“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’ worth at a time you would soon have a good assortment.

The best kinds are Sage, Thyme, Sweet Marjoram, Tarragon, Mint, Sweet Basil, Parsley, Bay-leaves, Cloves, Mace, Celery-seed, and Onions.

If you will plant the seed of any of the seven first mentioned in little boxes on your window sill, or in a sunny spot in the yard, you can generally raise all you need. All herbs should be gathered in the sunshine and dried by artificial heat.“ ~ Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six by Juliet Corson, 1878.

INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

DRIED CELERY AND PARSLEY
If you ever use celery, wash the leaves, stalks, roots and trimmings and put them in a cool oven to dry thoroughly. Then grate the root and rub the leaves and stalks through a sieve. Put all into a tightly corked bottle or tin can with close cover. This makes a most delicious seasoning for soups, stews, and stuffing. When you use parsley, save every bit of leaf, stalk or root you do not need and treat them in the same way as the celery. Remember in using parsley, that the root has even a stronger flavor than the leaves and do not waste a bit.

DRIED HERBS
When you buy a bunch of dried herbs, rub the leaves through a sieve and bottle them tightly until you need them;

Or tie the stalks together and save them until you want to make what the French call a bouquet, for a soup or stew. A bouquet of herbs is made by tying together a few sprigs of parsley, thyme and two bay-leaves. The bay-leaves, which have the flavor of laurel, can be bought at any German grocery, or drug-store.

CELERY SALT
If you mix celery root, which has been dried and grated as above, with one fourth its quantity of salt, it makes a nice seasoning and keeps a long time.

SPICE SALT
You can make this very nicely by drying, powdering and mixing by repeated siftings the following ingredients: one-fourth ounce each of powdered thyme, bay-leaf, and pepper; one-eighth ounce each of marjoram and cayenne pepper; and one-half ounce each of powdered clove and nutmeg. To every four ounces of this powder add one ounce of salt and keep the mixture in an air-tight vessel. One ounce of it added to three pounds of stuffing or forcemeat* of any kind makes a delicious seasoning.

*forcemeat – a mixture of ground raw or cooked meat, poultry or fish, mixed with vegetables, bread crumbs and spices or seasonings.

TABLE SAUCE
This makes a nice relish for cold meat. Get at the herb stand a bunch of tarragon. Put it in an earthen bowl and pour on it one pint of scalding hot vinegar. Cover it and let it stand until the next day, then strain it and put it into a bottle which you must cork tight. Either put more hot vinegar on the tarragon or dry it, and save it until you want to make more. You can make a gallon of sauce from one bunch; only every time you use it you must let it stand a day longer.

LEMON AND ORANGE TINCTURE
Never throw away lemon or orange peel. Cut the yellow outside off carefully and put it into a tightly corked bottle with enough alcohol to cover it. Let it stand until the alcohol is a bright yellow, then pour it off, bottle it tight, and use it for flavoring when you make rice pudding. Add lemon and alcohol as often as you have it, and you will always have a nice flavoring.

VANILLA TINCTURE
Make this from a broken Vanilla Bean, just as you would make Lemon Tincture. When you make a plain rice pudding and when you boil rice with sweetening, put a teaspoon of either of these tinctures with it, and it will be very good.

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Do you use a lot of seasonings when you cook? What do you use most?
Please leave a comment below.

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