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Category: Condiments

Fresh green dill, fennel seeds, bottle of spirits to make essence
How to Make Essences to Flavor Food

How to Make Essences to Flavor Food

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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

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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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Mustard in a bowl and a spoon of mustard seed
How to Make Homemade Mustards

How to Make Homemade Mustards

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Mustard was a useful plant in the 1800s; the leaves, seeds and flowers are all edible. Although some grocers sold condiments, especially in the latter part of the century, it was easier and cheaper to make your own. Today mustard seeds are sold whole, ground, or bruised, and most are white, brown or black.  INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS MUSTARDAs all these made mustards contain spices or herbs which lose much of their aroma by exposure to the air, they…

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Summer Harvest
Pickled Tomatoes, Chutney, Mince, Catchup & more

Pickled Tomatoes, Chutney, Mince, Catchup & more

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In the 1800s, people could only eat food in season unless they preserved it. Around 1860, home canning become popular because a tin smith, John L. Mason invented a glass jar with a threaded lip and a reusable metal lid: the Mason Jar. This new canning jar allowed people to safely can fruit, pickles, relishes, and sauces like ketchup. However, canning low-acid vegetables and meat was still too dangerous.  SOURCE INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS PICKLING TOMATOES Scald* and peel a…

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Homemade Curry Powder and Recipes

Homemade Curry Powder and Recipes

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Curry powder recipes and dishes were popular in 1800s cookbooks. Prepared curry powder could be purchased, but making it yourself was considered superior. However, ingredients  were often hard to find at the grocer’s or too expensive. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS CURRIES UNDER VARIOUS NAMES Curries can be made from anything. The ingredients indispensable to all curries is a very pungent powder called turmeric, which has a peculiar flavor of its own.  In India there is always something acid in…

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Fresh Horseradish
Making Horseradish Sauces

Making Horseradish Sauces

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Horseradish is in the same plant family as broccoli, mustard, wasabi, and cabbage.  The horseradish root has hardly any aroma when it’s pulled from the ground, but when it’s cut or grated, it produces an oil which affects the sinuses and eyes. Horseradish was brought to North America during the European colonization. George Washington mentions it in his garden accounts. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS THE HORSERADISH This has been, for many years, a favorite accompaniment of roast beef, and…

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gathering fresh mushrooms
Making Mushroom Ketchup (Catsup)

Making Mushroom Ketchup (Catsup)

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Many recipes from old cookbooks called for mushroom ketchup – especially meat recipes.  I had never heard of mushroom ketchup before and haven’t found it in any health food or specialty food stores. I did discover that the Geo Watkins Company makes Mushroom Ketchup  and you can order it online.   INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS TO MAKE MUSHROOM KETCHUP Look out for mushrooms from the beginning of September. Choose full-grown mushroom-flaps and take care they are perfectly fresh-gathered when the weather…

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Young Black Walnuts on Tree
How to Make Walnut Catsup, Sauce, and Pickle

How to Make Walnut Catsup, Sauce, and Pickle

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Black walnuts should be gathered while very young and tender, so that you may pierce them through with a needle. Make walnut catsup, sauce, or pickle from the beginning to the middle of July, when walnuts are in perfection for these purposes. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS BLACK WALNUT CATSUP Gather them green, prick them with a large needle, and let them lie three days in an earthen pan, sprinkled with a handful of salt, and very little water. Mash…

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