1860s Period Foods - Including Good Down Home Eatin'

[Jim Page]

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