1860s Period Foods - Including Good Down Home Eatin'

[Donna McCreary]

(02-15-2013 11:58 AM)Jim Page Wrote:  Thanks, Betty, for starting this thread! It should be a doozy!

MaddieM wrote in a post in another thread:
>>Perhaps the Hershey's they sell over here is not the same...

I read a history of chocolate and it mentioned speculation that the original Hershey's chocolate was made with outdated milk to save money, which gave it a distinctive flavor. According to this unproven legend, making Hershey's chocolate with outdated milk has continued into our era, as that's the taste Americans expect from their chocolate.

Whether that is true is not for me to say. I like Hershey's milk chocolate. Like Rob W, I'm no fan of dark chocolate, which tastes bitter to me. I also detest Tootsie Rolls.

I love See's chocolate, which I believe is from San Francisco. There was another brand of chocolate I love that I stopped eating when I heard that Jeffrey Dahmer had worked in their mixing plant.

Happily, I later learned that he had worked in another, strictly local, brand's factory and that poor company had to go out of the candy business when word of his employment there caused sales to absolutely plummet!

As for Necco wafers, we used to use those when target plinking when I was a much younger guy and one could shoot firearms in the woods. They didn't leave a mess like bullet-riddled cans and shattered bottles did, and were more of a challenge to hit.

--Jim

As a child, I went to local diary with my elementary school field trip. I remember our tour guide telling us that they used old milk to make chocolate milk and chocolate ice cream. Even as a seven year old kid, those two items were removed from my diet.

Sees Candies are good - but we have Schimpff's Confectionary in Jeffersonville, Indiana. They are a small, family owned business, and they are the oldest single family operated candy store in America. They have created some fantastic candies including turtles, cinnamon candy, and Modjeskas. Almost everything is made in house. They do carry Jelly Belly jelly beans which are not. The store has a 1950's ice cream soda fountain, a small lunch counter, and a candy museum.

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(02-15-2013 11:05 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Thought that I'd start a NEW thread for our interest in Period, Southern and Northern Foods -

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Maddie -

Candies popular in the 1860s were Necco Wafers; referred to as "Peerless Wafers" until after the war. They were popular since 1847

http://www.necco.com/Candy/Wafers/History.aspx

Whitman's Sugar Plums had been popular since 1854

http://www.russellstover.com/jump.jsp?it...itemID=206

Nonpareils (Chocolate wafers with little white sugar sprinkles) have been around since 1844

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonpareils

licorice, peppermint and horehound hard candies were also popular as was taffy and fudge, Turkish delight, rock candy, Peppermint humbugs & peppermint sticks, jelly beans, salt water taffy, and sugared almonds"

http://www.squidoo.com/civil-war-childs-life

A good period cook book, The Complete Confectioner,1800, is available for those who wish to sample period sweets -

http://books.google.com/books?id=A34EAAA...&q&f=false

Another cook book - The Improved Housewife,1851

http://books.google.com/books?id=gptko1Fu_8QC&oe=UTF-8

And a receipt for Molasses Candy:

Lincoln loved a good Molasses Pecan pie.

[L Verge]

I mentioned in an earlier thread The Presidents' Cookbook. It's another gloomy day in Maryland, so I thought I would pass along some of the Lincoln tidbits covered in that book: The authors' remind us of the poor times that the Lincoln family often had in the early years. They include a story from Sandburg's Prairie Years about how potatoes were often the only thing they had for dinner. At one sitting, "...the father spoke a blessing to the Lord for potatoes. The boy [Abe] answered, 'These are mighty poor blessings.'"

Potatoes were also on Abe's mind in 1861, when he visited Delmonico's restaurant in New York shortly before the Civil War began. After dinner, he called the owner over to his table and said, "In my city of Washington there are many mansions, but alas, we have no cooks like yours." One of the dishes had been Delmonico Potatoes, which are very rich with cream, butter, grated cheese, and breadcrumbs.

Truffles today are worth their weight in gold (for a fungus!). However, in Lincoln's early years in Illinois, mushrooms, puffballs, and truffles were commonplace and easily found in the fields and countryside. Truffles were especially abundant around the old oak trees of the territory. The cookbook includes a recipe for Truffles Ragout. (I'll pass)

When I was a teenager, I remember visiting my aunt in Danville, Virginia, and being served what she called Fake Apple Pie. I learned many years later that it was also called Confederate Apple Pie and had been created during the war when Southerners - very accustomed to rich, delicious cooking - suffered severe food shortages. Their wartime pie was created with crackers, water or milk, tartaric acid, sugar, butter, and nutmeg. My aunt's version used Ritz Crackers and vinegar instead of the tartaric acid. Believe it or not, it came very close to tasting like real apple pie! Also, sometimes flour was scarce in the South. Pie crust could be made with boiled potatoes, salt, butter, and water.

Another thing in short supply for Southerners during the war was oysters. Lincoln was lucky - he controlled the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River in Maryland, both wonderful suppliers of these delicacies. Southerners had to mimic fried oysters; and I remember these being a side dish many times at home when I was growing up. Oyster-less Fried Oysters were made with grated, young green corn, a beaten egg, flour, butter, salt and pepper; formed into a patty, and fried until light brown.

One last Punch Line (yes, pun intended), this cookbook includes Mrs. Lincoln's Champagne Punch recipe -- and it looks like it could pack quite a punch (yes, another inteded pun): Several of the First Lady's letters include orders to a New York wine merchant for "a basket of Champagne...the choicest quality you have in the store." She did manage to irritate members of the various temperance groups which were growing in numbers at that time. After one soiree at the White House, the American Temperance Journal commented: "With regard to the President, we had at his election, and have to this day, good reason to suppose that he was and is in principle and practice a decided temperance man. We never endorsed for his better half, but...we supposed that all was right in the family."
Here's the recipe: Chill 3 quarts champagne, 2 quarts sauterne, 3 quart bottle of soda water, and 1 gill (4 ozx.) Curacao. At serving time, place a large chunk of ice in a large punch bowl. Mix the various liquors in another large bowl and pour into the punch bowl. Add fresh strawberries, washed and hulled, raspberries, slices of peaches, and whatever fruit is in season. Makes about 64 4-ounce servings.

I understand from Joe Beckert that he will be making this in his hotel room on Saturday night after Erik's presentation...

[J. Beckert]

What?!?! I can barely make scrambled eggs!!! You don't want to taste anything I cook up. Ask my kids. All are welcome to stop up for some Yankee cheese and Yuenglings, however.

[L Verge]

Well, that certainly woke you up for the day!!! I will agree that you Yankees make some wonderful cheese, however.

[Jim Page]

Laurie, we used to call that Ritz apple pie a Mock Apple Pie. The recipe was on the cracker box for years. Once someone brought one to a covered-dish supper I attended and I couldn't tell it wasn't an apple pie, at least from the taste.

Donna, I'd love to visit Schimpff's Confectionary in Jeffersonville, Indiana! Sounds amazing! There used to be a candy shop in Baltimore that my boss would stop at after meetings up there. One thing I loved buying were the candy fruit slices. They're still one of my all-time favorites; they're beautiful to look at as well as delicious.

--Jim

[MaddieM]

(02-15-2013 05:56 PM)Jim Page Wrote:  Maddie, I wish I could remember the brand, but I was reading a British mystery several months ago and they described some brand of chocolate in such mouth-watering detail that I went to a couple of stores trying to find some. No luck!

I settled for a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk and a bar of Gharadelli's Milk & Caramel to get me through the weekend.

I was bouncing off the walls after all that!

--Jim

Cadbury's is an ancient stalwart in the UK...but it's sickly sweet and gives me a raging thirst. I only ever buy my chocolate from Hotel Chocolat now.

http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/?gclid=CM...tAodbxQAsg

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(02-16-2013 12:09 PM)Donna McCreary Wrote:  

(02-15-2013 11:58 AM)Jim Page Wrote:  Thanks, Betty, for starting this thread! It should be a doozy!

MaddieM wrote in a post in another thread:
>>Perhaps the Hershey's they sell over here is not the same...

I read a history of chocolate and it mentioned speculation that the original Hershey's chocolate was made with outdated milk to save money, which gave it a distinctive flavor. According to this unproven legend, making Hershey's chocolate with outdated milk has continued into our era, as that's the taste Americans expect from their chocolate.

Whether that is true is not for me to say. I like Hershey's milk chocolate. Like Rob W, I'm no fan of dark chocolate, which tastes bitter to me. I also detest Tootsie Rolls.

I love See's chocolate, which I believe is from San Francisco. There was another brand of chocolate I love that I stopped eating when I heard that Jeffrey Dahmer had worked in their mixing plant.

Happily, I later learned that he had worked in another, strictly local, brand's factory and that poor company had to go out of the candy business when word of his employment there caused sales to absolutely plummet!

As for Necco wafers, we used to use those when target plinking when I was a much younger guy and one could shoot firearms in the woods. They didn't leave a mess like bullet-riddled cans and shattered bottles did, and were more of a challenge to hit.

--Jim

As a child, I went to local diary with my elementary school field trip. I remember our tour guide telling us that they used old milk to make chocolate milk and chocolate ice cream. Even as a seven year old kid, those two items were removed from my diet.

Sees Candies are good - but we have Schimpff's Confectionary in Jeffersonville, Indiana. They are a small, family owned business, and they are the oldest single family operated candy store in America. They have created some fantastic candies including turtles, cinnamon candy, and Modjeskas. Almost everything is made in house. They do carry Jelly Belly jelly beans which are not. The store has a 1950's ice cream soda fountain, a small lunch counter, and a candy museum.

---

(02-15-2013 11:05 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Thought that I'd start a NEW thread for our interest in Period, Southern and Northern Foods -

---

Maddie -

Candies popular in the 1860s were Necco Wafers; referred to as "Peerless Wafers" until after the war. They were popular since 1847

http://www.necco.com/Candy/Wafers/History.aspx

Whitman's Sugar Plums had been popular since 1854

http://www.russellstover.com/jump.jsp?it...itemID=206

Nonpareils (Chocolate wafers with little white sugar sprinkles) have been around since 1844

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonpareils

licorice, peppermint and horehound hard candies were also popular as was taffy and fudge, Turkish delight, rock candy, Peppermint humbugs & peppermint sticks, jelly beans, salt water taffy, and sugared almonds"

http://www.squidoo.com/civil-war-childs-life

A good period cook book, The Complete Confectioner,1800, is available for those who wish to sample period sweets -

http://books.google.com/books?id=A34EAAA...&q&f=false

Another cook book - The Improved Housewife,1851

http://books.google.com/books?id=gptko1Fu_8QC&oe=UTF-8

And a receipt for Molasses Candy:

Lincoln loved a good Molasses Pecan pie.

Nom Nom

[Donna McCreary]

Schimpff's Confectionary has a web site, and they ship! Due to the hot humid days of summer, they only ship chocolates in the winter months. But yes, Jim, if given an opportunity, come visit. Watching them make candy is fun, and if you watch the demonstration until the end, there are samples! It is so much fun to walk down the street and suddenly smell peanut brittle.

Laurie, often when I speak at events, food is served and recipes from "Lincoln's Table" are prepared. I have had my fair share of Mrs. Lincoln's Champagne Punch, and for a non-drinker like myself, it packs its own punch. Everyone always includes the fruit, but sometimes (especially at historic sites) edible flowers are added. As they float on top, they make a colorful presentation. My favorite are borage petals.

I have always taken issue with Sandburg's story about the potatoes. Growing up in rural Southern Indiana myself, it is difficult to believe there was nothing to eat except potatoes. The Lincoln's had animals on their farm, and Thomas was known to grow a variety of crops. To my knowledge, there is no historical documentation of a year where crops failed. I think Sandburg mingled stories of the poor Irish immigrants with stories of a poor Hoosier boy.

[Jim Page]

MaddieM wrote:
>>Cadbury's is . . . sickly sweet and gives me a raging thirst . . .

Maddie, if you think that Cadbury's is sweet, wait until our Southern Food shipment arrives. Once you eat a Stuckey's Pecan Roll, you'll know what sickly sweet really is! You'll drink an ocean after one of those!

--Jim

[MaddieM]

(02-16-2013 08:11 PM)Jim Page Wrote:  MaddieM wrote:
>>Cadbury's is . . . sickly sweet and gives me a raging thirst . . .

Maddie, if you think that Cadbury's is sweet, wait until our Southern Food shipment arrives. Once you eat a Stuckey's Pecan Roll, you'll know what sickly sweet really is! You'll drink an ocean after one of those!

--Jim

I'll keep a lookout. We have those Hershey peanut bar thingies. I quite like those.

[L Verge]

For centuries, sugar cane was a staple in southern areas of the U.S. and on coastal islands. It was as good a crop to produce as cotton or tobacco. Maybe that's why we love our "sweets" so sweet.

Betty and I live for Easter because we can get an abundance of Cadbury eggs. To my taste, they are not all that sweet. If I had to choose the sweetest sweet of all the candies I have sampled, it would be a toss-up between South Carolina or Georgia pralines and Velatis caramels that I mentioned earlier.

P.S. Bringing sweet into human terms (and this is intended to make him blush), Roger Norton, our forum guru, is absolutely one of the sweetest, kindest, and understanding individuals I have ever known. That's my post-Valentine sentiment to him because I missed sending it two days ago.

[Dawn E Foster]

(02-16-2013 10:08 PM)L Verge Wrote:  P.S. Bringing sweet into human terms (and this is intended to make him blush), Roger Norton, our forum guru, is absolutely one of the sweetest, kindest, and understanding individuals I have ever known. That's my post-Valentine sentiment to him because I missed sending it two days ago.

Yes!!!

[J. Beckert]

(02-16-2013 11:58 PM)Dawn E Foster Wrote:  

(02-16-2013 10:08 PM)L Verge Wrote:  P.S. Bringing sweet into human terms (and this is intended to make him blush), Roger Norton, our forum guru, is absolutely one of the sweetest, kindest, and understanding individuals I have ever known. That's my post-Valentine sentiment to him because I missed sending it two days ago.

Yes!!!

Don't forget his handle as "The Politest Man on the Internet". You're a gem, Roger.

[Jim Page]

(02-16-2013 10:08 PM)L Verge Wrote:  For centuries, sugar cane was a staple in southern areas of the U.S. and on coastal islands.

While living in Louisiana for a while as a kid, we'd go into the sugar cane fields and swipe a stalk, whittle off the outer portion, and chew bite-size chunks of it. Very refreshing.

Only thing marring this pleasant memory are the recollection of all the snakes that infested the cane fields down there. Rattlesnakes and cottonmouth water moccasins were the ones I was most afraid of, and there were plenty. Once a year they'd burn the fields to kill the rats and snakes but I don't know how effective that was.

--Jim

[L Verge]

I remembered enjoying touring vineyards years ago until I was told to watch out for snakes and mice. The mice run up the vines to get to the fruit, and the snakes wiggle up the vines and remain there waiting for the mice. I cannot stand snakes of any species!

[BettyO]

I'm an animal lover (as most of you know!) and I can't bear the thought of any living creature suffering (this includes snakes and mice) - I pray that they just scamper away when the fields are burnt!