Title: Colcannon lore
 Categories: Irish, Vegetables, Information
      Yield: 1 Servings
 
 
  (from IRISH TRADITIONAL FOOD, Theodora Fitzgibbon:)
  
  "This is traditionally eaten in Ireland at Hallowe'en. Until quite
  recently this was a fast day, when no meat was eaten. The name is
  from *cal ceann fhionn* -- white-headed cabbage. Colcannon should
  correctly be made with chopped kale (a member of the cabbage family)
  but it is also made with white cabbage;  an interesting version is
  the Irish Folklore Commission's, which gives it as mashed potatoes
  mixed with onions, butter,and a boiled white cabbage in the center.
  Colcannon at Hallowe'en used to contain a plain gold ring, a
  sixpence, a thimble or button: finding the ring meant marriage within
  the year for the person who found it, the sixpence meant wealth, the
  thimble spinsterhood and the button bachelorhood."
  
  (from THE POOLBEG BOOK OF IRISH TRADITIONAL FOOD:)
  
  "For a dish that is not widely eaten or served today, colcannon
  remains remarkably widely known.  Maybe the song about colcannon is
  better known than the dish. If you say "colcannon" in a crowded room,
  the chances are that half the room will break into one version of the
  song and the other into a completely different version. Like the
  recipe itself, there are two versions commonly known.
  
  Did you ever eat colcannon          Did you ever eat colcannon when
  'twas made with yellow cream   when 'twas made with thickened
                                         cream And the kale and praties
  blended    And the greens and scallions
                                         blended Like the picture in a
  dream? Like the picture in a dream? Did you ever take a forkful Did
  you ever scoop a hole on top And dip it in the lake
                To hold the melting cake Of heather-flavored butter Of
  clover-flavored butter That your mother used to make? Which your
  mother used to make?
  
  Oh, you did, yes you did!             Did you ever eat and eat,
  afraid So did he and so did I,
  :            You'd let the ring go past, And the more I think about
  it And some old married sprissman Sure, the more I want to cry. Would
  get it at the last?
  
                         God be with the happy times
                         When trouble we had not,
                         And our mothers made colcannon
                         In the little three-legged pot. " -- Colcannon
  is so like champ, cally, stampy and poundies that it's difficult to
  understand how it ever came to have a different name. Yet, all over
  the country, colcannon is colcannon and known as nothing else. As in
  the two versions of the song, it can be made with kale or with
  greens, meaning cabbage. Those reared on the version made with kale
  can never understand how the cabbage version can be considered
  colcannon, and vice versa...."