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The painting is notable for its close-up images of a garden bench, greenhouse, urn, espaliered wall, & flower pots.
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Garden Design - 18C Greenhouse from England to Early America
The painting is notable for its close-up images of a garden bench, greenhouse, urn, espaliered wall, & flower pots.
Friday, January 1, 2021
18C Garden Design - A Virginia Garden Portrait & Cultural Landscape
1748-50 George Booth (1753-1777) as a Young Man by William Dering (active 1735-1751) owned by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
This portrait depicts a rather pretentious young man with a bow & arrow standing in a highly stylized landscape with a small but clever dog at his feet. George Booth (1753-1777) stands in a formal pose, with his proper right hand on his hip and with his proper left foot turned at a right angle to his supporting foot, his head slightly turned to the viewer’s left but his eyes turned toward the viewer. He wears a dark brown great coat & knee breeches, a bright red waistcoat adorned with heavy gold brocade trim, and a white shirt & neckcloth. His immaculately powdered hair is curled back away from his lovely face. His black shoes display metal buckles & unusually stylish red heels.
His small but fierce dog glares at the viewer while holding in its mouth a bird shot through with an arrow demonstrating the exceptional hunting prowess of his owner. The young man stands slightly in front of & in-between two female busts on plinths, with a distant view of a formal garden in the near background and, in the distant background, a vast walled estate.
The young man's self-assured pose, the nearly bawdy sculptures flanking him, & the formal garden in the distance reveal his real or desired genteel status, while the hunting dog & bow are symbols of his manly game-park & social dominance. The two female, bust-length sculptures on plinths are unique in American colonial portraiture. Young George seems puffed up with manly pride, as he poses between these busts with his bow and arrow. The buildings in the background are unidentified & were probably an artistic invention meant to reflect the sitter’s real or hoped-for standing among Virginia’s elite plantation society.
George Booth (1753-1777) was son of Mordecai Booth(1675-1775) and Joyce Armistead Booth (1705-1770) of Bellville plantation in Gloucester County. The Booth family may have been acquainted with the artist Dering, when he lived for a brief period in Gloucester. George married Mary Mason Wythe (1751-1814) and they had children: George Wythe Booth (1772-1808) & Elizabeth Booth (Roy) (b 1773). After George's death, Mary Mason Wythe Booth (1751-1814) married Philip Tabb in 1788, in Gloucester, Virginia.
Mary Mason Wythe was the daughter of Nathaniel Wythe & Elizabeth Todd Booth. Upon the death of her first husband George Booth, land was transferred to their daughter Elizabeth upon which her husband, James Henry Roy would build "Green Plains" on North River.
After her husband's death, George's wife Mary Mason Wythe Booth married her first cousin Phillip Tabb (1750-1822) in 1788. Their home was the center of the county's hospitality. While Philip Tabb followed the hounds, bet on horses, and played cards, his wife became more devout. She became a Methodist and built the Old Mt. Zion Methodist Church. Bishop Asbury of the M.E. Church in his tour through Gloucester in 1786, said that "she and Joseph Bellamy were the most godly people in Gloucester."
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Garden to Table - Colonial American Alcohol Trivia
Colonial American Alcohol Trivia
The Puritans loaded more beer than water onto the Mayflower before they cast off for the New World.
There wasn’t any cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or pumpkin pie to eat at the first Thanksgiving. However, there was beer, brandy, gin, & wine to drink.
A brewery was one of Harvard College’s first construction projects. That was to ensure a steady supply of beer for the student dining hall.
The early colonialists made alcoholic beverages from what was available. That included carrots, tomatoes, onions, beets, celery, squash, corn silk, dandelions, & goldenrod.
The distillation of rum became early Colonial New England’s largest & most prosperous industry.
A traveler through the Delaware Valley in 1753 compiled a list of the drinks he encountered. All but three of the 48 contained alcohol.
The Reverend Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister, made the first Kentucky whiskey in 1789.
The distillation of whiskey led to the first test of federal power. It was the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.
The laws of most American colonies required towns to license suitable persons to sell wine & spirits.
Colonial taverns were often required to be located near the church or meetinghouse.
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, & Thomas Jefferson all enjoyed brewing or distilling their own alcohol beverages.
The Colonial Army supplied its troops with a daily ration of four ounces of either rum or whiskey.
Religious services, court sessions, & voting venues were often in the major tavern of Colonial American towns.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence in a tavern in Philadelphia.
The first signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock, was an alcohol dealer.
Before he took his famous ride, Paul Revere apparently had two drinks of rum.
The patriot Patrick Henry (“Give me liberty or give me death”) was a bar tender.
President Martin Van Buren was born in his father’s tavern.
Alewives in Colonial America brewed a special high proof “groaning ale” for pregnant women to drink during labor.
American Alcohol Trivia Resources:
Burns, E. The Spirit of America: The Social History of Alcohol. Philadelphia: Temple U Press, 2004.
Furnas, J. The Life & Times of the Late Demon Rum. Putnam’s Sons, 1965.
Grimes, W. Straight Up or On the Rocks: A Cultural History of American Drink. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1993
Lender, M. & Martin, J. Drinking in America. NY: Free Press, 1982.
Meacham, S. Every Home a Distillery. Alcohol, Gender, & Technology in the Colonial Chesapeake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U Press, 2013.
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Garden to Table - Apples to Cider to Wine
Most of the 17C & 18C emigrants to America drank hard cider. simply because water was thought not to be a trusted source of daily fluids, so beer, ale, fruit brandy, & cider were more sanitary substitutes. Apples were one of the earliest known crops in the English-speaking New World; ships' manifests show young saplings being carefully planted in barrels & many hopeful farmers bringing bags of seed with them. Within 35 years of the settlement of Jamestown in 1607, the land was turned to grow lucrative tobacco plus edible cash crops like rice, maize, & apples, since they also would have some commercial value in the markets of growing like London.
The earliest written mention of a cider press seems to have been on the Mayflower in 1620. Halfway through the journey, the ship was caught in a storm & one of its beams cracked badly enough to warrant the consideration of turning back to England. "The great iron screw" was taken from a cider press, helping brace the damaged beam to keep the ship from breaking up & make it to the New World. Nine days after the Puritans landed William Blackstone is recorded planting the 1st apple trees in the New England colonies. John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632, recorded his tenants paying their rent on Governor's Island in 2 bushels of apples a year. In 1634, Lord Baltimore instructed settlers of the new colony of Maryland to carry across the sea "kernalls of peares & apples, especially of Pipins, Pearemains, & Deesons for maykinge thereafter of Cider & Perry."
Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines Cordials & Liqueurs (1919) by Helen S. Wright
General Rules for Making Cider
Always choose perfectly ripe & sound fruit. Pick the apples by hand. (An active boy with the bag slung over his shoulder will soon clear a tree. Apples that have lain any time on the soil contract an earthy taste, which will always be found in the cider.)
After sweating, & before being ground, wipe them dry, & if any are found bruised or rotten, put them in a heap by themselves, for an inferior cider to make vinegar.
Always use hair cloths, instead of straw, to place between the layers of pomace. The straw when heated, gives a disagreeable taste to the cider.
As the cider runs from the press, let it pass through a hair sieve into a large open vessel that will hold as much juice as can be expressed in one day. In a day, or sometimes less, the pomace will rise to the top, & in a short time grow very thick. When little white bubbles break through it, draw off the liquor by a spigot, placed about three inches from the bottom, so that the lees may be left quietly behind.
The cider must be drawn off into very clean, sweet casks & closely watched. The moment the white bubbles before mentioned are perceived rising at the bung-hole, rack it again. When the fermentation is completely at an end, fill up the cask with cider, in all respects like that already contained in it, & bung it up tight, previous to which a tumbler of sweet oil may be poured into the bung-hole.
After being made & barrelled it should be allowed to ferment until it acquires the desired flavor, for perfectly sweet cider is not desirable. In the meantime clean barrels for its reception should be prepared thus: Some clean strips of rag are dipped into melted sulphur, lighted & hung in the bung-hole, & the bung laid loosely on the end of the rag. This is to allow the sulphur vapor to well fill the barrel. Tie up a half-pint of mustard-seed in a coarse muslin rag & put it into the barrel, then put your cider in. Now add the isinglass, which “fines” the cider but does not help to keep it sweet. This is the old-fashioned way, & will keep cider in the same condition as it went into the barrel, if kept in a cool place, for a year. The sulphur vapor checks the fermentation, & the sulphur in the mustard-seed keeps it checked. We hear that professional cider dealers are now using the bisulphite of lime instead of the mustard-seed & the sulphur vapor. This bisulphite of lime is the same as the “preserving powder.” It is only another form of using the sulphur, but it is more convenient & perhaps more effectual. Another method is to add sugar, one & a half pounds sugar to a gallon of the cider, & let it ferment. This makes a fermented, clear, good cider, but sweet. It lasts sweet about six months, if kept in a cool situation.
Preparatory to bottling cider it should be examined, to see whether it be clear & sparkling. If not, it should be clarified in a similar way to beer, & left for a fortnight. The night before it is intended to put it Into bottles, the bung should be taken out of the cask, & left so until the next day, when it may be bottled, but not corked down until the day after, as, if this be done at once, many of the bottles will burst by keeping. The best corks & champagne bottles should be used, & it is usual to wire & cover the corks with tinfoil, after the manner of champagne. A few bottles may be kept in a warm place to ripen, or a small piece of lump sugar may be put into each bottle before corking, if the cider be wanted for immediate use, or for consumption during the cooler portion of the year, but for warm weather & for long keeping this is inadmissible. The bottled stock should be stored in a cool cellar, when the quality will be greatly improved by age.
TO CAN CIDER
Cider, if taken when first made, brought to the boiling heat, & canned, precisely as fruit is canned, will keep from year to year without any change of taste. Canned up this way in the fall, it may be kept a half-dozen years or longer, as good as when first made. It is better that the cider be settled & poured off from the dregs, & when brought to boiling heat the scum that gathers on the surface taken off; but the only precaution necessary to preservation of the cider is the sealing of it air tight when boiling hot. The juice of other fruit can, no doubt, be preserved in the same way. To all tastes not already corrupted by strong drinks, these un-fermented juices are very delicious. The juice of the grape is better than wine a century old, & more healthy...
BOILING CIDER
To prepare cider for boiling, the first process is to filter it immediately on coming from the press. This is easiest done by placing some sticks crosswise in the bottom of a barrel,—a flour barrel with a single head is the best,—wherein an inch hole has been bored, & covering these sticks with say four inches of clean rye or wheat straw, & then filling the barrel to within a foot of the top with clean sand or coal dust,—sand is the best. Pour the cider as it comes from the press into the top of this barrel, drawing it off as soon as it comes out at the bottom into air-tight casks, & let it stand in the cellar until March. Then draw it out with as little exposure to the air as possible, put it into bottles that can be tightly & securely corked, & in two months it will be fit for use.
TO CLEAR CIDER
To clear & improve cider generally take two quarts of ground horseradish & one pound of thick gray filtering paper to the barrel, & either shake or stir until the paper has separated into small shreds, & let it stand for twenty-four hours, when the cider may be drawn off by means of a siphon or a stop cock. Instead of paper, a preparation of wool may be taken, which is to be had in the market, & which is preferable to paper, as it has simply to be washed with water, when it may be used again.
CIDER, TO PRESERVE & KEEP SWEET
1. To one barrel of cider, put in one pound of mustard-seed, two pounds of raisins, one-quarter pound of the sticks (bark) of cinnamon. 2. When the cider in the barrel is in a lively fermentation, add as much white sugar as will be equal to one-quarter or three-quarters of a pound to each gallon of cider (according as the apples are sweet or sour); let the fermentation proceed until the liquid has the taste to suit, then add one-quarter of an ounce of sulphite (not sulphate) of lime to each gallon of cider, shake well, & let it stand three days, & bottle for use. The sulphite should first be dissolved in a quart or so of cider before introducing it into the barrel of cider. 3. When fermentation commences in one barrel, draw off the liquor into another one, straining through a flannel cloth. Put into the cider three-quarters of an ounce of the oil of sassafras, & the same of the oil of winter green, well shaken up in a pint of alcohol. But one difficulty is said to pertain to this preparation of cider. It is so palatable that people won't keep it long.
Five gallons good cider, one quart spirit, one & one-quarter pounds honey or sugar. Mix, & let them rest for a fortnight, then fine with one gill of skimmed milk. This, put up in champagne bottles, silvered, & labelled, has often been sold for champagne. It opens very sparkling.
CHERRY CIDER
Seven gallons of apple cider, two quarts of dried black cherries, one pint of dried blueberries, one-half pint of elderberries, eighteen pounds of brown sugar.
DEVONSHIRE CIDER
The apples, after being plucked, are left in heaps in the orchard for some time, to complete their ripening, & render them more saccharine. They are then crushed between grooved cylinders, surmounted by a hopper, or in a circular trough, by two vertical edge-wheels of wood moved by a horse; after passing through which, they are received into large tubs or crocks, & are then called pomace. They are afterwards laid on the vat in alternate layers of the pomace & clean straw, called reeds. They are then pressed, a little water being occasionally added. The juice passes through a hair sieve, or similar strainer, & is received in a large vessel, whence it is run into casks or open vats, where everything held in mechanical suspension is deposited. The fermentation is often slow of being developed; though the juice be set in November or December, the working sometimes hardly commences till March. Till this time the cider is sweet; it now becomes pungent & vinous, & is ready to be racked for use. If the fermentation continue, it is usual to rack it again into a clean cask that has been well sulphured out, & to leave behind the head & sediment; or two or three cans of cider are put into a clean cask, & a match of brimstone burned in it. It is then agitated, by which the fermentation of that quantity is completely stopped. The cask is then nearly filled, the fermentation of the whole is checked, the process of racking is repeated until it becomes so, & is continued from time to time till the cider is in a quiet state & fit for drinking.
FRENCH CIDER
After the fruit is mashed in a mill, between iron cylinders, it is allowed to remain in a large tun or tub for fourteen or fifteen hours, before pressing. The juice is placed in casks, which are kept quite full, & so placed under gawntrees, or stillions, that small tubs may be put under them, to receive the matter that works over. At the end of three or four days for sweet cider, & nine or ten days for strong cider, it is racked into sulphured casks, & then stored in a cool place.
WESTERN CIDER
To one pound of sugar, add one-half ounce of tartaric acid, two tablespoonfuls of good yeast. Dissolve the sugar in one quart of warm water; put all in a gallon jug, shake it well, fill the jug with pure cold water, let it stand uncorked twelve hours, & it is fit for use.
CIDER WITHOUT APPLES
To each gallon of cold water, put one pound common sugar, one-half ounce tartaric acid, one tablespoonful of yeast. Shake well, make in the evening, & it will be fit for use next day. Make in a keg a few gallons at a time, leaving a few quarts to make into next time, not using yeast again until keg needs rinsing. If it gets a little sour, make a little more into it, or put as much water with it as there is cider, & put it with the vinegar. If it is desired to bottle this cider by manufacturers of small drinks, you will proceed as follows: five gallons hot water, thirty pounds brown sugar, three-quarters pound tartaric acid, twenty-five gallons cold water, three pints of hops or brewers' yeast worked into paste with three-quarters pound flour, & one pint water will be required in making this paste. Put all together in a barrel, which it will fill, & let it work twenty-four hours, the yeast running out at a bung all the time, by putting in a little occasionally to keep it full. Then bottle, putting in two or three broken raisins to each bottle, & it will nearly equal champagne.
CIDER WINE
Let the new cider from sour apples (ripe, sound fruit preferred) ferment from one to three weeks, as the weather is warm or cool. When it has attained to a lively fermentation, add to each gallon, according to its acidity, from one-half pound to two pounds of white crushed sugar, & let the whole ferment until it possesses precisely the taste which it is desired should be permanent. In this condition pour out one quart of the cider, & add for each gallon of cider one-quarter ounce of sulphite of lime, not sulphate. Stir the powder & cider until intimately mixed, & return the emulsion to the fermenting liquid. Agitate briskly & thoroughly for a few moments, & then let the cider settle. Fermentation will cease at once. When, after a few days, the cider has become clear, draw off carefully, to avoid the sediment, & bottle. If loosely corked, which is better, it will become a sparkling cider wine, & may be kept indefinitely long.
AMERICAN CHAMPAGNE (With Cider)
Seven quarts good cider (crab-apple cider is the best), one pint best fourth-proof brandy, one quart genuine champagne wine, one quart milk, one-half ounce of bitartrate of potassa. Mix & let stand a short time; bottle while fermenting. An excellent imitation.
CHAMPAGNE CIDER
Champagne cider is made as follows: To five gallons of good cider put three pints of strained honey, or one & one-eighth pounds of good white sugar. Stir well & set it aside for a week. Clarify the cider with one-half gill of skimmed milk, or one teaspoonful of dissolved isinglass, & add one & one-half pints of pure spirits. After two or three days bottle the clear cider, & it will become sparkling. In order to produce a slow fermentation, the casks containing the fermenting liquor must be bunged up tight. It is a great object to retain much of the carbonic gas in the cider, so as to develop itself after being bottled.
CHAMPAGNE CIDER, NO. 2
One hogshead good pale vinous cider, three gallons proof spirit (pale), fourteen pounds honey or sugar. Mix, & let them remain together in a temperate situation for one month; then add one quart orange-flower water, & fine it down with one-half gallon skimmed milk. This will be very pale; & a similar article, when bottled in champagne bottles, silvered & labelled, has been often sold to the ignorant for champagne. It opens very brisk, if managed properly.
BURGUNDY CHAMPAGNE (With Cider)
Fourteen pounds loaf sugar, twelve pounds brown sugar (pale), ten gallons warm water, one ounce white tartar. Mix, & at a proper temperature add one pint yeast. Afterwards, add one gallon sweet cider, two or three bitter almonds (bruised), one quart pale spirit, one-eighth ounce orris powder.
CHAMPAGNE CIDER
Champagne cider is made as follows: To five gallons of good cider put three pints of strained honey, or one & one-eighth pounds of good white sugar. Stir well & set it aside for a week. Clarify the cider with one-half gill of skimmed milk, or one teaspoonful of dissolved isinglass, & add one & one-half pints of pure spirits. After two or three days bottle the clear cider, & it will become sparkling. In order to produce a slow fermentation, the casks containing the fermenting liquor must be bunged up tight. It is a great object to retain much of the carbonic gas in the cider, so as to develop itself after being bottled.
CHAMPAGNE CIDER, NO. 2
One hogshead good pale vinous cider, three gallons proof spirit (pale), fourteen pounds honey or sugar. Mix, & let them remain together in a temperate situation for one month; then add one quart orange-flower water, & fine it down with one-half gallon skimmed milk. This will be very pale; & a similar article, when bottled in champagne bottles, silvered & labelled, has been often sold to the ignorant for champagne. It opens very brisk, if managed properly.
LEMON WINE (With Cider)
Four pounds sugar, one pound raisins (bruised), two gallons water. Boil, then add one gallon cider. Ferment, & add one quart of spirits, three-quarters ounce white tartar, a few drops essence of lemon. Observe to shake the essence, with a little of the spirit, until it becomes milky, before adding it to the wine.
MADEIRA WINE (With Cider)
To five gallons prepared cider, add one-half pound loaf sugar. Let it stand ten days, draw it off carefully, fine it down, & again rack it into another cask.
ELDER-FLOWER WINE (With Cider)
Take the flowers of elder, & be careful that you don't let any stalks in; to every quart of flowers put one gallon of water, & three pounds of loaf sugar. Boil the water & sugar a quarter of an hour, then pour it on the flowers & let it work three days; then strain the wine through a hair sieve, & put it into a cask. To every ten gallons of wine add one ounce of isinglass dissolved in cider, & six whole eggs. Close it up & let it stand six months, & then bottle it.
LEMON WINE, NO. 2 (With Cider)
Four pounds sugar, one pound raisins (bruised), two gallons water. Boil, then add one gallon cider. Ferment, & add one quart of spirits, three-quarters ounce white tartar, a few drops essence of lemon. Observe to shake the essence, with a little of the spirit, until it becomes milky, before adding it to the wine.
MADEIRA WINE (With Cider)
To five gallons prepared cider, add one-half pound loaf sugar. Let it stand ten days, draw it off carefully, fine it down, & again rack it into another cask.
PORT WINE (With Cider)
To ten gallons prepared cider, add one & one-half gallons good port wine, two & one-half quarts wild grapes (clusters), two ounces bruised rhatany root, three-quarters ounce tincture of kino, three-quarters pound loaf sugar, one-half gallon spirits. Let this stand ten days; color if too light, with tincture of rhatany, then rack it off & fine it. This should be repeated until the color is perfect & the liquid clear.
PORT WINE British Style (With Cider)
1. Two gallons damson juice, two gallons cider, three-quarters ounce sloe juice, one pound sugar, one pound honey. Ferment, then add one quart spirit, one gallon red cape, a little over one ounce of red tartar (dissolved), the same of powder of catechu, one-tenth ounce bruised ginger, one-tenth ounce cassia, a few cloves. Mix well with two tablespoonfuls of brandy coloring.
2. Two pounds bullace, ten pounds damsons, one & one-half gallons water. Boil the water, skim it, & pour it boiling hot on the fruit; let it stand four or six days at least. During that time bruise the fruit or squeeze it with your hands. Then draw or pour it off into a cask, & to every gallon of liquor, put two pounds & a half of fine sugar, or rather more; put some yeast on a slice of bread (warm) to work it. When done working, put a little brandy into the cask & fill it up. Bung it up close & let it stand six or twelve months; then bottle it off. This wine is nearer in flavor to port than any other. If made with cold water, it will be equally as good, but of a different color.
3. Five gallons cider, one gallon elder juice, one gallon port wine, one & one-quarter pint brandy, one & one-fifth ounces red tartar, one-fifth ounce catechu, one gill finings, one ounce logwood. Mix well & bung close.
RAISIN WINE (With Cider)
There are various modes of preparing this wine...For raisin wine without sugar, put to every gallon of soft water eight pounds of fresh Smyrna or Malaga raisins; let them steep one month, stirring every day. Then drain the liquor & put it into the cask, filling it up as it works over; this it will do for two months. When the hissing has in a great measure subsided, add brandy & honey, & paper.. This wine should remain three years untouched; it may then be drank from the cask, or bottled...Raisin wine is sometimes made in large quantities, by merely putting the raisins in the cask, & filling it up with water, the proportion as above; carefully pick out all stalks. In six months rack the wine into fresh casks, & put to each the proportion of brandy & honey. In cider countries & plentiful apple years, a most excellent raisin wine is made by employing cider instead of water, & steeping in it the raisins.
SHERRY WINE (With Cider)
To five gallons prepared cider add one quart spirits, three-quarters of a pound of raisins, three quarts good sherry, & a few drops oil bitter almonds (dissolved in alcohol). Let it stand ten days, & draw it off carefully. Fine it down, & again rack it into another cask.
SHERRY WINE - London Style (With Cider)
Twelve pounds chopped raisins, three gallons soft water, one pound sugar, one-half ounce white tartar, two quarts cider. Let them stand together in a close vessel one month; stir frequently. Then add one quart of spirits, one-quarter pound wild cherries bruised. Let them stand one month longer & fine with isinglass.
STRAWBERRY WINE, NO. 1 (With Cider)
Twelve gallons bruised strawberries, ten gallons cider, seven gallons water, twenty-five pounds sugar. Ferment, then add one-half ounce bruised orris root, one-half ounce bruised bitter almonds, one-half ounce bruised cloves, six ounces red tartar.
WHORTLEBERRY OR BILBERRY WINE (With Cider)
Take one & one-half gallons of cold soft water, one & one-half gallons cider, two gallons berries. Ferment. Mix five pounds sugar, four-fifths ounce tartar in fine power; add four-fifths ounce ginger in powder, one-half handful lavender & rosemary leaves, one & two-thirds pints British spirits.
Monday, November 30, 2020
Garden to Table - What Did the Patriots Eat & Drink as They Planned a Revolution?
...Walter Staib, executive chef at Philadelphia's City Tavern & host of PBS' “A Taste of History,” contends that among those who signed the Declaration in 1776 were America's earliest foodies. “While [farm-to-table & foodie movements] are trendy today,” he says, “the founders were doing it out of necessity.”
He points out that colonial America lacked the transportation infrastructure to deliver foods from faraway lands: “If it was around, you ate it.” What was around were legumes, produce & anything that could be foraged or hunted. In the mid-Atlantic, seafood was especially popular, reflecting the abundance of the Delaware River, which was then, says Staib, “pristine & teeming with fish.” Today, following two centuries of pollution that decreased water quality & diminished fish populations, it is in the early stages of a rebound.
George Washington was exceedingly fond of dining on seafood. For nearly 40 years, the three fisheries he operated along the ten-mile Potomac shoreline that bordered Mount Vernon processed more than a million fish annually. Among the items on the plantation’s menu were crabmeat casseroles, oyster gumbos & salmon mousse.
Thomas Jefferson admired French fare above all, & he is credited, according to Staib, with popularizing frites, ice cream & champagne. He is also often credited—although incorrectly—with the introduction of macaroni & cheese to the American palate. It was, in fact, his enslaved chef James Hemings who, via Jefferson’s kitchen, brought the creamy southern staple to Monticello. Trained at the elite Château de Chantilly while accompanying Jefferson on a trip to France, Hemings would later become one of only two laborers enslaved by Jefferson to negotiate his freedom.
As for dessert, none of the Founding Fathers was without a sweet tooth. John Adams' wife, Abigail, regularly baked Apple Pan Dowdy, a pie-meets-cobbler hybrid that was popular in New England in the early 1800s; James Madison loved ice cream & was spoiled by his wife Dolley's creative cakes, for which she gained such renown that, to this day, supermarkets across America carry a brand of prepared pastries bearing her—albeit incorrectly spelled—name; & John Jay, in a letter sent to his father in 1790, reported that he carried chocolate with him on long journeys, likely “shaving or grating it into pots of milk,” says Kevin Paschall, chocolate maker at Philadelphia's historic Shane Confectionery, & consuming it as a drink.
The Founders, like most colonists, were fans of adult beverages. Colonial Americans drank roughly three times as much as modern Americans, primarily in the form of beer, cider, & whiskey. In Colonial Spirits: A Toast to Our Drunken History, author Steven Grasse connects this seemingly outsized consumption to the Revolutionary spirit of the time when he writes, “In the drink, a dream; & in the dream, a spark.” Reverend Michael Alan, who illustrated & helped research the book says simply: “From morning until night, people in the 18th century drank.”
Benjamin Franklin was especially unabashed about his love of “the cups.” Though Grasse writes that he was careful to advise temperance, he regularly enjoyed wine & what some might argue were early iterations of craft cocktails. His favorite, according to Alan, was milk punch, a three-ingredient brandy-based sip whose two non-alcoholic components–milk & lemon juice–washed & refined its third. Another Franklin foodie badge is his “Drinkers' Dictionary,” a compendium of Colonial slang describing the state of drunkenness. Initially printed in 1737 in the Pennsylvania Gazette, its publication made Franklin one of America's first food & drink writers.
Washington was known for racking up sizable tabs after buying drinks for friends. Recounting one particularly generous–and raucous–night wherein Washington ordered 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of Claret, & 7 full bowls of punch, Alan says “He knew how to throw down.”
Despite this, it was Jefferson, notes Grasse, who was the true oenophile of the bunch. As a young man, he drank Portuguese Madeira by the truckload, & in his post-Presidential years, he repeatedly tried & failed to cultivate grapes for winemaking at his vineyard in Monticello.
While tales of alcoholic escapades could understandably lead one to believe that the Founders were a group of party animals–save the relatively sober Alexander Hamilton, referred to by John Adams as an “insolent coxcomb” who, on the rare occasion that he drank something other than coffee, became “silly & vaporing”–it's important to note the reasons why alcohol consumption was so high.
First & foremost, drinking alcohol was a means of survival. Potable water was scarce in colonial times, writes Grasse, so almost all of what was available carried harmful diseases. Among these were smallpox, lockjaw, & the delightfully named black vomit. For colonists, drinking water meant risking one's life, & no one who could afford otherwise dared do it. Alan confirms that even children drank beer–a hard cider & molasses combination aptly named “ciderkin.” Put simply, consuming alcohol was, in the absence of clean drinking water, a means of staying hydrated.
The taverns where alcohol was consumed also played a vital role in colonial life. “Systems like the post office, libraries, even courthouses, were just being put into place,” explains Alan. “Taverns offered all of these services plus a good beer buzz.”
For political figures like the Founding Fathers, taverns were also where one went to get the inside scoop on political adversaries & posit agendas for which one hoped to gain favor. “Ben Franklin,” reports Staib, “used taverns as a tool of diplomacy.” For him, “eating, drinking, & gossiping” were negotiation tactics. It was in taverns that the Founding Fathers, “emboldened by liquid courage,” to quote Staib, & likely, after tying a few on, unfettered by the rarefied rules of governance to which all of history had subscribed, honed the concepts contained in the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution.
Of the link between food, drinks, & Revolutionary history, Alan offers this pun-intended nod: “A lot of crazy ideas can come out of a “spirited” evening of conversation.”
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Garden to Table - Alcohol in Colonial America
Alcohol in Colonial America began with the arrival of Europeans. Except for several nations in the Southwest, Native Americans did not have alcohol beverages. The Apache & Zuni drank alcoholic beverages which they produced for secular consumption. The Pima & Papago produced alcohol for religious ceremonial consumption. Papago consumption was heavy. However, they limited it to a single peaceable annual ceremony. And the other tribes’ drinking was also infrequent & didn’t cause problems.
The Puritans loaded more beer than water onboard the Mayflower before casting off for the New World. This reflected their traditional drinking beliefs, attitudes, & behaviors. They considered alcohol to be a natural & normal part of life. They believed that God created alcohol & that it was inherently good. Indeed, Jesus both made & drank wine & approved drinking in moderate.
Their experience was that it was safer to drink alcohol than the typically polluted water. Alcohol was also an effective analgesic. It provided the energy necessary for hard work. Alcohol served as a social lubricant, provided entertainment, facilitated relaxation & contributed to the enjoyment of food. It also provided pharmacological pleasure. In sum, alcohol in colonial America generally enhanced the quality of life.
Beer
For hundreds of years their English ancestors had enjoyed beer & ale. People of both sexes & all ages typically drank beer with their meals.
Importing a continuing supply of beer was expensive. So the early settlers brewed their own. However, it was difficult to make the beer to which they were accustomed. That was because wild yeasts caused problems in fermentation. For this reason it resulted in a bitter, unappetizing brew.
But these early adventurers did not give up. Wild hops grew in New England. They ordered hop seeds from England in order to cultivate an adequate supply for traditional beer. In the meantime, the colonists improvised a beer made from red & black spruce twigs boiled in water. They also made a beer from ginger. A ditty from the 1630s reflects their determination & ingenuity.
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be content & think it no fault.
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips,
Of pumpkins, & parsnips, & walnut-tree chips.
Slowly, the colonists mastered the intricacies of brewing in the New World. Then beer became widely available. And many farmers made their own with the help of a malster. The malster malted their barley, or more often, corn.
The colonists considered beer to be very important. For example, a brewery was one of Harvard College’s first construction projects. It was to provide a steady supply of beer for the students. And Connecticut required each town to ensure that a place was available for the purchase of beer.
Home brewers made the weakest & most commonly available beer by soaking grain in water. But this “small beer” spoiled quickly because of its low alcohol content. Therefore, people consumed it quickly. The homemaker brewed beer once or twice a week. “Ships beers” were stronger & also readily available. But the strongest beer, brewed with malt & extra sugar, was expensive & uncommon.
Wine
The colonists also learned to make a wide variety of wine from fruits. These included strawberries, cranberries, blackberries, elderberries, gooseberries, & currants. They also made wines from numerous vegetables. These included carrots, tomatoes, onions, beets, celery, squash, corn silk, dandelions, & goldenrod. They also made wine from such products as flowers, herbs, & even oak leaves. Early on, French vine-growers came to the New World to teach settlers how to cultivate grapes.
Hard Cider
Cider had been popular in England but apples were not native to New England. Farmers promptly planted the first orchard using English seeds. Over time apples became abundant in the colonies.
People typically fermented apple juice in barrels over the winter. Colonists sometimes added honey or cane sugar. This increased the alcohol content & also creating natural carbonation. “Apple champagne” was a special treat. “Cider was served to every member of the family at breakfast, dinner, & supper. Cider was consumed in the fields between meals, & was a regular staple at all the communal social functions.”
Distilled Spirits
...Rum was not commonly available until after 1650. Then, it increasingly came from the Caribbean. However, the cost of rum dropped after the colonists began importing molasses & cane sugar directly & distilled their own. By 1657, a rum distillery was operating in Boston. It was highly successful. Within a generation the production of rum became colonial New England’s largest & most prosperous industry. Clearly, distilled spirits were a very important part of alcohol in Colonial America.
In the profitable Triangle Trade, traders took rum to England for manufactured products. Then in West Africa they traded those products for slaves. In the West Indies they traded slaves for more molasses. The triangle continued when New England distillers made the molasses into more rum.
This three point trading arrangement was an important part of colonial commercial life & prosperity. Almost every important town from Massachusetts to the Carolinas had a rum distillery. They met the local demand, which had increased dramatically.
Alcohol in Colonial America
Baron, S., & Young, J. Brewed in America: a History of Beer & Ale in the US. Boston: Little, Brown, 1962.
Becker, D., & Siekonic, D. A Guide to Winemaking in Early America. Center Valley, PA: Privateer, 2011.
Burns, E. The Spirits of America. A Social History of Alcohol. Philadelphia. Temple U Press, 2004.
Lender, M., & Martin, J. Drinking in America. A History. London: Macmillan, 1982.
McCusker, J. Rum & the American Revolution. NY: Garland, 1989.
Meacham, S. Every Home a Distillery. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U Press, 2009.
Salinger, S. Taverns & Drinking in Early America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U Press, 2002.
Schmid, S., & Schmid-Haberkamp, B. (Eds.) Drink in the Eighteenth & Nineteenth Centuries. Brookfield, VT: Pickering & Chatto, 2014.
Smith, G. Beer in America. The Early years, 1587-1840. Boulder, CO: Siris, 1998.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Garden to Table - One of Geo Washington's (1732-1799) Favorite Wines - Madeira
One of George Washington's Favorite Wines - Madeira
A fortified wine produced on the Portuguese island of Madeira in the eastern Atlantic, madeira in the 18C was common in Britain & particularly popular in the American colonies. George Washington had an affinity for this particular imported wine.
The first order for Madeira in George Washington's correspondence dates to the spring of 1759, when he asked his London agent, Robert Cary & Company to "Order from the best House in Madeira a Pipe of the best old Wine, & let it be Securd from Pilferers."1 A pipe held approximately 126 gallons of wine.2 About a year later, Washington transported a pipe of wine to Mount Vernon from Alexandria, "wch. Captn. McKee brought from Madeira," along with "a chest of Lemons & some other trifles."3
Three years later, in the spring of 1763, Washington notified Cary & Company that he would be writing directly to the island firm of John & James Searles for a pipe of Madeira wine, & that they, in turn, would be contacting Cary for payment.4 In his letter to the Searles, Washington specifically asked for "a rich oily Wine," & asked that, "if the present vintage shoud not be good, to have it of the last, or in short of any other which you can recommend."5
Washington's orders for Madeira continued throughout his lifetime. He purchased a second pipe from John Searles in 1764, even though he admitted that he still had not yet tapped into the first one. Two years later, Washington switched suppliers & requested similar or larger quantities from the firm of Scott, Pringle, Cheape & Company. By 1768, Washington had not gotten around to drinking the 1766 order, but still asked that an additional 150 gallons be sent.6 In the last orders prior to the American Revolution, Washington sent flour from Mount Vernon directly to Madeira instead of having his English agent pay the island firms & received wine & other products from the islands in exchange.7
Significant amounts of Madeira continued to be purchased for the Washington household both after the war & during the presidency. Two pipes of Madeira were received for the presidential household in Philadelphia in August of 1793 & paid for in January of the following year. Another two pipes of the same wine arrived in May of 1794 & an equal amount again in July & November of the same year.8
When Washington made a trip to tour western lands in the fall of 1784, he carried along in his "equipage Trunk & the Canteens" three types of alcoholic beverages, two of which were Portuguese wines-Madeira & port.9 During the last year of Washington's life, an English visitor at Mount Vernon recorded that both port & Madeira were served during the fruit & nut course at dinner. A Polish nobleman noted that when there were houseguests at Mount Vernon, Washington "loves to chat after dinner with a glass of Madeira in his hand."10 Washington's step-granddaughter Nelly later recalled, "After dinner" Washington "drank 3 glasses of madeira."11
Mary V. Thompson, Research Historian, George Washington's Mount Vernon
Notes:
1. George Washington, "Invoice to Robert Cary & Company, 1 May 1759" The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, Vol. 6, ed. W.W. Abbott (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988), 318.
2. For the measurement of a pipe of wine, see Marion Nicholl Rawson, "Old Weights and Measures," Antiques (January 1938), 18.
3. "George Washington, 17 May 1760" The Diaries of George Washington, Vol. 1 ed. Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976), 280.
4. "George Washington to Robert Cary & Company, 26 April 1763" The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, Vol. 7, eds. W.W. Abbott and Dorothy Twohig (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1990), 204.
5. "George Washington to John and James Searle, 30 April 1763" The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, Vol. 7, 208.
6. "George Washington to Scott, Pringle, Cheap, & Company, 23 February 1768" The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, Vol. 8, 68-9.
7. "George Washington to Thomas Newton, Jr., 10 July 1773" The Writings of George Washington, Vol. 3 ed. John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1931), 143.
8. "Tobias Lear & Bartholomew Dandridge, 18 January 1794, Washington's Household Account Book, 1793-1797," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 30, Nos. 2 and 3 (1906): 159-186, 309-331; Ibid., 27 May 1794, 24 July 1794, 4 November 1794: 182, 312, 323.
9. "22 September 1784," The Diaries of George Washington, Vol. 4, 32.
10. Joshua Brookes, "A Dinner at Mount Vernon: From the Unpublished Journal of Joshua Brookes." ed. R.W.G. Vail, The New-York Historical Society Quarterly 31, No. 2 (April 1947): 76; Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Under Their Vine and Fig Tree; Travels Through America in 1797-1799, 1805, ed. Metchie J.E. Budka (Elizabeth, New Jersey: Grassman Publishing Company, 1965), 103.
11. "Nelly Custis Lewis to Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, 23 February 1823" (typescript, A-647, Mount vernon Ladies' Association).
Research plus images & much more are available from the Mount Vernon website, MountVernon.org.
Friday, November 27, 2020
Garden to Table - Geo Washington (1732-1799) & Champagne
In eighteenth century America, wines from France were less commonly available than those from Spain and Portugal, primarily because of frequent political conflicts between France and England. Several types of French wines did make their way to America for those who could afford the higher prices, including champagne, which was a product of vineyards in northeastern France. During this period, the pale red beverage was typically served in tall champagne flutes, between dinner and dessert, or at evening parties.1
Like other men of his social class, George Washington had the money and connections to acquire champagne for his table. He may have first become acquainted with champagne in the palace in Williamsburg, where the royal governor, Lord Botetourt is known to have had three bottles stored "In the Vault" at the time of his death in 1770.2 In 1793, as president, Washington purchased 485 bottles of champagne and burgundy, which cost him $355.67. Six bottles were "got as a sample" in May of 1794 and another twelve found their way to the executive mansion in November of the same year. Judging from these last two purchases, champagne at this time cost Washington about $1.00 per bottle.3
After the Revolution, Robert Hunter, Jr., a guest at Mount Vernon, recorded that "a very elegant supper" was served around nine at night. The dinner’s special guest was Washington’s old friend, Richard Henry Lee, who was the president of Congress and from whom Washington was "anxious to hear the news of Congress." Hunter noted that "The General with a few glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his intimate friends laughed and talked a good deal." Hunter also recognized how rare this was, commenting that "Before strangers, he [Washington] is generally very reserved and seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his company with his particular acquaintances. I'm told that during the war he was never seen to smile…."4
In 1791, Scottish artist Archibald Robertson visited the presidential mansion in Philadelphia in order to deliver a gift to George Washington from the Earl of Buchan--an oak box, "elegantly mounted with silver." The box was made from the "celebrated oak tree that sheltered the WASHINGTON of Scotland, the brave and patriotic Sir William Wallace, after his defeat at the battle of Falkirk, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, by Edward the 1st." Robertson was asked to stay for dinner.
The custom of ladies withdrawing to another room after dinner was common practice in the eighteenth century. Based on descriptions by Washington’s dinner guests, this practice was followed both at Mount Vernon and in the presidential household. During this particular meal, however, the custom seems to have been reversed. Robertson recorded that dinner ended with several glasses of "sparkling champagne," "over which people lingered for about 45 minutes." Afterwards George Washington and Tobias Lear rose from the table and went to another room, "leaving the ladies in high glee," which Robertson attributed to Lord Buchan and the "Wallace box," but may have been due more to both the unaccustomed role change and the effects of the sparkling wine.5
Mary V. Thompson, Research Historian, Mount Vernon Estate
Notes:
1. Louise Conway Belden, The Festive Tradition: Table Decoration and Desserts in America, 1650-1900 (New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983), 17, 233 & 235, 250-251.
2. Graham Hood, The Governor's Palace in Williamsburg: A Cultural Study (Williamsburg, VA, 1991), 311.
3. Philadelphia Household Account Book, "17 July 1793," "21 May1794," "6 November 1794," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 30, Nos. 1-4, 1906.
4. Robert Hunter, Jr., Quebec to Carolina in 1785-1786, Being the Travel Diary and Observations of Robert Hunter, Jr., a Young Merchant of London (San Marino: Huntington Library, 1943): 5.
5. William Spohn Baker, Washington After the Revolution, 1785-1799 (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1898), 231-232, 232n.
Research plus images & much more are available from the Mount Vernon website, MountVernon.org.
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Garden to Table - Patriots Toasting the New Nation
Here's what George, by then president at the Constitutional Convention, & 54 of his closest friends consumed that night:
54 bottles of Madeira wine
60 bottles of claret Bordeaux
22 bottles of porter ale
12 jugs of beer
8 bottles of hard cider
8 bottles of Old Stock (colonial whiskey)
7 large bowls of spiked punch
The staff & musicians also drank 16 bottles of Bordeaux wine, 5 bottles of Madeira wine, & seven bowls of punch. The bill also includes charges for food & many broken glasses. The final tab, came out to £89 & 4 schillings — perhaps roughly $16,000 in today's dollars.
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Garden to Table - Home-Made Grape Wine Recipes
Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines Cordials & Liqueurs 1909 by Helen S. Wright
Two quarts of grape juice, two quarts of water, four pounds of sugar. Extract the juice of the grape in any simple way; if only a few quarts are desired, we do it with a strainer and a pair of squeezers ; if a large quantity is desired, put the grapes into a cheese-press made particularly clean, putting on sufficient weight to extract the juice of a full hoop of grapes, being careful that none but perfect grapes are used, perfectly ripe and free from blemish. After the first pressing, put a little water with the pulp and press a second time, using the juice of the second pressing with the water to be mixed with the clear grape juice. If only a few quarts are made, place the wine as soon as mixed into bottles, filling them even full, and allow to stand in a warm place until it ferments, which will take about thirty-six hours usually ; then remove all the scum, cool, and put into a dark, cool place. If a few gallons are desired, place in a keg, but the keg must be even full, and after fermentation has taken place and the scum removed, draw off and bottle, and cork tight.
GRAPE WINE, NO. 2
The larger the proportion of juice and the less of water, the nearer it will approach to the strength and richness of foreign wine. There ought not to be less than one-third juice pure. Squeeze the grapes in a hair sieve, bruising them with the hand rather than any heavier press, as it is better not to crush the stones. Soak the pulp in water until a sufficient quantity is obtained to fill up the cask. As loaf sugar is to be used for this wine, and it is not easily dissolved in cold liquid, the best plan is to pour over the sugar, three pounds in every gallon required, as much boiling water as will dissolve it, and stir till it is dissolved. When cold, put it in the cask with the juice, fill up from water in which the pulp has been steeped. To each gallon of wine, put one-half ounce of bitter almonds, not blanched, but cut small. The fermentation will not be very great. When it subsides, proceed with brandy and papering.
GRAPE WINE, NO. 3
Crush the grapes and let them stand one week. Drain off the juice, strain; add one quart of water and three pounds of sugar to each gallon. Put in a barrel or cask with a thin piece of muslin tacked over the bung-hole, and let stand until fermentation stops. Put in a cask and seal securely, and let stand six months. Then bottle and seal and keep in cool place.
Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines is a cookbook for those who want to make their own wines & liqueurs from available ingredients, including fruits, flowers, vegetables, & shrubs from local gardens, farms, & orchards. It includes ingredients & instructions for making & fermenting spirits, from wine & ale to sherry, brandy, cordials, & even beer.
Colonial Era Cookbooks
1615, New Booke of Cookerie, John Murrell (London)
1798, American Cookery, Amelia Simmons (Hartford, CT)
1803, Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter (New York, NY)
1807, A New System of Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Rundell (Boston, MA)
1808, New England Cookery, Lucy Emerson (Montpelier, VT)
Helpful Secondary Sources
America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking/Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Colonial Kitchens, Their Furnishings, and Their Gardens/Frances Phipps Hawthorn; 1972
Early American Beverages/John Hull Brown Rutland, Vt., C. E. Tuttle Co 1996
Early American Herb Recipes/Alice Cooke Brown ABC-CLIO Westport, United States
Food in Colonial and Federal America/Sandra L. Oliver
Home Life in Colonial Days/Alice Morse Earle (Chapter VII: Meat and Drink) New York : Macmillan Co., ©1926.
A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America/James E. McWilliams New York : Columbia University Press, 2005.
Garden to Table - Geo Washington (1732-1799) & Grapes
George Washington & Grapes
George Washington longed for the day when good wines would be produced in America. As he travelled throughout the country, he often noted how well grapes were growing as a sign of potential success for the wine industry in America. During one journey to the Ohio frontier in 1770, Washington noticed "some other Woods, that grow Snarly, and neither Tall nor large, but coverd with Grape Vines."1
Washington believed that the cultivation of grapes held great promise for the Chesapeake region. As he explained in a letter from July 1779 written to an Italian correspondent who had sent him information on viticulture, "I have long been of opinion from the spontaneous growth of the vine, that the climate and soil in many parts of Virginia were well fitted for Vineyards and that Wine, sooner or later would become a valuable article of produce."2
Throughout the eighteenth century, Virginians tried to produce grapes for making wine. However, by Washington's own admission, while there were certainly grapes available for eating, the wine-making ventures were unsuccessful. In March of 1760, Washington began his own attempt by having fifty-five cuttings of the Madeira grape planted at Mount Vernon. Eight years later he continued his efforts, writing to a firm in Madeira for "a few setts or cuttings of the Madeira."3
When these foreign grapes proved unsatisfactory, Washington suggested several possible reasons for the problem, including use of the wrong variety of grape, lack of skill in viticulture, and the intense heat of the southern summer and fall. To remedy, Washington decided to experiment with the native varieties of grapes.
A few years before the American Revolution took him away from Mount Vernon, Washington had enslaved workers plant about 2,000 cuttings of a local wild grape, "which does not ripen with us (in Virginia) 'till repeated frosts in the Autumn meliorate the Grape and deprive the Vine of their leaves," when "the grape (which is never very pallitable) can be Eaten." He lamented in a letter to a French correspondent after the war that his eight-year absence from Mount Vernon prevented the completion of this experiment: "Had I remained at home, I should 'ere this, have perfected the experiment which was all I had in view."4
After the Revolution, Washington turned once more to Madeira grapes, asking a correspondent to send him "a few slips of the Vines of your best eating Grape." Those cuttings, however, were damaged by the long sea voyage and most died on the trip. All of the Malmsey grape were lost, but a few plants, described as Muscat and Vera, showed "signs of feeble life."5
Several years later, John Bartram, a noted Philadelphia botanist, gave Washington some grapes of "a very fine kind," which the Mount Vernon gardener was instructed to "take particular care of." Another source of Washington's grapes was Senator Benjamin Hawkins of North Carolina, who gave the president "sundry cuttings of valuable Grape vines," along with a letter giving "an account of them, and his manner of treating them."6
The grapes were cultivated at Mount Vernon in an enclosure below the lower garden, on the hill leading down towards the family vault. To protect the fruit from depredations, Washington approved enslaved workers fencing the vineyard with thorn bushes and honey locusts, "or I shall never be able to partake of the fruits that are within the enclosure." After they fertilized the ground with manure, the cuttings were set out in rows according to their variety or type. As with other fruits and vegetables, Washington had grown both what he called summer and winter grapes, a strategy for keeping the fruit available for use on his table for as many months as possible.7
Mary V. Thompson Research Historian, Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens
Notes:
1. George Washington, "17 November 1770," The Diaries of George Washington.
2. "George Washington to Philip Mazzei, 1 July 1779."
3. "21 March 1760," The Diaries of George Washington; "George Washington to Scott, Pringle, Cheape & Company, 21 March 1760."
4. "George Washington to Francois, Marquis de Barbe Marbois, 9 July 1783."
5. "George Washington to John Marsden Pintard, 18 November 1785, 20 May 1786, 2 August 1786."
6. "George Washington to William Pearce, 16 November 1794."
7. "George Washington to Anthony Whiting, 27 January 1793," The Diaries of George Washington; "20 November 1771," "16 December 1771."
Research plus images & much more are available from the Mount Vernon website, MountVernon.org.
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Garden to Table - Domestic & Imported Beverages in 18C Colonial America
Israel Acrelius (1714-1800) was a Swedish Lutheran missionary who wrote a book of the time he spent in the British American colonies between 1749-1756. In this book, the pastor left a fairly comprehensive list of drinks popular during his years on this side of the Atlantic.
He was born in Österåker, Stockholm County, Sweden, in 1714 to Johan and Sara Acrelius. He attended Uppsala University and was ordained as a priest of the Church of Sweden in 1743, serving as the pastor of churches in Riala, Sweden starting in 1745.
Beginning in 1749, Acrelius took a post in Wilmington, Delaware, site of a Swedish Lutheran congregation which dated to the time of the New Sweden colony. At that time, Holy Trinity remained a Swedish Lutheran parish. The church was placed under the jurisdiction of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1791. Later, he was a minister at St. Paul's Church in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1756. While assigned to churches in the British Americn colonies, he learned English and provided aid to German Lutherans in Pennsylvania. He also made notable zoological, botanical, and geological collections.
Because of health concerns, Acrelius returned to Sweden in 1756. In 1759, he published his History of New Sweden, which dealt with the religious and secular history. This book was translated into English by William Morton Reynolds, who learnt Swedish for the purpose, and published in 1874 in Philadelphia in Volume 11 of the Memoiors of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Acrelius’s List of Drinks in the North American colonies.
1. French wine.
2. Frontegnac.
3. Pontac.
4. Port a Port.
5. Lisbon wine.
6. Phial wine.
7. Sherry.
8. Madeira wine, which is altogether the most used.
9. Sangaree is made of wine, water, sugar, a dash of nutmeg, with some leaves of balm put in.
10. Hot wine, warmed wine, is drunk warm, with sugar, cardamoms, and cinnamon in it. Sometimes, also, it has in it the yolks of eggs beaten up together, and grains of allspice, and then it is called mulled wine.
11. Cherry wine. The berries are pressed, the juice strained from them, Muscovado or raw sugar is put in; then it ferments, and, after some months, becomes clear.
12, 13. Currant wine, or black raspberry wine, is made in the same manner.
14. Apple-wine (cider). Apples are ground up in a wooden mill, which is worked by a horse. Then they are placed under a press until the juice is run off, which is then put in a barrel, where it ferments, and after some time becomes clear. When the apples are not of a good sort, decayed or fallen off too soon, the cider is boiled, and a few pounds of ground ginger is put into it, and it becomes more wholesome and better for cooking; it keeps longer and does not ferment so soon, but its taste is not so fresh as when it is unboiled. The fault with cider in that country is that, for the most part, the good and the bad are mixed together. The cider is drunk too fresh and too soon: thus it has come into great disesteem, so that many persons refuse to taste it. The strong acid (vinegar?) which it contains produces rust and verdigris, and frightens some from its use, by the fear that it may have the same effect in the body. This liquor is usually unwholesome, causes ague when it is fresh, and colic when it is too old. The common people damask the drink, mix ground ginger with it, or heat it with a red-hot iron.
15. Cider Royal is so called when some quarts of brandy are thrown into a barrel of cider along with several pounds of Muscovado sugar, whereby it becomes stronger and tastes better. If it is then left alone for a year or so, or taken over the sea, then drawn off into bottles, with some raisins put in, it may deserve the name of apple-wine.
16. Cider Royal of another kind, in which one-half is cider and the other mead, both freshly fermented together.
17. Mulled cider is warmed, with sugar in it, with yolks of eggs and grains of allspice. Sometimes, also, some rum is put in to give it greater strength.
18. Rum, or sugar-brandy. This is made at the sugar plantations in the West India Islands. It is in quality like French brandy, but has no unpleasant odor. It makes up a large part of the English and French commerce with the West India Islands. The strongest comes from Jamaica, is called Jamaica spirits, and is the favorite article for punch. Next in quality to this is the rum from Barbadoes, then that from Antiguas, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Christopher’s, etc. The heaviest consumption is in harvest-time, when the laborers most frequently take a sup, and then immediately a drink of water, from which the body performs its work more easily and perspires better than when rye whiskey or malt liquors are used.
19. Raw dram, raw rum, is a drink of rum unmixed with anything.
20. Egg dram, eggnog. The yolk of an egg is beaten up, and during the beating rum and sugar poured in.
21. Cherry bounce is a drink made of the cherry juice with a quantity of rum in it.
22. Bilberry dram is made in the same way.
23. Punch is made of fresh spring-water, sugar, lemon-juice, and Jamaica spirits. Instead of lemons, a West India fruit called limes, or its juice, which is imported in flasks, is used. Punch is always drunk cold; but sometimes a slice of bread is toasted and placed in it warm to moderate the cold in winter-time, or it is heated with a red-hot iron. Punch is mostly used just before dinner, and is called “a meridian.”
24. Mämm, made of water, sugar, and rum, is the most common drink in the interior of the country, and has set up many a tavern-keeper.
25. Manatham is made of small beer with rum and sugar.
26. Tiff, or flipp, is made of small beer, rum, and sugar, with a slice of bread toasted and buttered.
27. Hot rum, warmed with sugar and grains of allspice; customary at funerals.
28. Mulled rum, warmed with egg-yolks and allspice.
29. Hotch pot, warmed beer with rum in it.
30. Sampson is warmed cider with rum in it.
31. Grog is water and rum.
32. Sling, or long sup, half water and half rum, with sugar in it.
33. Mintwater, distilled from mint, mixed in the rum, to make a drink for strengthening the stomach.
34. Egg punch, of yolks of eggs, rum, sugar, and warm water.
35. Milk punch, of milk, rum, sugar, and grated nutmeg over it; is much used in the summer-time, and is considered good for dysentery and loose bowels.
36. Sillibub is made of milkwarm milk, wine, and sugar, not unlike our Oelost [mixture of warm milk and beer]. It is used in summer-time as a cooling beverage.
37. Milk and water is the common drink of the people.
38. Still liquor, brandy made of peaches or apples, without the addition of any grain, is not regarded as good as rum.
39. Whisky is brandy made of grain. It is used far up in the interior of the country, where rum is very dear on account of the transportation.
40. Beer is brewed in the towns, is brown, thick, and unpalatable. Is drunk by the common people.
41. Small beer from molasses. When the water is warmed, the molasses is poured in with a little malt or wheat-bran, and is well shaken together. Afterwards a lay of hops and yeast is added, and then it is put in a keg, where it ferments, and the next day is clear and ready for use. It is more wholesome, pleasanter to the taste, and milder to the stomach than any small beer of malt.
42. Spruce beer is a kind of small beer, which is called in Swedish “lärda tidningarne” (learned newspapers). The twigs of spruce-pine are boiled in the malt so as to give it a pleasant taste, and then molasses is used as in the preceding. The Swedish pine is thought to be serviceable in the same way.
43. Table beer made of persimmons. The persimmon is a fruit like our egg-plum. When these have been well frosted, they are pounded along with their seeds, mixed up with wheat-bran, made into large loaves, and baked in the oven. Then, whenever desired, pieces of this are taken and moistened, and with these the drink is brewed.
44. Mead is made of honey and water boiled together, which ferments of itself in the cask. The stronger it is of honey, the longer it takes to ferment. Drunk in this country too soon, it causes sickness of the stomach and headache.
45. Besides these they also use the liqueurs called cordials, such as anise-water, cinnamon-water, appelcin-water, and others scarcely to be enumerated, as also drops to pour into wine and brandy almost without end.
46. Tea is a drink very generally used. No one is so high as to despise it, nor any one so low as not to think himself worthy of it. It is not drunk oftener than twice a day. It is always drunk by the common people with raw sugar in it. Brandy in tea is called Iese.
47. Coffee comes from Martinica, St. Domingo, and Surinam; is sold in large quantities, and used for breakfast.
48. Chocolate is in general use for breakfast and supper. It is drunk with a spoon. Sometimes prepared with a little milk, but mostly only with water.
Friday, November 20, 2020
Garden to Table - Grape Vines & Wines in 17C Colonial America
Grapes & Wines in 17C Colonial America
Early settlers in colonial America recorded abundant wild grape vines along the Atlantic coast of eastern North America. The Pilgrims in New England found the species Vitis labrusca growing profusely in the woods around their settlements. This labrusca, or northern fox grape, is the best known of the native species, because the Concord grape is the base of many American juice & jellies. Before the Pilgrims landed, the gentlemen of the Virginia Company at Jamestown noted a number of native grape species, especially on bottom lands, on river banks, & in swamps, often covering hundreds of square feet.
In 1564 the French Protestant Admiral Gaspard de Coligny sent out a colony of Huguenots to the St. John's River in Florida, & there, at Fort Caroline, pirate Captain John Hawkins found the survivors in 1565 on the verge of starvation. Hawkins noted that though they had failed to grow food for themselves, yet "in the time that the Frenchmen were there, they made 20 hogsheads of wine." Sir John Hawkins (Hawkyns) (1532-1595), an English naval commander & administrator & privateer, was an early promoter of English involvement in the Atlantic trade.
After the French had been driven away from the Florida coast, the Spaniards made a settlement on nearby Santa Elena Island—now Parris Island, South Carolina—and a vineyard was reported as planted there by 1568.
On the low coast of Hatarask (Hatteras) Island, North Carolina, the English found the land was covered with grapes, growing so close to the water's edge that "the very beating & surge of the Sea overflowed them." The journal was written by Capt Philip Amadas (b 1566) & Master Arthur Barlowe (1555-1620), explorers sent by Sir Walter Raleigh(c 1552-1618), who arrived on Roanoke Island on July 13, 1584. Back in England, Barlowe wrote an account of the New World, which Amadas signed. The publication was circulated in December of 1584. The grapes spread beyond the shore, the chronicler & promoter says: "We found such plentie, as well there as in all places else, both on the sand & on the greene soile on the hils, as in the plaines, as well on every little shrubbe, as also climing towards the tops of high Cedars, that I thinke in all the world the like abundance is not to be found: & my selfe having seene those parts of Europe that most abound, find such difference as were incredible to be written."
The settlers of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, the 1st permanent colony, were struck by the rich profusion of grapes that adorned the woods of their colony. Indeed, by this time, they expected to see them, for the ability of the New World to grow grapes "naturally" was one of the details constantly & optimistically noted in the accounts published by Hakluyt & other promoters of exploration & settlement.
On reaching the James River they at saw "great store of Vines in bignesse of a man's thigh, running up to the tops of the Trees in Great abundance." The Virginia settlers apparently quickly tried a little experimental winemaking. A report by an Irish sailor who made the 1st voyage to Jamestown says that he sampled 1 or 2 of the wines produced & found them very similar to the Spanish Alicante. A 1609 statement made by one of the promoters of the Virginia Company, Robert Johnson, who foresaw Virginia as a rival to the Canaries, speculated that "we doubt not but to make there in few years store of good wines, as any from the Canaries."
Captain John Smith (1580-1631) claimed that the colonists of the 1st Virginia Voyage made "near 20 gallons of wine" from "hedge grapes." William Strachey (1572-1621), who spent the year 1610-11 in Jamestown, noted that there he had "drunk often of the rath wine, which Doctor Bohoune & other of our people have made full as good as your French-British wine, 20 gallons at a time have been sometimes made without any other help than by crushing the grape with the hand, which letting to settle 5 or 6 days hath in the drawing forth proved strong & heady." Dr. Laurence Bohune (Bohun or Boone), whose wine Strachey drank, is the 1st winemaker in America whose name is recorded. Bohune (c 1575-1621) was a member of the Virginia Governor's Council known for experimenting with Virginia's indigenous plants. He came out to Jamestown in 1610, & became physician general to the colony, before being killed in a sea battle with the Spanish on a voyage from England back to Virginia.
In his, "True Declaration of the Estate of the Colony in Virginia" (1610), Lord De La Warr (Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1577-1618) noted "there are many vines planted in divers places, & do prosper well." Ralph Hamor, who was in the colony from 1610 to 1614, wrote that they had planted wild grapes in "a vineyard near Henrico" of 3 or 4 acres. Henrico was founded in 1611. Captain Ralph Hamor (1589-1626) was one of the original colonists to settle in Virginia, & author of A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia, which he wrote when he returned to London in 1615.
The Laws Divine, Moral & Martial, the stern Virginian code drawn up in 1611, forbade the settlers to "rob any vineyards or gather up the grapes" on pain of death. The Virginia Company created a law in 1619 requiring "every householder" to "yearly plant & maintain ten vines until they have attained to the art & experience of dressing a vineyard either by their own industry or by the instruction of some vigneron." The instruction was to be provided by the "divers skilfull vignerons" who, the company reported, had been sent out in 1619, "with store also from hence of vineplants of the best sort." This is the earliest record of the effort to transplant the European vine to eastern America.
Apparently 8 vignerons were sent to Virginia in 1619, Frenchmen from Languedoc—Elias La Garde, David Poule, Jacques Bonnall are among the names preserved of this group. They were settled at Kecoughton, Elizabeth City County, near the coast & hopefully relatively secure from Indian attack. This region had been recommended as early as 1611 by Sir Thomas Dale, who observed that the 2 or 3 thousand acres of clear ground there would do for vineyards & that "vines grow naturally there, in great abundance." Sir Thomas Dale (d 1619) was an English naval commander & deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 & from 1614 to 1616, who married Pocahontas.
The French vignerons of 1619 must have arrived too late to do any planting that year, as a letter from Virginia as late as January 1620 pleads for both vines & vignerons from Europe. The same letter mentions that vines brought by the governor, Sir George Yeardley (presumably on his return from England in 1619) "do prosper passing well," but his Vigneron-"a fretful old man"-was dead. It was affirmed that the vines planted in the fall bore grapes the following spring, "a thing they suppose not heard of in any other country." Just when the Frenchmen planted their vines is not clear. One source refers to the Frenchmen as having planted their cuttings at "Michaelmas last"—that is, around October 1620.
In 1620 the Virginia Company, announced that it was looking for more vineyardists from France & from Germany, & that it was trying to procure "plants of the best kinds" from France, Germany, & elsewhere. In 1622, at the king's command, the Virginia Company sent to every householder in Virginia a manual on the cultivation of the vine & silk.
George Sandys (1578-1644) was a poet, who took great interest in the earliest English colonization in America. In April 1621, he became colonial treasurer of the Virginia Company & sailed to Virginia with his niece's husband, Sir Francis Wyatt (1588-1644) the new governor. Sandys reported to London in 1623, that though many vines had been planted the year before, they "came to nothing...Wherefore now we have taken an order that every plantation ...shall impale 2 acres of ground, & employ the sole labor of 2 men in that business [planting grape vines] for the term of 7 years, enlarging the same 2 acres more, with a like increase of labor...By this means I hope this work will go really forward." The census made early in 1625 records that Sandys had a vineyard of 2 acres on his plantation on the south bank of the James.
In 1649, it was reported that a Captain William Brocas had made "most excellent wine" from his own Virginia vineyard in Lancaster County along the banks of the Rappahannock. It is also said that Sir William Berkeley, who governed Virginia from 1642 to 1652 & again from 1662 to 1677, successfully planted a vineyard of native grapes: "I have been assured," so the Reverend John Clayton wrote some years after Berkeley's death, "that he cultivated & made the wild sour grapes become pleasant, & large, & thereof made good wine." Robert Beverley, the early historian of Virginia & a pioneer grape-grower, tells a different story of Berkeley's efforts: "To save labour, he planted trees for the vines to run upon. But as he was full of projects, so he was always very fickle, & set them on foot, only to shew us what might be done, & not out of hopes of any gain to himself; so never minded to bring them to perfection."
In 1620 Maine, a speculator named Ambrose Gibbons proposed to found a plantation at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, on what is now the Maine-New Hampshire border, & there, in that bitter northern climate, to "cultivate the vine, discover mines . . . & trade with natives."
In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, wine was made from native grapes in the 1st summer of settlement in 1630. The result may have been one of the reasons why the colonists petitioned the Massachusetts Bay Company back in London to have Frenchmen experienced in "planting of vines" sent out to them. In 1632, Governor John Winthrop secured the grant of Conant's Island in Boston Harbor, on condition that he plant a vineyard there. Three years later his rent for the place, then called Governor's Garden, was set at "a hogshead of the best wine that shall grow there to be paid yearly." In 1640 this expected rent was changed to 2 bushels of apples - evidently wine-growing had not succeeded.
The state of winemaking in New England generally was summed up in 1680 by the early historian William Hubbard (1621-1704): "Many places do naturally abound with grapes, which gave great hopes of fruitful vineyards in after time: but as yet either skill is wanting to cultivate & order the roots of those wild vines, & reduce them to a pleasant sweetness, or time is not yet to be spared to look after the culture of such fruits."
In the New Netherland of the Dutch settlers, a vineyard was planted as early as 1642, but was destroyed by the severe winter temperature. Immediately after the English took over the colony from the Dutch in 1669, the new governor granted a monopoly of grape growing on Long Island to one Paul Richards, who also received the privilege of selling his wine tax-free. A Dutch traveler visiting Coney Island in 1679 found abundant grapes growing wild & noted that the settlers had several times planted vineyards without success. "Nevertheless," he added, "they have not abandoned the hope of doing so by & by, for there is always some encouragement, although they have not, as yet, discovered the cause of the failure."
The Swedes along the Delaware in what is now New Jersey & Delaware were just as eager as the English & the Dutch to turn their place in the New World into a commercial wine success. The official instructions given to the Swedish governor, Colonel John Printz, in 1642. included viticulture among the objects of the colony, but it was not long before the Jersey farmers turned to apple growing instead & began to produce the cider.
William Penn carried French vines with him to Pennsylvania in 1682, his 1st trip to the colony he had founded, & in the next year had his French vignerons lay out vineyards. William Penn hoped to make viticulture flourish in his American woods. In 1683, within a year of his arrival in the new colony, Penn recorded that he had drunk a "good claret" made of native grapes by a French Huguenot refugee, Captain Gabriel Rappel. He wondered then whether the future of American winegrowing might not lie with the native varieties of grapes rather than with the European vinifera.
In 1663, the proprietors of Carolina, newly chartered by Charles II, drew up proposals for a colony that would concentrate—despite the experience of Jamestown—on just those "three rich commodities," wine, silk, & oil, that Hakluyt & others had dreamed of producing along the Atlantic coast. In the Carolinas, Sir William Berkeley, one of the proprietors of the Carolina colony was commissioned to appoint a government for Carolina. His instructions included a proviso for setting aside 20,000 acres of land for the proprietors, taking care that some be "on sides of hills that look to the southward which will be best for vineyards." While some commerce in tobacco grew, the Carolina's main success came from the great pine forests & their yield of tar, pitch, turpentine, & lumber of all kinds. Grape growing & winemaking do not seem to have progressed in what is now North Carolina (the separation between the 2 Carolinas did not officially exist until 1712).
Sir Nathaniel Johnson. Johnson, who lived in South Carolina from 1690 until his death in 1713, served as governor of the colony for 6 of those years. He was an energetic experimenter with plants & crops, especially keen on succeeding in the manufacture of silk—he named his plantation on the Cooper River, near Charleston, "Silk Hope." He tried to promote winegrowing, too. According to the Quaker John Archdale's account, Johnson planted a "considerable vineyard." John Lawson, tells us that Johnson had "rejected all exotic vines, & makes his wine from the natural black grape of Carolina." But at the same time, Lawson makes it clear that Johnson's experiments created no general response. On Johnson's 1713 death, his estate went to a daughter, &, according to an 18C writer, "she married; & her husband destroyed the vineyard & orchard to apply the soil to Turky-corn."
The Carolina colonists could not make the European vine grow, nor was it yet worth their while to develop the native vine. John Lawson in North Carolina explained the difficulties from the settler's point of view: "New planted colonies are generally attended with a force & necessity of planting the known & approved staple & product of the country," Lawson wrote.
General James Edward Oglethorpe (1696-1785) founded Georgia as a place where neither slavery nor strong drink was to be allowed, but where wine growing was to be a basic economic activity. In February 1733, the 1st settlers landed at the site of Savannah & set about laying out the town. General Oglethorpe established the Trustee Garden in Savannah in 1734, 2 years after the founding of the Georgia Trust, the corporate body that governed the colony from 1732 until 1752. Dedicated to botany and agriculture, it reflected the scientific and commercial aspirations of the Trustees and their backers in England. It was established as a public garden, where they could grow & propagate the mulberries, vines, olives, oranges, & other plants. This public garden, or Trustees' Garden, was planted on 10 acres of land between the town site & the river, just to the east of the town. Less than a year after its establishment, one traveler described it as a "beautiful garden ...where are a great many white mulberry trees, vines, & orange trees raised."
The 1st botanist appointed to advance the horticulture of the Georgia colony, Dr. William Houston, died in Jamaica without ever reaching Georgia. Special funds were set aside for botanist William Houstoun in 1732 & after his death in Jamaica, for Robert Millar in 1734. The money was to finance travel across the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea down to the northern coast of Brazil and the collection of specimen for trans-shipment to Georgia. His successor, Robert Millar, while collecting plant specimens in Mexico, was imprisoned by the Spanish on 2 successive voyages, his materials were confiscated, & he returned to England empty-handed & unable to contribute anything directly to Georgia.
The 1st gardener actually to work in the Savannah garden, Joseph Fitzwalter, began enthusiastically, but then fell out with Paul Amatis, who was brought over by the trustees to develop the culture of silk. Amatis & Fitzwalter clashed over who was to be master of the garden. Amatis seems to have been a quarrelsome man, who at one time he grew so angry that he threatened to shoot Fitzwalter should he ever enter the garden again. Early in 1735, Amatis had sent some 2,000 vines to the Savannah garden from the stock accumulated at Charleston. By July, he claimed, Fitzwalter had given some away as presents, to "I know not who," & had let the rest die. Furthermore, the public character of the garden made things difficult: people stole the plants & stripped the fruit, to the despair of the gardener. "Fruits, grapes & whatever else grows is pulled & destroyed before maturity." Amatis finally succeeded in establishing his authority over Fitzwalter, who left the colony for Carolina. Amatis himself died late in 1736.
With some editing, from Thomas Pinney's A History of Wine in America From the Beginnings To Prohibition. University of California Press Berkeley 2007
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