OBITUARY: Laura Mason, 63, York food historian and writer

Laura, who died on February 2, was born in Ilkley but settled in York. Her funeral took place on February 15.

She was well known in York for her cookery writing and involvement with the York Food Festival. As an expert on confectionery she advised the makers of the 2004 film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, on the set-up of Honeyduke’s Sweetshop.

Her husband of ten years Derek Johnson - who she met on Guardian Soulmates - said: "I got the pot of gold."

He added: "She lost her first husband to cancer and when she found out about her diagnosis the first thing she said to me was 'sorry'.

Laura Mason who has died aged 63

"She was an intelligent woman. A good soul. We are finding out things even now about her and I have known her for ten years! I hadn't realised all the stuff she had done and how important some of the work was that she had written. People have written to me to tell me her work is their 'go-to' book."

York food writer Laura Mason with a copy of Farmhouse Cookery in 2005 Picture: Mike Tipping

In 2005, her first National Trust book, Farmhouse Cookery, was published based on information gathered from tenants on NT estates. Other books were to follow including the Book of Afternoon Tea and the Book of Crumbles, both in 2018.

Laura was in demand as a speaker and took part in events at York Art Gallery and the York Food and Drink Festival. She also taught a short course on elements of food culture for the University of Gastronomy in Northern Italy.

She contributed to a number of food-related radio and television programmes including Woman’s Hour, Bake Off and Nigel Slater’s Life in Sweets.

York author Laura Mason with her book Sugar-Plums and Sherbet in July 1998

She was also heavily involved with the Leeds Symposium on Food, of which she was honorary chair, and regularly attended and contributed to the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. She was also a trustee, secretary and judge for the Sophie Coe Fund which gives an annual prize to an engaging, original piece of writing that delivers new research and/or new insights into any aspect of food history.

Laura was also a founder member, former leader and former secretary of Slow Food North Yorkshire.

Born in Ilkley, her father Tom Mason was a farmer, while her mother Kate, was a well known local historian.

Laura Mason, food historian and one of the founders of the North Yorkshire branch of the Slow Food Movement, with some of her traditional gingerbread moulds in April 2002

Laura's sister Agnes said: "Laura learnt to cook at her mother’s knee – Kate baked bread twice a week and made butter and cheese from milk from cows on the family farm to feed the family. She was also interested in traditional foods and had a keen interest in the traditional and distinctive features of local farms which obviously influenced Laura’s interests from an early age. In Laura’s own words ‘Since the age of 12, I have been fascinated by food and the choices people make about it. I also enjoy cooking and eating’."

Derek recalls how their early courtship revolved around food. "Laura kept on inviting me for dinner. She told me she was finalising some of the recipes for her new book on pies and stews; I was impressed. I was even more impressed when I tasted them they were absolutely fantastic.

"All this cooking happened while she was having a new kitchen put in. Luckily for me the plumber let her down and I was able to fit her sink, I think this impressed her. I went round one snowy night in November 2010 and never left. We were married in 2012."

He added: "She cooked like someone who is fluent in a favourite second language. Instinctively she knew what would go together well.

"Laura was also a very brave woman. In the last three years of her life there was a lot of pain and anguish as you can imagine but she never complained."

Laura was educated at Ilkley Grammar School followed by a foundation course in Art and Design at Bradford Art College.

Agnes said: "She recently used her artistic skills in painting a number of beautiful watercolours whilst recovering from surgery."

Some of Laura's art work from last year

Laura moved to York in 1976 working as Finds Assistant for York Archaeological Trust and also working as a chef at various establishments in York. During the same period she worked in the summers for about three years as a chef on a canal boat which took guests and provided canal holidays throughout the country.

Laura Mason, left, and Ann Rycraft holding the Twelfth Night Cake for the Twelfth Night party at Jacobs Well where they will present a cheque for £400 to St Leonards Hospice - from The Press, January 2001

Agnes said: "Her main interest was the history and development of recipes but no educational institution offered such a course so she pursued the subject as a hobby, trying to identify the many traditional and typically British foods that relate to culture and landscape."

She did a degree in Home Economics at Leeds Polytechnic followed by an MPhil at Leeds Metropolitan University in Catering Technology.

Laura became a freelance food historian in 1990 and quickly established a reputation for her wide knowledge and expertise.

She was an expert on the history of confectionary and wrote Sugar Plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets in 1998 and more recently Sweets and Candy: A Global History in 2018, as well as several articles on the early-19th century London confectioner, William Jarrin.

Laura contributed more than 150 entries, mainly on confectionery, baked goods and meat, to the Oxford Companion to Food (1999) by Alan Davidson and was a contributor as well as a member of the editorial board of the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets (2015).

Laura Mason, second left, in 1997 at a meeting of the Workers' Educational Association course, Cooks and their Books

Agnes said: "She had an outstanding palate and was a taster on the Nestle Taste Panel, evaluating confectionery for Nestle-Rowntree of York for a number of years. The last meal she really enjoyed during her last illness was a Thai dish made by a friend. When her sister Ruth asked about the flavours, she was able to reel off a complex list that her still-discerning palate could detect. "

Her major work from 1994-7 was as UK co-ordinator for Euroterroirs database of regional foods, identifying traditional local foodstuffs, researching background, interviewing makers and preparing database entries.

This was published as Traditional Foods of Britain: an inventory (1999) with Catherine Brown and formed the basis for Taste of Britain (2006). This Europe-wide project underlay the ability of producers to register products with geographical names if it could be shown that region of origin gave special characteristics.