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Next: 5 Nov 2026

Bonfire Night and parkin

Britain's fireworks night, with treacle toffee and parkin, a sticky ginger cake of Yorkshire.

A tile drawn for this day, not a photograph.

Spices for Bonfire Night and parkin

On 5 November Britons light bonfires and let off fireworks. The food of the night is parkin, a dense oatmeal and treacle cake spiced with ginger, and sometimes cinnamon and mixed spice, which improves in a tin for a week; also treacle toffee and hot soups. Parkin is a good local example of ginger, imported through the Hanseatic and Dutch trade, becoming a regional signature in the north of England.

The spices

GingerThe main spice of parkin.Mixed spiceA subtle backing.
About this page

Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Parkin" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.