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Category: Desserts

How to Make Meringue for Pies and Candy

How to Make Meringue for Pies and Candy

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Meringue for pie or candy is made with egg whites, which have to be whipped enough to make them airy and light. Egg whites were whipped by hand in the 1800s and was a time-consuming chore. Hand-operated rotary egg beaters were introduced around 1860, but didn’t really become popular in the United States until the Dover Stamping Company created their own version. Between 1870 and 1890, Dover made 4 million egg beaters, mostly for family use. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s…

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Rhubarb is an early spring fruit.
Ways to Cook Fresh Rhubarb

Ways to Cook Fresh Rhubarb

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Rhubarb has a sharp, tart taste, but only the stalks are edible; the leaves are poisonous. Rhubarb is usually considered a vegetable, however in 1947, a New York court in the United States ruled that it counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. (Tariffs were higher for vegetables than fruits). RECIPES BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS STEWED RHUBARBWhen rhubarb first comes into season it is small, tender and of a bright red color. When stewed, it makes a…

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Blancmange Dessert
How to Make Blancmange (a Dessert)

How to Make Blancmange (a Dessert)

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Blancmange is a sweet dessert usually made with milk or cream, sugar, and thickened with gelatin, cornstarch, Irish moss or isinglass, and sometimes arrowroot and tapioca. Blancmange is usually set in molds, cups, or wine glasses and chilled before serving. Before commercial gelatin was produced, Irish Moss and isinglass were used. Irish moss is a reddish purple moss found in the Atlantic Ocean coastline, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. And Isinglass is a form of collagen made from the dried fish…

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vintage jell-o box
Gelatine Dessert Recipes

Gelatine Dessert Recipes

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In 1894, Charles Knox saw how much work his wife had to do to make gelatine, and decided to find an easier way. The gelatin he created was made into dried sheets and Knox hired salesmen to show women how to use them. In 1896, his wife, Rose, published Dainty Desserts, a recipe book using Knox gelatin. Then in 1897, Pearle Bixby Wait trademarked a gelatine dessert, called Jell-O. He and his wife added fruit flavoring to granulated gelatin and…

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sweet fritters
Recipes for Sweet Fritters

Recipes for Sweet Fritters

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Even though these recipes are from cookbooks published in the 1800s, they can easily be followed today. If you don’t have access to lard or don’t care to use it, there are many other cooking oils you can use. Fritters can be pan fried or deep fried, and you’ll want to use an oil with a high smoking point (refer to article from “Serious Eats)”. Also, don’t put too many fritters in the oil at once; it’ll lower the temperature…

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molasses poured from a spoon
Making Sweet Treats With Molasses

Making Sweet Treats With Molasses

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Molasses (or black treacle in the U.K.) is a thick, sticky liquid sweetener made from refining sugarcane or sugar beets. I’ve always loved the taste of molasses, even sometimes eating a spoonful from the jar. Of course, I like it in baked goods, too. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS: MOLASSES CANDY Boil molasses over a moderately hot fire, stirring constantly. When you think it is done, drop a little on a plate and if sufficiently boiled, it will be hard. Add a…

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Red ripe apples on tree
A Variety of Ways to Cook Apples

A Variety of Ways to Cook Apples

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Apples were introduced to North America by colonists in the 17th century, (the 1600s). The only apples native to North America are crab apples which were once called “common apples.” Apple trees are large if they are grown from seed, but most apple trees are grafted onto rootstocks, which control the size of the resulting tree. Source INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS NOTE: There were no oven thermometers in the 1800s. Cooks learned how to heat their ovens and how…

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