Cool Off This Summer with 19th Century Beverages

Since it's been so hot the past few weeks we thought you might want to cool off 19th century style with a few old fashioned thirst quenchers!


A COOLING CINNAMON WATER IN HOT WEATHER
Recipe By: The House Servant's Directory By Robert Roberts, 1827
Servings: 128

1 gallon water
12 whole cloves
2 ounces cinnamon sticks

Boil one gallon of water, pour it into a gallon demijohn, set this before the fire, then put into it twelve cloves, two ounces of whole cinnamon, then stop up your bottle and put it in a cool place; when you want to mix your liquor, put half a pint into two quarts of water, with one quarter of a pound of sugar; cool it in ice before you serve it, and it is a most wholesome and delicious drink as you can take in hot weather.

The above can be cut down as follows for modern-sized families:  ;-)

Amounts to use for making 1 quart of concentrate:
1 quart water
3 whole cloves
1/2 ounce cinnamon sticks

Follow above directions, except no fire is required.  Just boil your water and add the above ingredients.  Stop up the bottle and store it in a cool place.  You can dilute the whole quart of concentrate to serve  by adding 2 gallons cold water and 1 pound sugar according to the directions above, or follow the directions below to mix up just a quart at a time.

For 1 quart diluted:

Put 1/2 cup of cinnamon-clove water and a rounded 1/4 cup of sugar into 1 quart of water.  Chill on ice before serving.  Alternately, add spice water and sugar to 2 cups water, and add ice to make 1 quart.

NOTE: Each 1 cup of this concentrate makes 8, 1 cup servings diluted.

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Raspberry Shrub
Recipe By: The Frugal Housewife, by Lydia Maria Child, pub.  1830

"Raspberry shrub mixed with water is a pure delicious drink for summer; and good in a country where raspberries are abundant.   It is good economy to make it answer instead of Port and Catalonia wine.  Put raspberries in a pan and scarcely cover them with strong vinegar. Let sit to draw out the juice for 24-48 hours; strain. Add a pint of sugar to a pint of [strained] juice; (of this you can judge by first trying your pan to see how much it holds) scald it, skim it, and bottle it when cold."

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Sumac Lemonade; Indian or Pink Lemonade

8 clusters rosy-red sumac heads
2 quarts cold water
sugar to taste

To make one pitcher, use six to eight clusters of rosy-red sumac heads.  Empty the heads into a large container of water and mash them soundly with a beetle; or you may lightly bruise the seed heads and let them soak in the water, now and again gently stirring.  Strain the liquid through a muslin or several layers of cheesecloth, then add sugar to taste and you will end up with a drink that is very pleasant to the palate.

It is important to harvest the seed heads at the right time, just when the heads turn a nice rosy-red color.  Any darker and the results will be slightly bitter.  Always use cold water.  Hot water will leach out the tannin.  The natural tartness is partly sue to ascorbic acid, vitamin C.

NOTE: It is important to harvest the seed heads at the right time, just when the heads turn the rosy-red color.  Any darker and the results will be slightly bitter.  Always use cold water.  Hot water will leach out the tannin.  The natural tartness is due to ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in the berries.

The Jones Farm and The Livingston Backus House Make Marmalade & Illustrate Historic Differences

This year at the Jones Farm and the Livingston-Backus house we are interpreting both around 1850 in order to show the contrast between the two buildings and their inhabitants.

The Jones Farm is a rural farm and farther from a market than the Livingston-Backus House. While they live above the subsistence level, they are not as well-to-do as the Livingston-Backus household and serve simple farm fare that they make themselves.

Recent Fare at the Livingston-Backus House

The Livingston-Backus House's original location was on the Erie canal. Not only does this make it easier to come by many different ingredients, it is also a household of higher financial standing. They would have had servants to do the cooking and would have done more entertaining.

As an example of the difference between the dwellings, our Historic Foodways staff have researched marmalade two ways. In the first recipe by Miss Isabella Beeton, rhubarb is used to economize on the cost of the expensive oranges while still keeping the nice orange flavor of "real" Scottish marmalade. Apparently the best orange marmalade to be had mid-century was from Scotland, and Mrs. Beeton's was intended "to resemble" it, at least in flavor. Calling it Scotch marmalade is sort of a play on words too. This is the marmalade that we will be making at The Jones Farm.

Rhubarb and Orange Jam, to resemble Scotch Marmalade.
The Book of Household Management 1859-61 by Mrs. Isabella Beeton

1 quart of finely-cut rhubarb
6 oranges
1–1/2 lb. of loaf sugar.

Peel the oranges; remove as much of the white pith as possible, divide them, and take out the pips; slice the pulp into a preserving-pan, add the rind of half the oranges cut into thin strips, and the loaf sugar, which should be broken small. Peel the rhubarb, cut it into thin pieces, put it to the oranges, and stir altogether over a gentle fire until the jam is done. Remove all the scum as it rises, put the preserve into pots, and, when cold, cover down. Should the rhubarb be very old, stew it alone for ¼ hour before the other ingredients are added.

The Livingston-Backus house will feature a marmalade made entirely from oranges, being that they are considered expensive, and a luxury.

Orange Marmalade
Miss Leslie's new cookery book, 1857
By Eliza Leslie

Quarter some large ripe oranges, and remove the rind, the seeds, and the strings or filaments, taking care to save all the juice. Put the pulp, with the juice, into a porcelain kettle, and mix with it an equal quantity of strained honey, adding sufficient powdered loaf sugar to render it very thick and sweet. The honey alone will not make it sweet enough. Boil it uncovered, and skim it till very thick, smooth, and clear. Taste it, and if necessary add more sugar, and boil it longer. When cold, put it up in tumblers or white-ware marmalade pots, and cover it securely. This marmalade is exquisite, and very superior to any other.

This weekend you will be able to taste the "Scotch Marmalade" at The Jones Farm.

Six weeks of Want-Cup Cake aka 1234 Cake

As our six weeks of want comes to an end with the advent of new spring vegetables, I leave you with a simple cake that would have been useful for using up the butter and eggs that you would have been blessed with at this time of year.

In the village (and elsewhere) it is sometimes known as a 1234 Cake and you'll soon find out why.

In old cookbooks it is referred to as a Cup Cake.

Ingredients
1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Sugar
3 Cups Flour
4 Eggs

Mix together and pour into a pan and bake for an hour at 350 degrees. You can add any flavoring you wish to this and while it's nice served with fruit it is perfectly acceptable on it's own.

In the Livingston-Bakus house it was made a few weeks ago in the brick oven. To use a brick oven a fire is started in it which burns for approx 3 hours to achieve the correct 350 temp to bake with. The fire is then removed entirely as the bricks are hot enough to bake the cake on their own.

People today are still making the Cup Cake (1234 Cake). It is almost laughable that chefs from Paula Deen to Alice Waters, have versions of the 1234 cake in their cookbooks as it's a well known old fashioned recipe!

Note-This weekend in the Livingston-Bakus Kitchen we will be doing a tasting for visitors of rice pudding, another way in which cream and eggs would have been used at this time of year.

Six Weeks of Want- Rhubarb Pie Edition

Rhubarb or Pie Plant

This is one of the greatest of spring luxuries, though the quantity of sugar required to be used with it renders it rather expensive. Remove the stringy part and cut up into small piece either for stewing or in pies. No spice is required, but sugar may be put in as long as your conscience will let you, and a handful afterwards.
-Jeannie Junes American Cookery Book, 1870

In continuing our series on Six Weeks of Want, we turn to rhubarb, and the first of the sweet treats of the year. Although rhubarb is classified as a vegetable it is usually treated as a fruit because of the manner in which it is used. It is sometimes also called Pie Plant, or even Persian Apple. Typically, as the quotation states above, rhubarb is prepared with a good quantity of sugar, thus making it more suitable for dessert than anything else.

However, let us imagine we are 19th century villagers and we've had nothing fresh in a pie since apples last fall. Our fruit pies have all been made with dried fruit and even that has run out by now. We're ready to throw caution to the wind, use some sugar and eat the first "fruits' of our garden after a long winter!

Our first recipe, is prepared like an apple pie and is done in the manner that we used in the village opening weekend. It's a very simple recipe but yields a delicious pie, providing your conscience allows you to use enough sugar to sweeten it.

Rhubarb Pie,
The New England Economical Housekeeper, E. A. Howland, 1845

"Pull the rhubarb from the stalk instead of cutting it; peel off the
skin from the stalk, and cut it into small pieces; put them in the pie
with plenty of brown sugar; you can hardly put in too much. Cover the
pie, and bake, like apple, in a deep plate."

An alternative method has you stew the rhubarb with sugar until this cooks down to something akin to apple butter prior to baking it in a pie shell.

RHUBARB STALKS, OR PERSIAN APPLE
The Frugal Housewife, Lydia Maria Francis Child, 1830

"Rhubarb stalks, or the Persian-apple, is the earliest ingredient for
pies, which the spring offers. The skin should be carefully stripped,
and the stalks cut into small bits, and stewed very tender. These are
dear pies, for they take an enormous quantity of sugar. Seasoned like
apple pies.
Gooseberries, currants, &c. are stewed, sweetened, and seasoned like
apple-pies, in proportions suited to the sweetness of the fruit; there
is no way to judge but by your own taste. Always remember it is more
easy to add seasoning, than to diminish it."

Ellen's Pudding, or Rhubarb Tart
Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book, C. Beecher, 1846

1 pint stewed pie plant
4 ounces sugar
1/2 pint cream
2 ounces crackers -- pounded
3 large eggs

"Stew the pie plant, and rub it through a sieve. Beat the eggs well,
and mix with the sugar and cream. Stir the cracker crumbs into the
fruit, and add the other ingredients. Line your plate with a moderately
rich paste, and bake half an hour."

Whichever method you choose, the knowledge that you are eating a fresh fruit pie at long last will be the sweetest thing of all!