Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick
Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."
Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.
A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."
[snipped]
She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Print faster.
It is permitted for me to laugh, with my boxes of printed pages, I dare not connect the printer, or I would want more.
Can you imagine how dangerous it was to turn me loose on the internet with a connected printer.
When I could count 50,000 pages, I quit printing.
# 8.
Hungry Haitians riot over food prices Open this result in new window
The Kansas City Star - Apr 07 8:30 PM
Hungry Haitians stormed the presidential palace Tuesday, throwing rocks and demanding the resignation of President Rene Preval over soaring food prices. Overwhelmed guards struggled to hold back the crowd until U.N. peacekeepers came to their rescue, firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
# 9.
Starving Haitians riot as food prices soar Open this result in new window
Independent - 1 hour, 37 minutes ago
Demonstrators have tried to storm the presidential palace in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, as protests over hunger and rising food prices spread across the developing world.
# 10.
Egyptians Riot Over High Prices Open this result in new window
13 WMAZ Macon - Apr 09 3:51 AM
Egypt is moving to calm a northern industrial city after two days of deadly riots over high food prices and low wages.
News Stories for increased food prices
(Results 1 - 10 of about 6,276)
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* 1.
UN Wants Urgent Action On Spiralling Food Prices Open this result in new window
Scoop.co.nz - 2 hours, 50 minutes ago
9 April 2008 - Warning that soaring food prices could lead to increased poverty and unrest, several senior United Nations officials have called for urgent measures to tackle the global crisis, which threatens to hit the world’s poor the hardest.
* 2.
Britain wants G8 to discuss biofuel link to food prices: report
Britain wants G8 to discuss biofuel link to food prices: report Open this result in new window
AFP via Yahoo! News - 8 minutes ago
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written to his Japanese counterpart asking for the impact of biofuel-production on food prices to be discussed at the Group of Eight rich nations summit in July, The Guardian reported Thursday.
* 3.
From rice in Peru to miso in Japan, food prices are rising Open this result in new window
AG Weekly - Apr 09 10:24 AM
MEXICO CITY — If you’re seeing your grocery bill go up, you’re not alone. From subsistence farmers eating rice in Ecuador to gourmets feasting on escargot in France, consumers worldwide face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of conditions. Freak weather is a factor.
* 4.
Kikwete, left, said that food security and oil prices were major issues for Africa and India [Reuters] Open this result in new window
Aljazeera - Apr 09 9:59 AM
African leaders have identified high oil prices, food security and climate change as top concerns in a joint declaration at the first-ever Afro-Indo summit on trade and investment.
* 5.
Brown calls on G8 leaders, IMF, World Bank to tackle rising food prices Open this result in new window
Sharewatch - 1 hour, 53 minutes ago
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written to his G8 counterparts, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank calling for a co-ordinated response to the effect rising food prices are having on developing nations.
* 6.
Africa: Urgent Measures Required to Reduce Impact of High Food Prices On the Poor Open this result in new window
AllAfrica.com - Apr 09 10:04 AM
Urgent measures are needed to ensure that short-term adverse effects of higher food prices do not impact even more alarmingly on the very poor, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said today.
* 7.
Angry Food Riots Are the New Face of Hunger Open this result in new window
Environment News Service - 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates , April 9, 2008 (ENS) - Warning that spiralling food prices are leading to increased poverty and unrest, several senior United Nations officials are calling for urgent measures to tackle the global crisis, which is causing the most suffering among the world’s poor.
* 8.
El Pasoans scrimp as food prices jump Open this result in new window
El Paso Times - Apr 07 11:00 AM
If you’ve bought a dozen eggs or a gallon of milk lately, it will be no surprise that food prices increased last year at the highest rate in 17 years.
* 9.
US shoppers scrimp as food prices rise Open this result in new window
Times of Malta - Apr 08 11:55 PM
A mother and her daughter shop at a Wal-Mart store in Santa Clarita, California. Patricia Norris’ family is feeling the one-two punch of higher fuel and food prices.
* 10.
Protests over food prices paralyze Haitian capital Open this result in new window
Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News - Apr 08 11:27 AM
Haitians erected flaming barricades and tried to storm the National Palace on Tuesday as protests against rising food prices, which have killed five people, paralyzed the impoverished nation’s capital.
News Stories for prices rise in U.S.
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* 1.
As prices rise, U.S. farmers abandon conservation Open this result in new window
International Herald Tribune - Apr 09 4:25 AM
Thousands of U.S. farmers are pulling their fields out of the government’s biggest conservation program, spurning guaranteed annual payments for a chance to cash in on the boom in wheat, soybeans, corn and other crops.
* 2.
Oil prices near $109 in Asian trade ahead of U.S. stockpiles report Open this result in new window
Sharewatch - Apr 08 8:57 PM
SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Oil prices rose toward $109 in Asian trading on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. government’s weekly energy stockpiles report due later in the day.
* 3.
Commodities Rise Most in 2 Weeks; Oil, Fuel, Corn Hit Records Open this result in new window
Bloomberg.com - 47 minutes ago
April 9 (Bloomberg) — Commodities jumped the most in two weeks as crude oil, gasoline and corn surged to records following U.S. government reports signaling demand for energy and grain is still outpacing supplies.
* 4.
U.S. stocks rise as WaMu cash report spurs financials Open this result in new window
MarketWatch via Yahoo! Finance - Apr 07 10:31 AM
U.S. stocks extend early gains, with financial shares leading the way on reports of a $5 billion injection for Washington Mutual, and the energy sector rallying on rising crude-oil prices.
* 5.
Cotton prices set to rise: ICAC Open this result in new window
Express India - Apr 08 2:15 PM
The cotton prices in the global market is likely to rise due to the gap between the demand and supply and competing crops like soyabeans, corn, wheat and oilseeds, the U S based International Cotton Advisory Committee said.
* 6.
Asian Stocks Rise in U.S. Trading, Led by BHP, Commodity Shares Open this result in new window
Bloomberg.com - Apr 07 2:28 PM
April 7 (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks advanced in U.S. trading as rising oil and metal prices boosted commodity shares including BHP Billiton. Posco, Asia’s third-biggest steelmaker, fell after agreeing to a tripling in the price it pays for coking coal.
* 7.
Wheat Prices Going Up Open this result in new window
KPVI 6 Pocatello - 30 minutes ago
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration - gas prices here in the rocky mountain region climbed six cents since the end of March. Totaling $3 dollars and 57 cents per gallon of self serve
* 8.
U.S. gasoline prices could hit $4 a gallon this summer; about $1.05 a litre Open this result in new window
Canadian Business - Apr 08 9:04 AM
John Wilen, The Associated Press April 8, 2008 - 11:59 a.m. NEW YORK - The U.S. Energy Department says the retail price for gasoline could hit $4 for an American gallon this summer.
* 9.
U.S. gasoline price slips from record Open this result in new window
Toronto Star - Apr 09 1:47 AM
NEW YORK–Retail gasoline prices in the United States fell slightly from record levels yesterday, but a new government forecast said gas could reach as high as $4 (U.S.) an American gallon during the summer driving season.
* 10.
U.S. gas prices could hit $4/gallon this summer Open this result in new window
Autonet.ca - Apr 08 1:18 PM
NEW YORK - The U.S. Energy Department says the retail price for gasoline could hit $4 for an American gallon this summer. But the department says the price, just above the equivalent of $1.05 a litre, will likely be high enough to make many Americans think twice about hitting the road this summer.
News Stories for food shortage in U.S.
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* 1.
MCOT English News : U.S. to export rice to Philippines Open this result in new window
MCOT - English News By Thai News Agency - Apr 09 7:34 AM
MANILA, April 9 (Xinhua) — The United States will export rice to Manila, U.S. ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney said on Wednesday, amid fears of a looming food crisis in the archipelago.
* 2.
U.S. losing bees and beekeepers Open this result in new window
USA Today - Apr 09 8:14 AM
The number of bees is on the decline across the USA, and there’s also a shortage of beekeepers.
* 3.
Liberia: GOL, ADA Sign U.S.$30 Million Agreement Open this result in new window
AllAfrica.com - Apr 09 9:34 AM
Weeks following the pronouncement of several western countries that they may not export rice, Liberia’s staple food in to the country, a Liberian company, the Foundation For African Development Aid Commercial (ADA) has signed a US$30 million Concession Agreement for the production of rice.
* 4.
Food-crunch ‘fix’ won’t work Open this result in new window
MSN Money Canada - Apr 08 12:36 PM
The answer to the world’s food-supply squeeze isn’t to ban or curtail exports (though that’s being tried). The short-term solution lies in seed and fertilizer. Investors, take note.
* 5.
Bakers, millers want government action to help domestic wheat shortage Open this result in new window
The Prairie Star - Apr 09 10:50 AM
THREE FORKS, Mont. - As the majority of the nation’s bakers and millers look for congressional assistance to ensure future domestic wheat supply, those at Wheat Montana look to Mother Nature for a good crop year.
* 6.
I don’t know the answer, but I DO KNOW THE QUESTION: Is there a limit to economic growth? Open this result in new window
ZDNet - Apr 08 4:18 PM
It’s considered unfair, racist, unimaginative, luddite or worse to question how many millions of people this planet can support at the average GDP of Europe, or more resource-costly, the U.S. Here’s a column from Australia that delves into this morally frought territory, pointing out the rapid economic rise of...
* 7.
Of food and fuel Open this result in new window
York News-Times - Apr 07 5:03 PM
Americans currently face numerous economic challenges. Families across our nation must deal with ever increasing prices on necessities Ð health care, energy, and durable goods. But the rising cost of food is one of the most serious burdens affecting all segments of our population.
* 8.
Manufacturers seek McGovern’s aid Open this result in new window
Worcester Telegram & Gazette - Apr 08 1:53 AM
CLINTON - The cost of health insurance and energy, along with a lack of well-trained and qualified technical workers, were key concerns raised by manufacturers yesterday at a roundtable discussion at Nypro Inc. with U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern.
* 9.
Archives Open this result in new window
The Daily Tar Heel - Apr 08 11:24 PM
William Lawson isn’t crazy about ethanol, and neither are we. Lawson, a Republican candidate in our own 4th Congressional District, is blaming America’s ethanol policies for contributing to the rise in food costs, a concern he has made a key part of his campaign.
* 10.
Iranian sells kebabs in polar bear country Open this result in new window
Cape Cod Times - Apr 08 11:01 PM
Denied asylum in Norway, Kazem Ariaiwand makes Iranian food in a frozen outpost where neither visa nor citizenship is required.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999147/posts
The Biggest Green Mistake - Biofuels and the global food crisis
Reason ^ | April 8, 2008 | Ronald Bailey
Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 1:40:45 PM by neverdem
In the last year, the price of wheat has tripled, corn doubled, and rice almost doubled. As prices soared, food riots have broken out in about 20 poor countries including Yemen, Haiti, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, and Mexico. In response some countries, such as India, Pakistan Egypt and Vietnam, are banning the export of grains and imposing food price controls.
What do you get when you work your fingers to the bone???
Bony Fingers!
And I bet your fingers are starting to get pretty Bony!!!
Dang! Granny! Don't keep typing if your fingers start bleeding!!!
Now, speaking of printing... Have you found a recipe for Printer Ink yet?
LOL!
When you do, You gonna be one rich Granny!
All of what your doing is going to eventually go to CD! It's the only way I'm going to be able to keep all of it together! Much for me to learn there!
Went to town today. Stopped at WalMart, they had one breadmaker, a sunbeam that was $43 dollars...didn't like the look of it, so still slowly pricing and comparing!
I hope your still getting your naps with all this work!
It is the brown anti septic that when you came into my ER that we would lavish on your lacerations, punctures, prior to scrubbing the wound out and suturing (stiches). Not for those allergic to iodine!
Great stuff... though a tad expensive, it can be bought OTC.
It's equal, drop for drop to %1 iodine, without the burn. Not for internal use of course!
No medkit should be without it!
Now is the time for ALL of us to make sure the family is up on their Tetanus shots (and all other immunizations). 'Ol Lockjaw (tetanus) is a deadly, nasty disease, that one shot should be good for 5-7 years. Though I hear that may be outdated... (geez, I last worked ER in '79, so MANY things I knew may not be so now!)
Another thing you should have around is Adolph's meat tenderizer... It contains "Papaine" which comes from the papaya fruit. We used it to quickly bring down the swelling from insect bites etc. Just add a little water to it and make a paste, and slosh it on the bite(s)... Works Great!
Eyewitness: Haiti food protests
Portuguese telecoms engineer Tarun Pinto was in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, when protests by hungry crowds about rising food prices turned violent.
The protests actually started on Monday.
But Tuesday was when the protests really escalated. I noticed no activity on the streets. There is normally a little market, cars - there was nothing, just the occasional motorcycle. People were protesting about massive hikes in the price of food.
There was a general atmosphere of disorganisation, I saw people running in panic all over the place. They seemed to be running away from the main crowd. We didn’t really know what was going on.
It was only later in the day that we were told by our security people that we had to leave everything because the main protest was going to pass us. They were coming up our street of our office building and might have guns.
‘Set ablaze’
We went to the bottom floor to a windowless room and I realised that the crowd was throwing stones and bottles at our building. They were banging on the gates and I could see that our security guards were running about everywhere.
I managed to sneak out and I saw the protesters straggling at the end of the crowds. They started throwing projectiles at us. I had the feeling they were throwing things at any building that represented commercialisation as opposed to just targeting foreigners.
Our security guys told us that all the cars that were parked on the streets surrounding the building were totally destroyed or set ablaze or both.
They also told us that a couple of guys had been bashed in by rocks. I was not able to verify any of this, except for a couple of wrecked cars that we saw on the way back to the apartment. One does see wrecked cars in Haiti so I couldn’t be sure.
You can see the poverty in Haiti. It’s really obvious. When I first arrived in Haiti during the elections of 2007, I noticed the lack of trees here. Every hill seems to have been stripped bare down to its surface and trees seem to have been replaced by shanty towns.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7339113.stm
Published: 2008/04/09 15:20:54 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Is India facing a food crisis?
By Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Indian economy analyst
Is India, the world’s second most populous nation, facing a food crisis?
This question is vexing policy makers and analysts alike even as creeping inflation - around 7% now - is sending jitters through the Congress party-led ruling coalition.
To be sure, India has not yet experienced riots over rising food prices that have hit other countries like Zimbabwe or Argentina.
But what is worrying everybody is that the current rise in inflation is driven by high food prices.
In the capital, Delhi, milk costs 11% more than last year. Edible oil prices have climbed by a whopping 40% over the same period.
More crucially, rice prices have risen by 20% and prices of certain lentils by 18%. Rice and lentils comprise the staple diet for many Indians.
Tax on the poor
Inflation, economists say, is akin to a tax on the poor since food accounts for a relatively high proportion of their expenses.
All of which is bad news for ruling politicians because the poor in India vote in much larger numbers than the affluent.
Roughly one out of four Indians lives on less than $1 a day and three out of four earn $2 or less.
The rise in food prices, the government says, is an international phenomenon.
But this argument is unlikely to cut much ice with the people.
At the crux of the crisis is the tardy pace at which farm output has been growing in recent years.
The Indian economy has been growing rapidly at an average of 8.5% over the last five years.
This growth has been mainly confined to manufacturing industry and the burgeoning services sector.
Agriculture, on the other hand, has grown by barely 2.5% over the last five years and the trend rate of growth is even lower if the past decade and a half is considered.
Consequently, per capita output of cereals (wheat and rice) at present is more or less at the level that prevailed in the 1970s.
The problem acquires a serious dimension since farming provides livelihood to around 60% of India’s 1.1 billion people even though farm produce comprises only 18% of the country’s current gross domestic product (GDP).
On the other hand, the services sector - that includes the fast-growing computer software and business process outsourcing industries - constitutes over 55% of GDP with the remainder being taken up by industry.
The crisis in farms is exemplified by the state of the country’s cereal stocks.
Vulnerable farmers
Six years ago, the stocks were at record levels.
Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen had said if all the bags of wheat and rice with the state-owned Food Corporation of India were placed end to end, they would go all the way to the moon and back.
Stocks have come down over the past three years because of low production and exports.
The problem has been compounded by the fact that whenever India has imported wheat in recent months, world prices of wheat have shot up.
There is also considerable resentment over the fact that the price of wheat that the government imports is often twice as high as the minimum price the government pay its own farmers for domestically grown wheat.
Indian farmers are particularly vulnerable since 60% per cent of the country’s total cropped area is not irrigated.
They are also dependent on the four-month-long monsoon during which period 80% of the year’s total rainfall takes place.
The crisis in agriculture has been manifest in the growing incidence of farmers taking their own lives.
At least 10,000 farmers have committed suicide each year over the last decade because of their inability of repay loans taken at usurious rates of interest from local moneylenders.
Populist moves
There has never been an acute shortage of food in India, not even during the infamous famine in Bengal in 1943 in which more than 1.5 million people are estimated to have died of starvation.
The problem then - and now - is entitlement or access to food at affordable prices.
Given the low purchasing power of India’s poor, even a small increase in food prices contributes to a sharp fall in real incomes.
The current crisis in Indian agriculture is a consequence of many factors - low rise in farm productivity, unremunerative prices for cultivators, poor food storage facilities resulting in high levels of wastage.
Fragmentation of land holdings and a fall in public investments in rural areas, especially in irrigation facilities, are also to blame.
The government has announced a $15bn waiver of farmer loans and extended a jobs scheme - ensuring 100 days of work in a year entailing manual labour to every family demanding such work at the official minimum wage - to all over the country.
None of these populist initiatives will really work until India’s rulers begin giving its ignored farms the importance they deserve.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7327858.stm
Published: 2008/04/07 06:53:40 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Assam probe into mushroom deaths
By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta
An enquiry has been set up into the deaths of more than 20 people who ate mushrooms in India’s north-eastern state of Assam, officials say.
The state government has asked scientists to look into the deaths, which have triggered panic and confusion in parts of Assam.
Assam Agriculture Minister Pramilla Rani Brahma has set up an investigative panel into the deaths.
It will be led by Assam Agriculture University Vice Chancellor SS Baghel.
Scientists at the university say that the mushrooms consumed by affected people in the eastern Golaghat district were of a highly poisonous variety called Amanita Phalloides Vaill.
“AAU scientists have said that this particular mushroom variety that is very poisonous grows and flourishes under the season’s first showers,” said Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Admitted to hospitals
On Monday, a three-year-old girl died after eating mushrooms in eastern Tinsukia district.
Five other members of the family have been admitted to a specialist hospital in the area.
So far, around 50 people are being treated at various hospitals in the state.
Local media reports said those affected had eaten mushrooms grown in the wild and were extremely poor people who lack other food.
The state government, however, has denied such reports.
“We are sure poverty is not the reason for those people to consume mushrooms, because the areas from where such cases are reported grow vegetables in abundance,” Mr Biswa Sarma said.
“But we have called for a socio-economic survey of the affected people.”
The mushroom deaths have been mostly reported from Sibsagar, Golaghat and Jorhat districts in eastern Assam.
More than 25 people fell ill after consuming mushrooms in Golaghat and neighbouring Jorhat districts early last week.
Sixteen were admitted to different hospitals, and 12 of them died by late on Friday evening. “We have asked the officials in the respective districts to collect samples of mushroom in and around the villages, where deaths have so far been reported from,” said Mr Biswa Sarma.
“The samples will be sent to labs for tests.”
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7339207.stm
Published: 2008/04/09 17:42:35 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
LOL, you can bet that I do not have fat fingers.........
You asked for ink recipes..........
Let me know which one works for you.........please.
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/2036/ink.html
The Ink Compendium
copyright 1998, E. Boucher
We’ll likely never know exactly when mankind began using inks for expressing ideas. Nor is it likely that we can guess what, if any, pictorial communication was used prior to the first human impressing a sooted hand upon a cave wall. The history of writing itself becomes a bit more clear with the arrival of the first cuniform tablets. By the time we get to our period of interest, however, we have individuals not only making ink, but writing the process down for posterity.
Ink, the word, derives from incausium, refering to the product’s ability to “burn into” the writing surface. Different types of ink will have different abilities to sink or soak into the writing surface; too, different surfaces will allow penetration of some types of ink, while repelling other types of inks. For instance, gum-based inks do well on a porous sufface, such as papyrus; on a hard, parchment-type of surface, gallic inks do better.
Here are some ink recipes, most from various pre-1600 sources. Read them over, compare them, chose some to try. As you study these recipes, you will note that many are similar. Enjoy your experiments, and have fun!
{NOTE: The following links are hosted at other sites; please use your back key to return here.}
A traditional ink of black walnuts here.
The ink from Theophilis: click here. Also two traditional inks.
The ink from a Persian Scribe. Also some very good advice on the process and a couple of modern ink recipes.
Elsewhere on this site, I have ink recipes online as part of other articles. Click here for two recipes from the sixteenth century Booke of Secrets and note the first three entries in the file here to find three recipes from another sixteenth century book, The Arte of Limming. Remember to use your browser’s back function to return to this article.
Here is the recipe from The Göttingen Model Book:
The smoke black is best for illuminating. You shall soak it for fourteen days and every day pour off the water and pour pure well water over it; and you shall grind it well with with gum water and temper it therewith, not too strong, that it flows wll from the pen....
This ink was primarily of use in illuminating; paper, sufficiently porous for a gum-based ink such as this, was not generally in use for books at the time the Model Book was written. Gallate inks, however, didn’t perform well when used to outline gold or as part of a painted piece. The componants of the ink are very simple; lamp black, made by collecting the soot from a burning candle, and gum arabic dissolved in water. This carbon-based ink is still the basis upon which modern stick inks are made.
A recipe from 1540, with modern measurements defined:
Soak 3 oz. galls coarsely crushed in 1 5/8 pints rainwater. Leave in the sun 1 or 2 days. Add 2 oz. copperas, finely crushed, stir well with a fig stick. Leave in the sun 1 or 2 days. Add 1 oz. gum arabic and leave 1 day in the sun.
Here we have an ink base of both iron-gall and gum, combining the best of both worlds—perhaps.
Another two inks (an iron-gall and gum ink, and a gall and size ink) comes from the Strasburg Manuscript, written sometime in the 15th century.
If you want black ink, good for writing letters, take two parts oak apples, one part vitrol of iron, and the fourth part gum arabic. If you want the ink to be exceptionally black, add one fifth part more of liquid vitrol. All of these must be ground up into a fine powder and this must be put into a cooking pot with some lourinden water with it. This must be allowed to cook as long as you would boil fish and must not boil over. Add to it a small glass of vinegar and take the ink off the fire and stir it until it is cold, for if you let a skin form on it, it will be no good... If you want to make an ink out of oak apples, take as much of the cores as would equal two hens eggs and 1/2 mos of wine and a zekel of parchment clippings and boil them up in a glazed pot till well dissolved, then take the size of a walnut of atramentum and heat this over a fire, crush it in a bowl and throw it into the ink and stir it together, taking care that it does not boil over. When it is cooked enough, go on stirring it until it is cold and it will be good for painting.
From The Secretes of the Reverende Maister Alexis of Piemount, ANNO 1558, Reprinted in 1975 by Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd., Amsterdam: ISBN 90 221 0707 8
To Make ynke, or a colour to wryte with, in a verye good perfection.
Take good Galles, and breake theim in three or foure pieces, that is to say, stampethem slightly, and put them in a fryinge panne, or some other yron panne, with a litle Oyle, frieng them a litle, then take a pounde of them, and put it in some vessel leaded, pouringe into it as muche white wine as wyll cover it over, more then a good hand breadth. After, take a pounde of Gomme Arabick, well stramped, and eyghte onces of Vitriole well made in poulder: myre all well together and set in the sunne certaine dayes, stering it as often as you may: then boyle it a litle if you se that you have neede, and after straine it, and it will be perfecte. And upon the lees that shall remayne in the bottome, you maye poure other wine, and boyle it a little, and strain it. You may put wine upon the same lees as often as you will: that is to say, until you se y the wine whiche you put in, will straine or be coloured no more. Then, mingle al the saied wine, wherinto you shal put other galles, gomme and vitriole as at the beginning then keping it in the Sunne, you shal have a better inck than the fyrste, and do so every day, for the oftener you do it, the better you shall have it, and with lesse coste.
And if you finde it to thicke, or that it be not flowinge ynough, put to it a lyttle cleare lie, whiche will meke it liquide and thinne inoughe. If it be to cleare, adde to it a little gomme Arabick. The galles must be smal, curled and massive within, if they be good. The good vitriolle is always within of a colour like unto the elemyt. The best gomme, is cleere and brittle, that in stamping it, it becommeth a poulder easely, without cleaving together.
Here are some modern instructions for making iron gall ink, hosted at the Iron Gall Ink Corrosion Webpage, a truly excellent site.
From The Handwriting of English Documents by L. C. Hector, 1966. Not precise on the date, but it’s clearly a pre-1600 receipt.
To make hynke take galles and coporos or vitrial (quod idem est) and gumme, of everyche a quartryn other helf quartryn, and a halfe quartryn of galles more; and breke the galles a ij. other a iii. and put ham togedere everyche on in a pot and stere hyt ofte; and wythinne ij. wykys after ye mow wryte therwyth.
Yf ye have a quartryn of everyche, take a quarte of watyr; yf halfe a quartryn of everyche, than take half a quarte of watyr.
Short Glossary
Copperas (also called vitrol): greenish, crystaline hydrated ferrous sulphate, FeSO4.7H2O.
Oak Galls (also galls, gall nuts, oak apples): A round growth found on a variety of trees, with those found on the oak being preferred; the swelling is caused by the egg-laying activity of the gall wasp (from the Cynipidae family) or the gallfly (Cecidomyiidae). The gall contains a high percentage of tannin.
Tannin: A substance found in a wide variety of plants. It can be extracted by boiling water from the bark of oaks, hemlock, chestnut, maple trees; some types of sumac leaves; coffee; tea; walnuts. The best sources for ink-making purposes is the oak gall. It is the tannin in combination with the iron of the copperas that causes the chemical reation creating the ink. However, tannin is also used as a dye mordant and as a wine-making ingrediant; if you can’t locate oak galls in your area, try your local natural-dye shop or homebrewing store.
http://www.algonet.se/~claesg/inkrecip.htm
Some Ink Recipes
Complied and written by ©Claes G Lindblad on May 21, 1998.
I became interested in inks more than 20 years ago, when trying to tame a dip steel pen to behave nicely. All inks available locally were intended for fountain pen use, meaning they were too runny and too thin for proper scribal use.
The Persian Recipe - my First Ink Attempt
Then I came across an old recipe, once upon a time used by Hassan, a Persian Scribe. It told me to find:
Ingredients
# 500 g water
# 5 g salt
# 250 g gum arabic (see note below)
# 30 g gall apples, grilled and powderized
# 40 g iron sulphate (a.k.a. copperas or vitriol)
# 30 g honey
# 20 g soot for stage 3 (see table at right)
Directions
1. Mix the six first ingredients.
2. Leave them on a slow fire for two hours and stir now and then.
3. Then add 20 g soot.
4. Heat it for another hour.
5. Filter and pour into bottles.
It sounded thrilling as well as an easy task. Since I was a newbie, I did not know where to find all strange ingredients, in fact, it took me three weeks to scout them down. I started, late one evening. Three hours later the moment of truth arrived - but my concoction did not have the slightest resemblance with ink. Well, it was black, all right, but it behaved much more like a heap of butter, just out from the fridge. There was not a chance in the world to ‘filter’ it through anything, I had to scoop it up with a knife to transport it to a wide-mouthed container with a close-fitting lid.
What did I do Wrong?
Well, the recipe was printed in French, so I had missed the ‘slow fire’ bit, and had boiled it for three hours... For this reason, I gave it the name of ‘Blusch’ (which is a non-existing word, composed of the Swedish words ‘Bläck’ and ‘Tusch’ = ‘Ink’ and ‘Chinese/Indian Ink’).
There is a strange thing in the recipe above, viz. the amount of gum arabic. 250 grammes? One tenth of it sounds more reasonable — but who am I to fight Hassan, the Persian Scribe?
Oh - there is one thing missing in the instructions above, a task which is as boring as time-consuming: it took me one full hour to clean the pan afterwards... In short, do not start your alchemistic era with the recipe above. Instead, I recommend a more normal, ferrogallic ink.
Basic Ink Formula
The basic ferrogallic ink formula is very simple: 1-2-3-30 (parts per weight).
Ingredients
# 1 part gum arabic
# 2 parts copperas (=vitriol)
# 3 parts gall apples
# 30 parts of water
Directions
1. Crush the galls finely.
2. Add water.
3. Stir. Let stand for 1-2 days in the sun.
4. Add copperas.
5. Stir. Let stand for 1-2 days in the sun.
6. Add gum arabic.
7. Stir, sieve and bottle.
8. Ready!
An Ink for Hectic Types.
In case you are the hectic type, take a cheap red wine, rich in tannin, instead of water — and pure tannin instead of galls. Good galls contain about 60 % of tannin (which is the active ingredient we are after), so use 1.8 parts of pure tannin instead of galls in the recipe above.
Ingredients
# 1 part gum arabic
# 2 parts copperas (=vitriol)
# 1.8 parts pure tannin
# 30 parts of red wine
Swift directions:
1. Heat the wine to about 50-60 degrees Centigrade.
2. Add tannin, stir.
3. Add copperas, stir.
4. Add gum arabic, stir.
You will be able to make it in about 15 minutes.
Regulating the Viscosity
Now, the ingredient which governs the viscosity (the flow) of the ink is gum arabic. In case you like pointed pens, about *half* the amount of gum arabic would suffice, I presume. It is quite OK to make the batch with less gum arabic and then add more later on, if called for. But it is impossible to decrease the amount afterwards — and if you dilute your ink with water or wine, you will also lose some of its blackness and covering power.
Where to Find the Ingredients?
Gum Arabic is probably the easiest ingredient to find, since it is used in enormous quantities by candy factories. Certain products contain up to 99 per cent gum arabic - the minute rest is flavourings...
Copperas (iron sulphate, vitriol) is also used by gardeners to kill weed, i.e. a garden center may be able to help you.
Gall apples can sometimes be found in stores specialized in items for do-it-yourself yarn dyers. They may also have copperas.
Tannin in its pure form, tannin is probably only found in stores selling lab and chemistry supplies.
Good luck with your experiments!
one of the best things you should have on hand, at all times is Betadine.<<<
You are correct, it is used to protect you from nuclear exposure also, coat both arms with it , was as I recall reading it, in an emergency.
Also would be valuable in the first aid kit, for the women, prone to a yeast infection, as they will surely have problems, at times of great stress.
Adolph’s meat tenderizer<<<
Yes, I had forgotten that use.
For years I bought a pill that contained Papaya and Peppermint in it, from a Health Food store in Florida.
The papaya ate through sour stomachs and the peppermint soothed the lining..........these 2 ingredients were all that was in the pill.
I passed out thousands of them, over the years and gave my last to my daughter in law, while she was dying with cancer.
When her mother was dying in the hospital, she got permission to take the pills into the hospital and give them to her mother, she died of chirioss of the liver.
My nephew took them for his hangovers and my friend Mary and I used them for gall bladder problems.
They can be found on the internet at health stores, but are no longer cheap.
It is easy to find the 2 pills separate, but to me they worked better in one pill.
Thank you for posting the Betadine and Adolph’s info and alerting folks to the need of having their tetanus shots up to date.
Vinegar and water, with Peppermint Essential Oil also works on insect bites.
LOL, 1979 was yesterday for me, time goes so fast.
I get up, turn on the computer while coffee makes, then it is time for a nap and repeat the process and 24 hours is gone.
http://www.oldaussierecipes.com/cookedvegetables.htm
Bean Rissoles
From Australia
Ingredients
1 cup cold cooked brown beans
Herbs
1 cup mashed potato
Flour for shaping
Heaped tablespoon of Grated cheese
Egg and breadcrumbs
Chopped parsley
Frying fat (copha if available)
Salt and pepper
Apples
Tomatoes.
Method
Mix beans, potato, cheese, and parsley. Flavour with salt and pepper, and herbs if liked. Turn on to a floured board and form cakes or rissoles. Dip rissoles into egg and breadcrumbs and deep-fry to a golden brown. Serve with thick slices of grilled apple and tomato and garnish with parsley.
Blueberry Dessert Pizza
1 pk White Cake Mix
1 1/4 c Quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 c Margarine or butter softened
1 Egg
1/2 c Chopped nuts
1/4 c Firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 ts Cinnamon
21 oz Blueberry Fruit Filling
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12” pizza pan or 13x9” pan. In large bowl, combine cake mix, 1 cup oats and 6 tablespoons margarine at low speed until crumbly.
Reserve 1 cup crumbs for topping.
To remaining crumbs blend in egg. Press in prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
In same large bowl, add remaining 1/4 cup oats, 2 tablespoons margarine, nuts, sugar and cinnamon, to reserve crumbs; mix well.
Remove base from oven and spread pie filling evenly over top.
Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Return to oven and bake 15-20 minutes or until crumbs are light golden brown.
Cool completely. Cut in wedges or squares. Makes 12 servings.
Banana Nut Cookies
2 2/3 c Flour
1/2 ts Baking soda
1/4 ts Salt
1 c Brown sugar
1/2 c Sugar
1 c Butter
1 Egg
1 ts Banana extract
1 md Banana; mashed
2 c Chocolate chips
1 c Walnuts; chopped
Preheat oven to 300° Blend sugars and butter. Add egg, banana and extract, mix in dry ingredients, stir in nuts and chips. Drop by spoonfuls on baking dish, bake for 25 minutes.
Just Cookie Recipes is located at www.melborponsti-cookie.com
http://www.ghosttraveller.com/twenties.htm
Carrot Loaf
1 1/2 c ground raw carrots
1 c boiled rice
1 c ground peanuts
1 egg
salt, pepper
2 tbsp red or green peppers
3 tbsp minced bacon or other fat
1 tbsp onion juice
1/2 tsp mustard
Mix ingredients in order and bake the loaf in a moderate oven 1 hour. Serve tomato sauce if desired
Cottage Cheese
2 c whole milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp butter
2 tbsp cream
Let milk stand in warm place (90 to 99 degrees), until it curdles. Drain through a cheese cloth placed over a colander. Press until whey ceases to separate. Add butter and cream, and shape into balls or cakes with a spatula. Or, use sour milk and heat it gently in a double boiler until the curds form , then proceed as above.
The Candy Calendar, Woman’s World Magazine Co. 1927
Ginger Taffy
2 c. Granulated Sugar
1/2 c. white syrup (corn syrup)
1 rounded tbsp butter
1/2 c boiling water
2 tbsp vinegar
level tsp ground ginger
Boil all except butter and ginger, without stirring, to soft-ball stage in large saucepan. Still without stirring, drop in butter and cook to hard ball stage. sprinkle in ginger and turn into buttered pans. When cool enough to handle, pull with buttered hands as long as can be pulled, and cut into 1 inch chunks. Wrap each, kiss fashion, in waxed paper.
Here’s a novel idea - candy made to look like muddy slush
January Thaw
2 c brown sugar
heaping teaspoon butter
1/2 c milk
1 c chopped black walnuts
dissolve sugar in milk, add butter and boil to firm ball stage. Remove from fire, add nuts and beat well. Turn into buttered pan and mark into diamonds when nearly cold.
http://www.italianmade.com/recipes/recipe419.cfm
PASTA RIPIENA
Stuffed Fresh Pasta (Basic Recipe)
Mail this
recipe to
a friend!
Fresh pasta is made with 1 lb. 2 oz. of flour and 5 whole eggs. In many regions of Italy only 4 eggs and a little water are used; in others, 2 eggs and more water. In other regions only the egg yolks and a little oil are employed. Regardless of these regional variations, the dough must be well kneaded - that is, until little bubbles are visible - before being stretched with the rolling pin.
1 lb. 2 oz. flour
5 whole eggs
Pour the flour on a pastry board, (spianatoia) in a cone-shaped, mound. Break the eggs into the center of the cone and blend the yolks with the whites, using a fork or fingers then begin gradually mixing the egg with the flour.
When the dough has thick texture, so that it is no longer possible to use a fork, the egg will no longer be liquid and about 1/2 of the flour will be incorporated. Continue to work with your hands, pushing the dough up from all sides, taking in as much flour as possible; keep on kneading for about 15 mins.
The dough must be thick and rather stiff, or it will be difficult to roll out, though it might seem to be the opposite.
Wrap the dough with a cloth and keep it under a weight for half an hour. This allows the dough (particularly the gluten in the dough) to relax; it will be less elastic and much easier to roll out after a short rest.
[recipes on page] and
http://www.italianmade.com/recipes/bycourse10.cfm
Index of Italian recipes:
http://www.italianmade.com/recipes/home.cfm
http://www.ghosttraveller.com/really_old_recipes.htm#ketchup
Ketchup has had a long and strange journey to it’s current home at the Heinz factory, being colored day glo green and forced into squeeze bottles. It started out as fish sauce in Asia. British merchant sailors acquired a taste for the tomato-less sauce on their fish and chips and brought it to England, where it’s quite aromatic smell drew cats - thus fish sauce became “cat - sup”. At some point tomatoes were added, it got a whole lot thicker, and eventually it was sold in little plastic packets in McDonald’s restaurants everywhere.
Lots of different Catsups were developed by inventive cooks over the centuries - and a lot of them had no relation to fish sauce or tomatoes.
Apple Catsup
12 tart apples, pared, cored and quartered.
1 c sugar
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp dry mustard
2 white onions, minced
2 c pickling vinegar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp salt
1/2 c prepared horseradish
Place the apples in a large pot, covered with water. Cook slowly until the apples are soft and the water has almost completely evaporated. Put the apples through a sieve or vegetable mill. You should have about 1 quart of pulp. Add the remaining ingredients and heat until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Keep refrigerated. Excellent with roast pork, ham, goose or duck. 4
Out of the old west comes this recipe, from a stubby gunfighter named Bat Masterson, who was a close friend of Wyatt Earp during the heyday of Dodge City, KS. Later on, he moved to New York City and became, of all things, a sports writer. This recipe was one he invented that became popular all over cowboy towns of the western expansion.
William B. ‘Bat’ Masterson
Prairie Dog
Take a wiener and split it lengthwise. Rub the insides of the wiener with ground sage, and broil until done. On one side of a bun, spread mustard and cover with thinly sliced dill pickle. On the other, sprinkle with Worcestershire. “It makes the usual catsup and mustard wiener sandwich taste very poor in comparison” 2
Native American Meat and Fish Sauce
Combine a level teaspoon of ground horseradish and 2 oz catsup. Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving. Originally, the tomato based part was tomato pulp with “Indian” spices, but the author of the cookbook I got this from substituted ketchup. (Basically, it’s cocktail sauce) Horseradish is native only to the Americas, and Europeans widely believed the tomato (a plant from the nightshade family) to be poisonous. It makes sense that the Natives invented shrimp cocktail sauce long before whitey came over.
“It just cannot be beat. Brings out the flavor of meat, fish, or seafood perfectly.
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