Home canning wasn’t popular until the Mason jar was invented in 1858. It had a screw-on threaded rim and metal lid with a rubber seal. Now, rather than relying on the traditional method of pickling or salting food and storing it in large stone crocks, food could be canned and in smaller quantities. PLEASE NOTE: if any of the recipes below sound interesting, use a modern cookbook for canning directions. The instructions below are a bit vague and may not…
I usually think of dumplings as an addition to soup, but fruit dumplings make a delicious dessert. Although dumplings can be baked (usually apple dumplings), these recipes are for boiled dumplings. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS ORANGE DUMPLINGSMix two cups prepared flour, two eggs, two teaspoons butter, one tablespoon sugar and one cup water into a thick batter. Pare three nice oranges and cut them into small pieces. Remove the pits and all the skin, so that there is…
Home refrigerators that held a block of ice were available in the 1800s, but they were small and didn’t hold much food. Electric refrigerators were introduced around 1913, but were quite expensive and only the rich owned one. They became a little more common in the 1920s, with more being sold in the 1930s, but even then, not everyone had one. My grandparents lived on a small farm in Illinois and didn’t even get electricity until 1950. So until electric…
During the 1800s, oranges were a seasonal crop and not available year-round. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS:Oranges may be kept fresh for weeks by placing them in a vessel of cold water in a very cool cellar or ice house. Change the water every day. The usual method employed by growers for keeping these fruits is to wrap each one separately in tissue paper, and put in a cool, dry place. Another way ~~ Dry and bake some clean sand…
Rhubarb has a sharp, tart taste, but only the stalks are edible; the leaves are poisonous. Rhubarb is usually considered a vegetable, but 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 COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS STEWED RHUBARBWhen rhubarb first comes into season it is small, tender and of a bright red color. When stewed, it…
In the 1800s, most fruits were only eaten while in season unless they were canned or dried. Fresh bananas and oranges were often shipped long distances, but not other fruits. 1800s cookbooks never mention eating dried fruit as a snack, like we do today. Instead, dried fruit was mostly used to flavor bread or desserts. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS VARIETIES OF DRIED FRUITS There are a number of fruits that are dried before they are put on the…
People who lived during the 1800s ate fresh fruit in season, but they needed ways to preserve fruit for other times. Apricots, nectarines and large plums were also preserved in the same ways as peaches. There are two types of peaches; freestone and clingstone and several varieties within each type. Freestone peaches are easy to eat out of hand, since the pit (stone) easily pulls away from the fruit once you bite or cut into the peach. The flesh of…
Traditional mincemeat contained meat, fresh fruit (mostly apples), dried fruits such as raisins and currents, spices, and alcohol, which helped preserve it. Mock mincemeat has no meat, but some of the recipes include suet, which is beef or sheep fat. If you are a vegetarian, perhaps you could substitute a vegetable fat if you wanted to try one of these recipes. Click on this link if you’d like to read the post on making traditional mincemeat. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s…