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Category: Condiments

Making Fruit and Vegetable Relishes

Making Fruit and Vegetable Relishes

Making relish was a good way to preserve fruits and vegetables. Plus it added flavor to a plain meal and was especially welcome in the winter when produce was not in season. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS PICKLINGFoods preserved by pickling are known as either pickles or relishes. While both products are similar in many respects, relishes are distinguished from pickles in that, as a rule, they are made up from more than one kind of fruit or vegetable…

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Season Food with Herbs and Tinctures

Season Food with Herbs and Tinctures

“Many people have the idea that a finely flavored dish must cost a great deal. That is a mistake. If you have untainted meat, or sound vegetables, or even Indian meal [corn meal] to begin with, you can make it delicious with proper seasoning. One reason why French cooking is so much nicer than any other is that it is seasoned with a great variety of herbs and spices, which cost very little. If you would buy a few cents’…

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Make Homemade Flavored Vinegars

Make Homemade Flavored Vinegars

“These vinegars will be found very useful, at times when the articles with which they are flavored cannot be conveniently procured. Care should be taken to have the bottles that contain them accurately labeled, very tightly corked, and kept in a dry place. The vinegar used for these purposes should be of the very best sort.” (quote from an 1800s cookbook) INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS TARRAGON VINEGAR Tarragon should be gathered on a dry day, just before the plant…

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Tasty Sauces for Chicken and Other Poultry

Tasty Sauces for Chicken and Other Poultry

Are you looking for different ways to cook chicken and other poultry?  You might want to try these recipes for poultry sauces from various cookbooks published in the 1800s. The word “poultry” is used for domestic fowls including chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks. “Fowl” is often used the same as poultry but may include game birds. NOTE: Poultry and Fowls are used interchangeably in older recipes. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS CHICKEN SAUCE An anchovy or two boned and chopped,…

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Unusual Catsups – Elderberry, Currant, Cucumber, and more…

Unusual Catsups – Elderberry, Currant, Cucumber, and more…

Old cookbooks used the spellings, “catsup”, “ketchup”, and “catchup” in their recipe titles. For consistency, I used “catsup” for this post. The only catsups I’ve tasted were made from tomatoes. The catsup recipes below are quite interesting and made from what was plentiful during the 1800s. People were sure resourceful and wanted to make their foods interesting and flavorful. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS ELDERBERRY CATSUP1 quart of elderberries1 quart of vinegar6 anchovies, soaked and pulled to pieces 1/2 teaspoon maceA…

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Delicious Ways to Use Mushrooms

Delicious Ways to Use Mushrooms

Mushrooms were a food people could forage for as long as they knew which ones were safe to eat. The flavor helped give variety to their meals.  INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS PICKLED MUSHROOMSTake the small round mushrooms that are pale pink underneath, with white tops, and peel them. Put them in a jar with a little mace, white mustard seed, and salt. Cover them with cold vinegar and tie them close. If you put in black pepper or cloves,…

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How to Make Essences to Flavor Food

How to Make Essences to Flavor Food

Herb, spice, and flower essences sold in stores are usually made by distilling. But the instructions below from 1800s cookbooks say to use alcohol to dissolve the plant oils and resins. Although not mentioned in these old cookbooks, you can also make essences with food grade liquid glycerine, although the process takes longer than using alcohol. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS ON ESSENCES The essences or essential oils sold for general use are, or ought to be, obtained by distillation….

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Homemade Dressing Recipes for Salads

Homemade Dressing Recipes for Salads

Until the early 1900s, dressings for salads were prepared at home, using ingredients that were in season or able to be preserved without refrigeration. Dressing was prepared fresh before each meal unless the household had enough ice to keep it cool. Even with ice, salad dressing could only be kept about a week because there were no chemical preservatives.   INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS SALAD DRESSINGTo one-half cup olive oil, add one teaspoon paprika, one teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, a…

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