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Vintage Recipes and Food History
Take of good Sweet Milk one quart, two Eggs; beat the Eggs well, add them to the Milk, and then sweeten to suit--say five or six ounces of White Sugar; flavor also with a sufficient quantity of Essence of Lemon or Essence of Vanilla; place this mixture into a freezer, around which must be placed, in alternate layers, coursely broken Ice and coarse Salt, which must reach high enough up on the outside of the freezer to be on a level with its contents; move or rotate the freezer thus arranged in the midst of the Ice and Salt until the Cream is sufficiently frozen. This is a very delicious and refreshing article for patients laboring under fevers, inflammations, etc., and for consumptives and others. Two table-spoonfuls of Arrowroot rubbed up finely with some of the Milk, then boiled, strained, and added, previous to the freezing, will much improve the Ice Cream.
This recipe taken from the Household Department of The American Family Physician; Domestic Guide to Health published in 1867.
(A portable, hand-cranked ice
cream churn was invented in 1846.)
"To two gallons of water add one quart of dry Corn, one pint of Molasses, one table-spoonful of Ginger. Let it stand in a cask or demijohn, and in one week it is fit for use. The same corn will answer for several brewings, but the cask should be scalded each time."
This recipe taken from the Household
Department of The American Family Physician; Domestic Guide to Health
published in 1867.
Cream 1/2 cup butter until soft. Add 1-1/2 cups sugar gradually and cream
until fluffy. Set aside until you sift 2 cups bread flour with 1 teaspoonful
leavening and 1/4 teaspoonful of salt and 1 tablespoon ground or powdered
coriander seed. Also mix together in a different bowl 1/3 cup thick sour cream
and 2 tablespoons milk. Alternate adding the dry mixture and the milk mixture to
the butter and sugar mixture, beating after each addition. The dough will be
quite firm and can be handled and baked at once. Take out pieces the size of a
nut and roll in balls, and flatten on greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated
oven (375º) for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges brown. For a different taste
reduce coriander to 1/2 tablespoon and add 1-1/2 teaspoons anise flavoring.
Using your fist, make a bowl in your tin of bread flour. Mix together the following ingredients: One-half teaspoon of salt, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of soda, 5 tablespoons melted fat and 1 cup of buttermilk. Pour this mixture all-at-once into the flour bowl and immediately begin to work flour from the bowl into the liquid. When the sponge has taken enough flour to stick together transfer it to a floured paper and knead in additional flour until texture is smooth (about 1/2 minute). Pat and roll the dough to 3/8 inch thickness and cut into circles with a drinking glass. Lightly dip each biscuit into melted fat and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in hot oven (450º) 12 to 15 minutes.
Items that were available from the general stores. . . . if you lived close enough. These included salt, spices, sugar, molasses, raisins, fruits, vegetables, cheese, eggs, butter, salted meats, tea, coffee, and chocolate. Canned goods weren't readily available until after the Civil War.
Before Col. Robert Gibbon Johnson dared eat a tomato - or rather a whole basket of tomatoes - in public on September 26, 1830, the delicious "love apple" was regarded as deadly by most Americans. No doubt some people had been poisoned by the plant's foliage, which belongs to the deadly nightshade family and does contain dangerous alkaloids.
When he announced that he would appear on the Salem courthouse steps and eat not one, but an entire basket, public reaction was immediate. His physician declared that "The foolish colonel will foam and froth at the mouth and double over with appendicitis. All that oxalic acid! One dose and you're dead. . . If it is too ripe and warmed by the sun, he'll be exposing himself to brain fever."
Two thousand curious people, including his physician, black bag in hand, came from miles around to watch Colonel Johnson commit certain suicide. He ascended the courthouse steps in his usual black suit at high noon as the local firemen's band played a dirge-like tune. Selecting a tomato from his basket he held it aloft and launched into his spiel: "The time will come when this luscious, scarlet apple, rich in nourishment, a delight to the eye, a joy to the palate . . . .will form the foundation of a great garden industry, and will be recognized, eaten and enjoyed as an edible food. . . and to help speed that enlightened day, to help dispel the tall tales, . . . . . to show you that it is not poisonous, that it will not strike you dead, I am going to eat one right now." As he devoured tomato after tomato, the crowd was amazed to see him still on his feet, hale and hearty. He was finally able to convince the onlookers that the tomato was a safe and civilized food. His efforts turned the tide for the tomato, which began appearing regularly in U.S. markets by 1835.