By Merry Post Special to The Ellsworth American One of my favorite 19th-century vegetable recipes comes from a religious group that practiced communal property ownership and free love. The Oneida Community formed in Putney, Vt., around a charismatic leader, John Humphrey Noyes, and moved to upstate New York in 1848. They were one of a …
By Merry Post Special to The Ellsworth American It wobbles and rebounds like an alien life form. Once an ornament for elaborate banquets, it became an odd form of salad popular in the 1950s. But gelatin, or jelly if you are British, actually goes back centuries in European cuisine. Long before the age of Jell-O, …
By Merry Post Special to The Ellsworth American It would be easy to ridicule the accomplishments of the temperance movement and its earnest reformers. Even when the temperance movement was at its peak of popularity, songs such as “The Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Never Touch Mine” were lampooned. National prohibition lasted for 13 years …
By Merry Post Special to The Ellsworth American Community cookbooks from the last quarter of the 19th century sometimes include advertisements that hint at the importance of public mourning customs. The “Excelsior Cook Book,” put out in 1891 by the Congregational Church of Rutland, Vt., includes two advertisements that show the need for proper mourning …
By Merry Post Special to The Ellsworth American The European custom of naming foods after famous people gave us dishes such as Beef Wellington and Tournedos Rossini (named for the Duke of Wellington and the Italian composer, respectively). Americans usually reserved their honorific food names for desserts. Presidents Washington, Madison, Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Lincoln and …
Special to The Ellsworth American In the 19th century, chicken usually contained just chicken meat or chicken parts sauced with gravy and baked in pie pastry. I found a more interesting vintage recipe that brings to mind two remarkable Rhode Island women who shattered expectations for women of their time. One, Elleanor Eldridge, was the …
Special to The Ellsworth American The 1800s were golden years for the manufacture of patent medicines. These untested proprietary products were sold over the counter. Before the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, American entrepreneurs sold hundreds of dubious preparations as medicine with no legal requirement to list their ingredients or to prove efficacy …
Since Colonial times, New Englanders have liked ginger in their cakes and cookies. I agree with Jane Fiske that gingersnaps are welcome when you are tired and out of sorts or just any time.
Susan B. Anthony’s cake was flavored with a little almond extract. Apparently, she served it plain, with no indication that it should be improved with frosting. Sponge cake alone has a light, airy texture, but it is rather dry.
Sometimes I like to look at cookbooks from the World War I era just to envision a period in modern American history that could compare to the past year for collective misery. About 675,000 Americans died from the influenza pandemic of 1918. Because the crowded conditions of military life fostered the spread of influenza, more …
Special to The Ellsworth American Every November I try at least one new type of pie. This year I attempted mock cherry pie — a dessert that was popular at the end of the 1800s but disappeared in the early 1900s. I believe the pie lost favor when canned sour cherries became available year-round. Because …
I have been thinking about all the parents who are providing some kind of home schooling for their children. Making oatmeal breadsticks is a project that young children can do and a change of pace for breakfast or lunch. It also can be a lesson in chemistry and physics. The baking powder in this …
