I came across an old Acadian recipe for pancakes in a back issue of The Canadian Organic Grower that calls for snow! Apparently, after a heavy snowfall, some Acadians still remark that “Il a tombe assez de neige pour faire des crepes,” or, “It’s snowed enough to make pancakes.” According to the recipe notes, provided by The Speerville Flour Mill in New Brunswick, the snow holds ammonia gas which acts like baking powder, a product that wouldn’t have been available in the 1880s when the Acadians were making their crepes from freshly fallen Maritime snow.
Note: there are no eggs in the recipe–I can only guess that this is because back in the 1800s, chickens wouldn’t have been bred yet to lay eggs in the winter. So you really needed the ammonia in the snow to puff up that flour, milk and honey.
Now if it would only snow enough here to make them!
Here’s the recipe:
1.5 cups Red Fife flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine grey sea salt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup fresh white snow
Sift together first three ingredients. Add honey, butter and milk. Stir gently when adding snow.