Saturday, October 26, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Thread Leaf Amsonia

Thread Leaf Amsonia (Amsonia hubrichtii)

The genus Amsonia, named for Charles Amson, an 18th-century scientific traveler in North America, is native to parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, and lower South. This species, also known as Arkansas Amsonia, was first recorded in the 1770s as A. angustifolia, but later named Hubricht’s Amsonia, after Leslie Hubricht, an American biologist who re-discovered it in the 1940s. It can add a graceful and handsome, shrub-like accent to the perennial border; and it attracts bees and butterflies.

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Friday, October 25, 2019

From the Garden to the Table - 1798 America's Earliest Cookbook

American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.

By Amelia Simmons
Hartford: Printed for Simeon Butler, 
Northampton, (1798)

The importance of this work cannot be overestimated. Its initial publication (Hartford, 1796) was, in its own way, a second Declaration of American Independence. It was not the first cookbook printed in America but was the first written by an American for Americans. All earlier American cookery imprints were reprints from the British repertoire. Simmons' book attempted to recognize and use American products, specifically corn, cranberries, turkey, squash and potatoes, all uniquely indigenous to the New World.

Although native Americans had been using corn for many millenia and European and African Americans from earliest pilgrim days, this book offers the first printed recipes using cornmeal - three for A Nice Indian Pudding and one each for Johnny Cake or Hoe Cake and Indian Slapjacks. Simmons also suggested using corncobs to smoke bacon and the pairing of cranberry sauce with turkey.

Perhaps the single most important innovation in American Cookery was the use of pearlash as a chemical leavening for dough, an American practice which has influenced worldwide baking methods. Prior to the late 1700s, the preferred lightness in baked goods was attained by beating air along with the eggs, or adding yeast or various spirits to produce a leavening. But by the first publication of American Cookery, Americans were adding pearlash (a refined form of potash, an impure potassium carbonate obtained from wood ashes, and a common household staple in the early American kitchen) to their doughs to produce carbon dioxide quickly. This was the forerunner of modern baking powders which were soon to revolutionize both home and commercial baking, here and elsewhere.

This book was quite popular and was printed, reprinted and pirated for 30 years after its first appearance. There are at least three 18th-century printings including the first and this one both published in Hartford, Connecticut and a Second Edition (so labelled) in Albany in 1796. There are at least 10 editions or variants between 1804 and 1831, published in several cities in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. Some have Simmons' name; some not. See Lucy Emerson's New-England Cookery, 1808, for an example of a pirated edition. All editions are rare.

The information in this book also appears in the following publication which is essentially a pirated editon of Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1798).
The New-England cookery, or the art of dressing all kinds of flesh, fish, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plumb to the plain cake. Particularly adapted to this part of our country.
By Lucy Emerson
Montpelier, VT: Printed for Josiah Parks, 1808.

From The Historic American Cookbook Project: Feeding America.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Bare Root Sweet Shrub

Bare Root Sweet Shrub (Calycanthus floridus)

This handsome shrub, native to the southeastern United States, was introduced in 1726. Its other common names include: Bubby Flower, Carolina Allspice, Sweet Betsy, and Strawberry Bush, in reference to the flowers’ strawberry-like fragrance. Thomas Jefferson first recorded planting “19 Bubby flower shrubs, calycanthus” at Monticello March 7, 1778. The plants, thought to be rare in Virginia, had been collected from the Green Mountains in southwestern Albemarle County. He went on to write: “they are said to be very common in So. Carolina.” He planted more in 1794, 1812, and 1815, and shipped plants as gifts to Madame de Tessé in Paris.

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Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Garden to Table - The Frugal Housewife in America 1772

The Kitchen by Willem Joseph Laquy

A cookbook available in the early American republic was
Susannah Carter
The Frugal Housewife, or Complete Woman Cook...Also Making of English Wines. 

Little is known of Susannah Carter, the author of The Frugal Housewife, which was first published as early as 1765 in London and Dublin, and was first reprinted in America in 1772. The 1772 edition was re-printed in America by Benjamin Edes and John Gil, well-known Boston printers, journalists, and booksellers, famous for publishing the works of many Revolutionary writers, and for their role in instigating the Boston Tea Party.

The Frugal Housewife made no mention of colonial cooking or common American ingredients. It wasn't until 1803 that "an appendix containing several new receipts adapted to the American mode of cooking" was added. This probably was not the work of Susannah Carter, but the result of an editing job by the American publisher in order to attract American readers. the identical appendix appeared 2 years later in the first American edition of The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse (Alexandria, 1805), a cookbook very popular in its native England.

The Frugal Housewife was one of several English cookbooks that sold well in America. It strongly influenced the aforementioned Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1796), the first cookbook authored by an American, and containing not just English fare, but dishes based on American ingredients and common to the early country. Much of Simmons' work is original, but much is copied, verbatim or near verbatim, from The Frugal Housewife - a customary and acceptable practice at the time. Susannah Carter's book eventually saw six American editions; many of her British recipes became American standards via Amelia Simmons, even as the success of American Cookery inspired the Americanization of The Frugal Housewife.

This is the 1803 appendix pertaining to items raised in a garden.

AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING SEVERAL NEW RECEPTS ADAPTED TO THE AMERICAN MODE OF COOKING.

To make a baked Indian Pudding.
ONE quart of boiled milk to five spoonfuls of Indian Meal, one gill of molasses, and salt to your taste; putting it in the oven to bake when it is cold.

An Indian Pudding boiled.
One quart of milk, and three half-pints of Indian meal, and a gill of molasses, then put it in a cloth, and let it boil seven, or eight hours. The water boiling when it is put in. Water may be used instead of milk in case you have none.

To make Mush.
Boil a pot of water, according to the quantity you wish to make, and then stir in the meal till it becomes quite thick, stirring it all the time to keep out the lumps, season with salt, and eat it it with milk or molasses.

Buck-Wheat Cakes.
Take milk-warm water, a little salt, a table spoonful of yeast, and then stir in your buck-wheat till it becomes of the thickness of batter; and then let it enjoy a moderate warmth for one night to raise it, bake the same on a griddle, greasing it first to prevent them from sticking.

To make Pumpkin Pie.
Take the Pumpkin and peel the rind off, then stew it till it is quite soft, and put thereto one pint of pumpkin, one pint of milk, one glass of malaga wine, one glass of rosewater, if you like it, seven eggs, half a pound of fresh butter, one small nutmeg, and sugar and salt to your taste.

Dough Nuts.
To one pound of flour, put one quarter of a pound of butter, one quarter of a pound of sugar, and two spoonfuls of yeast; mix them all together in warm milk or water, of the thickness of bread, let it raise, and make them in what form you please, boil your fat (consisting of hog's lard), and put them in.

To make Cranberry Tarts.
To one pound of flour three quarters of a pound of butter, then stew your Cranberry's to a jelly, putting good brown sugar in to sweeten them, strain the cranberry's, and then put them in your patty-pans for baking in a moderate oven for half an hour.

To pickle Peppers.
Take your peppers and cut a slit in the side of them, put them in cold salt and water for twelve hours, then take them out and put them in fresh salt and water, and hang them over the fire in a brass kettle, letting the water be as hot as you can bear your band in, let them remain over the fire till they turn yellow, when they turn yellow, shift the water, and put them in more salt and water of the same warmth; then cover them with cabbage leaves till they turn green, when they are done, drain the salt and water off, then boil your vinegar, and pour it over them: they will be fit for use in three days.

To pickle Beets.
Put into a gallon of cold vinegar as many beets as the vinegar will hold, and put thereto half an ounce of whole pepper, half an ounce of all spice, a little ginger, if you like it, and one head of garlic.

Note. Boil the beets in clear water, with their dirt on as they are taken out of the earth, then take them out and peal them, and when the vinegar is cold put them in, and in two days they will be fit for use. The spice must be boiled in the vinegar.

To make Peach Sweetmeats.
To one pound of Peaches put half a pound of good brown sugar, with half a pint of water to dissolve it, first clarifying it with an egg; then boil the peaches and sugar together, skimming the egg off, which will rise on the top, till it is of the thickness of a jelly. If you wish to do them whole, do not peel them, but put them into boiling water, and give them a boil, then take them out and wipe them dry.-- Pears are done the same way.

Quince Sweetmeats.
To one pound of quinces put three quarters of a pound of good brown sugar: the quinces boiled. With respect to the rest follow the above receipt.

Green Gage Sweetmeats.
Make a syrup just as you do for quinces; only allowing one pound of sugar, to one pound of gages.-- Plumbs and damsons are made the same way.

A Receipt to make Maple Sugar.
Make an incision in a number of maple trees, at the same time, about the middle of February, and receive the juice of them in wooden or earthen vessels. Strain this juice (after it is drawn from the sediment) and boil it in a wide mouthed kettle. Place the kettle directly over the fire, in such a manner that the flame shall not play upon its sides. Skim the liquor when it is boiling. When it is reduced to a thick syrup and cooled, strain it again, and let it settle for two or three days, in which time it will be fit for granulating. This operation is performed by filling the kettle half full of syrup, and boiling it a second time. To prevent its boiling over, add to it a piece of fresh butter or fat of the size of a walnut. You may easily determine when it is sufficiently boiled to granulate, by cooling a little of it. It must then be put into bags or baskets, through which the water, will drain. This sugar, if refined by the usual process, may be made into as good single or double refined loaves, as were ever made from the sugar obtained from the juice of the West India cane.

To make Maple Molasses.
This may be done three ways.
1. From the thick syrup, obtained by boiling after it is strained for granulation.
2. From the drainings of the sugar after it is granulated.
3. From the last runnings of the tree [which will not granulate] reduced by evaporation to the consistence of molasses.

To make Maple Beer.
To every four gallons of water when boiling, add one quart of maple molasses. When the liquor is cooled to blood heat, put in as much yeast as is necessary to ferment it. Malt or bran may be added to this beer, when agreeable. If a table spoonful of the essence of spruce be added to the above quantities of water and molasses, it makes a most delicious and wholesome drink.

Receipt to make the famous Thieves Vinegar.
Take of wormwood, thyme, rosemary, lavender, sage, rue and mint, each a handful; pour on them a quart of the best wine vinegar, set them eight days in moderate hot ashes, shake them now and then thoroughly, then squeeze the juice out of the contents through a clean cloth; to which add two ounces of camphire. The use thereof is to rinse the mouth, and wash there with under the arm pits, neck and shoulders, temples, palms of the hands, and feet, morning and evening; and to smell frequently thereat, has its salutary effects. N. B. The above receipt did prove an efficacious remedy against the plague in London, when it raged there in the year 1665.

To make Spruce Beer out of the Essence.
For a cask of eighteen gallons take seven ounces of the Essence of Spruce, and fourteen pounds of molasses; mix them with a few gallons of hot water; put it into the cask; then fill the cask with cold water, stir it well, make it about lukewarm; then add about two parts of a pint of good yeast or the grounds of porter; let it stand about four or five days to work, then bung it up tight, and let it stand two or three days, and it will be fit for immediate use after it has been bottled.

To make Spruce Beer out of Shed Spruce.
To one quart of Shed Spruce, two gallons of cold water, and so on in proportion to the quantity you wish to make, then add one pint of molasses to every two gallons, let it boil four or five hours and stand till it is luke-warm, then put one pint of yeast to ten gallons, let it work, then put it into your cask, and bung it up tight, and in two days it will be fit for use.

To make a Bath Pudding.
Take one pint of new milk, six eggs beat well in the milk, four table spoonfuls of fine flour, three table spoonfuls of yeast, three spoonfuls of rose-water, and three spoonfuls of Malaga wine; grate into it a small nutmeg, sweetened with fine soft sugar to your taste; mix them all well together, and let them stand one hour before they are to be baked: bake them in eight small patty-pans, and one large one for the middle of the dish; butter the patty-pans; put them in a fierce oven, and in fifteen minutes they will be done.

To make a pot Pie.
Make a crust and put it round the sides of your pot, then cut your meat in small pieces, of whatever kind the pot-pie is to be made of, and season it with pepper and salt, then put it in the pot and fill it with water, close it with paste on the top; it will take three hours doing.

To make Short Gingerbread.
One pound of superfine flour, to half a pound of good fresh butter, and so on in proportion to the quantity you wish to make, beat your butter till it froths, half an ounce of ginger, a few carraway seeds, and one pound of sugar, roll it out thin and bake it.
Common gingerbread is made the same way, only molasses instead of sugar.

To make Whafles.
One pound of sugar, one pound of flour, one pound of butter, half an ounce of cinnamon, one glass of rose water; make it in balls as big as a nutmeg, and put them in your whafle iron to bake.

To make Crullers.
One pound of flour to half a pound of good brown-sugar, and half a pound of butter, let your hog's lard be boiling, then make them into what form you please, and put them in to fry.

From The Historic American Cookbook Project: Feeding America.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Canterbury Bells

Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium)

Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon offered seed for Canterbury Bells in his 1804 broadside catalogue and Jefferson recorded sowing “Bellflower” along with White Poppy and African Marigold seeds on April 8, 1812. The plant is native to the Pyrenees and southern Europe, where it has been in cultivation since at least the sixteenth century. Canterbury Bells were among the first imported flowers grown in colonial American gardens and the earliest American citation was in 1760 from the J. Townley Seed Company in Boston.

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Monday, October 21, 2019

Garden to Table - Vegetable Recipes from Mary Randolph 1762-1828 - Mushroom Sauce


MUSHROOM SAUCE

CLEAN and wash one quart of fresh mushrooms, cut them in two, and put them into a stew-pan, with a little salt, a blade of mace, and a little butter; stew them gently for half an hour, and then add half a pint of cream, and the yelks of two eggs beat very well--keep stirring it till it boils up. Put it over the fowls or turkies--or you may put it on a dish with a piece of fried bread first buttered--then toasted brown, and just dipped into boiling water. This is very good sauce for white fowls of all kinds.
Ernst Haeckel (German physican, researcher, artist and philosopher 1834-1919)

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Blue Mist Flower

Blue Mist Flower (Conoclinium coelestinum)

This handsome North American member of the Aster family occurs naturally in low moist ground, moist wooded slopes, savannahs, and along streams from New Jersey to Minnesota and the West Indies. The species is listed in the British Botanical Magazine in 1730 and appears in Philadelphia nurseryman John Bartram’s broadside catalogue in 1793. Also known as Hardy Ageratum, this species resembles the cultivated annual Ageratum houstonianum, from Mexico. In 1851, New England garden writer Joseph Breck called it “the most beautiful” Eupatorium. Its late-season blooms attract bees and swallowtail butterflies.

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Friday, October 18, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Bare Root Bloodtwig Dogwood

 Bare Root Bloodtwig Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)
Bare Root Bloodtwig Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)

This long-cultivated European native shrub, commonly found in English hedgerows, was included in Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon’s “Catalogue of Hardy Deciduous Trees and Shrubs” in 1806.

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Thursday, October 17, 2019

Garden to Table - Vegetables from Mary Randolph 1762-1828 - Gaspacho

GASPACHO--SPANISH

PUT some soft biscuit or toasted bread in the bottom of a sallad bowl, put in a layer of sliced tomatos with the skin taken off, and one of sliced cucumbers, sprinkled with pepper, salt, and chopped onion; do this until the bowl is full; stew some tomatos quite soft, strain the juice, mix in some mustard, oil, and water, and pour over it; make it two hours before it is eaten.
A Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell 1737 Amoris Pomum Love Apple p 133

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Cross Vine

Cross Vine (Bignonia capreolata)

This handsome, North American vine is found from Southern Ontario throughout the Eastern United States. 18th-century naturalist and painter Mark Catesby illustrated the Cross Vine in his Natural History of the Carolinas, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Bignonia commemorates Louis XIV’s librarian, Abbé Bignon (1662-1743) and is named Cross Vine for the marking within the stem in cross section. The spring flowers attract northward-migrating hummingbirds.

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Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Garden to Table - Vegetable from Mary Randolph 1762-1828 - CAPER SAUCE

CAPER SAUCE

Is made by mixing a sufficient quantity of capers, and adding them to the melted butter, with a little of the liquor from the capers; where capers cannot be obtained, pickled nasturtiums make a very good substitute, or even green pickle minced and put with the butter..
Otto Wilhelm Thomé (1840-1925) Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz  1885

Freshly picked capers

Monday, October 14, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Button Bush

Button Bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

The Button Bush was first documented in 1735, and is found in marshy places from New Brunswick, Canada south to Central California, Florida, Mexico, and Cuba. Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon listed it as “Swamp button-wood” in the appendix of his book, The American Gardener’s Calendar, 1806. Flowers attract butterflies and the fruits resemble old-fashioned dress buttons, hence the common name.

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Sunday, October 13, 2019

Garden Art History - Preparing the Flower Beds 1625

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Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564 - 1638) Preparing the Flower Beds 1625

Of course, we have no paintings of gardeners or flower beds in early 17th-century colonial America; but when I imagine early gardens in New York, this painting comes into my mind. I thought I would share it with you.
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Saturday, October 12, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - English Lavender

English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

English Lavender is one of the best-known of the traditional aromatic herbs. Valued for its small lavender flowers as well as for its fragrant gray leaves, this hardy, dwarf shrub has been grown and used in Europe since at least the 12th century. Jefferson listed it for planting in the Monticello gardens in 1794. The flowers attract bees and butterflies, while the plant is deer and drought tolerant.

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Friday, October 11, 2019

Garden to Table - Desserts, Breads, & Puddings from Amelia Simmons

Woman in Kitchen by  Adriaan de Lelie

1798 Desserts, Breads, and Puddings
 from Amelia Simmons Cookbook

Apple Pie.
Stew and strain the apples, to every three pints, grate the peal of a fresh lemon, add cinnamon, mace, rose-water and sugar to your taste--and bake in paste No. 3.

Every species of fruit such as peas, plums, rasberries, black berries may be only sweetened, without spices--and bake in paste No. 3.

Currant Pies.
Take green, full grown currants, and one third their quantity of sugar, proceeding as above.

A buttered apple Pie.
Pare, quarter and core tart apples, lay in paste No. 3. cover with the same; bake half an hour, when drawn, gently raise the top crust, add sugar, butter, cinnamon, mace, wine or rose-water q: s:

P U D D I N G S.

A Rice Pudding.
One quarter of a pound rice, a stick of cinnamon, to a quart of milk (stired often to keep from burning) and boil quick, cool and add half a nutmeg, 4 spoons rose-water, 8 eggs; butter or puff paste a dish and pour the above composition into it, and bake one and half hour.

No. 2. Boil 6 ounces rice in a quart milk, on a slow fire 'till tender, stir in one pound butter, interim beet 14 eggs, add to the pudding when cold with sugar, salt, rose-water and spices to your taste, adding raisins or currants bake as No. 1.

No. 3. 8 spoons rice boiled in 2 quarts milk, when cooled, add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, wine, sugar and spices, q: s: bake 2 hours.

No. 4. Boil in water half pound ground rice till soft, add 2 quarts milk and scald, cool and add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, 1 pound raisins, salt, cinnamon and a small nutmeg, bake 2 hours.

No. 5. A cheap one, half pint rice, 2 quarts milk, salt, butter, allspice, put cold into a hot oven, bake 2 and half hours.

No. 6. Put 6 ounces rice into water, or milk and water, let it swell or soak tender, then boil gently, stirring in a little butter, when cool stir in a quart cream, 6 or 8 eggs well beaten, and add cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar to your taste, bake.

N. B. The mode of introducing the ingredients, is a material point; in all cases where eggs are mentioned it is understood to be well beat; whites and yolks and the spices, fine and settled.

A Nice Indian Pudding.
No. 1. 3 pints scalded milk, 7 spoons fine Indian meal, stir well together while hot, let stand till cooled; add 7 eggs, half pound raisins, 4 ounces butter, spice and sugar, bake one and half hour.

No. 2. 3 pints scalded milk to one pint meal salted; cool, add 2 eggs, 4 ounces butter, sugar or molasses and spice q: s: it will require two and half hours baking.

No. 3. Salt a pint of meal, wet with one quart milk, sweeten and put into a strong cloth, brass or bell metal vessel, stone or earthen pot, secure from wet and boil 12 hours.

A Sunderland Pudding.
Whip 6 eggs, half the whites, take half a nutmeg, one pint cream and a little salt, 4 spoons fine flour, oil or butter pans, cups or bowls, bake in a quick oven one hour. Eat with sweet sauce.

A Whitpot.
Cut half a loaf of bread in slices, pour thereon 2 quarts milk, 6 eggs, rose-water, nutmeg and half pound of sugar; put into a dish and cover with paste, No. 1. bake slow 1 hour.

A Bread Pudding.
One pound soft bread or biscuit soaked in one quart milk, run thro' a sieve or cullender, add 7 eggs, three quarters of a pound sugar, one quarter of a pound butter, nutmeg or cinnamon, one gill rose-water, one pound stoned raisins, half pint cream, bake three quarters of an hour, middling oven.

A Flour Pudding.
Seven eggs, one quarter of a pound of sugar, and a tea spoon of salt, beat and put to one quart milk, 5 spoons of flour, cinnamon and nutmeg to your taste, bake half an hour, and serve up with sweet sauce.

A boiled Flour Pudding.
One quart milk, 9 eggs, 7 spoons flour, a little salt, put into a strong cloth and boiled three quarters of an hour.

A Cream Almond Pudding.
Boil gently a little mace and half a nutmeg (grated) in a quart cream; when cool, beat 8 yolks and 3 whites, strain and mix with one spoon flour one quarter of a pound almonds; settled, add one spoon rose-water, and by degrees the cold cream and beat well together; wet a thick cloth and flour it, and pour in the pudding, boil hard half an hour, take out, pour over it melted butter and sugar.

An apple Pudding Dumplin.
Put into paste, quartered apples, lye in a cloth and boil two hours, serve with sweet sauce.

Pears, Plumbs, &c.
Are done the same way.

Potatoe Pudding.
Baked. No. 1. One pound boiled potatoes, one pound sugar, half a pound butter, 10 eggs.

No. 2. One pound boiled potatoes mashed, three quarters of a pound of butter, 3 gills milk or cream, the juice of one lemon and the peal grated, half a pound sugar, half nutmeg, 7 eggs (taking out 3 whites,) 2 spoons rose-water.

Apple Pudding.
One pound apple sifted, one pound sugar, 9 eggs, one quarter of a pound butter, one quart sweet cream, one gill rose-water, a cinnamon, a green lemon peal grated (if sweet apples, add the juice of half a lemon, put on to paste No. 7. Currants, raisins and citron some add, but good without them.

Carrot Pudding.
A coffee cup full of boiled and strained carrots, 5 eggs, 2 ounces sugar and butter each, cinnamon and rose water to your taste, baked in a deep dish without paste.

A Crookneck, or Winter Squash Pudding.
Core, boil and skin a good squash, and bruize it well; take 6 large apples, pared, cored, and stewed tender, mix together; add 6 or 7 spoonsful of dry bread or biscuit, rendered fine as meal, half pint milk or cream, 2 spoons of rose-water, 2 do. wine, 5 or 6 eggs, beaten and strained, nutmeg, salt and sugar to your taste, one spoon flour, beat all smartly together, bake.

The above is a good receipt for Pompkins, Potatoes or Yams, adding more moistening or milk and rose water, and to the two latter a few black or Lisbon currants, or dry whortleberries scattered in, will make it better.

Pompkin.
No. 1. One quart stewed and strained, 3 pints cream, 9 beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid into paste No. 7 or 3, and with a dough spur, cross and chequer it, and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.

No. 2. One quart of milk, 1 pint pompkin, 4 eggs, molasses, allspice and ginger in a crust, bake 1 hour.

Orange Pudding.
Put sixteen yolks with half a pound butter melted, grate in the rinds of two Seville oranges, beat in half pound of fine Sugar, add two spoons orange water, two of rose water, one gill of wine, half pint cream, two naples biscuit or the crumbs of a fine loaf, or roll soaked in cream, mix all together, put it into rich puff-paste, which let be double round the edges of the dish; bake like a custard.

A Lemon Pudding.
1. Grate the yellow of the peals of three lemons, then take two whole lemons, roll under your hand on the table till soft, taking care not to burst them, cut and squeeze them into the grated peals.

2. Take ten ounces soft wheat bread, and put a pint of scalded white wine thereto, let soak and put to No. 1.

3. Beat four whites and eight yolks, and put to above, adding three quarters of a pound of melted butter, (which let be very fresh and good) one pound fine sugar, beat all together till thoroughly mixed.

4. Lay paste No. 7 or 9 on a dish, plate or saucers, and fill with above composition.

5. Bake near 1 hour, and when baked--stick on pieces of paste, cut with a jagging iron or a doughspur to your fancy, baked lightly on a floured paper; garnished thus, they may be served hot or cold.

Puff Pastes for Tarts.
No. 1. Rub one pound of butter into one pound of flour, whip 2 whites and add with cold water and one yolk; make into paste, roll in, in six or seven times one pound of butter, flowring it each roll. This is good for any small thing.

No. 2. Rub 6 pound of butter into fourteen pound of flour, eight eggs, add cold water, make a stiff paste.

No. 3. To any quantity of flour, rub in three fourths of its weight of butter, (12 eggs to a peck) rub in one third or half, and roll in the rest.

No. 4. Into two quarts flour (salted) and wet stiff with cold water roll in, in nine or ten times one and half pound of butter.

No. 5. One pound flour, three fourths of a pound of butter, beat well.

No. 6. To one pound of flour rub in one fourth of a pound of butter wet with three eggs and rolled in a half pound of butter.

A Paste for Sweet Meats.
No. 7. Rub one third of one pound of butter, and one pound of lard into two pound of flour, wet with four whites well beaten; water q: s: to make a paste, roll in the residue of shortening in ten or twelve rollings--bake quick.

No. 8. Rub in one and half pound of suet to six pounds, of flour, and a spoonful of salt, wet with cream, roll in, in six or eight times, two and half pounds of butter--good for a chicken or meat pie.

Royal Paste.
No. 9. Rub half a pound of butter into 1 pound of flour, four whites beat to a foam, add two yolks, two ounces of fine sugar; roll often, rubbing one third, and rolling two thirds of the butter is best; excellent for tarts and apple cakes.

C U S T A R D S
1. One pint cream sweetened to your taste, warmed hot; stir in sweet wine, till curdled, grate in cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. Sweeten a quart of milk, add nutmeg, wine, brandy, rose-water and six eggs; bake in tea cups or dishes, or boil in water, taking care that it don't boil into the cups.

3. Put a stick of cinnamon to one quart of milk, boil well, add six eggs, two spoons of rose-water--bake.

4. Boiled Custard--One pint of cream, two ounces of almonds, two spoons of rose-water, or orange flower water, some mace; boil thick, then stir in sweetening, and lade off into china cups, and serve up.

Rice Custard.
Boil a little mace, a quartered nutmeg in a quart of cream, add rice (well boiled) while boiling sweeten and flavor with orange or rose-water, putting into cups or dishes, when cooled, set to serve up.

A Rich Custard.
Four eggs beat and put to one quarter cream, sweetened to your taste, half a nutmeg, and a little cinnamon--baked.

A sick bed Custard.
Scald a quart of milk, sweeten and salt a little, whip 3 eggs and stir in, bake on coals in a pewter vessel.

TARTS--Apple Tarts.
Stew and strain the apples, add cinnamon, rose-water, wine and sugar to your taste, lay in paste, royal, squeeze thereon orange juice--bake gently.

Cramberries.
Stewed, strained and sweetened, put into paste No. 9, and baked gently.

Marmolade, laid into paste No. 1, baked gently.

Apricots, must be neither pared, cut or stoned, but put in whole, and sugar sifted over them, as above.

Orange or Lemon Tart.
Take 6 large lemons, rub them well in salt, put them into salt and water and let rest 2 days, change them daily in fresh water, 14 days, then cut slices and mince as fine as you can and boil them 2 or 3 hours till tender, then take 6 pippins, pare, quarter and core them, boil in 1 pint fair water till the pippins break, then put the half of the pippins, with all the liquor to the orange or lemon, and add one pound sugar, boil all together one quarter of an hour, put into a gallipot and squeeze thereto a fresh orange, one spoon of which, with a spoon of the pulp of the pippin, laid into a thin royal paste, laid into small shallow pans or saucers, brushed with melted butter, and some superfine sugar sifted thereon, with a gentle baking, will be very good.

N. B. pastry pans, or saucers, must be buttered lightly before the paste is laid on. If glass or China be used, have only a top crust, you can garnish with cut paste, like a lemon pudding or serve on paste No. 7.

Gooseberry Tart.
Lay clean berries and sift over them sugar, then berries and sugar till a deep dish be filled, cover with paste No. 9, and bake some what more than other tarts.

Grapes, must be cut in two and stoned and done like a Gooseberry.

S Y L L A B U B S

To make a fine Syllabub from the Cow.
Sweeten a quart of cyder with double refined sugar, grate nutmeg into it, then milk your cow into your liquor, when you have thus added what quantity of milk you think proper, pour half a pint or more, in proportion to the quantity of syllabub you make, of the sweetest cream you can get all over it.

A Whipt Syllabub.
Take two porringers of cream and one of white wine, grate in the skin of a lemon, take the whites of three eggs, sweeten it to your taste, then whip it with a whisk, take off the froth as it rises and put it into your syllabub glasses or pots, and they are fit for use.

To make a fine Cream.
Take a pint of cream, sweeten it to your pallate, grate a little nutmeg, put in a spoonful of orange flower water, and rose water, and two spoonfuls of wine; beat up four eggs and two whites, stir it all together one way over the fire till it is thick, have cups ready and pour it in.

Lemon Cream.
Take the juice of four large lemons, half a pint of water, a pound of double refined sugar beaten fine, the whites of seven eggs and the yolk of one beaten very well; mix altogether, strain it, set it on a gentle fire, stirring it all the while and skim it clean, put into it the peel of one lemon, when it is very hot, but not to boil; take out the lemon peal and pour it into china dishes.

Raspberry Cream.
Take a quart of thick sweet cream and boil it two or three wallops, then take it off the fire and strain some juices of raspberries into it to your taste, stir it a good while before you put your juice in, that it may be almost cold, when you put it to it, and afterwards stir it one way for almost a quarter of an hour; then sweeten it to your taste and when it is cold you may send it up.

Whipt Cream.
Take a quart of cream and the whites of 8 eggs beaten with half a pint of wine; mix it together and sweeten it to your taste with double refined sugar, you may perfume it (if you please) with musk or Amber gum tied in a rag and steeped a little in the cream, whip it up with a whisk and a bit of a lemon peel tyed in the middle of the whisk, take off the froth with a spoon, and put into glasses.

A Trifle.
Fill a dish with biscuit finely broken, rusk and spiced cake, wet with wine, then pour a good boil'd custard, (not too thick) over the rusk, and put a syllabub over that; garnish with jelly and flowers.

C A K E.

Plumb Cake.
Mix one pound currants, one drachm nutmeg, mace and cinnamon each, a little salt, one pound of citron, orange peal candied, and almonds bleach'd, 6 pound of flour, (well dry'd) beat 21 eggs, and add with 1 quart new ale yeast, half pint of wine, 3 half pints of cream and raisins, q: s:

Plain Cake. Nine pound of flour, 3 pound of sugar, 3 pound of butter, 1 quart emptins, 1 quart milk, 9 eggs, 1 ounce of spice, 1 gill of rose-water, 1 gill of wine.

Another. Three quarters of a pound of sugar, 1 pound of butter, and 6 eggs work'd into 1 pound of flour.

A rich Cake.
Rub 2 pound of butter into 5 pound of flour, add 15 eggs (not much beaten) 1 pint of emptins, 1 pint of wine, kneed up stiff like biscuit, cover well and put by and let rise over night.


To 2 and a half pound raisins, add 1 gill brandy, to soak over night, or if new half an hour in the morning, add them with 1 gill rose-water and 2 and half pound of loaf sugar, 1 ounce cinnamon, work well and bake as loaf cake, No. 1.

Potatoe Cake.
Boil potatoes, peal and pound them, add yolks of eggs, wine and melted butter work with flour into paste, shape as you please, bake and pour over them melted butter, wine and sugar.

Johnny Cake, or Hoe Cake.
Scald 1 pint of milk and put to 3 pints of indian meal, and half pint of flower--bake before the fire. Or scald with milk two thirds of the indian meal, or wet two thirds with boiling water, add salt, molasses and shortening, work up with cold water pretty stiff, and bake as above.

Indian Slapjack.
One quart of milk, 1 pint of indian meal, 4 eggs, 4 spoons of flour, little salt, beat together, baked on gridles, or fry in a dry pan, or baked in a pan which has been rub'd with suet, lard or butter.

Loaf Cakes.
No. 1. Rub 6 pound of sugar, 2 pound of lard, 3 pound of butter into 12 pound of flour, add 18 eggs, 1 quart of milk, 2 ounces of cinnamon, 2 small nutmegs, a tea cup of coriander seed, each pounded fine and sifted, add one pint of brandy, half a pint of wine, 6 pound of stoned raisins, 1 pint of emptins, in it having dried your flour in the oven, dry and roll the sugar fine, rub your shortning and sugar half an hour, it will render the cake much whiter and lighter, heat the oven with dry wood, for 1 and a half hours, if large pans be used, it will then require 2 hours baking, and in proportion for smaller loaves. To frost it. Whip 6 whites, during the baking, add 3 pound of sifted loaf sugar and put on thick, as it comes hot from the oven. Some return the frosted loaf into the oven, it injures and yellows it, if the frosting be put on immediately it does best without being returned into the oven.


Another. No. 2. Rub 4 pound of sugar, 3 and a half pound of shortning, (half butter and half lard) into 9 pound of flour, 1 dozen of eggs, 2 ounces of cinnamon, 1 pint of milk, 3 spoonfuls coriander seed, 3 gills of brandy, 1 gill of wine, 3 gills of emptins, 4 pounds of raisins.


Another. No. 3. Six pound of flour, 3 of sugar, 2 and a half pound of shortning, (half butter, half lard) 6 eggs, 1 nutmeg, 1 ounce of cinnamon and 1 ounce of coriander seed, 1 pint of emptins, 2 gills brandy, 1 pint of milk and 3 pounds of raisins.


Another. No. 4. Five pound of flour, 2 pound of butter, 2 and a half pounds of loaf sugar, 2 and a half pounds of raisins, 15 eggs, 1 pint of wine, 1 pint of emptins, 1 ounce of cinnamon, 1 gill rose-water, 1 gill of brandy--baked like No. 1.

Another Plain Cake.
No. 5. Two quarts milk, 3 pound of sugar, 3 pound of shortning, warmed hot, add a quart of sweet cyder, this curdle, add 18 eggs, allspice and orange to your taste, or fennel, carroway or coriander seeds; put to 9 pounds of flour, 3 pints emptins, and bake well.

Cookies.
One pound sugar boiled slowly in half pint water, scum well and cool, add two tea spoons pearl ash dissolved in milk, then two and half pounds flour, rub in 4 ounces butter, and two large spoons of finely powdered coriander seed, wet with above; make roles half an inch thick and cut to the shape you please; bake fifteen or twenty minutes in a slack oven--good three weeks.

Another Christmas Cookey.
To three pound flour, sprinkle a tea cup of fine powdered coriander seed, rub in one pound butter, and one and half pound sugar, dissolve three tea spoonfuls of pearl ash in a tea cup of milk, kneed all together well, roll three quarters of an inch thick, and cut or stamp into shape and size you please, bake slowly fifteen or twenty minutes; tho' hard and dry at first, if put into an earthen pot, and dry cellar, or damp room, they will be finer, softer and better when six months old.

Molasses Gingerbread.
One table spoon of cinnamon, some coriander or allspice, put to four tea spoons pearl ash, dissolved in half pint water, four pound flour, one quart molasses, four ounces butter, (if in summer rub in the butter, if in winter, warm the butter and molasses and pour to the spiced flour,) knead well 'till stiff, the more the better, the lighter and whiter it will be; bake brisk fifteen minutes; don't scorch; before it is put in, wash it with whites and sugar beat together.

Gingerbread Cakes, or butter and sugar Gingerbread.
No. 1. Three pounds of flour, a grated nutmeg, two ounces ginger, one pound sugar, three small spoons pearl ash dissolved in cream, one pound butter, four eggs, knead it stiff, shape it to your fancy, bake 15 minutes.

Soft Gingerbread to be baked in pans.
No. 2. Rub three pounds of sugar, two pounds of butter, into four pounds of flour, add 20 eggs, 4 ounces ginger, 4 spoons rose water, bake as No. 1.

Butter drop do.
No. 3. Rub one quarter of a pound of butter, one pound sugar, sprinkled with mace, into one pound and a quarter flour, add four eggs, one glass rose water, bake as No. 1.

Gingerbread.
No. 4. Three pound sugar, half pound butter, quarter of a pound of ginger, one doz. eggs, one glass rose water, rub into three pounds, bake as No. 1.

A cheap seed Cake.
Rub one pound sugar, half an ounce allspice into four quarts flour, into which pour one pound butter, melted in one pint milk, nine eggs, one gill emptins, (carroway seed and currants, or raisins if you please) make into two loaves, bake one and half hour.

Queens Cake.
Whip half pound butter to a cream, add 1 pound sugar, ten eggs, one glass wine, half gill rose water, and spices to your taste, all worked into one and a quarter pound flour, put into pans, cover with paper, and bake in a quick well heat oven, 12 or 16 minutes.

Pound Cake.
One pound sugar, one pound butter, one pound flour, one pound or ten eggs, rose water one gill, spices to your taste; watch it well, it will bake in a slow oven in 15 minutes.

Another (called) Pound Cake.
Work three quarters of a pound butter, one pound of good sugar, 'till very white, whip ten whites to a foam, add the yolks and beat together, add one spoon rose water, 2 of brandy, and put the whole to one and a quarter of a pound flour, if yet too soft add flour and bake slowly.

Soft Cakes in little pans.
One and half pound sugar, half pound butter, rubbed into two pounds flour, add one glass wine, one do. rose water, 18 eggs and a nutmeg.

A light Cake to bake in small cups.
Half a pound sugar, half a pound butter, rubbed into two pounds flour, one glass wine, one do. rose water, two do. emptins, a nutmeg, cinnamon and currants.

Shrewsbury Cake.
One pound butter, three quarters of a pound sugar, a little mace, four eggs mixed and beat with your hand, till very light, put the composition to one pound flour, roll into small cakes--bake with a light oven.


N.B. In all cakes where spices are named, it is supposed that they be pounded fine and sifted; sugar must be dryed and rolled fine; flour, dryed in an oven; eggs well beat or whipped into a raging foam.

Diet Bread.
One pound sugar, 9 eggs, beat for an hour, add to 14 ounces flour, spoonful rose water, one do. cinnamon or coriander, bake quick.

R U S K.--To make.
No. 1. Rub in half pound sugar, half pound butter, to four pound flour, add pint milk, pint emptins; when risen well, bake in pans ten minutes, fast.

No. 2. One pound sugar, one pound butter, six eggs, rubbed into 5 pounds flour, one quart emptins and wet with milk, sufficient to bake, as above.

No. 3. One pound sugar, one pound butter, rubbed into 6 or 8 pounds of flour, 12 eggs, one pint emptins, wet soft with milk, and bake.

No. 4. P. C. rusk. Put fifteen eggs to 4 pounds flour and make into large biscuit; and bake double, or one top of another.

No. 5. One pint milk, one pint emptins, to be laid over night in spunge, in morning, melt three quarters of a pound butter, one pound sugar, in another pint of milk, add luke warm, beat till it rise well.

No. 6. Three quarters of a pound butter, 1 pound sugar, 12 eggs, one quart of milk, put as much flour as they will wet, a spoon of cinnamon, gill emptins,let it stand till very puffy or light; roll into small cakes and let it stand on oiled tins while the oven is heating, bake 15 minutes in a quick oven, then wash the top with sugar and whites, while hot.

Biscuit.
One pound flour, one ounce butter, one egg, wet with milk and break while oven is heating, and in the same proportion.

Butter Biscuit.
One pint each milk and emptins, laid into flour, in sponges; next morning add one pound butter melted, not hot, and knead into as much flower as will with another pint of warmed milk, be of a sufficient consistence to make soft--some melt the butter in the milk.

A Butter Drop.
Four yolks, two whites, one pound flour, a quarter of a pound butter, one pound sugar, two spoons rose water, a little mace, baked in tin pans.

P R E S E R V E S.

For Preserving Quinces.
Take a peck of Quinces, pare them, take out the core with a sharp knife, if you wish to have them whole; boil parings and cores with two pound frost grapes, in 3 quarts water, boil the liqour an hour and an half, or till it is thick, strain it thro' a coarse hair sieve, add one and a quarter pound sugar to every pound of quince; put the sugar into the sirup, scald and scim it till it is clear, put the quinces into the sirup, cut up two oranges and mix with the quince, hang them over a gentle fire for five hours, then put them in a stone pot for use, let them in a dry cool place.

For preserving Quinces in Loaf Sugar.
Take a peck of Quinces, put them into a kettle of cold water, hang them over the fire, boil them till they are soft, then take them out with a fork, when cold, pare them, quarter or halve them, if you like; take their weight of loaf sugar, put into a bell-metal kettle
or sauce pan, with one quart of water, scald and skim it till it is very clear, then put in your Quinces, let them boil in the sirup for half an hour, add oranges as before if you like, then put them in stone pots for use.

For preserving Strawberries.
Take two quarts of Strawberries, squeeze them through a cloth, add half a pint of water and two pound sugar, put it into a sauce pan, scald and skim it, take two pound of Strawberries with stems on, set your sauce pan on a chaffing dish, put as many Strawberries into the dish as you can with the stems up without bruising them, let them boil for about ten minutes, then take them out gently with a fork and put them into a stone pot for use; when you have done the whole turn the sirup into the pot, when hot; set them in a cool place for use.

Currants and Cherries may be done in the same way, by adding a little more sugar.

The American Citron.
Take the rine of a large watermelon not too ripe, cut it into small pieces, take two pound of loaf sugar, one pint of water, put it all into a kettle, let it boil gently for four hours, then put it into pots for use.

To keep White Bullace, Pears, Plumbs, or Damsons, &c. for tarts or pies.
Gather them when full grown, and just as they begin to turn, pick all the largest out, save about two thirds of the fruit, to the other third put as much water as you think will cover them, boil and skim them; when the fruit is boiled very soft, strain it through a coarse hair sieve; and to every quart of this liquor put a pound and a half of sugar, boil it, and skim it very well; then throw in your fruit, just give them a scald; take them off the fire, and when cold, put them into bottles with wide mouths, pour your sirup over them, lay a piece of white paper over them, and cover them with oil.

To make Marmalade.
To two pounds of quinces, put three quarters of a pound of sugar and a pint of spring water; then put them over the fire, and boil them till they are tender; then take them up and bruise them; then put them into the liquor, let it boil three quarters of an hour, and then put it into your pots or saucers.

To preserve Mulberries whole.
Set some mulberries over the fire in a skillet or preserving pan; draw from them a pint of juice when it is strained; then take three pounds of sugar beaten very fine, wet the sugar with the pint of juice, boil up your sugar and skim it, put in two pounds of ripe mulberries, and let them stand in the sirup till they are thoroughly warm, then set them on the fire, and let them boil very gently; do them but half enough, so put them by in the sirup till next day, then boil them gently again; when the sirup is pretty thick, and will stand in round drops when it is cold, they are done enough, so put all into a gallipot for use.

To preserve Goosberries, Damsons, or Plumbs.
Gather them when dry, full grown, and not ripe; pick them one by one, put them into glass bottles that are very clean and dry, and cork them close with new corks; then put a kettle of water on the fire, and put in the bottles with care; wet not the corks, but let the water come up to the necks; make a gentle fire till they are a little codled and turn white; do not take them up till cold, then pitch the corks all over, or wax them close and thick; then set them in a cool dry cellar.

To preserve Peaches.
Put your peaches in boiling water, just give them a scald, but don't let them boil, take them out, and put them in cold water, then dry them in a sieve, and put them in long wide mouthed bottles: to half a dozen peaches take a quarter pound of sugar,clarify it, pour it over your peaches, and fill the bottles with brandy, stop them close, and keep them in a close place.

To preserve Apricots.
Take your apricots and pare them, then stone what you can whole; give them a light boiling in a pint of water, or according to your quantity of fruit; then take the weight of your apricots in sugar, and take the liquor which you boil them in, and your sugar, and boil it till it comes to a sirup, and give them a light boiling, taking off the scum as it rises; when the sirup jellies, it is enough; then take up the apricots, and cover them with the jelly, and put cut paper over them, and lay them down when cold. Or, take your plumbs before they have stones in them, which you many know by putting a pin through them, then codle them in many waters, till they are as green as grass; peel them and codle them again; you must take the weight of them in sugar and make a sirup; put to your sugar a pint of water; then put them in, set them on the fire to boil slowly, till they be clear, skimming them often, and they will be very green. Put them up in glasses, and keep them for use.

To preserve Cherries.
Take two pounds of cherries, one pound and a half of sugar, half a pint of fair water, melt some sugar in it; when it is melted, put in your other sugar and your cherries; then boil them softly, till all the sugar be melted; then boil them fast, and skim them; take them off two or three times and shake them, and put them on again, and let them boil fast; and when they are of a good colour, and the sirup will stand, they are boiled enough.

To preserve Raspberries.
Chuse raspberries that are not too ripe, and take the weight of them in sugar, wet your sugar with a little water, and put in your berries, and let them boil softly; take heed of breaking them; when they are clear, take them up, and boil the sirup till it be thick enough, then put them in again; and when they are cold, put them up in glasses.

To preserve Currants.
Take the weight of the currants in sugar, pick out the seeds; take to a pound of sugar, half a pint of water, let it melt; then put in your currants and let them do very leisurely, skim them, and take them up, let the sirup boil; then put them on again; and when they are clear, and the sirup thick enough, take them off, and when they are cold, put them up in glasses.

To preserve Plumbs.
Take your plumbs before they have stones in them, which you may know by putting a pin through them, then codle them in many waters till they are as green as grass, peel them and codle them again; you must take the weight of them in sugar, a pint of water, then put them in, set them on the fire, to boil slowly till they be clear, skimming them often, and they will be very green; put them up in glasses and keep them for use.

Currant Jelly.
Having stripped the currants from the stalks, put them in a stone jar, stop it close, set it in a kettle of boiling water, half way the jar, let it boil half an hour, take it out and strain the juice through a coarse hair sieve, to a pint of juice put a pound of sugar, set it over a fine quick fire in a preserving pan, or a bell-metal skillet, keep stiring it all the time till the sugar be melted, then skim the skum off as fast as it rises. When the jelly is very clear and fine, pour it into earthen or china cups, when cold, cut white papers just the bigness of the top of the pot, and lay on the jelly, dip those papers in brandy, then cover the top of the pot and prick it full of holes, set it in a dry place; you may put some into glasses for present use.

American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.
By Amelia Simmons
Hartford: Printed for Simeon Butler, Northampton, (1798)

Note: This information also appears in a book which is essentially a pirated editon of Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1798).
The New-England cookery, or the art of dressing all kinds of flesh, fish, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plumb to the plain cake. Particularly adapted to this part of our country.
By Lucy Emerson
Montpelier, VT: Printed for Josiah Parks, 1808.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Cardinal Flower

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

The brilliant scarlet-colored flower of this summer-blooming North American species was considered the finest red in nature upon its introduction to Europe in 1629. Cardinal Flowers grow in moist woodland areas of Monticello, although the seed Thomas Jefferson sowed in a Monticello oval flower bed in 1807 was probably obtained from Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon.

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Wednesday, October 9, 2019

1748 Gourds for Seed Storage

Peter (Pehr) Kalm (1716-1779) Swedish-Finnish explorer, botanist, naturalist, and agricultural economist, visited America & wrote of a use for gourds in his 1748 diary. “They are particularly fit for holding seeds which are to be sent over sea; for seeds keep their power of vegetating much longer if they be put in calabashes than by any other means.”




Kalm, Pehr, 1716-1779. Peter Kalm's travels in North America; the America of 1750; the English version of 1770, rev. from the original Swedish and edited by Adolph B. Benson, with a translation of new material from Kalm's diary notes., Dover, 1966.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Maltese Cross

Maltese Cross (Lychnis chalcedonica)

Maltese Cross is an early summer-blooming perennial that bears tight clusters of bright scarlet, cross-shaped flowers on long stalks. It was an early import to the American colonies, and was listed in Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon's 1804 broadsheet as "Scarlet Lychnis." Thomas Jefferson sowed it in one of the oval beds at Monticello in 1807. The striking flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Deer-resistant.

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Monday, October 7, 2019

South Carolina - South West View of Newport


South West View of Newport.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Rosy Tree Mallow

Rosy Tree Mallow (Lavatera thuringiaca)

In cultivation since 1731, this southern European, summer-blooming perennial bears single, rose-pink flowers that resemble Hollyhocks. Thomas Jefferson noted planting this species along his winding flower border at Monticello in 1807. Rosy Tree Mallow forms a bushy, erect shrub with maple-like leaves.

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Saturday, October 5, 2019

South Carolina - Sheldon


Sheldon.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Friday, October 4, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Great Blue Lobelia

Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

Great Blue Lobelia has been grown in American flower gardens since at least the beginning of the 19th century, and many Native American tribes used this native wildflower for a variety of medicinal purposes. It produces elegant spires of blue flowers in mid to late summer. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are attracted to the tubular flowers, but deer typically avoid this plant.

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Thursday, October 3, 2019

South Carolina - Enclosed Well

Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Plants in Early American Gardens - Blackberry Lily

 Blackberry Lily (Iris domestica)
 Blackberry Lily (Iris domestica)
Blackberry Lily (Iris domestica)

Thomas Jefferson planted “Chinese Ixia” in an oval flower bed at Monticello in 1807. This hardy and robust perennial, now known as Blackberry Lily, is naturalized at Monticello, perhaps from an earlier Jefferson planting. A member of the Iris tribe, Blackberry Lily bears showy orange flowers (spotted with red) in mid-summer. Ornamental, blackberry-like seeds, which appear in fall, are not edible.

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