Clootie Dumpling et al

 Slice of Clootie Dumpling as purchased today from local butcher

Today, I purchased slices of clootie dumpling (as illustrated above) from our local butcher.This has prompted me to explain the background and uses of the word 'clootie'.

First, a clootie is a strip or piece of cloth or leather, a rag or item of clothing,traditionally used to make clootie dumplings. The term clootie can also refer to fabric used in the patching of clothes or the making of clootie mats.

Clootie Dumplings

Second, a traditional clootie dumpling is made from flour, breadcrumbs, dried fruit (currants,sultanas, raisins), suet, sugar and spices with some milk to bind it. Ingredients are mixed into a dough then wrapped in a floured cloth (the clootie), placed in a large pan of boiling water and simmered for a couple of hours before being lifted out and dried in an oven. The finished article has similarities with a fruit cake.

Finally,clootie wells are wells or springs in Celtic areas where pilgrims leave strips of cloth or rags, usually as part of a healing ritual.

Clootie Tree in Ireland

Clootie Tree in Glasgow, Scotland

More information on Scottish foods can be found here.

More information on Scotland

Visitors are directed to Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4. This provides a wide range of information for tourists including a section on Arisaig and traditional recipes emanating from Arisaig. The book is also available via Kindle.