Archaeologists dig in the dirt. Experimental archaeologists recreate what they dig up. They search to determine if their theories for how things worked in the past are accurate.
This can be anything from grinding grain to constructing an entire Danish hut for the purpose of watching it burn – seriously.
Experimental archaeology is an extremely satisfying combination of book-learning and hand-dirtying. It requires academic curiosity and meticulous research. Before a project is begun, a specific question is decided upon – what needs to be learned from the experiment?
A good question is based on a broad body of knowledge providing historical context. If studying a tool, the experimenter should know what research has already been done concerning who used it, made it, what it was used for, and many other things about the environment, culture, etc.
Once the question is determined, then the experimenting begins. Usually some sort of physical labor is involved – hauling timber or hot water, splitting shingles, or…grinding grain.
Last fall, I spent hours crouched over a stone, furiously rubbing grain kernels, watching many fall into the carpet instead of becoming flour. My question? How long would it take to get the same amount of flour you could create in five minutes using a blender. Why? I was curious – but also, I took an archaeology class which required a video detailing an experimental archaeology project. So there was that;)
Above you’ll find the evidence of my living room experimental archaeology.
Thank you to all the new and faithful readers who have visited Historyquester over the last months! Life has been hectic with work and school, and I regret that I haven’t posted here in ages. But – I look forward to posting more and sharing my historical wanderings with you once again. Till next time!
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose…and sometimes you fall in between. That’s how my modern rendition of Lydia Child’s tomato pie turned out – in my opinion, at least.
In her book, the American Frugal Housewife, Child mentions various methods for making squash pies. But in an endnote, she writes that stewed and salted tomatoes can be “prepared the same as rich squash pies, only an egg or two more,” (pg. 115).
I was intrigued. In the past, I’ve been pleased with other historical recipes that break modern expectations of which foods should be sweet or savory.* Furthermore, I like pumpkin pie and I like tomatoes, so how bad could a tomato pie be?
Not horrible. But I didn’t think it was fantastic either. There were mixed reviews among my taste-testers…so maybe you just need to try it for yourself;)
In case you desire to create a tomato pie, here is what I did based upon this 19th century recipe:
Tomatoes make excellent pies. Skins taken off with scalding water, stewed twenty minutes or more, salted, prepared the same as rich squash pies, only an egg or two more….
For common family pumpkin pies, three eggs do very well to a quart of milk. Stew your pumpkin, and strain it through a sieve, or colander. Take out the seeds, and pare the pumpkin, or squash, before you stew it; but do not scrape the inside; the part nearest the seed is the sweetest part of the squash. Stir in the stewed pumpkin, till it is as thick as you can stir it round rapidly and easily. If you want to make your pie richer, make it thinner, and add another egg. One egg to a quart of milk makes very decent pies. Sweeten it to your taste, with molasses or sugar; some pumpkins require more sweetening than others. Two tea-spoonfuls of salt; two great spoonfuls of sifted cinnamon; one great spoonful of ginger. Ginger will answer very well alone for spice, if you use enough of it. The outside of a lemon grated in is nice. The more eggs, the better the pie; some put an egg to a gill of milk. They should bake from forty to fifty minutes, and even ten minutes longer, if very deep.
Lydia Maria Child, The American Frugal Housewife
After reading that misleading but very informative receipt (recipe), I decided on this method:
First, blanche your tomatoes. Child doesn’t mention how many – I chose five, which, combined with the rest of my ingredients, actually made two pies.
Once the tomatoes are blanched and peeled, mash the tomatoes until only small chunks remain. Feel free to blend them to ensure a smoother pie filling.
[Technical issue: unfortunately, many of my photos would not load, so this spare collection will have to do for now. The center photo is the pie mix before I added the tomatoes.]
In a separate bowl, whisk together some milk and eggs – I used four, which comes out to Child’s recommendation of one egg per gill (1/2 cup) of milk. More eggs probably would have been better.
Add to the milk and eggs molasses, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Avoid scrambling your eggs by adding small amounts of the pie mixture to the tomatoes while stirring. Once the tomatoes are successfully incorporated into some of the egg mix, pour them into the rest of the filling.
Line a pie plate with your favorite pie crust (I left my to chill in the refrigerator for too long – freeze it if you’re going to make it a few days apart).
The bake! Mine took about 60 to 70 minutes.
Unfortunately, I cut the pies too soon after they exited the oven – they were not set. Though they settled more after cooling, an additional egg or two would aid the firmness. Furthermore, the piecrust in the glass pie plate was crisper than the cast iron one, if you have an option.
As I mentioned before, these pies were by no means repulsive – some found them delicious! They were a combination between tomato soup and pumpkin pie. I’m all for trying new foods, but tried-and-true foods are sometimes still the best.
Full recipe to come!
*My previous savory/sweet mix-ups include onion pie – a family favorite – chicken and cranberry pie, and salmon with cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. Keep your eye out for those recipes in the future!
Ian Mortimer illuminates an Elizabethan England in all its horrifying glory. He shows what was, not what we might wish it to be. Mortimer gives credit where credit is due, but he doesn’t hesitate to reveal the disturbing aspects of society.
Sometimes the past will inspire you and sometimes it will leave you weeping.
Ian Mortimer, The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England
I love his writing style. It feels like a confidential guide giving you “insider” advice for your upcoming “trip,” or perhaps even move, to Elizabethan England. Even those who balk at reading a nonfiction history book will be pleasantly surprised at his convivial tone and presentation suitable for the “historical layman.”
Each chapter is themed on a different aspect of 16th century society. You find out about the lay of the land in the first chapter, Landscape. Then you discover what sort of mindsets you might encounter during your social interactions in the chapter, Character. What might Elizabethans think of foreigners? Education? Superstition? Violence?
Along the lines of violence, Mortimer exposes the details of gruesome punishments used in the 16th century. One that particularly struck me was death by crushing. Called peine forte et dure, which means strong and hard punishment, the victim was forced to lie beneath a board, sometimes with a sharp rock underneath their back. More and more stones were then placed on top of the board until death occurred. And that was only one method of punishment.
Another theme in the book is Hygiene, Illness, and Medicine. I found the subject of washing revealing. Mortimer writes that “in the modern world we are fixated on washing in soap and water but there are many other ways to remove dirt,” (pg. 242). We judge people in the past by how many baths they took! However, just like us, they cared about cleanliness.
In a time where water was harder to come by, especially clean water, it was easier and more sensible to “wash” with linen. The wealthy would have new linen every day, rubbing down with it and changing out their linen undergarments which had absorbed sweat. The poorer you were, the less often you could wash your linen, but society definitely looked down on the dirty.
Women had many legal restrictions in Elizabethan England, particularly married women. But in an interesting turn of events, sometimes women went unpunished while men suffered. For sexual sins, one had to provide enough compurgatrices – or compurgators – (witnesses) in court to be exonerated. Sometimes the man ended up doing penance when the woman was able to secure the required compurgatrices and he was not.
One subject that demonstrates some of the extremes of Elizabethan knowledge is the practice of surgery. Mortimer says that surgeons then were actually really close to the skill level of modern surgeons. If you needed a bullet removed, or a piece of skull replaced, they had expert knowledge of how best to perform the procedure. But their major shortcoming was fatal: sanitation. Ironically, one might be sutured up skillfully, but die of infection.
…The image of mankind in the mirror of the moment is a relatively superficial one. Indeed, it is only through history that we can see ourselves as we really are.
Ian Mortimer, THE TIME TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
These are just a few samplings of the many fascinating accounts Mortimer writes. I laughed, I cringed, and I truly felt like I had a chance to travel back to a real Elizabethan England.
The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England informs and entertains, but it’s also thought provoking. Do not skip the Envoi (the afterword)! Mortimer steps out of his role as our tour guide and gives his thoughts on the importance of history and its relevance to our own lives.
Bright red ketchup – or perhaps catsup – is so familiar: squirted onto hotdogs, hamburgers, or next to fries. You see the condiment everywhere, gracing restaurant tables, filling fast food packets, and stashed in your refrigerator.
But I had never paused to question where ketchup originated, who made it, or that it might not have always come in its sweet, smooth, tomato-y form.
My handy-dandy copy of Lydia Child’s the American Frugal Housewife is where my ketchup quest began. When speaking of a recipe for ketchup, she writes that “the best sort of catsup is made from tomatoes.” Which immediately implies that there were other sorts of ketchup not made with tomatoes.
I soon discovered that if you were to ask a 19th century seat mate to “please pass the ketchup,” you could be handed a variety of different sauces.
I used the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museum’s (ALHFAM) member database to find my answers. It’s a wonderful resource for anyone interested in historical subjects! There are no requirements for membership, and it’s not very expensive if you want to join 😀
Many thanks to the Past Masters articles of Summer 2005 and Spring 2011!
One of the earliest ketchup recipes is from the East Indies and uses Kidney beans along with many spices and orange juice. This recipe qualifies the ketchup as being “in paste” form.
But much more popular ingredients for ketchup were mushrooms or walnuts.
Many of the recipes actually produce a very thin sauce, more akin to Worcestershire sauce. Oftentimes the base ingredient was the strained juice from pickled or cooked walnuts or mushrooms.
Nuts to You English Walnuts quotes this recipe:
WALNUT Ketchup. Take green Walnuts, and pound them to a Paste; then put to every Hundred two Quarts of Vinegar, with a Handful of Salt; put it all together in an Earthen Pan, keeping it stirring for eight Days; then squeeze the Liquor through a coarse Cloth, and put it into a well-tinn’d Sauce-pan, and when it being to boil skim it as long as any Scum rises, and add to it some Cloves, Mace, sliced Gin-ger, sliced Nutmeg, Jamaica Pepper-corns, sliced Horse-radish, with a few Shalots, and a little Garlick; let this have one Boil up, pour it into an Earthen Pan, and after it is cold bottle it up, dividing the Ingredients equally into each Bottle.
Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery, Made plain and easy
Tomatoes only started gaining popularity as ketchup ingredients in the late 18th century. But as Lydia Child advises that these red fruits make the best catsup, I made my own modern adaptation of her recipe.
Child’s first instruction is to squeeze the tomatoes up with your hands, salt them, and let them sit for a day.
After the 24 hours, the tomatoes should be “passed through a sieve,” the spices added, and then the mixture boiled down one third.
Mashing tomatoes through a sieve proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. After much squishing by me and other parties, there was still a lot of tomato left. I didn’t want to waste it all, so I decided to use some modern tech: a blender.
I pureed the tomatoes until the seeds wouldn’t be bothersome, and poured the thick soup into the tomato water. Then I added the called for spices.
I brought it to a boil, and then left it to simmer. The ketchup ended up simmering for about 8 hours! It got a bit forgotten about, but it turned out to be just what it needed.
The resulting dark red sauce was looser than Heinz, but definitely a consistency that could be dolloped onto a plate for meat, french fries, or whatever else you might want.
Perhaps the most striking difference to me was the lack of sweetness – there is no sugar in the recipe. Despite this, I really liked the “catsup!” It was very flavorful with all those spices and went well with meat.
Here is Lydia Child’s original recipe and my modern adaptation:
For now, have fun experimenting with your own ketchup recipes! If you’re interested in learning more about the condiment, I’m looking forward to reading ALHFAM’s recommended Pure Ketchup: A History of American’s National Condiment with Recipes by Andrew F. Smith.
Pederson, Carla. “Nuts to You English Walnuts.” Past Masters News, Spring 2011.
Fourth of July 2020 left many traditions altered or completely ignored as firework shows were cancelled and neighborhood barbecues went unplanned. However, one tradition I was still able to keep up despite new regulations was baking cracknels.
The fact that we celebrate the Fourth of July, and not the 2nd, or 6th, or even 2nd of August is interesting in itself. July 2, 1776 is the actual day Congress declared independence. July 4 is the day they finalized the text. July 6 is the day the Declaration was first published in a newspaper (the Pennsylvania Evening Post). August 2, 1776 was the date it was signed.
But colonists then would still have celebrated on the fourth of July. Why? Because that was the date written, and then printed, on the Declaration of Independence.
Regardless of when you are making them, or which day you are celebrating, these cracknels are delicious. As an 18th century recipes, these treats are something the colonists themselves could have eaten in response to the Declaration of Independence.
This recipe was originally from Colonial Williamsburg’s recipe blog. (Note: the blog has been updated, and no longer includes this particular recipe. But they have other fantastic recipes found here!)
As CW’s introduction says, the term cookie was actually derived from a dutch word. Before “cookie” was popular, the sweet discs might be called cakes, or in this case, cracknels.
Colonial Williamsburg’s Modern Adaptation of Elizabeth Moxon’s recipe:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
Note: Mix the dough with your hands! No excuses, the recipe told you so:)
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.
Combine flour, sugar and caraway seeds in a bowl until well mixed.
Cut in butter. Beat egg slightly and add to flour, sugar and butter mixture.
Work the dough with your hands until the mixture holds together. If you find that the heat of your hands is not bringing the mixture together, you can beat one more egg and add a little bit at a time and work until the dough holds together [For my doubled recipe, I used 3 eggs]. This mixture will be stiff, so it is important not to add any more moisture than necessary.
Taking a small portion of dough at a time, roll out to 1/8″ thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out dough with a 2 1/4 inch biscuit cutter [or glass!] and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet 1/2-1″ apart. Dough does not spread during baking [it’s true!].
Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cookies will be soft to the touch.
Allow to cool slightly on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely. As the cookies cool they will become hard and crisp.
Yield: using a 2 1/4″ cookie cutter, about 7 dozen cookies.
Chewy and sweet, with the slight crunch of caraway seeds, the cracknels are very popular with my family. At first, I was doubtful that the caraway seeds would be an improvement. They might be a bit of an acquired taste, but now I wouldn’t want to leave them out.
This recipe is so easy and fun to make. You could definitely use it as a base for other add-ins if you wanted to go a more modern route. Thanks CW!
Declaration of Independence Facts. Declaration of Independence Activities and Lesson Plans for Educators. Important Dates to Remember. Learn About the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Read the Declaration of Independence and Test Your Knowledge with our Declaration of Independence Quiz.
Well. I had grand plans of a cleverly-themed Fourth of July post. Instead, not only did I neglect to write said post, I forgot to post at all. Ah well, in lieu of that, today we’ll turn again to Mrs. Child’s, The American Frugal Housewife. More summer/Revolution-themed posts will be in your future….
Gruel. Thoughts of watery, hot oatmeal come to mind. Not exactly images of delicious, nourishing food.
However, both of those terms came up as I recently whipped together some of Lydia Child’s gruel recipes. (And yes, there are more than just these two.)
Child introduces gruel as the perfect food for invalids: easy to digest and good for you. “Gruels” are also super simple to make.
The original recipes and their modern adaptations will be available at the bottom of this post!
The first recipe for Gruel produced something very familiar, a cereal akin to polenta or grits. To make it yourself, start with course-ground or stone-ground cornmeal and water.
Stir a few tablespoons of cornmeal mixed with a little cold water into a pan of boiling water. Boil for 8-10 minutes, throwing in a small handful of raisins part way through.
Cold water with hard cornmeal
Stir together
Boil
Add the raisins
Serve!
When the time is up and the water is absorbed, scrape the gruel into a bowl and season with salt, nutmeg, and sugar if you want. I skipped the sugar and still really enjoyed the cereal – ahem, gruel. The raisins give a little bit of sweetness, and the nutmeg adds a unique flavor I liked.
EggGruel
Far more unique than nutmeg, however, was Mrs. Child’s recipe for egg gruel. I assumed that eggs would be added to the standard gruel recipe – but I was most definitely incorrect.
Instead, begin with a small pot of milk and carefully bring it to boiling. While you are waiting, whisk four eggs until a thin froth forms on top.
Next, make sure your arm is rested. XP Then when the milk boils, rapidly whisk it as you pour the eggs in very slowly. Continue whisking until the mixture becomes a thick cream, almost like a partially-set jello.
The egg gruel was like a form of custard! As the recipe directs, I mixed in a pinch of salt and nutmeg, but omitted the recommended white sugar. I’m sure the addition of sugar would make a scrumptious custard dessert, perhaps with some fruit mixed in.
But even without the sugar, I – along with my taste-testers – enjoyed the unusual breakfast. It was creamy, eggy, and with a dash of nutmeg, a simple but rich meal.
For good health, Child recommends drinking half of the egg gruel while hot, and the other half two hours later. So if you’re feeling in the mood for a creamy, protein-full breakfast, give it a try!
Brushing our teeth is something we do – hopefully – at least twice every day without even questioning it. Mindlessly squeezing a fluoride paste onto plastic bristles, we rub our teeth and rinse it out.
Foul breath has always been a human concern, but what is involved in the maintenance and understanding of healthy teeth has come a long way.
According to Alberto Angela, who wrote the book, A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, some tooth practices have been consistent over time.
“The Romans take good care of their teeth,” he writes. “At table they use toothpicks…[which]…are often made of silver and are the size of dinner forks,” (Angela, 2009)
Angela even says that the Romans used forms of toothpaste that included baking soda! However, these same people were also known to clean their teeth with urine… (Angela, 2009).
In the book, The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century, Ian Mortimer describes Medieval dental care as focused on breath, not teeth.
Chewing on cardamom, licorice, fennel, or other spices were ways to eliminate foul breath.
Interestingly, “the increasing availability of sugars [meant] that dental caries [was] actually worse in the fourteenth century than it was in Anglo-Saxon times,” (Mortimer, 2008). However, methods of preventing rot were less than effective.
Mortimer writes that cavities were believed to be caused by small worms which could be gotten rid of by burning a candle “as close as possible” to the offending tooth. Needless to say, a lot of individuals were missing multiple teeth, (Mortimer, 2008).
By the 16th century, striking improvements in dental care had taken place. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England, also by Mortimer, says that sugar was now known to be the main cause of tooth rot.
In addition to chewing on spices for improved breath, Elizabethans picked their teeth frequently, used mouthwash, and rubbed their teeth with a “tooth cloth,” a.k.a. wet linen, (Mortimer, 2014).
Lydia Child, in her early 19th century book, The American Frugal Housewife, mentions the benefits of brushing your teeth. Her methods are much more recognizable to modern readers, but still different from a standard 21st century routine.
Child’s first suggestion is not that odd: “Clean teeth in pure water two or three times a day; but, above all, be sure to have them clean before you go to bed,” (Child, pg. 88).
The second is definitely unusual: “Honey mixed with pure pulverized charcoal is said to be excellent to cleanse the teeth, and make them white. Lime-water with a little Peruvian bark is very good to be occasionally used by those who have defective teeth, or an offensive breath,” (Child, pg. 114).
For a week, I tried brushing my teeth solely with “pure water,” a.k.a. tap water. And for the most part, I didn’t even miss toothpaste. (Though maybe you should ask my family, lol).
The morning was the only time when sometimes the water didn’t seem to fully erase the unpleasant taste in my mouth. However, my teeth never felt gross, because just the act of rubbing them removes a lot of buildup – thank you, Elizabethans.
Alberto Angela. A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome. New York, NY: Europa Editions, 2009.
Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Visitor’s Guide to the Fourteenth Century. New York, NY: Touchstone, 2008.
Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2014.
My sister chose this book for me to read, andboy am I glad she did! The Diary of an Early American Boy, written by Eric Sloane, is so unique, and makes a delightful, easy read for both children and adults. With numerous illustrations, it’s not a huge commitment for busy people 😉
The book is based on the real diary of Noah Blake, who turned 15 years old in 1805. Need perspective? Blake mentions a day of remembrance for General George Washington, who died only 6 years prior.
Throughout the book, Sloane quotes directly from the diary. In-between those excerpts, he fills in the story with conversations and elaborations. He explains all the terms and activities Noah writes about that we might not understand as 21st century readers.
A talented artist, Sloane illustrated the entire diary. The pictures make unfamiliar tools and processes understandable, and I was able to really appreciate the work that was described because of it.
I loved finding out the origins of terms and customs. For example, Sloane notes that in the word “plumb” meant “lead,” and so men who worked with lead were called “plumbers.” At first, water pipes were made from lead, so plumbers worked on them, and the name stuck (pg. 74).
I also enjoyed noticing things in my life similar to what I was reading about. At one point, Noah writes that he helped with stump-pulling. Sloane explains that oftentimes the stump’s root balls were pulled into a line to serve as a fence (pg. 29). Just down the street from me, there is a house sporting a rough fence made up of logs and root balls propped up on their sides.
Seeing the author’s commentary on the present day (already from over 50 years ago!) was thought-provoking. Sloane interjects that we’ve lost knowledge of the moon and weather because it’s no longer necessary. He encourages every child in America to plant an apple tree. And he says that being disconnected from making the things in our life easily leads to unawareness of the wonders of life, (pg. 40). This made me immediately think of my post on Cræft, which is a whole book devoted to practically the same subject!
What if society is losing something? Irrevocably discarding innately satisfying skills that have sustained us for millennia? What are we missing in our commercialized culture? Lately I have been craving a way to make “creating” a regular part of my life.
I only have a couple criticisms. 1. Sloane never gave the name of the town Noah Blake lived in! (just my own curiosity), and 2. He simplified Noah and Rachel a bit much in my opinion. It was probably in order to give answers to their questions, but Noah seemed to be portrayed as too childish for a 15 year old with a love interest.
However, those hardly detract from the whole of this wonderful book. The Diary gives a great picture of what tools, projects and relationships were like in 1805 farm life. It’s a very personal account that shows how people – just like us – lived in totally different circumstances over 200 years ago. And it gives us pause that not everything is better now – we could still stand to learn things from those in the past.
The Eric Sloane Museum was created through a partnership between the Stanley Tool Works, the State of Connecticut, and author and artist Eric Sloane (1905-1985). The museum was completed in 1969 and houses Eric’s extensive collection of early American hand tools and a re-creation of his studio.
This interesting video about Eric Sloane is featured on the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum’s website. (Skip to :30)
Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures is a new series of 50 five-minute vignettes that profiles a variety of the state’s most notable cultural resources. Connecti…
Not 10 minutes outside of Anchorage, traveling south on the Seward Highway, there is a small building touted as the Chugach State Park Headquarters. Just next to it are a couple train cars, partially visible from the road.
Most of these train cars’ history takes place along the Turnagain Arm (so named by Captain Cook, who had to turn again to exit). This site has an absolutely incredible view of the waterway. On a clear day, the two cars have an unobstructed view of the Kenai Mountains, and even the Alaska Range across the Cook Inlet.
One car is a gigantic black and red snowplow, while the other is a white sleeper car turned kitchen car.
The Sleeper Car that is Now a Kitchen Car
The snowplow and its massive blades were used when avalanches covered tracks in cement-like snow, an occurrence not uncommon to the tracks along Turnagain Arm.
With its small building shut down due to virus precautions, this site doesn’t look like many turn off the highway to see it. There is a collection of old and new signs describing the history of the place, some of which are almost illegible.
The first two signs read:
“ROTARY SNOWPLOW: These plows with 9 foot circular rotor blades were used by the Alaska Railroad to clear the snow clogged tracks … Turnagain Arm and through the Kenai Mountains………”
“OUTFIT CAR: Railroad car 1500e started its life as a troop sleeping car during World War II. After the War the sleeper was converted for use as a kitchen car.”
The first railroad in Alaska was started in 1903 by the Alaska Central Railway. However, they only laid 50 miles of track traveling north out of Seward, its origin point.
After bankruptcy in 1908, the company reorganized as the Alaska Northern Railway Co. Their second attempt only brought the railroad 21 miles farther to Kern Creek, just short of Girdwood, Alaska.
In 1914, the U.S. Federal Government approved funding for a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks, with an estimated cost of $35 million.
It took eight years to finish construction of the 478 miles of track. After completion, the federal government ran railroad operations, but the project was unprofitable.
In 1930, Seward, Fairbanks, and Anchorage combined only had a population of 5,400 – not enough to allow for steady rail business.
However, under new leadership, the Alaska Railroad beings to profit in 1938. And during WWII, profits soared as the trains transported civilian and military supplies.
Railroad ownership switched from the federal government to the State of Alaska in 1983. Over the next 26 years, the railroad’s value increased over $830 million dollars!
Now, the Alaska Railroad’s blue and gold cars are signature Alaskan – a symbol of pride for residents of the Last Frontier.
Looking Towards the Turnagain Arm from a Platform Behind the Train
Many thanks to the Alaska Railroad website and the Chugach State Park signage!
The Alaska Railroad shows a record profit of $8.0 million, surpassing the previous record profit of $7.90 million in 1995. Passenger ridership grows to 512,000. Former Governor Bill Sheffield becomes CEO and President of the Alaska Railroad and John Binkley is named Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Without a second thought, we frequently grab baking soda or baking powder out of our cabinet to use for whatever cookie, biscuit, or cake recipe we want. But the common use of chemical leaveners – for that’s what baking soda and baking powder are – is actually a fairly recent phenomenon.
While I was reading through the American Frugal Housewife, I came across several recipes calling for a little bit of pearlash (pearl-ash). One of them was a pancake recipe that otherwise had pretty standard ingredients. I was stumped.
So I did some research and fell down a rabbit hole of chemical leavening.
First of all, I discovered that pearlash is a refined form of potash (pot-ash). The refining process removes most of a smoky flavor from the substance. Which lead me to the question: what exactly is potash?
Potash is substance that was originally created by running water over wood ashes. After evaporating the water, you are left with a mix of potassium carbonate and other chemicals. Pearlash is composed only of potassium carbonate.
Now, in the 21st century, potash is actually mined from huge, underground deposits, which you can learn more about in the video below.
Learn more about potash, an essential crop nutrient that improves crop yields worldwide. With over 20 million tonnes of potash capacity at our six mines in S…
Thanks to Jas. Townsend and Sons’ YouTube channel, I learned in their “Exploring Colonial America: Chemical Leavening” series that these types of rising agents may have been in use as early as the 14th century! But that knowledge was held in total secrecy.
In the 1300’s, the Netherlands was famous for its gingerbread, but there was one town in particular known for its delicious, fluffy gingerbread. The unique sweet contained a special ingredient that was so secret not even the bakers knew what it was. The local burgermeister would visit each bakery to add in the ingredient to the rest of the prepared dough. Coincidence? Probably not.
Chemical leavening also occurred by accident in England, where millers were supplementing their poor flour with chalk, a base. When bakers began adding alum – an acid – to bleach the bread whiter, they unwittingly provided the other ingredient for a chemical reaction. Though ignorant of the chemical process, they did notice that the bread rose more fully with the additional ingredients.
But chemical leavening was not commonly used in households, yet.
In the 1750’s, a dutch cookbook was published that is suspected to be the first great unveiling of those long-held dutch bakery secrets. Further research translating manuscripts and comparing recipes is required before the connection can be declared certain. But the likelihood of confirmation is very high.
For, in the late 1700’s, where did recipes calling for potash begin to emerge from? None other than the dutch-settled Hudson River Valley of New York.
These recipes were advertised as something that could be quickly whipped up for unexpected guests. No long wait times for rising yeast were required. One can definitely see the appeal when you think of how often we use baking soda or powder as a speedy alternative to yeast.
The use of chemical leavings spread quickly in the U.S., with many 1830’s cookbooks including potash and pearlash’s successors, baking soda and powder, as leavening. However, chemical leavening was slower to take hold in the U.K., possibly because of prior scares of poison in bakers’ bread.
Another source I found online was the blog Four Pounds Flour: Historic Gastronomy. (NOTE: I will link it below, but I recommend reading through the comments and using Jas. Townsend as a more reliable source.) The author writes that her cookies turned out bitter because of the pearlash. However, an astute commenter notes that pearlash is a leavening comparable to baking soda: if you use too much, it will be bitter.
On the Spruce Eats website (linked below), they say that for every 1 teaspoon of pearlash, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
So I decided to try making Mrs. Child’s pearlash pancakes, but just use baking soda instead. Fortunately, even if something went wrong, I reasoned, the recipe is easy and inexpensive.
The Pancakes:
The original recipe doesn’t call for the dry and wet to be mixed separately first. It went exactly how you’d expect: the cinnamon clumped together. I decided to wait to add some of the baking soda until I added the flour, since I wasn’t sure how much I would need.
1 1/2 cups of flour seemed to cause “the spoon to move… round with difficulty,” as Mrs. Child recommends.
The Batter
Instructions regarding the oil/fat in the original recipe were a bit confusing. I started out with olive oil, but it gave too strong of a flavor to the pancakes. I would recommend going with butter. Mrs. Child states the more fat in your pan, the better, which I think is why the pancakes reminded me of funnel cake. But they did need a certain… je ne sais quoi.
Pan-Fry in Cast Iron
Tasty with Fruit and Cheese
With that, here is the recipe which I have not touted so well, XP. After more experimentation I shall post a new one that’s better and tastier, but this is a good base that you could add more flavors to. To be clear they are not bad: all of them were eaten 😀
Part 1 of an in depth discussion on the history of Chemical Leavening. Our Website – http://www.townsends.us/ Cooking Blog – http://www.savoringthepast.net I…
2oz of Pearl Ash also known as Potassium Carbonate. Packaged in a modern plastic bottle with a safety lid. According to the Oxford Symposium on Food and Drink, Pearl Ash (potassium carbonate) was used as a chemical leavening agent as early as the 14th century in certain Dutch Baking.
Today’s episode is another companion piece to our Chemical Leavening Discussion. It’s a recipe found in a letter to the editor in the Monthly Magazine (Londo…
Pearlash is powdery and slightly moist. The History If you were to scoop the ashes out of your fireplace and soak them in water, the resulting liquid would be full of lye. Lye can be used to make three things: soap, gun powder, or chemical leavener.
Pottasche is a common ingredient in traditional German recipes. It may also be written as potash or pearlash, potassium carbonate, salts of tartar, and carbonate of potash. All of these terms refer to the same ingredient. It is usually present in classic German gingerbread ( Lebkuchen) recipes.
Baking powder is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. It’s a dry leavening agent that is made from a mixture of carbonate or bicarbonate, a weak acid, and a filler. When a liquid is added, the baking powder creates an acid-base reaction, which releases carbon dioxide gas into the batter or dough.
Potash and pearlash even affected our quarantine-banana bread ;P
If there’s an unofficial snack of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a sweet, soft loaf of home-baked banana bread. Celebrities like Chrissy Teigen love it, and ttreat has been the most searched-for recipe across all US states for the last 30 days.
