Harry Potter fans are obsessed with not only spells and magic but also the enchanting food served at Hogwarts.

Many of these treats have been featured in the school’s annual Thanksgiving feasts—like Pumpkin Pasties—while others are snacks like Acid Pops. All recipes may be found on www.yumsugar.com, where fans have posted their invented recipes.

In “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Harry has his first experience with these treats on the Hogwarts Express Train snack cart. 

“The woman didn’t have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, Acid Pops, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life.”

Pumpkin Pasties are crescent-shaped  pies with a pastry crust. The filling is a mixture of egg, sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, and ginger.  After tasting my Pumpkin Pasties, my mother called them, “pleasing, just short of a good pumpkin pie.”

Another Harry Potter holiday favorite is Cauldron Cakes. They are made using any traditional devil’s food cake recipe and are baked into cupcakes in a tin without paper liners. After they’re baked, the crowns of the cupcakes are cut off, making them look more like cauldrons. A small black licorice string into each end of the Cauldron Cake creates the cauldron’s handle. 

Hogwarts’s students wash down their Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes with a beverage called Butterbeer. A mixture of cream soda, butterscotch syrup, and butter, Butterbeer is so thick it’s hard to finish a small glass.  After only one-and-a-half minutes in a microwave, Butterbeer is ready to drink. 

Senior Analise Rivero tried Butterbeer at a Harry Potter video game party. “The drink was way too sweet and I could only drink a small amount of it,” Rivero said.

Acid Pops are lollipops dipped first in honey and then in Pop Rocks.  (Pop Rocks are candy sugar crystals that pop when they hit the tongue.) Acid Pops are messy and sweet, but after the first few licks, the Pop Rocks are gone.

The most famous treat from the series is Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. These jellybeans, now manufactured by Jelly Belly, come in flavors ranging from “brown sugar” to “compost.”

Senior Joanna Derman buys Bertie Bott’s around the holidays. She said her least favorite flavors are “vomit” and “earwax.” Bertie Bott’s are sold at Borders and Barnes and Noble.

There are tons of sweets and foods  still waiting for recipes. Next time you’re feeling creative, use your imagination to brew up a magical recipe worthy of a muggle—like chocolate frogs.