Catherine or Katherine Tollemache (née Cromwell; 1557 – 24 March 1621) was an English aristocrat, who collected and wrote culinary and medical recipes, and was known for her healing skills.

[6] The room at Helmingham was not listed in an inventory of the house made in 1626 after Catherine's death, an indication that this kind of domestic production was not then practised.

[10] Her collection of medieval recipes Catherine Tollemache's Secrets and her own contemporary Receipts for Pastery, Confectionary, etc were published in 2001.

The material does not describe the usual daily meals in the household, made by the kitchen staff, but rather the production of sweetmeats, distilled waters and conserves, including quince marmalade and cotignac, with which she would have been personally involved.

[12] She outlines making artificial fruit from sugar paste called "manus Christi" set in a mould made from plaster-of paris ("alabaster"), and painted with umber and sap green pigments obtained from a professional painter.

Her memorial at St Mary's Church, Helmingham, gives her names as "Catharine Tallemache" and mentions her "skill & singular experience in chyrurgerie", that is "surgery".