Has anyone on this thread come up with a home-made denture cleanser? Home-made toothpaste?<<<
I have posted several tooth pastes and powders, the denture cleaners, no.
I have used vinegar on mine, in an emergency and regular toothpaste.
Will watch for new recipes.
Here it is:
http://prettysmartnaturalideas.wordpress.com/2007/09/
DRY/NORMAL SKIN KIWI FACIAL CLEANSER
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
Dry/Normal Skin Kiwi Facial Cleanser
1 application
1 kiwi fruit
2 heaping T plain yogurt
1 T orange water
1 T apricot oil
1 T honey
1 heaping t almonds, finely ground
2 dr tangerine, or orange, oil
Liquify kiwi fruit in food processor.
Add other ingredients, save tangerine/orange oil, and process for 30 seconds, until thick and creamy.
Add tangerine/orange oil last. Stir in well.
Gently massage over neck, face and upper body to cleanse.
Rinse well, and follow with toner and moisturizer.
Categories: ARCHIVES · Dry skin · POSTS
DRY SKIN FACIAL OIL
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
FACIAL OIL FOR DRY SKIN
7 dr Geranium
4 dr rose
14 dr sandalwood
2 oz carrier oil (grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, etc.)
Thoroughly blend all ingredients
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · Dry skin · POSTS
DRY SKIN TONIC
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
Dry Skin Tonic:
3 oz rosewater
1 dr sandalwood
1 dr rosewood
Combine and mix thoroughly.
Categories: ARCHIVES · Dry skin · POSTS
WRINKLE CHASER
September 17, 2007 · 1 Comment
WRINKLE CHASER
1 Treatment
Softens, smoothes dehydrated, chapped, red, rough skin. Also this mixture
3 C distilled water
1 T fennel seeds, crushed
2 dr rose oil
Crush seeds and mix ingredients well.
Apply to face one to two times weekly.
Follow with mask and moisturizer.
Store any unused mixture in the refrigerator.
Strained and cool for a soothing facial splash, mouthwash, or hair rinse.
Adapted from The Herbal Body Book, Stephanie Tourles, 1994
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
REJUVENATING OILS FOR THE SKIN
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
The following oils rejuvenate the skin. They are good for mature, dry skin.
Chamomile
clary sage
eucalyptus
frankincense,
geranium
jasmine
lavender
lemon
neroli
sweet orange
rose
rosemary
sandalwood
tea tree
ylang ylang.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
Mature Skin Rose-Otto Moisturizer
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
2 dr vetiver
2 dr frankincense
2 dr rose-otto
1 oz light unscented cream or moisturizer
Blend oils thoroughly into unscented moisturizer or cream
Apply as needed to your b
Thoroughly blend oils with light, unscented cream or moisturizer
Apply to skin as needed
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
REJUVENATING FACE OIL
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
1-1/2 oz. jojoba
10 drops borageoil
10 dr vitamin E oil
3 dr geranium
3 dr neroli
3 dr rosewood
2 dr fennel
2 dr frankincense
2 dr sandalwood
1 dr vetiver
• Blend first three oils.
• Add essential oils.
• Blend thoroughly.
• Following cleansing and toning, apply several drops oil to face, and massage in
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
MATURE SKIN FACE OIL #3
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
1 – 2/3 T jojoba oil
5 dr lavender
3 dr lemon
2 dr sandalwood
blend and apply
Jojoba oil helps reduce lines and wrinkles and is good for blemished and/or combination skin.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
MATURE SKIN FACE OIL #2
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
4 dr chamomile
5 dr carrot seed
8 drops geranium
5 drops lavender
1 dr patchouli
2 dr sandalwood
1/4 C apricot kernel or hazelnut oil
Blend the oils thoroughly.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
REJUVENATING & REFRESHING SKIN SPRAY
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
Fragrant Skin Rejuvenating Spritzer
1 green tea bag – or – 1 capsule green tea extract
1 C boiling water
VITALITY BLEND: 2 dr lemon and 2 dr peppermint
CALMING BLEND: 2 dr lavender. 2 dr chamomile
• Brew tea bag or capsule in boiling water and for five minutes.
• Remove teabag (if used).
• Add choice of essential oils
• Decant mixture into 8-oz spray bottle
• Refrigerate
• Mist face and body lightly to refresh, rejuvenate, and cool skin.
http://prettysmartnaturalideas.wordpress.com/2007/10/
[If I don’t have the essential oils needed, I use strong herb teas, LOL, that is what I used before I learned of essentials.
granny]
HEALING OIL BLEND #2
October 6, 2007 · No Comments
Use to speed healing
3 drops eucalyptus
1 drop niaouli
1 drop palmarosa
1 drop spearmint
1/8 C jojoba oil
Blend.
From Incense, Oils, and Brews, by Scott Cunningham
Categories: ARCHIVES · FIRST AID · HEALING · POSTS · RECIPES
Tagged: healing blend
ALL PURPOSE HEALING BALM
October 6, 2007 · 1 Comment
HEAL EVERYTHING BALM
2 t powdered myrrh
2 T beeswax
2 t comfrey root
2 T liquid lecithin
2 t chamomile
2 t honey
2 t lavendar
Infuse in:
3/4 C carrier oil
add essential oils:
10 drops lavendar
5 drops tea tree
2 drops rosemary
1 vitamin E capsule
2 oz beeswax
Categories: ARCHIVES · AROMATHERAPY RECIPES · FIRST AID · HEALING · POSTS · RECIPES
Tagged: balm, beeswax, chamomile, comfrey root, honey, lavender, lecithin, myrrh, rosemary, tea tree
INSECT BITES and STINGS
October 6, 2007 · 3 Comments
FOR ITCHY INSECT BITES
to alleviate swelling and relieve itching of insect bites.
1 drop Roman Chamomile
1 drop tea-tree
1 drop savory
2 oz. witch hazel extract
Blend oils with witch-hazel.
Soak a cotton ball in the mix and dab on insect bites.
Also helps protect skin from infection resulting from scratching
NIAOULI TO RELIEVE ITCH FROM BITES
Niaouli oil relieves the itch, helps reduce swelling, and
helps insect bites heal faster
2 drops niaouli
2 T witch hazel
mix niaoli and witch hazel and apply to the affected area
INSECT BITES SWABS
Moisten a cotton swab in fresh lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or witch hazel
Add 1 -2 drops of lavender, tea tree, eucalyptus, or lemongrass oil to the swab then dab on the bite.
INSECT BITES AND STINGS
Oils to Use: Lavender or tea tree
DIRECT APPLICATION
Dab a drop of lavender or tea tree on the
affected area.
COLD COMPRESS FOR SWELLING
If bite site is swollen, apply a cold compress made with
2 drops lavender
2 drops chamomile
INSECT BITE OIL
Lavender helps stop itching and reduces
swelling and risk of infection.
1 t lavender essential oil
1 T vegetable oil
Combine lavender oil and vegetable oil and
dab mixture directly on bite as needed.
Store in a tightly closed glass bottle
BEE, WASP, TICK, SPIDER STINGS & BITES
combine lavender with echinacea and bentonite clay into a poultice.
The clay pulls the poisonous material from the bite or sting to the skin surface and keeps it from spreading.
Echinacea lessens any allergic response.
Lavender stops itching and reduces swelling.
OILS FOR INSECT BITES
Apply 1 drop of undiluted lavender or tea tree oil directly to the bite.
Other oils to use diluted
Lemon, Eucalyptus,
Pine, Basil, Bergamot, Chamomile, Lemongrass,
Patchouli.
Dilute by moistening a cotton swab with lemon juice, cider vinegar, or witch hazel and adding 1 -2 drops of the essential oil to the swab. Dab on skin as needed
BUG BITE REMEDIES
To help sooth the bite site and relieve discomfort.
Apply to bite every few hours! The first ingredient is a carrier oil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 t Aloe Vera Gel
5 drops Geranium
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 t Borage
2 drops juniper berry
2 drops tea tree
1 drop lemon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 t of Aloe Vera gel
5 drops chamomile
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 t flaxseed oil
2 drops sweet basil
2 drops lemon
1 drop marjoram
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 t sesame oil
2 drops juniper berry oil
2 drops sweet basil
1 drop lime
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 t Aloe Vera Gel
5 drops lavender
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BITE & STING POULTICE
1 T echinacea root tincture
1 T distilled water
1/8 t lavender essential oil
1 T bentonite clay
Combine the tincture, water and lavender essential oil.
Add mixture to the bentonite. Stir slowly as liquid is absorbed.
Paste should be tacky enough to adhere to skin.
Apply directly to bite as needed.
Store in tightly covered container.
If mixture dries out, stir in distilled water, as needed, to return it to paste consistency.
Categories: ARCHIVES · AROMATHERAPY RECIPES · FIRST AID · POSTS · RECIPES
Tagged: bentonite, infection, insect bites, itching, lavender, poultice, stings, swelling, tea tree
LAVENDER OIL FOR ALLERGIES & SINUSITIS
October 6, 2007 · 1 Comment
Allergies such as hay fever often cause sinusitis.
Dilute lavender oil in a carrier oil and massage some into the sinuses at either side of the nose to help to clear the condition.
Categories: ARCHIVES · AROMATHERAPY RECIPES · HEALING · POSTS · RECIPES
Tagged: hay fever, lavender, sinusitis
PALMAROSA TO SPEED HEALING
October 6, 2007 · No Comments
diffuse palmarosa in the room to speed the body’s ability to heal
aids in physical, emotional, mental and spiritual healing
Categories: ARCHIVES · AROMATHERAPY RECIPES · FIRST AID · HEALING · POSTS · RECIPES
Tagged: AROMATHERAPY RECIPES, diffusion, HEALING, palmarosa
LAVENDER OINTMENT
October 6, 2007 · No Comments
LAVENDER OINTMENT
4 T olive oil
3 to 4 T beeswax
3 T cocoa butter
1 vitamin E capsule
15 drops lavender essential oil
Combine olive oil, beeswax, cocoa butter and heat in the top of a double boiler.
Remove from the heat.
Add vitamin E and lavender oil, and beat thoroughly
Pour into small jars. Allow mixture to cool before covering.
Categories: ARCHIVES · AROMATHERAPY RECIPES · FIRST AID · HEALING · POSTS · RECIPES
Tagged: beeswax, cocoa butter, FIRST AID, HEALING, lavender, ointment
LAVENDER/SANDALWOOD OINTMENT
October 6, 2007 · No Comments
Excellent for burns, chapped lips, cold sores, and more
4 T olive or almond oil
3 to 4 T beeswax
3 t cocoa butter
2 t lanolin
10 drops vitamin E oil
15 drops lavender essential oil
15 drops sandalwood essential oil
Combine the olive (or almond) oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, and lanolin.
Heat thoroughly in the top of a double boiler.
Remove from heat.
Add the vitamin E, lavender & sandalwood oils and mix well.
Pour into small jars..
Allow to cool before covering with lids.
will keep from 6 to 12 months.
Categories: AROMATHERAPY RECIPES · FIRST AID · HEALING · POSTS
Tagged: burns, chapped lips, cold sores, FIRST AID,
HEALING, lavender, ointment, sandalwood
HEALING OIL BLEND #1
October 6, 2007 · No Comments
HEALING OIL BLEND #1
apply to speed healing
4 drops Rosemary
2 drops Juniper
1 drop Sandalwood
1/8 C jojoba
From Incense, Oils, and Brews, by Scott Cunningham
Categories: FIRST AID · HEALING · POSTS
Tagged: healing blend
FIRST AID KIT
October 6, 2007 · No Comments
a small First Aid Kit to carry with you.
LAVENDER: an all purpose oil for wounds,burns,
insomnia, irritability, this one will
help you to relax wherever you are
PEPPERMINT: to keep you alert
TEA TREE: for cuts, scrapes,insect bites
Add your favorite oils to round out your kit.
Categories: FIRST AID · POSTS
Tagged: cuts, FIRST AID, insect bites, insomnia, irritability, lavender, peppermint, rekaxation, scrapes, tea tree
http://prettysmartnaturalideas.wordpress.com/2007/12/
CLOVE MOUTHWASH
December 31, 2007 · 3 Comments
Clove Mouthwash
1/4 C vodka
1/2 C distilled water
1/4 t honey
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves (or or clove oil)
* Combine ingredients. Mix well to completely dissolve honey.
* If desired, strain to remove ground clove residue, if used.
* Pour mixture into clean bottle.
Categories: ARCHIVES · AROMATHERAPY RECIPES · NATURAL PERSONAL HYGIENE · POSTS
Tagged: clove oil, mouthwash, NATURAL PERSONAL HYGIENE, oral hygiene
JAPANESE WATER CURE
You have heard it before: Drink lots of water to stay healthy.
Now, this from Japan:
My Japanese room-mate has told me that it is fashionable in Japan to drink water immediately upon arising, because Japanese research has shown that this “Water Treatment” can effect a 100% cure for a number of diseases, including:
arthritis
epilepsy
hemorrhoids (piles)
asthma
ear, nose, throat disease
kidney and urinary tract diseases
body aches
eye disease
meningitis
bronchitis
gastritis
menstrual and other female reproductive disorders
cancer
headaches
obesity
constipation
heart disease
tuberculosis
diabetes
heart palpitations
vomiting
diarrhea
high blood pressure
METHOD OF TREATMENT
• Upon arising in the morning, before you brush your teeth, drink 640 ml (approximately 2-1/2 C) water.
• After drinking the water, brush your teeth and gargle, as desired, but wait 45 minutes before eating or drinking anything else.
• After 45 minutes, eat your normal breakfast.
• Avoid eating or drinking for 2 hours during the treatment period.
NOTE: The elderly or infirm, who cannot tolerate 4 glasses of water at once should build up their water intake gradually, from 1/2 C to the recommended 2-1/2 C before breakfast.
Although there are no side effects to this totally natural treatment, in the beginning, you may notice an increased frequency of urination until the body accustoms itself to the new pattern of water intake.
RECOMMENDED SCHEDULE OF TREATMENT
for alleviation or cure
• Arthritis patients should follow the 3 days during the week 1, then begin the full daily treatment in week 2.
• Cancer – 180 days
• Constipation – 10 days
• Diabetes – 30 days
• Gastritis – 10 days
• High Blood Pressure – 30 days
• Tuberculosis – 90 days
Japanese researchers suggest that the Water Treatment be added permanently to one’s daily routine for ongoing benefit.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · GENERAL AROMATHERAPY · HEALING · NUTRITION
Tagged: arthritis, cancer, constipation, diabetes, diarrhea, HEALING, high blood pressure, japanese water cure, miracle cure
http://prettysmartnaturalideas.wordpress.com/2007/09/page/2/
MATURE/DRY SKIN FACIAL OIL
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
1 1/2 oz jojoba oil
10 dr borage oil
10 dr vitamin E oil
3 dr geranium
3 dr neroli
2 dr fennel oil
2 dr frankincense
2 dr sandalwood
1 dr vetiver
• Mix first three oils.
• Add essential oils.
• Blend thoroughly.
• Apply a few drops of blend to face morning and evening, after cleansing and toning!!
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
MATURE SKIN FACE MASK BLEND
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
1 dr jasmine
1 dr rose
1 dr ylang ylang
1 dr lavender
1 t grapeseed oil
1 t jojoba oil.
• Blend oils
• Massage into face and neck area daily.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
MATURE SKIN FACE MASK 2
September 17, 2007 · No Comments
2 drops Sandalwood
1 drop Frankincense
2 T honey.
• Combine ingredients
• Apply the mask to clean skin.
• Leave on for 15 minutes, then
• Rinse thoroughly.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
MATURE/DRY SKIN FACE MASK
September 14, 2007 · No Comments
MATURE/DRY SKIN FACE MASK
t honey
2 dr sandalwood
1 dr frankincense
1 t enzyme powder (optional)
Mix ingredients in the palm of the hand. Blend well.
Apply mask to clean skin. Relax for fifteen minutes,then rinse thoroughly.
Use once weekly.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
MATURE SKIN FACE OIL
September 14, 2007 · No Comments
MATURE SKIN FACE OIL
5 dr lavender
2 dr rosemary
2 dr sandalwood
1 oz. jojoba oil
Blend all ingredients.
Use as moisturixer and at night.
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
DRY, WRINKLED SKIN
September 14, 2007 · No Comments
DRY WRINKLED SKIN
Avocado oil absorbs quickly into finer, drier skin.
Owing to the rich, heavy consistency, it provides
very good moisturizing.
4 t avocado
4 dr frankincense
2 dr rose essential oil
2 dr neroli
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
ANTI-AGING SKIN INFO & BLENDS
September 14, 2007 · No Comments
ANTI-AGING SKIN INFO & BLENDS
Recommended essential oils for skin which needs toning
and toning are: Rose Otto, Frankincense, Myrrh, Geranium,
Neroli, and Sandalwood.
Carrier oils recommended are: Jojoba, Apricot Kernel, Sweet
Almond, and Avocado.
BLENDS:
2 dr Frankincense
4 dr Sandalwood
1/3 C carrier oil
*******************************************
1 dr Myrrh
1 dr Rose Otto
5 t carrier oil
******************************************
1 dr Geranium
1 dr Myrrh
2 dr Neroli
6 t carrier oil
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES · POSTS
ANTI-AGING FORMULAS: Over 20, Over 30, Over 40, Over 50
September 14, 2007 · No Comments
ANTI-AGING: Over 20/30/40/50
Use treatments nightly on face, and neck, to collar bone.
ANTI-AGING FOR OVER 20s
Wrinkle Prevention for those over 20
8 dr Neroli
5 dr lavender
5 dr fennel
3 dr German chamomile
8 dr geranium
1 dr carrot seed
30 ml hazelnut, almond, or apricot kernel oil
*******************
ANTI-AGING FOR THOSE OVER 30
10 dr yarrow
2 dr patchouli
10 dr palmrosa
8 dr clary sage
7 dr fennel
8 dr rose
5 dr carrot seed
5 dr borage seed
5 dr jojoba oil
30 ml. hazelnut or apricot kernel oil
*****************
ANTI-AGING FOR THOSE OVER FORTY
10 dr neroli
10 dr lavender
10 dr frankincense
2 dr rosemary
10 dr fennel
3 dr lemon
10 dr carrot seed
10 dr evening primrose
30 ml hazelnut, almond or apricot kernel oil.
******************
ANTI-AGING OIL FOR THOSE OVER FIFTY
5 dr galbanum
5 dr rose
10 dr neroli
3 dr lavender
2 dr myrrh
10 dr carrot seed
10 dr rosewood (bois de rose)
10 dr evening primrose
10 dr borage seed oil
30 ml hazelnut or apricot kernel oil
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES
ANTI-AGING FACE & NECK OIL
September 14, 2007 · No Comments
ANTI-AGING FACE & NECK OIL
3 dr. frankincense
3 dr. neroli
1 dr. Lavender
3 dr. rose
30 ml. almond oil
Mix essential oils with 30 ml almond oil.
Massage into face and neck morning and night.
Evens out blemishes and refines fine lines
Categories: ANTI-AGING · ARCHIVES
BOTTLE/CONTAINER SUPPLIERS
September 6, 2007 · No Comments
http://www.sks-bottle.com/
www.containerandpackaging.com
www.sunburstbottle.com
www.specialtybottle.com
www.essentialsupplies.com
Categories: ARCHIVES · SUPPLIERS
http://prettysmartnaturalideas.wordpress.com/2007/09/page/3/
LOTION/MASSAGE BARS
September 6, 2007 · No Comments
LOTION/MASSAGE BARS
3 oz beeswax
2 oz mango butter
1 oz almond oil
1 oz jojoba oil
1 oz hemp oil
Essential oils
Melt beeswax over low heat.
When beeswax has melted, add mango butter.
Remove from heat when mango is almost melted.
Add remaining ingredients, and mix thoroughly
Add fragrance, and/or coloring.
Pour into empty deodorant tubes and let set completely.
Categories: ARCHIVES · NATURAL PERSONAL HYGIENE
CONTAINER SUPPLIERS
September 5, 2007 · No Comments
If you are making your own products, eventually, or right now, you will find that you need to get containers….
You can save empty containers that once contained something else….
If you scour discount stores and craft stores, you may find containers that will do, or are even perfect…….
BUT eventually, you will probably need more containers.... or you will want containers of a specific size or application.
CONTAINER SUPPLIERS THAT I HAVE SEEN RECOMMENDED OVER TIME (they go in order by the frequency of mention)
http://www.sks-bottle.com/
www.containerandpackaging.com
www.sunburstbottle.com
www.specialtybottle.com
www.essentialsupplies.com
Categories: ARCHIVES · GENERAL AROMATHERAPY · NATURAL DEODORANTS · NATURAL HOME PRODUCTS · NATURAL PERSONAL HYGIENE · POSTS · SUPPLIERS
Tagged: aromatherapy, bottle suppliers, bottles, containers, essential oils
BASIC SPRAY DEODORANT & VARIATIONS
September 5, 2007 · No Comments
BASIC SPRAY DEODORANT & VARIATIONS
INGREDIENT INFORMATION:
WITCH-HAZEL EXTRACT is available in drugstores, supermarkets, health food stores. Its properties include curbing inflammation, oils absorption, and mild astringency. Regular use brings about reduction of pore size, which inhibits the production of excessive sweating.
ZINC-OXIDE POWDER neutralizes odor. The slightly greasy consistency and white color of the powder homemade deodorant produce a milky appearance in the deodorant. Zinc Oxide neutralizes body odor, is antiseptic and astringent, and does not irritate skin.
Always shake the deodorant before using, to mix the zinc oxide back into the solution.
ALOE-VERA JUICE cools,heals, and moisturizes, providing a pleasant, refreshing feeling in the heat of the summer.
BASIC RECIPE
2 t zinc-oxide powder
2/3 C witch-hazel extract
2 T aloe-vera juice
• Place witch hazel in a small bowl.
• Stir in zinc oxide.
• Add in aloe-vera and EOs.
Decant mixture into 8 oz. spray bottle (NOTE: It is best to use a dark glass bottle, but, if you do not have access to dark glass spray bottles, use what you have or can get. Life will go on.)
Refrigerate deodorant spray to increase shelf life.
TO BASIC RECIPE ADD:
FOR DAILY USE: 30 dr. rose-geranium EO
Rose geranium oil has a high level of terpene alcohol, which curbs growth of odor-causing bacteria.
FOR SENSITIVE SKIN: 30 dr. calendula extract and 10 dr. lavender EO
Calendula and lavender are powerful odor and bacteria fighters, yet have a soothing effect on the skin.
FOR EXCESSIVE SWEATING: 30 dr. sage EO
Sage oil inhibits the activity of the sweat-glands up to 50%. It has astringent and antiseptic qualities, in addition to the ability to gently constrict pore size.
Categories: ARCHIVES · NATURAL DEODORANTS · NATURAL PERSONAL HYGIENE
http://theherbgardener.blogspot.com/2008/01/four-thieves-vinegar.html
Monday
Four Thieves Vinegar
In my explorations of the history and uses of lavender, I came across some interesting information about Four Thieves Vinegar. I’d heard of it before, but didn’t know what it meant:
The Legend of Four Thieves Vinegar
One version goes that in the 1630’s, when the plague was raging in France, the town of Toulouse was beset with looters. Four looters were apprehended, but rather than punish them, the judge offered them a deal. Amazed at their continued health after wandering though homes and businesses abandoned by their terrified (or dead) owners, the judge offered to let the thieves go if they gave him the secret of their resistance to the plague.
What was their famous secret? It was a vinegar made from thyme, rosemary, sage, and lavender. This infusion was termed thieves vinegar. Although garlic was added to the mixture later, this basic infusion became famous, and was used for hundreds of years, both internally and externally, to provide protection from the dreaded plague.
How to make Four Thieves Vinegar
There are a number of recipes available for four thieves vinegar, but the original was probably something like this:
Use equal parts thyme, rosemary, sage, and lavender. Place herbs in a jar and cover with (apple cider) vinegar. Seal and place in a cool, dark place for six weeks. Strain into a spray bottle or clean jar and use as a disinfectant.
The original herbal ingredients are all strong antibacterial agents, as is the vinegar.
Variations on the recipe add sweet smelling herbs like mint and lemon balm to the mixture. Garlic was also added, and although it was probably an excellent addition from an antibacterial standpoint, it was not one of the original herbs used.
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Labels: four thieves vinegar, vinegar of four thieves
2 comments:
R.K.Rao said...
Health is wealth and Herb is Health and Wealth
Herbs are natures remidies with marvellous curutive power.
Herbs are not drugs but they are full of divine energy. they cure diseases without any side effects in the body.
For more details visit my blog : http://wwwhealingherbs.blogspot.com
22 January, 2008 09:17
Anonymous said...
This stuff works great, but the four thieves originally used vinegared red wine, not apple cider vinegar.
[ticks too?]
http://crawling-insects.suite101.com/article.cfm/control_bed_bugs_naturally
Control Bed Bugs Naturally
Important Facts About Biting Bugs
Read more: http://crawling-insects.suite101.com/article.cfm/control_bed_bugs_naturally#ixzz0H4bsljSw&B
http://theherbgardener.blogspot.com/2009/05/get-rid-of-bed-bugs.html
snipped.........
Get Rid of Bed Bugs
If you want to try an herbal solution in your home, or are staying in a location where bed bugs might be present, there is a spray you can make that will discourage them. It will keep bed bugs away from both you and your bedding. I recommend using essential oils because they are very concentrated. Essential oils are created through distillation, like spirits, and even when they’re diluted, they have a strong scent.
Herbal Bed Bug Spray Insecticide
This spray will act as a good deterrent. In higher concentrations, it might stain clothing and bedding, and could even cause headaches and nausea, so don’t increase the essential oil concentrations unless you plan on being out of the room overnight and have stripped the bed. Oh, and the term essential oil is a misnomer. The liquid isn’t oil based so don’t worry about greasy residue.
Bed Bug Spray Recipe
1 Cup Water
10 drops lavender essential oil
10 drops rosemary essential oil
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
3 drops essential oil of clove (optional)
Place in a fine mist spray bottle, and shake well before using.
I want to include some cautions here. Never work with essential oils unless you are wearing gloves. Undiluted essential oils can be dangerous if absorbed through the skin. Another possible problem is that essential oils, even diluted, can have an adverse effect on some cats, so keep kitty away.
Other Options for Controlling Bed Bugs
If you want to avoid bringing bed bugs home with you when you travel, try keeping sachets of herbs in your suitcase. The smell will keep them out of your belongings and help you avoid an infestation in your home. Tuck two sachets into your suitcase, one on either side. It’s a good idea to place a couple in the pockets of your hanging garments, or in any folded clothing you plan on placing in hotel room drawers.
The sachet recipes I have below should each fill seven to ten small muslin bags. I’ve included a link to muslin bags available Online, but you can probably find them at your local craft store or make them yourself.
Bed Bug Herb Sachet 1
1 Cup dried Eucalyptus leaves
½ Cup dried rosemary
½ Cup dried lavender buds
10 Large cloves
Bed Bug Herb Sachet 2
1 Cup loose-leaf black walnut tea
½ Cup dried eucalyptus leaves
½ Cup dried lavender buds
¼ Cup dried thyme
2 Bay leaves
Bed Bug Control Tips and Tricks
Bed bugs don’t like heat, so you can stick your linen or clothes in the drier for twenty to twenty five minutes to kill the critters. You can do the same thing with your drapes. Another way to heat-treat your linen is to hang it outside on a clothesline during a hot afternoon.
You can also treat your mattress by steam cleaning it with a small hand held steamer to kill any bed bugs, eggs or larvae that might be present. It will kill dust mites too. Throwing some lavender essential oil into the steamer water wouldn’t hurt either. The scent will even help you get to sleep at night. Heck, after dealing with these little @!#%, you’ll probably need a good night’s sleep.
Bed bugs are tough. They are very invasive and can go long periods without eating. They are small and can hide almost anywhere. They find new feeding grounds by hiding in or on objects people bring into their homes regularly, like luggage, handbags, coats, or cardboard boxes. An herbal DIY solution might work if you have a few bugs, but if you have an established bed bug community in your home, there are professional eradication methods that use natural pesticides, like pyrethrin, you might want to try.
For more bed bug facts, visit my article: Control Bed Bugs Naturally
http://homemanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_spray_starch
Make Your Own Spray Starch
Inexpensive Laundry Solutions
Read more: http://homemanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_spray_starch#ixzz0H4dVMbPL&B
http://www.angelfire.com/me/civilian/recipes.html
Recipes of the Civil War Era
This was sent to me from The Civil War Reenactor’s list:
“My grandmother - born in 1880 - handed down the following “old” sugar cooky recipe, which we all find delightful. Please note that we have usually used twice the amount of flour called for - I don’t know if that has to do with modern differences in milling flour or my capabilities.
As to the size and shape of the cookies: a docent at a local historical society showed me replica cooky stamps some six by four inches. She told me the originals were used at least in the later Victorian era, but I have no idea about the ‘60s.
Grandma Walther’s Old Sugar Cooky Recipe
(no oven temperature given - we set ours at 350 degrees)
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (or margarine)
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda (in sour cream)
About 4 cups flour (more if needed to roll)
Good for animal cookies.
Handle as little as possible.
Happy to share this bit of my heritage!
Warm regards,
SAUSAGE AND APPLES
This old Virginia dish is easy and delicious. Start with about a pound of sausage meat. You can obtain the real stuff at most butchers but I suppose Jimmy Dean will do in a pinch. Form into patties and fry lightly in a pan until just browned. Remove the sausage, pour our the fat (not in the fire) and melt some butter in the pan, enough to barely cover the bottom. Core and slice three apples to a thickness of about 1/4 inch and place in pan setting it over a low heat. When apples have softened slightly add a half cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon. As soon as the sugar has mixed with the butter and formed a thick syrup add back the sausage and cook for another ten minutes or so. That’s it.
SUMMER PICKLES
To Prepare Summer Pickles- Pick very small cucumbers, pour over them weak hot brine, let them cool, and pour over them Hot vinager and spices to the taste, they will be fit to use in twenty-four hours; but will not keep long.
Hardtack:
5 cups unbleached, all purpose flour 1 tablespoon salt 1 to 1 2/4 cups water
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Combine ingredients. Add water until you can form a firm ball. If the dough gets sticky, add more flour. If it gets too dry, add more water. Roll out on a well-floured surface, using liberal amounts of flour to keep dough from sticking to roller. Roll to approx. 1/2” thickness. Cut dough into 3” x 3” squares and poke with holes. Place on cookie tin and put into preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes (until lightly browned). Cool and enjoy.
Note: You can bake at a lower temperature, it just takes longer. Remember, your object is to dry up the water you used to from the dough.
_________________________________________________________________
6 parts flour
one part water
pinch of baking soda
pinch of salt.
Add water to smooth out dough
bake in low oven approx 2 hours and let air dry two days.
Ce la !! Hardtack a la 1862.
________________________________________________________________
Five cups stoneground whole-wheat flour
One cup water Knead in bowl.
Keep sprinkling in flour until it’s soooo dry that it won’t stick to your hands (or anything else).
Preheat oven and cookie sheets to 400F. Cut to 3X3” size.
Punch holes in with a nail.. I’ve been coding my batches with the hole numbers.
Bake 15 minutes.
Turn over and make sure holes go through, entirely.
(I think these let the stream out & keep ‘em from rising.
Bake 30-35 more minutes at 400F. They come at, seemingly, rock hard.
Let them cool on the sheets overnight.
Put them in a glass jar, but open to the air.
You can say that you’re “pre-staleing” them;
I admit that I’m hoping to grow some of those weevils we were talking about!
Experiment: I put two in the hands (in a zip lock bag) of a sixth grade class. Both came back broken. They’re hard outside, but, somewhat, soft in the absolute center. The kids gnarffed up the bits and pieces that I was able to break the ‘tack’ into. (The originals must have been allowed to dry out in the air, or, the oven temp was 450+F). If you’re a hardcore, pal... let’s dine together.
__________________________________________________________________
We have a bang up recipe for Hardtack on our Regimental web site from the 1st Tennessee.
HARDTACK
3 Cups of Milk
6 Teaspoons of Brown Sugar
8 Cups of General Purpose Flour, non-rising type
3 Teaspoons of Salt
8 Teaspoons of Shorting
Mix it all together, it makes a very stiff dough. You need to mix it all up well. Then roll it out on a well floured surface. You want to roll it about 1/2” thick, don’t roll it any thinner.. Then cut it up into 3” X 3” squares. Then take a toothpick and put about a dozen holes in each cracker. Put these into a oven that has been preheated to 400 Degrees and bake for about 20—25 minutes or until they are just beginning to brown. Do not let them cook too long. After they cool you may store them in a plastic bag but only for a few days as they will mold if kept there too long. I have found out that it is best to bag them for two days and then throw them in your haversack and your set.
http://members.aol.com/EDDSHARP/1Tennessee.html
The recipe is located on the Bulletin Board section of the page. It turns out rather well, and tasty, and presents itself well. Enjoy..
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jerky:
The recipe that I use the most for jerky is 3:1 soy sauce to liquid smoke. Marinate your meat for about three days for optimum effect. Make sure that the meat is well-trimmed of fat, and slice at 1/4” AT THE MOST.
I use a dehydrator, but if you use a gas oven, make sure to put a drip pan at the bottom so that you don’t upset anyone! :-)
_______________________________________________________________
In my haste in posting the jerky recipe, I forgot something (shame on me!) :-)
The ingredients for the marinade should be as follows:
3 parts soy sauce
1 part liquid smoke
1 part brown sugar
Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Add meat, sliced to NO MORE than 1/4”. Allow to marinate for three days.
Dehydrator
Place in a dehydrator and run until the meat take a leathery, but moist consistency.
Gas Range
If you have a gas range, skewer the meat with toothpicks, allowing the meat to hang from the racks. PLACE A PAN UNDERNEATH TO CATCH DRIPPINGS!!!!! Let the piot light do the work for you. This takes a while, but remove when the meat takes a leathery, but moist consistency.
Electric Range
Repeat as the method for a gas range, but set the electric oven on its LOWEST setting, placing a drip pan underneath.
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Ginger Cakes:
Ginger cakes (All sorts of ginger cakes or breads were popular. Some were soft and others were hard or crisp. Some recipes could be rolled out and cut into shapes and hung on the tree. These are crisp, sugar coated cookies and are delicious.)
3/4 cups shortening
1 cup sugar
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
2 cups flour
Cream shortening and sugar. Add the egg and molasses and mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the shortening mixture. Mix until combined. Roll into walnut sized balls and roll in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 - 10 minutes.
“To Make Chocolate”
To each square of chocolate cake allow three jills [two jills=1/2 pint] or a chocolate cupe and a half of boiling water.
Scrape down the chocolate with a knife, and mix it first to a paste with a small quantity of the hot water; just enought to melt it in.
Then put it inot a block tin pot with the remainder of the water; set it on hot coals; cover it, and let it boil (stirrint it twice) till the liquid is one third reduced.
Supply that third with cream or rich milk; stir it again, and take it off the fire.
Serve it up as hot as possible, with dry toast, or dry rusk.
It chills immediately. If you wish it frothed, pour it into the cup, and twirl in it the little wooden insturment called a chocolate mill [like the Mexican “molinillo”], till you have covered to top with foam.
Other chocolate recipes from the same source, but found in the “sick cookery” section.
“Cocoa”
Put into a large sauce-pan two ounces of good cocoa (the chocolate nut before it is ground) and one quart of water. Cover it, and as soon as it has come to a boil, set it on coals by the side of the fire, to simmer for an hour or more. Take it hot with dry toast.
“Cocoa Shells”
These can be procured by the principal grocers and confectioners, or at a chocolate manufactory. They are the thin shells that envelope the chocolate kernel, and are sold at a low price; a pound contains a very large quantity.
Soak them in water for five or six hours or more, (it will be better to soak them all night,) and then boil them in the same water.
They should boil for two hours.
Strain the liquid when done, and let it be taken warm.
For those of you who are chocoholics there are two books that deal exclusively with chocolate: “The True History of Chocolate” by Sophie and Michael Coe, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1996 and “Chocolate Fads, Folklore & Fantasies: 1,000+ Chunks of Chocolate Information” by Linda Fuller, Haworth Press, NY, 1994.
If anyone is interested in a reproduction of the Aztec chocolate mentioned earlier it is as follows: (Taken from “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American” by Jeff Smith, William Morrow & Co., NY, 1987. The original recipes were in “The True History of Chocolate.”)
“Chocolate Drink”
2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 tsp. plain cocoa powder, Tabasco to taste, 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Combine the ingredients and heat.
And Now For Some Teas
Blackberry Tea
Pick the blackberry leaves and dry them.
When you want to make tea, just crumble a couple of teaspoons of leaves
to one cup of boiling water.
Steep for five to ten minutes, and you have blackberry tea.
Relaxing Tea Blend
This combination of herbs helps you relax after a stressful day.
1/4 C. dried spearmint
1 C. dried lemon balm
1/4 C. dried lemon grass
1/2 C. dried catnip
3/4 C. dried chamomile flowers
2 Tbs. Dried lavender flowers
Combine the herbs and store in an air tight container in a dark cool location.
Make tea using 2 teaspoons of herb blend for each cup.
Turn on some relaxing music and write in your journal.
“Blackberry Cordial”
Mash and strain the blackberries; put the juice on to boil in a brass or bell-metal kettle [you can use a glass or enameled pot]; skim it well, and to each gallon of juice put three pounds of sugar and a quart of spirits [brandy works well]; bruise some cloves [I also add a cinnamon stick] and put in. This is valuable as a medicine for children in summer.
This is only one recipe that I have found, but the others are similar. I have made it, and in small doses it is very good and warming in cold weather. Beware that you don’t drink too much since it was used for its binding qualities.
Cabbage Stew - Older than dirt..
Adapts very nicely to camp fire cooking
Submitted by Widow Barfield
One head green cabbage
Salt Pork
Onions
Stewed Tomatos
salt, garlic salt, pepper, cajun seasoning or ground red pepper
cut the salt pork into small cubes
slice the cabbage and onions (approximately 1/2 & 1/2)
If you use canned tomatos, open the can. If not, cook them well ahead of time.
Fry the salt pork in a large,hot, cast iron pot until well browned. (Do NOT drain)
Turn the heat down. (move to a cooler fire area)
Add cabbage and cook until wilted
Add onions and cook until wilted
Let cook approximately 1 hour (low fire)
Add tomatos to more than cover. (that’s why we use a LARGE pot)
Let cook ..... and cook..... and cook..... Simmer is a good word.....
You can’t really overcook this dish. The flavors will blend nicely the longer it cooks.
Add garlic salt (small amount) Add salt and pepper to taste....
Add a very small amount of cajun seasoning or ground red pepper. Be sure to taste after adding each time. It takes the seasoning a few minutes to make themselves known.. Better to add too little than too much. People can add more at the table if they wish.
Stir occasionally......
After approximately 2-3 hours, start tasting....It’s the cook’s sworn duty to taste test!! If you feel really brave, offer a spoonful to someone else..
Remember, it’s not what they say, It’s their REACTION to a small taste.. Watch the eyes. However, under no circumstances, let them have more. Pronounce it “not quite ready”. This gives them time to tell others about how good it is... Thereby guaranteeing you will have nothing left when you are finished serving...
Onions and Apples,
Submitted by A Vermonter
Good for a weak bowel, or disposition,
1qt of water
1/2 Pound of Salt Pork
4 Apples( use the tart green ones)
2 Large onions
Cook diced salt pork in a heavy iron skillet until crisp, and set aside the salt pork, core the apples and slice into thin rings, slice onions into thin rings also, fry in salt pork fat until brown, add 1qt of water and cook until apples and onions are tender (about five mins.) and add water as needed, when tender add in the salt pork, and season to taste. This a easy dish to prepare in the field.
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A Few Summery Syrup Recipes
Excerpted from “Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and
Hints to Young Housekeepers”, by Elizabeth E. Lea. First published in 1845, I believe this is from the standard 1851 edition. This book was in print until 1879.
Lemon Syrup.
Clarify a pound of loaf or Havana sugar, or if you wish to make a large quantity, allow half a pint of water to every pound of sugar, and boil it, skimming it when the scum arises, until it is of the consistency of honey; then to every pound of sugar, add an ounce of tartaric acid. If you do not find it sour enough, after it has stood two or three days, add more of the acid. If you like the taste of oil of lemon, add a few drops. A small quantity of the syrup prepared in this way, poured into cold water, makes a refreshing drink in warm weather.
Lemon Syrup for Seasoning.
Pare the lemons very thin, and put the peel to boil in a quart of water; cover it, to keep in the flavor; put two pounds of loaf sugar to the peel of a dozen lemons, and boil it till it becomes a rich syrup; keep it corked up in a bottle, to season ice cream.
Syrup of Lemon Juice.
Dissolve three pounds of loaf-sugar in three quarts of water, squeeze and strain lemons enough to make a quart of juice; boil it slowly with the water and sugar, and take off the scum as it rises; when it is quite clear, strain and bottle it. It will supply the place of fresh lemons when they cannot be had.
Pine Apple Syrup.
Pare the pine apples, cut them in pieces, and to three pounds of pine apple put a quart of water; cover it and let it boil till very soft, when mash and strain it; to a pint of this juice put a pound of sugar, boil it till it is a rich syrup, and keep it corked up in bottles to season ice cream.
Almond Cream. (Note: This recipe looks a lot like almond milk recipes that I’ve seen in medieval and Renaissance period cookbooks.)
Take a pound of blanched almonds, and roll them fine with a bottle; mix them with a few drops of rose-water, and stir them into a quart of cream; sweeten it with loaf-sugar, put it in a pot over the fire, and stir it till it thickens.
Posted by The Ebon Swan at
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On Bread; Commentary and Treatises from Period Books , part 3
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. The Good Housekeeper: Or, The Way To Live Well And To Be Well While We Live: Containing Directions For Choosing And Preparing Food, In Regard To Health, Economy And Taste. Boston: Weeks, Jordan, 1839. pp. 19-23.
YEAST.
It is impossible to have good light bread, unless you have lively sweet yeast. When common family beer is well brewed and kept in a clean cask, the settlings are the best of yeast. If you do not keep beer, then make common yeast by the following method.
Take two quarts of water, one handful of hops, two of wheat bran; boil these together twenty minutes; strain off the water, and while it is boiling hot stir in either wheat or rye flour, till it becomes a thick batter; let it stand till it is about blood warm; then add a half pint of good smart yeast and a large spoonful of molasses, if you have it, and stir the whole well. Set it in a cool place in summer and a warm one in winter. When it becomes perfectly light, it is fit for use. If not needed immediately, it should, when it becomes cold, be put in a clean jug or bottle; do not fill the vessel and the cork must be left loose till the next morning, when the yeast will have done working. Then cork it tightly, and set in a cool place in the cellar. It will keep ten or twelve days.
MILK YEAST.
One pint of new milk; one tea-spoonful of fine salt, and a large spoon of flour—stir these well together; set the mixture by the fire, and keep it just lukewarm; it will be fit for use in an hour. Twice the quantity of common yeast is necessary; it will not keep long. Bread made of this yeast dries very soon; but in the summer it is sometimes convenient to make this kind when yeast is needed suddenly.
Never keep yeast in a tin vessel.—If you find the old yeast sour, and have not time to prepare new, put in salæratus, a tea-spoonful to a pint of yeast, when ready to use it. If it foams up lively, it will raise the bread, if it does not, never use it.
HARD YEAST.
Boil three ounces of hops in six quarts of water, till only two quarts remain. Strain it, and stir in while it is boiling hot, wheat or rye meal till it is thick as
batter. When it is about milk warm add half a pint of good yeast, and let it stand till it is very light, which will probably be about three hours. Then work in sifted indian meal till it is stiff dough. Roll out on a board; cut it in oblong cakes abo
ut three inches by two. They should be about half an inch thick. Lay these cakes on a smooth board, over which a little flour has been dusted; prick them with a fork, and set the board in a dry clean chamber or store-room, where the sun and air may be freely admitted. Turn them every day. They will dry in a fortnight unless the weather is damp. When the cakes are fully dry, put them into a coarse cotton bag; hang it up in a c
ool dry place. If rightly prepared these cakes will keep a year, and save the trouble of making new yeast every week.
Two cakes will make yeast sufficient for a peck of flour. Break them into a pint of lukewarm water and stir in a large spoonful of flour, the evening before you bake. Set the mixture where it can be kept moderately warm. In the morning it will be fit for use.
ADVANTAGES OF BREAD MAKING.
If you wish to economize in family expenses, bake your own bread. If this is good, it will be better as well as healthier than baker’s bread. If you use a stove, you can bake during the winter with very little expense of fuel; and the flour to make bread for a family will cost about one third less than the bread. I knew a family of six persons, who saved fifty dollars by baking their bread during about eight months in the year. When flour is cheapest, the saving is greatest.
The rich will find several advantages in having a portion, at least, of their bread baked at home, even though the saving of money should not be an object. They can be certain that their bread is made of good flour. This is not always sure when eating baker’s bread. Much damaged flour, sour, musty, or grown,* is often used by the public bakers, particularly in scarce or bad seasons. The skill of the baker and the use of certain ingredients—(alum, ammonia, sulphate of zinc, and even sulphate of copper, it is said, has been used!)—will make this flour into light, white bread. But it is nearly tasteless, and cannot be as healthy or nutritious as bread made from the flour of good, sound wheat, baked at home, without any mixture of drugs and correctives. Even the best of baker’s bread is comparatively tasteless, and must be eaten when new to be relished. But good home-baked bread will keep a week, and is better on that account for the health.
Those who live in the country, bake their own bread, of course; and there every lady, old and young, must be, more or less, familiar with the process. But in our cities, ladies marry and commence housekeeping, without knowing anything of bread making. Yet there is not one individual, not even the wealthiest, but is liable to be placed in circumstances where the comfort and health of her husband and children may depend in a great measure, on her own knowledge of this important culinary art.
She may be settled where it is impossible to obtain help, or such as understand their duties; her skill and judgment, if not her hands, must supply the deficiency. If she cannot do this, she will, if she be a sensible and conscientious woman, feel, with Miss Sedgwick’s heroine, in “Means and Ends,” that Italian and music are worthless accomplishments compared with the knowledge of bread-making.
Indeed, this knowledge ought to be considered an accomplishment; and, like cake-making, the province of the mistress of the house and her daughters. Then the hard, heavy, sour, crude stuff, now often found under the name of “family bread,” would not be tolerated. Ladies would be as particular in this respect as in the quality of their cakes.
[Editorial note: the Following Footnote Originally appeared at the End of Page 21 in the Book.]
*When the harvest season is very wet, and the wheat cannot be gathered and dried when it is ripe, it often swells in the ear; and this is called grown grain. It is very difficult to make light bread from the flour of such grain.
Is it not a thousand times more important that the bread, necessary to the health and comfort of those we love, and which is required at every meal, should be made in the best manner (remember it is a saving of expense to make bread well) than that the cake, made for “the dear five hundred friends,” who attend a fashionable party for their own amusement, sometimes found in ridiculing the hostess, should be “superb?”
It would not require a very great sacrifice of time to attend, once each week, to this department of “household good.” If the sponge be set at seven or half past, in the morning, and every thing well managed, the bread will be ready to be drawn from the oven by twelve. Four or five hours of attention, then, is required; but three fourths of this time might be employed in needlework, or other pursuits. Only half or three quarters of an hour, devoted to kneading the bread, is wanted in active exertion; and this would be one of the most beneficial exercises our young ladies could practise.
The exercise of the hands and arms, in such a way as to strengthen all the muscles of the body, is very seldom practised by ladies; and hence much of the debility and languor they undergo. Many kinds of household labour are unpleasant, because they soil the clothes, or render the hands dark, rough and hard. But bread-making (not the heating and cleaning of the oven,) is as neat as cake-making; and kneading the dough will make the fairest hand fairer and softer, the exercise giving that healthy pink glow to the palm and nails which is so beautiful.
I have dwelt at length on this subject, because I consider it as important as did “Uncle John,” that “Girls should learn to make bread—the staff of life”—and that to do this well is an accomplishment which the lovely and talented should consider indispensable, one of the “must haves” of female education.
There are three things which must be exactly right, in order to have good bread—the quality of the yeast; the lightness or fermentation of the dough; and the heat of the oven. No precise rules can be given to ascertain these points. It requires observation, reflection, and a quick, nice judgement to decide when all are right. Thus, you see, that bread-making is not a mere mechanical treadmill operation, like many household concerns; but a work of mind; the woman who always has good home-baked bread on the table shows herself to have good sense and good management.
Posted by The Ebon Swan
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On Bread; Commentary and Treatises from Period Books , part 2
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. The Good Housekeeper: Or, The Way To Live Well And To Be Well While We Live: Containing Directions For Choosing And Preparing Food, In Regard To Health, Economy And Taste. Boston: Weeks, Jordan, 1839. pp. 14-17.
There is a brief biography of Mrs. Hale on the Feeding America site as well.
MAKING BREAD.
A large family will, probably, use a bushel of flour weekly; but we will take the proper quantity for a family of four or five persons.
Take twentyone quarts of flour, put it into a kneading trough or earthen pan which is well glazed, and large enough to hold double the quantity of flour. Make a deep, round hole in the centre of the flour, and pour into it half a pint of brewer’s yeast, or the thick sediment from home-brewed beer—the last if good, is to be preferred. In either case the yeast must be mixed with a pint of milk-warm water, and well stirred before it is poured in. Then with a spoon stir into this liquid, gradually, so much of the surrounding flour as will make it like thin batter; sprinkle this over with dry flour, till it is covered entirely. Then cover the trough or pan with a warm cloth, and set it by the fire in winter, and where the sun is shining in summer. This process is called “setting the sponge.” The object is to give strength and character to the ferment by communicating the quality of leaven to a small portion of the flour; which will then be easily extended to the whole. Setting sponge is a measure of wise precaution—for if the yeast does not rise and ferment in the middle of the flour it shows that the yeast is not good; the batter can then be removed, without wasting much of the flour, and another sponge set with better yeast.
Let the sponge stand till the batter has swelled and risen so as to form cracks in the covering of flour; then scatter over it two table spoonfuls of fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough by pouring in, by degrees, as much warm water as is necessary to mix with the flour. Twenty-one quarts of flour will require about four quarts of water. It will be well to prepare rather more; soft water is much the best; it should in summer be warm as new milk; during winter, it ought to be somewhat warmer, as flour is a cold, heavy substance.
Add the water by degrees to the flour, mix them with your hand, till the whole mass is incorporated; it must then be worked most thoroughly, moulded over and over and kneaded with your clenched hands, till it becomes so perfectly smooth and light as well as stiff, that not a particle will adhere to your hands. Remember that you cannot have good bread, light and white, unless you give the dough a thorough kneading.—Then make the dough into a lump in the middle of the trough or pan, and dust it over with flour to prevent its adhering to the vessel. Cover it with a warm cloth, and in the winter the vessel should be placed near the fire. It now undergoes a further fermentation, which is shown by its swelling and rising; this, if the ferment was well formed, will be at its height in an hour—somewhat less in very warm weather. It ought to be taken at its height, before it begins to fall.
Divide the dough into seven equal portions; mould on your paste-board, and form them into loaves; put these on well floured tin or earthen plates, and place immediately in the oven.
The oven, if a good one and you have good dry wood, will heat sufficiently in an hour. It is best to kindle the fire in it with dry pine, hemlock furze or some quick burning material; then fill it up with faggots or hard wood split fine and dried, sufficient to heat it—let the wood burn down and stir the coals evenly over the bottom of the oven, let them lie till they are like embers; the bricks at the arch and sides will be clear from any color of smoke when the oven is sufficiently hot. Clean and sweep the oven,—throw in a little flour on the bottom,—if it burns black at once, do not put in the bread, but let it stand a few moments and cool.
It is a good rule to put the fire in the oven when the dough is made up—the batter will rise and the former heat in about the same time.
When the loaves are in the oven, it must be closed and kept tight, except you open it for a moment to see how the bread appears. If the oven is properly heated, loaves of the size named, will be done in an hour and a half or two hours. They will weigh four pounds per loaf, or about that—thus giving you twenty eight pounds of bread from twenty one quarts (or pounds) of flour. The weight gained is from the water.
It is the best economy to calculate (or ascertain by experiment) the number of loaves of a certain weight or size, necessary for a week’s consumption in your family, and bake accordingly. In the winter season bread may be kept good for a fortnight; still I think it the best rule to bake once every week. Bread should not be eaten at all till it has been baked, at least, one day. When the loaves are done, take them from the oven, and place them on a clean shelf, in a clean, cool pantry. If the crust happen to be scorched, or the bread is too much baked, the loaves, when they are taken out of the oven, may be wrapped in a clean, coarse towel, which has been slightly damped. It is well to keep a light cloth thrown over all the loaves. When a loaf has been cut, it should be kept in a tight box from the air, if you wish to prevent its drying.
[Editorial note: The Following Footnote appears in the Original Text at the End of Page 16.]
*There are three processes in fermentation—the vinous, which makes the dough light and white—the acetous, which turns it sour and rather brown—and the putrefactive, which utterly spoils it.—The only good bread is made by baking the dough when the vinuous fermentation is exactly at its height. As soon as the acetous commences, the dough is injured. It it may be in a measure restored by mixing diluted pearlash or salæratus, and working it thoroughly with every portion of the dough—then baking it quickly.
Posted by The Ebon Swan
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/in-the-swans-shadow/e27ae4d9ab989b40aeaaf4f893eaac22
On Bread; Commentary and Treatises from Period Books
Well, you had to see this coming. In the course of my own research I figured that I would share some of my findings with you. This source is from around 1839, which is when the summer kitchen was initially built at West Overton. It is known that at this time there was no flour mill on site; however that would change later on. In the meantime their grain for their distilling works and presumably for their household use as well were processed several miles away and transported by ox-cart.
After you get past the commentary concerning the author’s opinions on variety of diet (which devolves into something very much like sermonizing), she goes on to give some excellent information and advice.
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. The Good Housekeeper: Or, The Way To Live Well And To Be Well While We Live: Containing Directions For Choosing And Preparing Food, In Regard To Health, Economy And Taste. Boston: Weeks, Jordan, 1839. pp. 13-14.
FLOUR.
The first requisite for good bread is that the flour or meal be good. Wheat is always better for being washed; if it be at all injured by smut, it is not fit for food unless it be thoroughly washed. In the country this is easily done.
Put the grain in a clean tub, a bushel at a time; fill the tub with water, and stir the whole up from the bottom, briskly, with your hand, or a stick. Pour off the water and fill it with clean till the water ceases to be colored or dirty. Two or three waters usually are sufficient. Finish the washing quickly as possible, so as not to soak the grain; then spread it thinly on a large, strong sheet, (it is best to keep a coarse unbleached sheet solely for this purpose, if you wash your grain,) laid on clean boards in the sun, or where the sun and air can be freely admitted. Stir the grain with your hand every two or three hours,—it will dry in a day, if the weather be fair.
Fresh ground flour makes the best and sweetest bread. If you live in the vicinity of a mill, never have more than one or two bushels ground into flour at a time.
A bushel of good, clear wheat will make fifty-six pounds of flour, besides the bran and middlings.
If you purchase flour by the barrel or sack, be careful to ascertain that it is good and pure. In Europe flour is often adulterated, that is, mixed with other substances, to swell its bulk and weight. Whiting, ground stones and bones, and plaster of Paris, are the ingredients chiefly used. To be sure, none of these things are absolutely poisonous, but they are injurious, and no one wants them in bread. In our country we think such deceptions are seldom attempted, still it may be well to know how to detect the least bad matter in flour.
To discover whiting, dip the ends of the fore-finger and thumb into sweet oil, and take up a small quantity of flour between them. If it be pure, you may freely rub the fingers together for any length of time, it will not become sticky, and the substance will turn nearly black; if whiting be mixed with the flour, a few times rubbing turns it into putty, but its color is very little changed.
To detect stone-dust or plaster of Paris; drop the juce of lemon or a little sharp vinegar on a small quantity of flour; if adulterated, an immediate commotion or effervescence takes place; if pure, it will remain at rest. Another quick, easy and pretty sure method of trial is to take a handful of flour and squeeze it very tightly for a minute—if it be good and pure, when you open your hand, the flour will remain in a lump, in the form you have given it, even the grains and wrinkles of the skin of the hand will be visible—you may place it on the table without breaking—but if it contains foreign substances, it will not adhere thus, but crumble and fall almost immediately.
Sour or musty flour may be easily known by the smell. Such damaged stuff can never make good, healthy bread, though public bakers, it is said, often prefer to use it, because it is cheapest, and they know methods of preparation by which they can produce light and white bread from this damaged flour. The bread is, to be sure, nearly tasteless, and it cannot be equally nourishing as good flour would make; but if it looks well, it will sell. Those who bake their own bread have the opportunity of knowing that it is made of good ingredients; and if they make it after the following recipe, they may be sure of good bread.
Posted by The Ebon Swan
http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/barracks/1369/recipes.html
Welcome to Mason-Dixon Line’s
Civil War Recipes
My personal recommendations for reenactors, clarifications and adjustments for the 20th century cook are noted in bold italics or [brackets]. Please note that during the 1800’s, Americans were still using The Queen’s English, so for the sake of authenticity, though in many instances awkward to today’s reader, I have left some spelling and punctuation unchanged.
What Is Hardtack?
Hardtack is a cracker-like biscuit made of flour, salt and water and was one of the most typical rations issued to soldiers by the U. S. government because it was fairly nutritious and unlikely to spoil. This hard bread was made in government bakeries located in cities and shipped in barrels to the troops. Hardtack had to be tough to withstand the trip. Many Civil War soldiers complained about this ration noting the extreme hardness of the biscuits (sometimes called “teeth-dullers”), which at times had to be broken with a rifle “butt” or a “blow of the fist” to prepare for eating. Soldiers sometimes softened the pieces by soaking them in coffee, frying them in bacon grease, or crumbling them in soup.
Hardtack could become infested with insects in the government storehouses or during the soldier’s travels. One disappointed soldier claimed that “All the fresh meat we had came in the hard bread!”
Courtesy of the Office of Historic Alexandria.
With the exception of the Union Army, it would be unlikely for everyone in the United States to adhere to only one method of preparation, so I included several versions, including one specifically for the South.
The basic ingredients are: flour, salt and water (although quantity differs). General directions are also similar: Disolve salt in water and work into flour with your hands. Dough should be firm and pliable, but not sticky or too dry. Flatten onto a cookie sheet to about 1/4 inch thick, and cut into squares 3 inches by 3 inches. Pierce each square with 16 holes about ½ inch apart. Bake in oven until edges are brown or dough is hard.
* Preheat oven to 400° F
* For each cup of flour add 1 tsp. of salt
* Mix salt and flour with just enough water to bind.
* Bake 20-25 minutes.
* The longer you bake the hardtack, the more authentic it will appear.
* 2 cups of flour
* 1 cup water
* 1 tbl spoon of Crisco or vegetable fat (lard)
* 6 pinches of salt
* Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
* Remove from oven, cut dough into 3-inch squares, and punch four rows of holes into the dough.
* Turn dough over, return to the oven and bake another 30 minutes.
A Sailor’s Diet!
Hardtack was cooked on shore and loaded on board by the barrel. This was the basic food of the sailor.
* 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick oats.
* 3 cups unbleached flour.
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.
* 1 teaspoon baking soda.
* In a separate container, mix:
* 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
* 3 tablespoons honey.
* 1/2 cup melted bacon drippings or shortening.
* Combine the two sets of ingredients.
* When the dough is thoroughly mixed, roll it out on a floured board to a thickness of about a quarter inch.
* Cut out circles of dough with a large drinking glass dipped in flour and put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
* Bake for about 5 1/2 minutes at 450 degrees.
* Let the hardtack cool on a wire rack before serving with jam or jelly.
Courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission
Or try a Southern johnnie cake...
* 2 cups of cornmeal
* 2/3 cup of milk
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (lard)
* 2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon of salt
* Mix ingredients into a stiff batter and form eight biscuit-sized “dodgers”.
* Bake on a lightly greased sheet at 350 degrees for twenty to twenty five minutes or until brown.
* Or spoon the batter into hot cooking oil in a frying pan over a low flame.
* Optional: spread with a little butter or molasses, and you have a real southern treat!
Additional items that Union soldiers received were salt pork, fresh or salted beef, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, dried fruit and dried vegetables. If the meat was poorly preserved, the soldiers would refer to it as “salt horse”. Sometimes they would receive fresh vegetables such as carrots and potatoes.
Confederate soldiers were not as fortunate. Their rations consisted of bacon and corn meal, tea, sugar or molasses, and fresh vegetables when they were available.
Courtesy of the National Park Service
This photograph is the link to the 19th Century Recipe page, which is packed with culinary delights, many suitable for Living History events. New recipes are frequently added to this page. [James River, Va. Sailors on deck of U.S.S. Monitor; (cookstove at left) taken July 9, 1862.]
Photograph from the LCCW collection
Memoirs of Archibald Atkinson Jr.
Read the detailed excerpts from the memoirs of Archibald Atkinson, Jr, who served as a doctor in the Confederate Army. His interpretation of the war from a surgeon’s point of view lends insight to rations that were available to both Northern and Southern troops.
Includes more home remedies and 19th century medicine and health practices!
Home Remedies
Soup for an Invalid
Cut in small pieces one pound of beef or mutton or part of both, boil it gently in two quarts of water; take off the scum and when reduced to a pint, strain it. Season with a little salt and take a teacupful at a time.
[The simplicity of this recipe makes it a nice addition to the Living History campsite.]
Godey’s-March,1861
Drinks for the Sick
From The Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846
Apple Tea:
Roast sour apples and pour boiling water upon them. Drink it when cold.
A Very Refreshing Draught in a Fever:
Put a few sprigs of sage, balm and sorrel into a jug, having first washed and dried them. Take off the yellow part of the rind of a small lemon; remove the white, slice the lemon and put it into the jug with part of the peel; pour in three pints of boiling water, sweeten it and stop it close.
[Balm has long been cultivated in gardens. The stems and leaves, formerly used in medicine as a gentle stimulant and tonic, are still occasionally used as such. Sorrel is a perennial herb with erect stems about 12 in high with arrow-shaped leaves, which are cultivated for use as a salad green and as a potherb.]
Another Drink [untitled]:
Boil an ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two of stoned raisins, in three pints of water until near one third is wasted; then strain it.
Another Drink [also untitled]:
Put a teacup of cranberries in a cup of water, and mash them. In the mean time, boil two quarts of water with one large spoonful of Indian or oatmeal, and a piece of lemon peel; add the cranberries and some loaf sugar, but take care to leave a strong flavor of the fruit. Put in a gill of sherry wine, or less if required, and boil it half an hour more. Then strain it. [I think the addition of wine is the key to this drink’s success.]
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/1369/more_recipes.html
Mason-Dixon Line’s Civil War Recipes
For Any Occasion
My personal recommendations for reenactors, clarifications and adjustments for the 20th century cook are noted in bold italics or [brackets].
Observations on Soups
When you make any kind of soup, particularly portable, vermicelli or brown gravy soup or any other that has herbs or roots in it, always observe to lay the meat in the bottom of your pan with a good lump of butter. Cut the herbs and roots into small pieces and lay them over the meat; cover it close and set it over a very slow fire: it will draw all the virtue out of the roots and herbs, turn it to a good gravy and give the soup a very different flavor than if you first put it in water. When your gravy is almost dried up, fill the pan with water; when it begins to boil, take off the fat and follow the directions of your recipe for whatever sort of soup you are making.
Peterson’s - January, 1859
General Directions Respecting Fish Can be found at the Bottom of This Page
Soup’s On!
Stock
The basis of all well-made soups is composed of what English cooks call “stock” or broth made from all sorts of meat, bones and the remains of poultry or game; all of which may be put together and stewed down in the “stock-pot,” the contents of which are by the French termed Consommé. Then add a tablespoonful and a half of curry powder, and mix it up well. Now cut up the beef into pieces about an inch square; pour in from a quarter to a third of a pint of milk, and let it simmer for thirty minutes; then take it off and pace it in a dish with a little lemon-juice. While cooking, stir it constantly to prevent burning. Send it to the table with a wall of mashed potatoes or rice around it.
[There are several varieties of stock, such as “brown,” “gravy” and “ white”. If you would like additional information about how to prepare the various types of stock, please let me know.]
[ Godey’s - February, 1861]
Gumbo Soup
Cut up a chicken or any fowl as if to fry and break the bones; lay it in a pot with just enough butter to brown it a little; when browned, pour as much water to it as will make soup for four or five persons; add a thin slice of lean bacon, an onion cut fine and some parsley. Stew it gently five or six hours; about twenty minutes before it is to be served, make a thickening by mixing a heaping tablespoonful of sassfra leaves, pounded fine, in some of the soup and adding it to the rest of the soup; a little rice is an improvement. If the fowl is small, two will be required, but one large pullet [a hen of the domestic chicken less than a year old] is sufficient.
[This is a great recipe for Living History events.]
[ Godey’s - April, 1861]
Curry Soup
Season two quarts of strong veal broth with two onions, a bunch of parsley, salt and pepper; strain it and have ready a chicken (or game bird) cut in joints and skinned; put it in the broth with a tablespoonful of curry powder; boil the chicken(s) till quite tender. A little before serving, add the juice of a lemon and a teacupful of boiling cream. Serve boiled rice to eat with this soup. Always boil cream before putting it in soup or gravy.
[Godey’s - March, 1861]
Venison Soup
Take four pounds of freshly-killed venison, cut off from the bones, and one pound of ham in small slices. Add an onion, minched, and black pepper to your taste. Put only as much water as will cover it and stew it gently for an hour, keeping the pot closely covered. Skim it well and pour in a quart of boiling water. Add a head of celery cut small (can substitute with celery seed) and three blades of mace [an East Indian spice: an aromatic spice consisting of the dried external fibrous covering of a nutmeg]. Boil it gently two hours and a half; then put in a quarter of a pound of butter, cut small and rolled in flour, and half a pint of port or Madeira. Let it boil a quarter of an hour longer and send it to the table with the meat in it.
[This recipe also works well with a beef substitute.]
[Godey’s - March, 1861]
Rabbit Soup
Begin this soup six hours before dinner. Cut up three large, but young and tender rabbits, or four small ones (scoring the backs), and dredge them with flour. Slice six mild onions and season them with half a grated nutmeg, or more, if you like it. Put some fresh butter into a hot frying pan you may substitute for the butter some cold roast veal gravy that has been carefully cleared from the fat, place it over the fire, and when it boils, put in the rabbits and onions and fry them of a light brown. Then transfer the whole to a soup pot; season it with a very small teaspoonful of sweet marjoram leaves stripped from the stalks, and four or five blades of mace, adding three large carrots in slices. Pour on, slowly, four quarts of hot water from a kettle already boiling hard. Cover the soup pot, and let it simmer slowly, skimming it well, till the meat of the rabbits is reduced to shreds and drops from the bones, which will not be in less than five hours, if boiled as gently as it ought. When quite done, strain the soup into a tureen. Have ready the grated yolks of six hard boiled eggs, and stir them into the soup immediately after it is strained, and while it is very hot. Add, also, some bread cut into dice or small squares, and fried brown in fresh butter. Or substitute for the fried bread buttered toast, with all the crust removed, and cut into very small bits or mouthfuls.
[Godey’s - November, 1861]
Seafood Recipes for Your Campsite or Kitchen
Chowder
Fry three slices of salt pork, crisp, in a deep kettle; take them out and lay in slices of potatoes; flour and pepper them; then lay in slices of fish, which must also be floured and peppered. Put in alternate layers of potatoes and fish, with flour, salt and pepper, till it is all laid in. If you have a fresh lemon, slice it into the kettle. Pour over it boiling water enough almost to cover it. When it boils up, dredge in more flour. Dip a few crackers in cold water and lay over the top, and cover the kettle close. Boil it three quarters of an hour. Use ship bread [also called hardtack or ship biscuit], if it is preferred. Some people add a cup of milk just before it is served.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
To Boil and Broil Halibut
If you wish to boil it, use a thick slice cut through the body, or the tail piece, which is considered the richest. Wrap it in a floured cloth and lay it in cold water with salt in it. A piece weighing six pounds, should be cooked half an hour after the water begins to boil. It is eaten with melted butter and parsley. If any of it is left, lay it in a deep dish and sprinkle on it a little salt, throw over it a dozen or two of cloves, pour in some vinegar, and add, if you have it, butternut vinegar. It will, when cold, have much the flavor of lobster.
The nape of the halibut is considered best to broil; but a slice through the body a little more than an inch thick, if sprinkled with salt an hour or two before being cooked, will broil without breaking and is excellent. When taken up, put on a little butter, pepper and salt.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
To Fry Oysters
Make a batter of two eggs, three gills of milk [4 gills = 1 pint], two spoonfuls of flour, and some fine bread crumbs. Beat it well. Dip each oyster into the batter, and fry in lard.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
Another Way to Fry Oysters
For a pint of oysters, beat three eggs, three spoonfuls of flour, and two small, pounded crackers; add a glass of wine, pepper and nutmeg. Dip one oyster at a time into the batter and fry them.
[If any brave soul tries this recipe, please let me know!]
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
Scalloped Oysters
Butter a deep dish, and cover the bottom and sides with fine crumbs of bread. Put in half the oysters, with mace and pepper, and cover them with bread crumbs and small bits of butter; add the rest of the oysters with pepper and mace, and cover as before. Put in but little of the liquor, as oysters part with a good deal of moisture in cooking, and if the mixture is too wet, it is not as good. If they are very salt, put in water instead of the liquor. [I give this one five stars]
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
To Fry Fish
After it has been cleansed, cut it into pieces of the proper size, and lay them in a cloth in order to dry them. Fry four or five slices of salt pork, or if you have not this, lard or nice beef drippings will do; but pork is preferable. When the slices are fried brown, take them out, dip the pieces of fish in a plate of fine Indian meal, and lay them into a spider [a cast-iron frying pan originally with short feet to stand among coals on the hearth]. Fry them brown. When the fish is done, lay it with the pork into a hot dish. Pour a little water into the spider, boil it up, dredge in browned flour, and pour the whole over the fish.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
To Bake A Stuffed Cod Or Black Fish
Chop fine a half a teacupful of fat ham; add a large spoonful of butter, some parsley, thyme, marjoram, a little salt, nutmeg and pepper. If you have oysters, add a dew. Beat two eggs and put all together with fine bread crumbs enough to compound them. With this, stuff the fish, which should be floured thick, and wind a string around it to keep it together, or else sew it up. Fasten the head and tail together with a skewer. Bake it in a stove an hour and a quarter. Baste it with butter.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
Boiled Cod
There should be a little salt rubbed down the bone, and over the thick part, even if it is to be eaten the same day. Wrap it in a cloth and put it over the fire in cold water; as putting it into hot water at first will cause the outside to break before the center is done. See that it is covered with water, and throw in a table spoonful of salt. Take off the froth carefully, and boil it half an hour. Fresh cod is eaten with oyster sauce and melted butter, or with the latter alone, with the addition of parsley and three or four eggs boiled very hard, cut up and put into it.
The head and shoulders of cod are so much thicker than the other part, that it is impossible to boil the fish whole and have all parts equally cooked. It is therefore a good way to divide it, boil the head and shoulders, and fry the other part, or sprinkle it with salt, and after a day or two, broil it.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]
General Directions Respecting Fish - From Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846
Fresh fish can be judged by their being hard under the pressure of the finger. Even if not injured, fish lose their best flavor soon, and a few hours make a wide difference in the taste of some sorts.
Most kinds of fish are best in cold weather. Mackerel are best in August, September and October. Halibut in May and June. Oysters are good from September to April; but are not very good or healthy from the first of May to the last of August [hence the advice still used today in Maryland - only eat oysters during the months that contain “R’s.”] Lobsters are best at the season when oysters are not good...
Epicures [one with sensitive and discriminating tastes especially in food] consider it important to boil salt water fish in sea water... Pond fish should be soaked in strong salt and water to take out the earthy taste. Fish may be kept good several days, if frozen...A boiled fish is done when the eyes turn white.
When you broil fish, rub the gridiron with lard or drippings, to prevent its sticking. Do not attempt to turn it like steaks, with a knife or fork, but lay an old dish upon it, and hold it on with one hand, while you turn over the gridiron with the other.
Fish that is to be fried, should be laid in a cloth for an hour, that the moisture may be absorbed. It should then be rolled in fine bread crumbs, or Indian meal. Fish that is apt to break in frying may be kept whole by being dipped in a beaten egg, before it is rolled in the bread crumbs. Oysters should be skimmed out of the liquor before being cooked, in order that it may be strained, as there are often bits of shell in it.
Soup Meat
To make the soup very good, the meat (of which there should be a large proportion, rather more than a pound to a quart of water) must remain in till it drops entirely from the bones and is boiled to rags. But none of these fragments and shreds should be found in the tureen when the soup is sent to table; they should all be kept at the bottom of the pot, pressing down the ladle hard upon them when you are dipping out the soup. If any are seen in the soup after it is taken up, let them be carefully removed with a spoon. To send the soup to table with bits of bone and shreds of meat in it is a slovenly, disgusting, and vulgar practice, and should be strictly forbidden, as some indifferent cooks will do so to save themselves the trouble of removing it. A mass of shreds left at the bottom of the tureen absorbs so much of the liquid as to diminish the quantity of the soup; and if eaten, is very unwholesome, all the nourishment being boiled out of it.
[Godey’s - November, 1861]
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1918,142161-236205,00.html
MEDITERRANEAN GRILL HERB OIL RUB
Printed from COOKS.COM
rind of 1 orange, finely grated
rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
5 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons fresh Rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves
Remove stems from herbs; wash and dry on paper towels 1-2 hours before using.
Peel garlic cloves. Place into a blender with 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt; process until smooth. Add herbs and blend to a paste.
Marinate meats, poultry or fish in a zipper bag in the refrigerator for as little as 30 minutes or up to 12 hours, turning once or twice every so often and squeezing bag to distribute mixture evenly. Discard marinade after use.
Grill or broil meat as you normally would.
If there is no time to marinate, use this rub as a seasoning, to be brushed on just before grilling.
Submitted by: CM
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,civil_war_foods,FF.html
CIVIL WAR FRUIT CAKE
Boil for 5 minutes and then let cool: 3 c. raisins 2 c. granulated sugar 2 c. water 2 tbsp. butter or Crisco
Sift together and add to cooled mixture: 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. ground cloves
Mix and then add 1 cup chopped black walnuts. Bake in a well greased angel food or loaf pan for 1 hour at 300 degrees. This cake was developed during the Civil War when fancier fruits were rare.
CIVIL WAR IDIOT’S DELIGHT
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. raisins
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. water
7 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. milk
1 c. flour
Boil together the first 5 ingredients. Make a batter of the second 5 ingredients. Drop the batter in a greased pan by spoonfuls. Pour first mixture over it and bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.
This recipe was given to my mother many years ago by an old lady who said her family used it during the hard times after the Civil War. It was popular because it used only a few, inexpensive, easy to obtain ingredients and is fool-proof. Even an idiot can make it. My kind of cookin’.
CIVIL WAR APPLESAUCE COOKIES
2 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/3 c. shortening
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. applesauce
6 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
Cream shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add applesauce and mix well. Add sifted dry ingredients and blend well. Drop by heaping tablespoon on greased cookie sheets. Flatten and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They Do Not Brown!
CIVIL WAR ORANGE CAKE (General
Ogelthorpe)
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. soda
2 c. sifted flour
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. chopped raisins
2 orange peels, ground
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add buttermilk. Add dry ingredients. Save juice from 2 oranges. Spread mixture in 13 x 9 x 2 inch greased pan. Bake until golden and pulls away from edges. Mix equal parts of orange juice and sugar. Pour over hot cake. Is great served with wassail spiced tea.
MAW’S CIVIL WAR PIE
1 1/2 c. dried cooked peaches
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 tbsp. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 whole eggs
3/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix fruit, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Put in unbaked 9 inch pie crust. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over the fruit. This makes a custard for the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/index.html
In the Kitchen with Mother Linda
Former Weston A. Price Foundation Board Member Linda Forristal, CCP, MTA is the author of Ode to Sucanat (1993) and Bulgarian Rhapsody (1998). Visit her website at www.motherlindas.com.
Date listed is the date the article was posted to this site, not the date the article was written or first published.
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* The Holiday Berry 30 APR 2003
* Put Lard Back in Your Larder 09 FEB 2003
* Maple Sugar: A Gift from the Indians 08 SEP 2002
* Venison: The All-American Meat 08 SEP 2002
* Strawberry Patches Forever 11 AUG 2002
* The Roe to Health 30 MAR 2002
Interesting low cost, low maintenace vehicle for farm work. Kinda like a small tractor/ATV Looks good, never heard of it before.
http://www.drivebuv.org/index.html