From Garden to Table

Geo Washington (1732-1799) Plans the Views Out of & into Mount Vernon

 

Mount Vernon Vistas

The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington tells us that Washington's vision for the layout of his Mount Vernon estate adopted fashionable ideas in landscape design borrowed from various English sources and wedded them with the natural advantages of the lush Virginia countryside and its breathtaking view of the Potomac River. Over a period of four decades Washington enlarged and embellished his house during two separate major campaigns of building, constructed a new set of outbuildings to complement the expanded dwelling, and completely reorganized the surrounding gardens and grounds to create an appropriate setting for a tasteful country gentleman's seat.

Washington's interests in creating an appropriate landscape setting for his home and for reinventing Mount Vernon as the very model of a modern agricultural enterprise lead him to extend the plan outward to the far boundaries of his 8,000-acre holding. The layout of the road system, the configuration of the farms and the fields, the placement and arrangement of outlying slave quarters and agricultural buildings, the creation of scenic vistas, and even the design of fences and gates all held prominent places within Washington's thinking. These activities and interests all reflected Washington's deeply held belief in the symbolic power of appearance as well as his conviction that the look of one's property—as with a nation's public buildings and internal improvements—were an accurate indication of the owners' character.

One element of the overall design that Washington devoted considerable attention to over the years was the management of access to the mansion. Washington was a firm believer in the lasting importance of first impressions and this concern was translated into a careful consideration of visitors' experiences as they entered his estate. During Washington's lifetime most visitors to Mount Vernon came to the estate overland on horseback or via carriage, using the relatively arduous system of roads in existence at the time. Over the years, Washington carried out a number of improvements to the approach, including cutting vistas to allow travelers to glimpse the Mansion in the distance.

Washington was engaged in establishing vistas beginning as early as 1785, with the intent for the vistas to serve as avenues to view attractive scenes. This was a feature that was encouraged by any number of proponents of the English "naturalistic" school of landscape designers. As might be expected, at Mount Vernon the mansion was the focal point of all of the vistas.

In the eighteenth century the road from Alexandria to Colchester and southwards to Fredericksburg was divided into an inland or "back road" and a "river road," as it passed through the Mount Vernon vicinity. On the south the road forked at a point just north of Pohick Creek, a few miles from Colchester, and reunited at Hunting Creek, a few miles south of Alexandria. Following the line across the smoothest terrain, the inland road followed a mainly north-south running ridge; the river road provided a more convenient link to major waterfront land holdings like Mount Vernon and crossed several streams at the first fording area above its junctions with the Potomac River.

Travelers following the river road to Mount Vernon from the south turned onto a smaller road, or lane near Washington's gristmill that lead to Posey's ferry landing. From that point travelers traversed a second road north to the West Gate entrance to the Mount Vernon estate. When traveling from the north visitors navigated the river road until they reached Gum Springs, the crossing point over Little Hunting Creek, then turning onto the road leading to West Gate. Around 1770 a more direct route for travelers coming from the south was provided by a road (in later years referred to as Mount Vernon "avenue" or "lane") running in a direct line from a point on the river road north of Washington's gristmill to Mount Vernon's West Gate. With only minor modifications, this basic road configuration remained in place until after the Civil War.

 by Dennis J. Pogue, Ph.D.

All this research plus images & much more is directly from the Mount Vernon website - to begin exploring, just click the highlighted acknowledgment above. 

Garden to Table - Poplar Forest's “Simple Plantation Fare” of Poultry & Vegetables.

Cheney McKnight interpreting Hannah in 2019, the enslaved cook at Poplar Forest

Poplar Forest featured “Simple Plantation Fare”

Poplar Forest researchers tell us that dining at Poplar Forest consisted of “simple plantation fare”  mostly poultry and vegetables. As the years went on and Jefferson began inviting nearby neighbors to dinner, visitors would bring a variety of foods to the dinner table. Ellen Randolph Coolidge noted the various foods given represented “the products of rich farms and an abundant country.” 

Though the family received these gifts, and also purchased a variety of food from the enslaved community, Jefferson continued to utilize the term “simple plantation fare” when describing Poplar Forest cuisine. In July of 1819, Jefferson sought to remedy this by reaching out to a supplier and ordering foods not often found at the Poplar Forest dining room table. Jefferson wrote, “We are here, Ellen, Cornelia, and myself for two months to come, and living on plantation fare this may be considerably improved if you can send us by a Lynchburg boat, addressed to Mr. Archibl. Robertson a keg of tongues and sounds, a small keg of crackers, a small box of raisins, and a good cheese.”

Born in 1770 at Monticello, Hannah and her family were moved to Poplar Forest when she was a teenager. There she met and married Solomon. Like others who married within the plantation community, Hannah established a new household with her husband...The fate of Solomon is unclear, but he was no longer living at Poplar Forest by the mid-1790’s. He left behind his wife and three young children.

By 1810, Hannah married Hall, a plantation blacksmith and hog-keeper. The couple lived together with her five younger children. Hannah’s last child was born in 1812.

Hannah worked in the fields and probably spent some of her time spinning flax...Her mother, Cate, trained girls to spin, and Hannah might have learned that skill at an early age. By 1811, she served as Jefferson’s housekeeper, preparing the house for his visits, cooking and washing for him, and greeting visitors in his absence...a cabin was built for her near Jefferson’s vegetable garden.

Hannah could read and write, skills that she probably shared with other slaves. Archaeologists discovered pieces of a writing slate at a slave quarte...A single surviving letter written in 1818 from Hannah to Jefferson describes the state of the house and sends wishes for his health. Hannah also expressed her Christian faith in the letter, one of the few hints that survive of the spiritual beliefs of people living at Poplar Forest.

While Hannah’s letter points to the importance of Christianity in her life, other Poplar Forest slaves maintained spiritual and healing practices derived from Africa. When Hall became ill in 1819, he believed that only a conjurer could cure him. Hannah’s brother Phill used medicine from a “negroe doctor” provided by a fellow slave. Both men died that year.

Hannah’s life is last recorded in an 1821 provision list. Whether she lived beyond the sale of her son William and the breakup of the community following Jefferson’s death is 1826 is unclear.

The Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia explains that Poplar Forest was Jefferson's retreat plantation in Bedford County, Virginia. William Stith originally patented the land in the mid-eighteenth century & probably chose the name "Poplar Forest." John Wayles, Jefferson’s father-in-law, purchased the property in 1764. When Wayles died in 1773, his daughter & her husband inherited the 4,819-acre tract. Jefferson operated Poplar Forest primarily as a tobacco plantation, managed by overseers & worked by a community of nearly 100 enslaved laborers. 

Working from his own designs, Jefferson began building a residence at Poplar Forest in 1806....Construction was nearing completion when Jefferson's presidency ended in 1809. Throughout his retirement years, Jefferson would make Poplar Forest his personal retreat from the busy, crowded scene at Monticello.

Before 1809, Jefferson managed Poplar Forest from a distance, but that practice changed with retirement. Freed from government service, Jefferson made at least three annual visits to Poplar Forest. He traveled to Bedford at the height of spring, in late summer, & in early winter. He described his retreat as "the best dwelling house in the state, except that of Monticello; perhaps preferable to that, as more proportioned to the faculties of a private citizen."

Though Jefferson enjoyed the privacy of Poplar Forest, he was not entirely alone there. Two of his granddaughters generally accompanied him. His granddaughter Ellen Randolph Coolidge later recalled Jefferson's days in Bedford County. "At Poplar Forest," Ellen wrote, "he found in a pleasant home, rest, leisure, power to carry on his favorite pursuits—to think, to study, to read—whilst the presence of part of his family took away all character of solitude from his retreat. His young grand-daughters were there to enliven it for him, to make his tea, preside over his dinner table, accompany him in his walks, in his occasional drives, & be with him at the time he most enjoyed society, from tea till bed time."

All this research & image & much more is directly from the Poplar Forest website - to begin exploring, just click the highlighted acknowledgment above. 

From Garden to Table

Garden to Table - African Influence on Southern Cuisine

 

The Soul of Food: Slavery’s Influence on Southern Cuisine by Christina Regelski

...The influences for many of the Southern foods we enjoy come directly from colonial & antebellum slave quarters. Southern food, often perceived as the quintessential American cuisine, is actually derived from a complex blend of European, Native American, & African origins that found realization in the hands of enslaved people. While Southern food has evolved from sources & cultures of diverse regions, classes, races, & ethnicities, African & African American slaves have one of the strongest yet least recognized roles. For enslaved people, cooking was about culture & community as much it was about survival. 

...When enslaved people reached North America (5% of Africans who were enslaved in the transatlantic trade were sent to North America), rations were often used as a powerful form of control on many plantations. By supervising food, slave-owners could regularly establish their authority over enslaved people, while also attempting to prove their “generosity” toward their slaves. Slaves’ diets were frequently a primary point of debate between abolitionists & slaveholders, with pro-slavery supporters using rations to “prove” the good quality of life African Americans had under slavery.

James Madison defended slavery by arguing that slaves have better diets than the lower classes in Europe: “They are better fed, better clad, better lodged, & better treated in every respect…With respect to the great article of food particularly it is a common remark among those who have visited Europe, that it [slave diet] includes a much greater proportion of the animal ingredient, than is attainable by the free labourers even in that quarter of the Globe.”

... Pork, along with corn, was the primary ration issued to slaves on many plantations. Though rations could vary widely, slaves typically received an average of three pounds of pork per week. Slaves, however, would usually be issued what was considered to be the lesser cuts of the hog, such as the feet, head, ribs, fatback, or internal organs. To hide the poor flavor of these cuts, enslaved people drew inspiration from traditional African cooking & used a powerful mixture of red pepper mixed with vinegar on their meat. West African cuisine relied heavily on the use of hot spices, & slaves continued this tradition by growing various peppers in their gardens to add to their dishes... 

If barbeque is the heart of Southern cooking, cornbread is the backbone...Introduced to settlers by Native Americans, corn was an early staple for Euro-Americans. Corn, however, had a particularly strong hold in the South. Corn could grow well on less fertile land, which made it an ideal staple for planters who saved the best land for cash crops, such as cotton. Corn was the most common ration for enslaved people in the South.

Since enslaved people ate form of corn at almost every meal, they created a variety of ways to prepare it drawing inspiration from their Native American neighbors. In the seventeenth century, many enslaved Africans may have noticed similarities between their cultures. Historian Jessica B. Harris noted that drawings of Native Americans in North Carolina made by English colonist John White in the sixteenth century depict communal eating from a bowl, which was also a common practice in West Africa. Native Americans shared their expertise of growing & preparing maize with both African & Europeans, including the art of making bread from corn instead of wheat. To prepare this bread, Native Americans created dough from cornmeal & water, covered the dough with leaves, & then placed the covered dough in hot ashes to bake. This recipe & technique is almost identical to the ways many slaves would make breads variously called hoecake, ash-cake, spoonbread, corn pone (the word pone comes from the Algonquian word apan), & cornbread. 

Irene Robertson, a former slave from Arkansas, had the following recipe for bread:“Sift meal add salt & make up with water, put on collard leaf, cover with another collard leaf put on hot ashes. Cover with hot ashes. The bread will be brown, the collard leaves parched up…” 

Polly Colbert, a former slave from Oklahoma, recognized the strong influence that Native Americans had on the large variety of corn recipes her & her family made. Colbert recalled that “we cooked all sorts of Indian dishes: Tom-fuller, pashota, hickory-nut grot, tom-budha, ash-cakes & pound cakes besides vegetables & meat dishes. Corn or corn meal was used in all de Indian dishes.”

Bill Heard, a former slave from Georgia, recalled that “Marse Tom fed all his slaves at de big house; he kept ‘em so regular at wuk dere warn’t no time for ‘em to do their own cookin’.” 

Cornbread was also an easy food to prepare for enslaved children, many of whom remember being fed from a trough like the animals.Robert Shepherd, a former slave from Georgia, remembered dinner of vegetables & cornbread as a child on the plantation & that “Aunt Viney crumbled up dat bread in de trough & poured de veg’tables & pot-likker [water from boiled vegetables] over it.”

Developing from Native American influences in hands of enslaved cooks, cornbread varieties eventually made their way into the cookbooks of plantation households. James Monroe’s family recorded recipes for egg bread & spoon bread that, while they employed similar techniques as ash-cake made by enslaved people & Native Americans, utilized the richer ingredients of milk & butter that planters’ kitchens had access to.  One of George Washington’s favorite breakfast foods was hoecakes drizzled with honey & butter. 

... Today’s greens are typically collards, a leafy cabbage-like vegetable, flavored with hot peppers, pork, & other spices. Inspired by boiled vegetables & one-pot meals common to West African cuisine, slaves often prepared a dish that is extremely similar to modern greens, but with a much more diverse repertoire of vegetables.

Slave would gather & boil various kinds of leafy foods, such as collards, kale, he tops of beets & turnips, or wild weeds. In various instances, slaves boiled greens that were traditional to some Native American cuisines, such as marsh marigold & milkweed.  Slaves would flavor the dish by boiling a piece of pork fat or bacon with the vegetables. Since slaves received such poor cuts of meat, their rations were often more ideal for flavoring foods, rather than serving as a meal itself. Many archaeological excavations at slave quarters turn up small, fragmented animal bones, which suggest that slaves often used their small meat rations in soups or stews. 

 Easter Huff, a former slave from Georgia, remembered greens & cornbread:“Victuals dem days warn’t fancy lak dey is now, but Masrster allus seed dat us had plenty of milk & butter, all kids of greens for bilein’, ‘tatoes & pease & sich lak. Chilluns et cornbread soaked in de pot liquor what de greens or peas done been biled in. Slaves never got much meat.” 

Enslaved cooks who were in charge of preparing meals for the entire community constantly struggled with cooking for so many people with limited ingredients, materials & time. Greens were an ideal food since they could be cooked with little attention, in a single pot. Carol Graham, a former slave from Alabama, noted this challenge: “There were so many black fo’lks to cook fuh that the cookin was done outdoors. Greens was cooked in a big black washpot jus’ like yo’ boils clothes in now. An’ sometimes they would crumble bread in the potlicker an give us spoons an we would stan’ roun’ the pot an’ eat.” 

...Sweet potatoes are hearty vegetables that grow well in less ideal soil, which made them an ideal crop for enslaved people & lower class whites.  Slaves often gardens grew sweet potatoes in their gardens, utilizing skills that African Americans passed down from generation to generation. 

Anthony Taylor, who was enslaved as a young child in Arkansas, remembers learning how to grow potatoes on the plantation after freedom & he continued to raise sweet potatoes in his older age. “We stayed on the old plantation for seven or eight years before we had sense enough or knowed enough to get away from there & git something for ourselves. That is how I come to raise such big potatoes. I been raising them fifty years. There are hill potatoes. You have to know how to raise potatoes to grow ‘em this big." 

Like corn, the prevalence of sweet potatoes in Southern food is a marriage of African & Native American practices. The sweet potato is native to the Americas & was a familiar staple to many Native American nations. Posing a strikingly similar resemblance to the yams of West Africa, enslaved people could apply their traditions & techniques previously reserved for yams to the sweet potato with relative ease.  Sweet potatoes were a flavorful starch that could be easily & quickly cooked. Slaves could roast potatoes in hot ashes while wrapped in leaves, like they would with cornbread or ash-cake, or cook them over the fire with other foods. Nellie Smith, a former slave from Georgia, remembered her grandmother would bake potatoes alongside a roast... 

 One vegetable that is particularly favored as a fried delicacy in the South is okra. Native to Ethopia, okra is one of the many food staples that traversed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Americas & is one of the most prominent food associated with the influence of African culture on the New World.  Even the word okra is derived from the Igbo word for the vegetable, okuru.  Following the forced relocated of enslaved people, okra spread to North America from the Caribbean by the 1700s. In West Africa, okra was often used as a thickening agent for soups & one-pot meals & many slaves grew okra in their gardens.

Through slaves’ influence & the transatlantic trade, okra began to appear in planters’ gardens as well. In the popular 1824 cookbook The Virginia Housewife by Mary Randolph, two stews appear that used okra, including the now-familiar & much loved dish called gumbo. Gumbo is referred to as a “West India Dish” which reflects how the influences for the meal traveled from Africa, to the Caribbean, to North America. The recipes are as follows: 

“Ochra & Tomatos. Take an equal quantity of each, let the ochra be young, slice it, & skin the tomatos; put them into a pan without water, add a lump of butter, an onion chopped fine, some pepper & salt, & stew them one hour.

Gumbo—A West India Dish. Gather young pods of ochra, wash them clean, & put them in a pan with a little water, salt & pepper, stew them till tender, & serve them with melted butter. They are very nutritious, & easy of digestion.” 

Notes: 

Published in Paw Paw, Michigan in 1866, Malinda Russell's A Domestic Cook Book... is the oldest known cookbook authored by an African American. One copy of this rare book was found among the collection of California cookbook author & food writer Helen Evans Brown. This little book precedes Abby Fisher’s 1881 "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking" by 15 years, making it a landmark in African American culinary publishing history. 

African Americans also wrote 2 early household manuals including information on buying, storing, preparing & serving food & drinks: The House Servant's Directory (1827) by Charleston-born to famous New Englander Robert Roberts(1777-1860) & Hotel Keepers, Head Waiters & Housekeepers' Guide (1848) by Tunis G(Gulic) Campbell(1812-1891).

In her cookbook's section “A Short History of the Author,” Malinda Russell, who was born in 1812,  notes that she was born & raised in Tennessee, as a member of “one of the first families set free by Mr. Noddie of Virginia,” Russell set out with a party destined for Liberia at age 19. However, when her money was stolen, she remained in Lynchburg, Virginia & found work as a cook, companion, & nurse. After a brief marriage, she was left widowed with a young son. Russell returned to Tennessee, where she kept a boarding house & later a pastry shop. When she was robbed again in 1864, Russell determined to leave the south “at least for the present, until peace is restored,” & settle in Michigan.  Russell states that she learned her trade from Fanny Steward, “a colored cook, of Virginia, & have since learned many new things in the art of Cooking.” She also notes that she cooks "after the plan of the ‘Virginia Housewife," a reference to Mary Randolph’s cookbook The Virginia House-wife (1824). 

Russell’s own cookbook consists primarily of desserts & baked goods, a logical focus, given her ownership of a pastry shop. Most of her recipes were for elegant deserts, like floating island, puff pastry & rose cake, along with main course dishes like catfish fricassee, Irish potatoes with cod, & sweet onion custard, but a few recipes such as "Sweet Potato Baked Pudding” reflected specifically Southern cuisine. In her book, she also provided recipes for ointments & colognes

Abby Fisher who was born in 1831 was still operating her business in 1890. She initially worked as a plantation cook in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She moved with her family to San Francisco in 1877, where she taught Southern cooking.  "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Southern Cooking" is a cookbook published in 1881. It contains mostly dishes of English origin, such as roast beef, roast lamb with mint sauce, & plumb pudding, mostly seasoned with salt & pepper or with herbs & spices common in well-to-do English families. "Southern" innovations are found in biscuits (ultimately of British origin), cornbread (of Native American origin), & in a few African-influenced gumbo recipes. Gumbo soups & a simple jambalaya (‘Jumberlie – a Creole Dish’) are Southern as well.

Garden to Table - Early Cookbooks on Google Books for Free

Google Books has these free, digitized books completely searchable. Simply open a book, enter a word in the search window, and the search engine will show you the word’s occurrences in that book.  

18th Century Cookbooks

The Whole Duty of a Woman, (London). First published in 1701. Free editions available on Google Books: 1707, 1737.

A Collection of Above Three Hundred Receipts, Mary Kettilby, (London). First published in 1714. Free editions available on Google Books: 1714, 1734.

The Compleat Confectioner, Mary Eales, (London). First published in 1718. Free editions available on Google Books: 1742, 1767.

The Cook’s and Confectioner’s Dictionary, John Nott, (London). First published in 1723. Free editions available on Google Books: 1723, 1724.

The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director, R. Bradley, (London). First published in 1727. Free editions available on Google Books: 1732, 1736.

The Compleat Housewife, Eliza Smith, (London). First published in 1727. Free editions available on Google Books: 1739.

The Compleat City and Country Cook, Charles Carter, (London). First published in 1732. Free editions available on Google Books: 1732, 1736.

The House-Keeper’s Pocket-Book, Sarah Harrison and Mary Morris, (London). First published in 1733. Free editions available on Google Books: 1739, 1760.

The Complete Family Piece, M.L. Lemery, (London). First published in 1736. Free edition available in Google Books: 1737.

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, (London). First published in 1747. Free editions available on Google Books: 1774, 1780, 1784, 1805,

The London and Country Cook, Charles Carter (London). First published in 1749. Free editions available on Google Books: 1749.

English Housewifery, Elizabeth Moxon, (London). First published in 1749. Free editions available on Google Books: 1764.

The Art of Confectionary, Edward Lambert, (London). First published in 1750. Free editions available on Google Books: 1761.

The Prudent Housewife, Mrs. Fisher, (London). First published in 1750. Free editions available on Google Books: 25th Edition.

A New and Easy Method of Cookery, Elizabeth Cleland, (Edinburgh). Free editions available on Google Books: 1755.

 A Complete System of Cookery, William Verral, (London). First published in 1759. Free editions available on Google Books: 1759.

The Complete Confectioner, Hannah Glasse & Maria Wilson (London). First published in 1760. Free editions available on Google Books: 1800.

The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald, (Manchester). First published in 1769. Free editions available on Google Books: 1769, 1803, 1806.

The Lady’s, Housewife’s, and Cook-maid’s Assistant, E. Taylor, (Berwick Upon Tweed). First published in 1769. Free editions available on Google Books: 1769.

The Professed Cook, B. Clermont, (London). First published in 1769. Free editions available on Google Books: 1812,

The Court and Country Confectioner, Mr. Borella, (London). First published in 1770. Free editions available on Google Books: 1770.

Cookery and Pastry, Susanna MacIver, (Edinburgh, London). First published in 1773. Free editions available on Google Books: 1789.

The Lady’s Assistant, Charlotte Mason (London). First published in 1777. Free editions available on Google Books: 1777, 1787.

The London Art of Cookery, John Farley, (London) First published in 1783. Free editions available on Google Books: 1783, 1785, 1792, 1797, 1800.

The English Art of Cookery, John Briggs, (London). First published in 1788. Free editions available on Google Books: 1788, 1798.

The Complete Confectioner, Frederick Nutt (London). First published in 1789. Free editions available on Google Books: 1790, 1807, 1819.

The Practice of Cookery, Mrs. Frazer, (Edinburg). First published in 1790. Free editions available on Google Books: 1791, 1820.

Every Woman Her Own Housekeeper, John Perkins, (London). First published in 1790. Free editions available on Google Books: 1796.

The Universal Cook, Francis Collingwood and John Woollams, (London). First published in 1792. Free editions available on Google Books: 1792, 1797, 1806.

The New Experienced English Housekeeper, Sarah Martin, (London). First published in 1795. Free editions available on Google Books: 1795.

The Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter, (Philadelphia). Free editions available on Google Books: 1796, 1822.

The Accomplished Housekeeper, T. Williams, (London). First published in 1797. Free editions available on Google Books: 1797.

Early 19th Century Cookbooks

The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined, John Mollard, (London). First published in 1801. Free editions available on Google Books: 1802, 1808.

The New Practice of Cookery, Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Donat, (Edinburgh). First published in 1804. Free editions available on Google Books: 1804.

Culina Famulatrix Medicinae, Alexander Hunter, (York). First published in 1804. Free editions available on Google Books: 1804.

The Housekeeper’s Instructor, William Henderson (London). First published in 1804. Free editions available on Google Books: 1805.

A Complete System of Cookery, John Simpson, (London). First published in 1806. Free editions available on Google Books: 1806, 1816.

A New System of Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell, (Exeter). First published in 1807. Free editions available on Google Books: 1808, 1840,

The Female Economist, Mrs. Smith (London). First published in 1810. Free editions available on Google Books: 1810.

Apicus Redivivus; or, The Cook’s Oracle, William Kitchiner (London). First published in 1817. Free editions available on Google books: 1817, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1827, 1836, 1845, 1860,

American Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell, (New York). Free editions available on Google Books: 1823.

The Art of French Cookery, A.B. Beauvilliers, (London). Free editions available on Google Books: 1827.

Houlston’s Housekeeper’s Assistant, (Wellington, Salop). Free edition available on Google Books: 1828.

The Cook’s Dictionary and Housekeeper’s Directory, Richard Dolby (London). Published in 1830. Free editions on Google Books: 1830.

Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, Eliza Leslie, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1830, 1836.

The Cook’s Own Book, N.K.M. Lee, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1832, 1840, 1842, 1854.

The Complete Economic Cook, Mary Holland, (London). First published in 1836. Free editions available on Google Books: 1837.

A Treatise on Bread and Breadmaking, Sylvester Graham, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1837.

The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, (Baltimore). First published in 1838. Free editions available on Google Books: 1838.

The Good Housekeeper, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, (Boston). Free editions available on Google Books: 1839.

Garden to Table - Home-Made Barley Wine

 

John Greenwood (American artist, 1727-1792) Sea Captains Carousing, 1758.  Detail

Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines Cordials & Liqueurs 1909 by Helen S. Wright

BARLEY WINE
Take one-half pound of barley and boil it in three waters, and save three pints of the last water, and mix it with one quart of white wine, one-half pint of borage water, as much clary water, a little red rose-water, the juice of five or six lemons, three-quarters pound of fine sugar, the thin yellow rind of a lemon. Brew all these quick together, run it through a strainer, and bottle it up. It is pleasant in hot weather, and very good in fevers.

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.