Chow Time in the 1800s by Krista Ames
Have you
ever wondered how people did it in the old days?
How did they
store food to keep things good long enough to eat? How did they cook?
In this day and age, we are all spoiled with refrigerators and freezers to keep our food cold or frozen and stoves and ovens or microwaves and grills to cook our food.
What do you think it would be like to live on and run your own farm providing for your daily living essentials? The basis of food was pretty similar in the 1800's to what it is now, only the preservation and preparation have changed with time.
Today our meals
are planned around the family’s schedule, but it didn't work that way two hundred
years ago. In fact, two hundred years ago, families planned their schedule
around meals!
During the
early 1800s, cooking dominated the time and energy of the average housewife.
There were no big grocery stores where families could go to purchase food, and
eating out was truly a rare treat, usually possible only when traveling. Most
fruits and vegetables were grown on the farmstead, and families processed meats
such as poultry, beef, and pork along with wild game.
People were basically forced into seasonal diets. In the spring and
summer months, they ate many more fruits and vegetables than they did in the
fall and winter. During those colder seasons, families found ways to preserve
their food.
Often vegetables were preserved by stringing them up to hang by the fireplace or in
another warm, dry area to remove moisture. To prepare the vegetables for
eating, people would soak them in water for a while. Beans prepared in this way
were called “leather britches” because of their toughness after
drying. Fruits, pumpkin, squash, and other foods could be kept in this way for
months at a time.
Most homesteads years ago had a root cellar, where families kept food in a cool, dry
environment. They stored apples and other foods in piles of sawdust or in
containers filled with sawdust or similar loose material.
One method
rarely used today for preserving root crops such as potatoes and turnips was
called “holing
in.”
People would dig a pit that was lined with sawdust or straw, place
the items in the pit, and cover it with more sawdust or straw. Finally,
they would place boards, tin, or a similar material on top.
Before
refrigerators, the spring house was a fixture around some homesteads,
providing a place to keep milk, butter, and other perishables from spoiling.
Running spring water kept temperatures cool enough to preserve foods even on hot
summer days. The “house” was a wooden structure with a roof built directly over
the spring. It protected the food from animals and severe weather.
In earlier
days, people simply kept foods down in the water itself. Items like butter also
might be kept down a well.
By the
mid-1800s, a method of refrigeration had taken shape that seems rather crude
when compared with today. People would dig ice houses into dirt banks in areas deprived of
sunlight, line them with sawdust, and fill them with blocks of ice cut from
frozen rivers and creeks. With proper care, the ice would last until summer.
The three
main ways of curing (the process of preserving food) during this time period included drying, smoking, and salting. Each method drew moisture out of foods to
prevent spoiling. Fruits and vegetables could be dried by being placed out in the sun or near a
heat source.
Meat products could be preserved through salting or smoking. A
salt cure involved rubbing salt into the meat, which was then completely covered
in salt and placed in a cool area for at least twenty-eight days. During this
time, more salt was constantly added. When the meat was no longer damp, it was
washed, then shelved or bagged and left to age. Families would hang meat
preserved through a smoke cure in rooms or buildings with fire pits. For a month, the meat
was constantly exposed to smoke, which dried it out while adding flavor. Using
different kinds of wood for the fire, such as hickory or oak, could produce
different tastes.
A typical
day on the farm would begin very early. Women built the fire based on the meals
planned for that day. The kitchen often was hot, smoky,
and smelly and the hearth provided the center of home life and family
activity. With no ovens or electricity, women prepared meals on the hearths of
brick fireplaces. They used different types of fires and flames to prepare
different types of food. For example, a controllable fire was used to roast and
toast, while boiling and stewing required a smaller flame.
To use all
of the fire’s energy, families shoveled coals and ash underneath and onto the
lids of Dutch ovens. Standing on three legs and available in
a wide array of sizes, the cast-iron Dutch oven was one of the most important
tools found on the hearth. It was used to prepare several types of food and
allowed cooking from both the top and the bottom. Dutch ovens evolved into
woodstoves, common in homes of the later 1800s and early 1900s before most
people got electricity at home.
Preparing
meals was not just a matter of starting a fire for cooking. Spices, such as
nutmeg and cinnamon, and seasonings, like salt and pepper, had to be ground up
with mortars and pestles. Milk had to be brought in from
the family dairy cow and cream and butter made from it. After someone brought
in the milk, it usually sat out for about an hour. The cream rose to the top,
separating from the milk. Women placed this cream into a butter churn and beat it until it hardened,
first into whipped cream and eventually into butter!
Every family
member contributed to the production and preparation of meals. Men and boys
spent most of their time outdoors. Chores included working crops in the fields,
feeding larger livestock, and hunting. Diets included wild game, such as deer
and turkeys. Women and girls worked mainly in the kitchen and fed smaller
livestock.
Clearly,
meal preparation two hundred years ago involved several more steps than it does
now. Much like today, families usually ate three daily meals. The main meal in
the 1800s, however, was not the large evening meal that is familiar to us
today. Rather, it was a meal called dinner, enjoyed in the early afternoon.
Supper was a smaller meal eaten in the evening.
A big
difference between the way people eat today compared with long ago is the work
and time needed. Two hundred years ago, food and food preparation stood at the
center of the family’s daily lifestyle. Without the advances in technology that
help us store, preserve, and prepare food, men and women would spend much of
their time getting meals ready to eat.
Sounds tiring doesn't it? Or refreshing, rewarding?
I think i'd jump at the chance to at least try it :)
4 comments:
great post. Imagine life without fast food. You couldn't just hitch up the buggy and cruise into town if it was a day's ride away.
Really enjoyed Krista's post. Makes me really appreciate my modern coveniences. Sounds exhausting just cooking, then add in cleaning and washing clothes etc. Yikes.
Great post, Krista. I have to admit, I don't think I'd enjoy living without at least a few modern conveniences. I could probably handle preserving food and cooking over a hearth, but if it were left to me, my family would only eat unleavened bread.
Thanks everyone ! Yep it's amazing how primitive things used to be. And you're right Gini, that doesn't even include the cleaning and laundry and taking care of the kids or any other chores. Still amazes me.
Post a Comment