely Mountains.

“If you want to know what cram is, I can only say that I don’t know the recipe; but it is biscuitish, keeps good indefinitely, is supposed to be sustaining, and is certainly not entertaining, being in fact very uninteresting except as a chewing exercise.” - Tolkien 

Though cram was very similar to lembas from the elves, it was supposedly not has flavorful. What immediately came to my head was that these sounded like energy bars.  It's suppose to be jam packed with ingredients that would fill and sustain and grown man or in this case, a dwarf.  While these are quite flavorful, I felt it fit the guidelines of cram.  It's sustaining, chewy, and has a long shelf life. Enjoy!