What’s For Dinner?

Hotel Witter – Demolished in 1950 (South Wood County Historical Museum)

What was served for Thanksgiving Dinner in 1929:

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin) Nov 26, 1929

Cranberry Jell Easily Made by Newest Recipe

Use of Baking Powder Makes Less Sugar Necessary In Preparation of Sauce

With Thanksgiving close at hand the homemaker is thinking seriously of pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. A new cranberry recipe made with Rumford all-phosphate baking powder is offered here.

Prepare as usual in proportion of one quart of cranberries to 2 cups water. Cook till berries are tender. If preferred clear, rub through sieve to take out seeds and skins.

Return to the fire adding to every quart of fruit 1 cup of sugar (instead of the usual two cups) and 1 level teaspoon of baking powder. Cook only till the sugar is dissolved. Chill before serving.

This cranberry sauce will be sweet and fresh-flavored with fine, clear color.

Note the great saving in sugar. Also consider the advantages in preparing fruit sauces with a minimum of sugar for invalids and children.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Nov 14, 1932

From the Sheboygan Spirit: This hotel was built in the early 1890s and torn down in 1960.

What The Grand Hotel  served for Thanksgiving in 1946:

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Nov 27, 1946

Deep-Dish Cranberry Pie

3 cups cranberries
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt

Boil the cranberries in the water until they “pop.” Add sugar and salt. Cool somewhat. Pour into a deep pie dish. Cover with a layer of plain pastry, fitting pastry firmly over edge of dish. (The pastry should be slashed to allow escape of steam.) Bake at 450 F. for 15 minutes.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) May 1, 1936

Cold Water Pastry

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lard
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Cut lard into flour and salt until the crumbs are the size of dried peas. Add the water slowly, using just enough to make the dough hold together.

Roll on a floured board.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) May 1, 1936

Happy Thanksgiving!

Everything Cranberry

All images of cranberry workers from cranlib’s photostream on flickr

THE WINTER BERRY.

In cooking cranberries it is well to remember that they should never be put into a tin dish. Either agate or porcelain dishes should be used.

Cranberry Conserve. — Extract the juice from an orange, then cover the peeling with cold water and cook slowly until tender. Scrape out the white bitter part and cut the peel into narrow strips with the scissors. Simmer one and a half cups of raisins until tender; add the orange peel and the juice and a quart of cranberries. If needed, add more water to make a cupful of liquid. Cover and cook for ten minutes or until the berries are done. Then add two cups of sugar and simmer until thick.

Cranberry Trifle. — Cook a quart of berries with one pint of water until the berries pop open; rub through a sieve, return to the fire and add one pound of sugar. Stir until it is dissolved, then let boil two minutes; cool and beat until light with a wire egg beater, then fold in the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs. Pile in a glass dish and serve. Cranberry shortcake and cranberry pie are old favorites for desserts..

Baked Apples With Cranberries. — Select large, perfect, sweet apples, remove the cores and fill the cavities with thick cranberry jelly. Set the apples in a pan of water in the oven, and bake until the apples are done. Put each apple in a glass sauce dish and serve with whipped cream.

Cranberry Roll. — Cream two tablespoonfuls of butter, add a cup of sugar, a half cup of cold water and two cups of flour sifted with a tablespoonful of baking powder and a dash of nutmeg.  Beat until perfectly smooth, then add another cup of flour and roll out the dough to an inch in thickness. Spread thickly with jam or jelly, roll up closely, pressing the ends together. Lay on a plate and steam for three hours. Cut in slices and serve with cream.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Dec 11, 1911

*     *     *     *     *

*     *     *     *     *

*     *     *     *     *

CRANBERRY COFFEE CAKE

1/2 pound cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup flour (bread)
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons milk

Inspect and wash 1/2 pound of cranberries. Make a think syrup by boiling the sugar and water for 10 minutes. Add the cranberries to the syrup and simmer until they are clear and transparent. Pour this into the bottom of a cake pan. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Blend the butter with the dry ingredients. Beat the egg with the milk and add to mixture. Spread this batter on top of the cranberries and bake 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Cut in squares and serve with hard sauce. This amount will fill a pan 8 inches square.

HARD SAUCE

1/3 cup butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or lemon extract
2 tablespoons boiling water

Cream butter, add gradually while beating the sugar. Add vanilla or lemon extract. Beat gradually into the mixture the boiling water. This makes unusually fluffy and light hard sauce.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Dec 7, 1935

Magic Cranberry Pie

1 1/3 cups Borden’s Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup Eatmor cranberry pulp, drained
2 egg yolks
Baked 9-inch pie shell of Krusteaz

Blend together sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, cranberry pulp and egg yolks. Pour into baked shell. This pie may also be served with a meringue made of two egg whites beaten still and sweetened with two tablespoons of granulated sugar, browned in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for 10 minutes.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Nov 20, 1936

*     *     *     *     *

*     *     *     *     *

Cranberry Relish Right Complement To Turkey Dinner

By GAYNOR MADDOX
NEA Staff Writer

For brilliant color in the Thanksgiving menu serve this jellied cranberry molded salad:

Jellied Cranberry Relish Salad

Two cups fresh cranberries, 1 lemon, quartered and seeded; 1 apple, peeled, cored and quartered; 1 orange, quartered and seeded; 1 cup sugar, 1 package fruit-flavored gelatin.

Put cranberries and fruit through food chopper. Combine with sugar and let stand a few hours to blend. Prepare fruit-flavored gelatin as directed on package, reducing water by 1-4 cup; chill until syrupy. Stir into drained cranberry relish mixture. Fill mold and chill until firm. Unmold on lettuce or watercress and serve garnished with orange sections.

Or if you want your cranberries in the salad course, just combine pineapple and pears, bananas and walnuts, lettuce and watercress. top off with a generous handful of crunchy fresh cranberries for color and texture.

Finally — and what an old-fashioned and zestful end to the Big Meal of the Year — there’s cranberry pie.

Cranberry Pie

One recipe favorite pastry, 2 1-4 cups sugar, 1-2 cup water, 104 cup raisins, 2 cups apples slices, 4 cups fresh cranberries, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water.

Roll out half pastry and fit into 9-inch pan. Combine sugar, water, raisins, apple slices and cranberries in saucepan. Cook until cranberries pop — about 10 minutes. Make a paste of cornstarch and remaining water, stir into fruit and continue cooking until thick and clear — about 5 minutes. Cool and pour into pie shell. Roll out remaining pastry and cut in strips. Arrange criss-cross fashion over top. Bake in hot over (425 degrees F.) 25 minutes.

Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Texas) Nov 16, 1950

*     *     *     *     *

Whittlesey’s Cranberry Marsh

The Tribune Rural Editor Visits Whittlesay’s Marsh

BY E.E. SCHROEDER

When one sits down to enjoy his dish of cranberry sauce or slice of cranberry pie at Thanksgiving time he is not reminded of the highly developed agriculture which is needed to produce the popular berry which has become famous along with roast turkey and mincemeat pie.

The writer recently enjoyed dinner at the S.N. Whittlesay cranberry marsh at Cranmoor and later was taken for a trip over the marshes and given an explanation of the methods used to produce high quality berries.

The Whittlesay marsh is among the oldest in Wisconsin and ranks as one of the three largest in the state in acreage and also production, per acre. According to the “History of Wood County” the marsh was started in 1871 when wild berries were first harvested. Later as scientific methods were discovered Mr. Whittlesay was quick to grasp their importance and applied them to his own marshes.

The writer knows little about the culture of cranberries and this story is not intended as a treatise on the subject. It is intended as a story of what he saw and learned in several hours jaunt over the marshes. Much of this may not be news at all to many readers and again some of it may be incorrectly stated. If the latter is true it is unintentional.

To begin with we learned that cranberry marshes must be scalped. That means that the rough surface soil must be removed in order that a level firm seed bed can be secured on which to plant the tame berry. We learned further that certain kinds of fertilizer are needed and provided which makes the berry develop to its fullest. Commercial fertilizers are applied in the middle of June.

It was further learned that the common variety of berry on the average marsh is known as the Bell and Cherry. The Late Howe berry is replacing the former variety as it is firmer and more pleasing in appearance to the purchaser. The Late Howe is an eastern variety and are shipped from the east not as seed but as the young plant which must be transplanted into the fresh, slightly moistened, and well prepared seed bed.

Require Attention

Cranberries require a great deal of attention through the blossoming, ripening and harvesting season. In fact they must be carefully watched the year around. Growing in lowlands means that frosts are more common visitors than to other crops on high ground. Flooding the marshes in the only means of combating this arch enemy of the cranberry grower. This process of flooding at once calls into play a highly developed system of engineering. Huge dependable reservoirs on higher ground than the marshes must be available to provide sufficient water on short notice. Heavy embankments are thrown up around these reservoirs to hold the water in check in flood season and prevent washouts. Gates are installed at the lower levels to control the water supply into the marshes as needed.

The marshes themselves must have ditches into which the water can drain when the danger period is over. These latter ditches must also be well constructed, with gates to hold the water on the marshes until no longer needed.

The Whittlesay marsh has more than a thousand acres within its limits, but a large part of it is used for water control. Harry, a son of S.N. Whittlesay, is in charge and is laying plans to increase the acreage until the marsh ranks as the largest in the west. Formerly connected with the Nekoosa-Edwards paper company, he has turned his energy toward the cranberry “game” and finds it fascinating, judging from his enthusiasm.

The elder Mr. Whittlesay has been in the business for many years and his election to the board of directors of the Wisconsin Cranberry Sales company is a compliment to the membership as well as to him. He has followed the growth of the industry and knows the advantages and shortcomings.

He can tell many interesting incidents of the time before men with rakes took the place of hand pickers. Many men and women were needed in those earlier days. A dance hall was a common part of the equipment on every farm. Every evening the pickers would enjoy themselves to the strains of old fashioned music. Mr. Whittlesay recalls the time when a wooden tramway with trucks carted the berries from the marshes in the Cranmoor district.

During the winter season the cranberry marsh does not present the busy scene common to harvesting time. But there is important work to be done. Many loads of sand are hauled over the surface to add to the porous condition of the soil. A special quality sand can only be used to advantage.

A visit to the packing house on the Whittlesay marsh was also of interest. The latest in grading devices simplified the sorting of pie berries from the others. Fanning mills blow the twigs and leaves and other rubbish from the harvested berries.

Though a story of this kind could be made to include many other interesting features lack of space prevents. A visit to any of the good marshes, of which the Whittlesay marsh is one, impresses the visitor of the extent of the work, the care, the experience and trials involved in successfully catering to the palate of the American consumer for this particular variety of kitchen delicacy.

Mr. Whittlesay ranks high among cranberry growers. His well kept marshes and buildings are ample proof of his success. His son is succeeding him as manager and should meet the continued success which the Whittlesay marshes have enjoyed. The visit to their home and the trip over the marshes will be an event not soon forgotten.

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin) Feb 15, 1928

Image from CranLib photostream on flickr

*     *     *     *     *

From the History of Wood County by George O. Jones (1923):

HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY

…In 1855 Abner Whittlesey’and his family came west to Illinois, settling in Galesburg, where Mrs. Whittlesey died. Mr. Whittlesey soon after went to Lockport, Ill., and from there to Berlin, Wis., where he engaged in the cranberry business; this was in the late sixties. In 1870 he came to Wood County, and, together with his son, Sherman Newell Whittlesey, bought six 40-acre tracts of marsh land and established the Whittlesey Marsh, they and Theodore Bearss and Ralph S. Smith being the first cranberry growers in the township. In 1880 ….

…Sherman Newell Whittlesey, subject of this sketch, coming to Illinois with his parents in 1855, was reared in Galesburg and attended the grade schools there and the high school at Lockport, from which latter he was graduated in 1867. He then spent a year in Chicago, and while there took a course in the Chicago Business College, after which he came to Berlin, Wis., and in 1870, with his father bought the 240 acres of marsh land mentioned above and established the Whittlesey Marsh in Wood County, coming here to live in 1871; his first residence in Wood County was in Centralia.

He at once began the raising of cranberries, wild berries being the only ones grown here at that time and his first crop yielding 150 barrels of this variety. As the industry developed he applied scientific methods to the cultivation of his marsh, cutting ditches, scalping the land, and cultivating the berries by the most modern methods available, on which lines he has conducted all his subsequent operations.

From 1878 to 1884 he was engaged in the mercantile business with Frank Garrison at Centralia, under the firm name of Garrison & Whittlesey. In 1884 Mr. Whittlesey and family hired parties to run their marsh while they went to South Dakota. In that state they first took a tree claim of 160 acres, then a preemption claim of 160 acres, and, after proving up on this property, they took a homestead of 160 acres, building up one of the finest farms in Faulk County, S. D. They bought adjoining land until they owned 1,200 acres. At the same time they operated a farm of 320 acres in southeastern Nebraska, which they owned, alternating their residence between the two farms, and thus conducting, with the assistance of hired help, three separate enterprises at the same time, the third being their marsh in Wood County.

In 1892 they returned and took up their residence on the latter property, and here they have since made their home. They have been very successful in the industry and have become very prominent and popular residents of the community. They have increased their holdings to 1,100 acres, 67 acres of which are in cranberry vines. In 1921 they raised and sold 600 barrels of berries, getting as high as $17 per barrel for part of them. The place is well improved and is provided with adequate buildings for care of the crops. Mr. Whittlesey employs several men during the busy season. He has become an expert cultivator and has enjoyed a successful career in every way. He was formerly treasurer of the city of Centralia and of Port Edwards Township, and later of Cranmoor Township.

*     *     *     *     *

*     *     *     Cranberry Recipes     *     *     *

*     *     *     *     *

*     *     *     *     *

*     *     *     *     *

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin) Nov 1, 1945

Eatmor Cranberries!

Dinner Time is Cranberry Time

Sheboygan Press — Oct 23, 1931

Ask Your Man if He Remembers Criss-Cross Cranberry Pie

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune —  Oct 30, 1931

Not Just a Holiday Treat — GOOD Every Day!

Try These Delightful Recipes

Wisconsin Rapids  Daily Tribune — Sep 23, 1936

Cranberrry Contest

FIVE WOMEN TO RECEIVE PACK OF CRANBERRIES

FOOD EDITOR ANNOUNCES SIMILAR CONTEST WITH SIMILAR AWARDS FOR NEXT TWO WEEKS; ENTER YOUR RECIPE NOW!

Twenty-five pounds of cranberries, donated by the Wisconsin Cranberry Sales company, will be given to the five prize winners for excellent recipes submitted in The Tribune’s latest food contest. The names of the winners are as follows: Mrs. Leslie Holtz, city, Route 6; Mrs. T.J. Johnson, city, Route 7; Mrs. William Myers, Vesper, Route 1; Mrs. Emmett Knuteson, city, Box 35; Miss Irma Helena Heuer, Pittsville. The prizes will not be available until October 25, when they may be obtained at the Tribune office. Each will receive 5 pounds of berries.

New Contest On

On October 28 we shall again award prizes for exceptional cranberry recipes when similar awards will be made. Here and now is your chance to get a supply of cranberries which will last the ordinary family quite a while. Let us have a banner number of recipes in this contest. What is your favorite cranberry preparation? Send yours and tell your friends to send theirs also. Whatever is worth winning is worth the effort of working for. This requires little effort and the prize is a good one.

The recipes sent in by the various winners are as follows:

Massachusetts Cranberry Pie

Prepare favorite pastry as for pie, and line the pie plate
3 cups cranberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup

Put berries through food chopper using coarse knife. Place in plate on top of pastry and add syrup and sugar.

Place in bowl:
5 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter

Work in mixture with fork until free from lumps and well blended. Spread over the pie filling. Cover with top crust and place in moderate oven, baking from 40 to 45 minutes. All measurements are level.

Irma Helena Heuer.
Pittsville, Wisconsin.

Bananas Baked With Cranberries

Wash one pint cranberries, pour one cupful of boiling water over them. Cook quickly until done and press through a sieve. Peel six large bananas and cut in half lengthwise and crosswise and rub with the juice of half a lemon. In the hot cranberry juice, dissolve 1 1-2 cupfuls of sugar. Pour mixture over bananas and bake in a hot oven until fruit is tender. Remove carefully to a serving dish and chill well. The berry juice forms a rich jelly over the bananas. Serve with or without whipped cream.

Mrs. Emmett Knuteson,
City, Route 7, Box 35.

Cranberry Conserve

4 cups cranberries
1 1-2 cups water
1-2 pound raisins
1-2 pound chopped walnuts
1 orange, juice and chopped rind
3 cups sugar

Cook the cranberries in water until they burst, then rub through a sieve and ad the remaining ingredients. Cook until thick, about 25 minutes.

Pour into hot sterilized jars.

Mrs. William Myers
Vesper, Route 1.

Cranberry Dessert

1 cupful raw cranberries
2 cupfuls sugar
1 cupful apples chopped
1-2 cupful nut meats chopped

Grind cranberries and apples in food chopper. Mix in the sugar and let stand for an hour. Just before serving add nuts and top with whipped cream. This tastes similar to fresh strawberries. A simple dessert.

Mrs. T.J. Johnson,
City, Route 7.

Candied Cranberries

2 cups cranberries
1-2 cup water
2 cups sugar

Pick over cranberries. Prick the skin in several places. Stir sugar and water until dissolved. Boil until thick and syrupy. Add cranberries and cook until mixture shows signs of jellying. Let fruit stand in hot syrup ten minutes. The remove berries and drain on wax paper. These may be served with ice cream or as a garnish for steamed pudding or as any candied fruit.

Mrs. Leslie Holtz,
City, Route 6.

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin) Oct 14, 1932

Pumpkin Pie Time

THE OLD-STYLE PUMPKIN PIE.

Some like a fancy custard pie.
Or apple, mince or game.
Or some new-fangled article,
I ‘low, just for the name,
I ain’t so p’tic’lar’s some I know,
And different from the rest.
But the good old-fashioned pumpkin pies
Are what I love the best.

I’m hankerin’ for a piece, right now.
Of the pie that mother made,
When I came home from school I,d get
A hunk and in I’d wade.
And, (p’r’aps my mouth is somewhat large)
Though I’d resort to tears.
She wouldn’t give me another piece
Because it mussed my ears.

I’ve lingered here a lifetime since,
Put up with what I got,
But oft in dreams I’m back again
To that old familiar spot.
And then, at such times, I can find,
On the butt’ry shelf arrayed,
A row of good old pumpkin pies,
The kind that mother made.

— Philadelphia Times.

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Nov 3, 1898

Times Record (New York) Nov 4, 1943

FOR THE IDEAL PUMPKIN PIE
_____
Why Wait Until Thanksgiving to Enjoy This Exclusively American Delicacy? — Make It Now.
_____

Our neighbor came to call early this morning with lips stained a dark purple from a saunter through the arbor; on his arm he carried a basket of grapes and in each hand a big red apple, and in his buttonhole a spray of goldenrod, and the first red autumn leaf made him quite gorgeous. Under his arm he carried a pumpkin, so we invited him to breakfast.

One should not wait until Thanksgiving for the first pumpkin pie, but begin putting their appetite in training for the feast by some preliminary work on the American pastry.

Steam the pumpkin instead of boiling it, and when cool press it through a fine sieve or vegetable press.

For each pie allow a pint of this strained pumpkin, one cup of rich milk, one egg, one-half cup of sugar, one teaspoon of ginger, one-half teaspoon of allspice, one-half teaspoon of cinnamon and a little salt.

If the milk is brought to the boiling point before the other ingredients are added the pie will bake more smoothly.

The crust should be baked before the filling is put in, as this prevents it becoming soggy. Unlike most custard pies, pumpkin requires to be baked quickly. When the top is brown, firm to the touch and glossy it is done.

— Henrietta D. Grauel, in the Cleveland Leader.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Nov 11, 1912

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) Nov 20, 1923

CRADLE SONG

For the frost-rime now approaches,
And the price of eggs is high,
While the grapes hang blue and purple
On the vines.
From their store the wild bee poaches
Knowing winter time is nigh,
And the pickle snuggles deeper
In the brine.

Winter’s coming, coming, coming,
And the vittles that it brings
Fetch a trembling tear of gladness
To the eye.
You can hear the turkeys drumming
While the first fall sausage sings,
And the whipped cream lights upon
A pumpkin pie.

Love, the scoffing of the summer
That they talk of leaves us cold
All these ices and these salads
Give no thrill.
Each day’s rations leave one glummer
Yeh, but pumpkin pies are gold,
Welcome, then the blizzard coming
O’er the hill.

Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Indiana) Nov 21, 1929

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Jun 26, 1912

The Frost Is on the Pumpkin, So of Course We’ll Have Pie

Open Season For Dessert Popular Since Pilgrim Days

By LOUISE BENNETT WEAVER
AP Feature Service Writer

ITS OPEN SEASON for pumpkin pie, a dessert treasured in America since Pilgrim days.

In preparing this famous fall pastry, there are three important things to consider. First, the crust’ it should be short and well fitted into a deep pie dish. Second, the filling; it must be subtley pungent — not too spicy or too flat — and it should be very creamy and a rich brown color. Most important is the baking.

Cook the pie ten minutes in a moderately hot over — about 450 degrees. That helps prevent a soggy under crust. Then reduce the heat to moderately slow — about 325 degrees — for forty-five minutes to give the filling its desired velvety texture. Always cool the pie on a rack.

DRY PUMPKINS ARE BEST

You can use any of the excellent canned varieties of pumpkin for the filling or cook up your own golden fruit. If you cook your own, cut the pumpkin into medium-sized pieces, discard peel, seeds and fibrous portions. Steam until the pulp is soft and press it through a fine sieve.

Dry mealy pumpkins make the best pies. So, if your pumpkin is moist, cook it over a low heat or in a double boiler until the moisture has evaporated.

If your recipe calls for three eggs and you are a little short, you can substitute two tablespoons of flour for one egg. Add it with the sugar.

TOP DRESSING

Pumpkin pie fillings sometimes have a flecked appearance, but you can easily prevent it by thoroughly blending together the sugar, salt, spices and pumpkin before adding liquids.

The favored pie steps right out when it’s dressed up with a new topping. For instance, then minutes before time to take the pie from the oven, sprinkle it generously with grated cheese or carefully cover it wit ha slightly sweetened meringue flavored with a few gratings of orange peel.

Cocoanut, marshmallows, chopped candied ginger (just a dash), candied fruit peels, dates, raisins or nuts also introduce variety. Use them for topping or add them to the filling before it is baked.

A sponge or chiffon pumpkin pie is of the lighter, fluffier kind. Add the egg yolks with main part of the ingredients and then lightly fold in the beaten whites just before the mixture is poured into the crust. A whipped cream coating gives this pie a real party air.

A two-crust pumpkin pie is a novelty. Bake a one-crust pie, as usual and at the same time bake a lid of pricked crust that will just fit on top of the pumpkin. Just before serving the pie, slip the lid into place.

PUMPKIN PIE

Two cups steamed and strained pumpkin (canned pumpkin may be used), 1 cup pure New Orleans molasses, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1-2 teaspoon salt, 1 egg, 1 cup rich milk.

Mix ingredients in order given and bake in one crust. Top of pie should be sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon and dots of butter before it is put into the oven. Canned pumpkin is excellent. Crackers, rolled fine, can be added to mixture in place of the egg in pumpkin pie. Serve warm and topped with whipped cream.

Abilene Reporter News (Abilene, Texas) Oct 28, 1938

The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois) Jan 25, 1918

Positively Insulting.

“I know the pumpkin pie was rather thin as to filling,” said the landlady, almost crying, “but I don’t think he had any right to say what he did.”

“What did he say?” asked the second table boarder.

“He asked me if I didn’t think that the pie crust would be improved if it had another coat of paint.”

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Feb 7, 1899

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Oct 21, 1928

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26. — The art of camouflage has now reached the good old pumpkin pie. Mrs. G.M. King, of 241 William street, East Orange, N.J., today sent to the National Emergency Food Garden Commission a recipe for making pumpkin pie without the pumpkin.

Here it is:

Scald one quart of milk; add scant cup of Indian meal; little salt. When cool add two eggs, cinnamon and ginger to taste. Sweeten with brown sugar. Put a little cream or milk on top and bake.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Nov 26, 1917

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie is almost as old in the American history of feasting as those hungry Redskins who attended the first Thanksgiving get-together on the Massachusetts coast. Here are two recipes — one more or less in the homey tradition, the other based on a newer process.

Mix 1 tablespoon old-fashioned molasses with 1/4 cup brown sugar, then mix this with 1 1/2 cups cooked, mashed and strained pumpkin, or canned pumpkin. To this mixture add a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 2 cups milk. Beat 2 eggs until fluffy, then add. Line your pie plates with your most perfect pastry, pour in this mixture and bake in hot oven 10 minutes, then in moderate oven about 35 minutes more.

Modern recipe: Mix these: 1 cup steamed, strained, canned pumpkin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3 well-beaten eggs, 1 1/3 cups sweetened condensed milk, 1 cup water. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake in hot oven for 10 minutes and reduce heat to moderate and bake another 35 minutes, or until crust has set.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Nov 22, 1936

Variations on the familiar Thanksgiving dessert theme is the rule in the Maltby household in northwestern New York state. Lucy Maltby, noted American interpreter of what the average American family likes best to eat, says, “Let’s have both a mince meat dessert and a pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, and add a surprise element to the dinner.”

Mrs. Maltby, an old friend of readers of this column, has worked out this mouth-watering “old wine in new bottles” recipe exclusively for us.

BUTTERSCOTCH PUMPKIN PIE
(8 Servings)

Pastry — 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1-2 teaspoon salt, 2-3 cup lard or other fat, 6 to 8 tablespoons ice water.

Filling — 3 eggs, 1-2 cup dark-brown sugar, 1-2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1-4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1-2 teaspoon ginger, 1-4 teaspoon cloves, 1 3-4 cups cooked pumpkin, 1 3-4 cups milk.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in shortening until the size of lima beans with a pastry blender or two knives. Add ice water a little at a time, mixing it in with a fork. Pat dough together and chill if possible.

For the filling, separate eggs; beat yolks until foamy. Mix with yolks the brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and pumpkin. Scald milk and add to pumpkin mixture.

Roll out about three quarters of dough on floured board. Line 10-inch pie plate, leaving about an inch overlapping the edges. Make double upright fold and pinch between thumb and forefinger to make fluted rim.

Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour filling into pastry lined pan. Roll out remainder of dough and cut pastry turkeys with turkey cutter. Place on top of filling. Bake in a hot oven (450 degrees F) for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat of oven to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean when inserted into pumpkin custard.

Abilene Reporter News (Abilene, Texas) 14 Nov 1941

Golf Teas the Latest Fad

Golf, tennis or croquet teas are popular. Outdoor exercise such as these games afford is somewhat exhausting, and hostesses are now serving refreshments under the trees to those who gather either informally or on invitation to play on their grounds. The idea is a delightful one, and it is a pity some one did not think of it long ago. Tea made in the 5 o’clock tea apparatus and served with tea cakes or tiny sandwiches between games keeps the enthusiasm of the guests away up for an afternoon, instead of gradually dwindling away after an hour or so. Tea, chocolate or cocoa is more refreshing than iced drinks.

Men and women both enjoy the informality of the outdoor luncheon, and the men are never seen to better advantage than when displaying a little extra thoughtfulness over the tea of some favored fair friends. It takes a heroism a little short of martyrdom for a hot, tired and thirsty man to stalk about distributing tea and sandwiches and seeing the last cupful disappear with the knowledge that he will have to wait until a second pot is brewed. A man who can patiently and politely endure such an ordeal is a good person for the average young woman to cultivate if he is still unattached and fancy free.

North Adams Transcript( North Adams, Massachusetts) Aug 29, 1899

HOW TO MAKE TEA CAKES.

Put three-quarters of a pound of dry flour into a basin, and rub one ounce of butter into it. Mix half an ounce of compressed yeast until it is quite smooth with rather less than half a pint of milk which is just warm, then add one ounce of castor sugar and a well beaten egg. Make a hollow in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk, etc., gradually, and mix the flour until a very soft dough is formed. Then turn it from the basin on to a floured board, and knead it for a few minutes. Butter some round cake tins of medium size. Divide the dough into two or four pieces, according to the size of the tins, and place a piece in each tin.

Stand the tins on a baking sheet, cover them with a cloth and put the baking sheet on the kitchen fender for about an hour. At the end of this time the cakes will have risen well, and they should be baked at once in a quick over for about half an hour. When nearly done, brush them over quickly with milk, and scatter some powdered sugar over them to give the tops a glazed appearance. The cakes can be served as soon as they are cooked, after being cut through and buttered, or they may be allowed to get cold and can then be toasted and buttered.

A small quantity of mixed spice or chopped candied peel added to the dough may be considered an improvement. In the event of no round tins of a suitable size being at hand, the dough may be shaped into the form of buns, which should be placed on a buttered baking tin, allowed to rise, and then baked according to the directions given above. IF the dough is to be sued in this way, rather less milk should be mixed with the yeast; otherwise the dough would be too soft to mold satisfactorily.

North Adams Transcript (North Adams, Massachusetts) Apr 14, 1899

BLUEBERRY TEA CAKE.

Four cups of blueberries, three cups of flour, half cup butter, one cup of sugar, three eggs, one cup milk, two full teaspoons of baking powder. Cream the butter and sugar, stir in the eggs, beaten very light, the milk, the flour, into which had been sifted the baking powder, and last, the berries, well dredged with flour. Bake in a thoroughly greased biscuit tin, split, butter and eat while warm.

North Adams Transcript (North Adams, Massachusetts) Aug 26, 1899

Dainty Tea Cakes.

Here are directions for making some dainty cakes for a home tea which are inexpensive and will be found delicious.

Beat two eggs to a froth in a cake bowl, add two cups of granulated sugar, one teaspoonful of vanilla extract, half a nutmeg grated, half a teaspoonful of salt, beat these to a cream, then ad a cupful of butter which is quite soft. Beat this well together with the other ingredients, then add a cupful of sweet milk, stir it well through the mixture, and last add two and a half cupfuls of flour sifted twice with three teaspoonfuls of baking powder and stir the whole to a smooth batter. Slightly butter the inside of your patty pans and put one generous tablespoonful of the cake batter in each patty and bake in a slow oven. This mixture will make over thirty little tea cakes. Cover the top of each with a frosting and put one blanched almond on the center.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) May 27, 1912

INEXPENSIVE TEA CAKES

These can be baked while the potatoes bake.

One and one-half cups flour, 2 level teaspoons baking powder, 2-3 teaspoon soda, 1-4 teaspoon nutmeg or mace.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and soda and add three-fourths cup of granulated sugar. Put in a mixing dish and with a spoon make a hole in the center. In a bowl break a egg and put in three-fourths cup of sour milk; beat together and still this liquid into the flour mixture, quickly. Have melting in the small cake pans a piece of butter the size of an egg. When melted pour into the cake mixture and blend thoroughly. Pour into well greased small tins and bake. This cake requires no creaming of butter or beating of egg whites. Butter when warm.

Reno Evening Gazette (Reno, Nevada) Oct 4, 1912

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Oct 13, 1920

Remembering Caraway Cookies

Image from Attic Paper

AUNT LUCINDA’S COOKIES.

Oh, baker, you haven’t in all your shop,
A cookie fit to be tried,
For the art of making them came to a stop
When my Aunt Lucinda died.
I can see her yet with her sleeves uprolled,
As I watched her mix and knead
The flour and eggs with their yolks of gold,
The butter and sugar, just all athey’ll hold,
And spice them with caraway seed.

Oh, that caraway seed! I see the nook
Where it grew by the garden wall;
And just below is the little brook
With the laughing waterfall.
Beyond are the meadows, sweet and fair
And flecked with the sun and shade;
And all the beauties of earth and air
Were in those cookies so rich and rare,
My Aunt Lucinda made.

So, add one more to the world’s lost arts,
For the cookies you made are sad,
And they haven’t the power to stir our hearts
That Aunt Lucinda’s had;
For I see her yet, with sleeves uprolled;
And I watch her mix and knead
The flour and eggs, with their yolks of gold,
The butter and sugar, just all they’ll hold
And spice them with caraway seed.

— Nixon Waterman.

The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska) Dec 29, 1900

Image from Homemade Dessert Recipes

Longing.

O, for the meadow-lands, warm and sweet,
Where the tall grass whispers the whole day long,
And the meadow lark on the old rail fence
Floods all the silence with exquisite song;
To lie on the south hill slope and dream —
O, wonderful dreams that never come true;
Then home to the kitchen, cool and wide,
Where grandma’s caraway cookies grew.

O, heart of mine, ’tis a weary way
From the city’s streets to the meadows wide,
From the clearer vision of manhood’s years
To youth’s sweet dreams on the south hillside;
So far from the ways that bruise the feet
To the grassy paths that my childhood knew,
From crowding walls to the kitchen wide
Where grandma’s caraway cookies grew.

— Florence A. Jones, in Good Housekeeping.

Daily Republican (Decatur, Illinois) Jul 27, 1899

Here are several Caraway Cookie recipes from various newspapers – published from 1891 – 1981:

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Jul 4, 1891

* * * * *

For the Nutmeg lovers:

The Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) May 12, 1898

* * * * *

The Wellsboro Agitator (Wellsboro, Pennsylvania) Aug 24, 1910

* * * * *

This one gives the option of using the newfangled “butterine”:

Lincoln Daily News (Lincoln Nebraska) Jan 17, 1919

* * * * *

This holiday recipe uses rose water and rose-flavored icing:

Hamilton Daily News (Hamilton, Ohio) Dec 2, 1926

* * * * *

For leaf-shaped cookies:

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) May 17, 1936

* * * * *

This special family recipe includes honey and English walnuts:

The Maryville Daily Forum (Maryville, Missouri) Sep 8, 1941

* * * * *

And finally, this “modern” recipe (1981) from the American Rose Society includes rose syrup:

The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California) Nov 11, 1981

Gingerbread Ice Cream

Iamge from Cherry Tea Cakes

GINGERBREAD ICE CREAM

1 pint cream.
1/2 pint milk.
1/4 cupful stale gingerbread crumbs.
2 eggs.
4 tablespoonfuls confectioner’s sugar.
1 teaspoonful gelatin dissolved in hot water.
1/2 teaspoonful ginger, ground.

Scald the milk. Beat sugar and eggs together, then pour the milk over them. Pour the mixture into a double boiler, add the dissolved gelatin, then add the cream. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from fire and when cool, stir in the gingerbread crumbs and ground ginger. Put in a mold, pack in ice and salt and freeze for half an hour. Serve with preserved ginger.

Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Jun 20, 1934

Doughnuts for Doughboys

DOUGHNUTS FOR DOUGHBOYS

Of course you’re planning a party for the boy home on a furlough and you will want to serve the food he likes best. Put doughnuts at the top of the list for at canteens they are first choice.

Here are doughnuts that will top any your doughboy ever tasted. Light as a feather, moist, tender, deliciously spicy pumpkin doughnuts. Sugar a few for the folks with a sweet tooth and serve wedges of cheese for added goodness. Make them often for the family, too.

Try this new way of frying doughnuts. See how light and tender they are — how delicate tasting. There’s no unpleasant smell or smoke, and foods fried the

Spry way are so digestible even the children can eat them. Will they love that pumpkin flavor, too!

Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania) Oct 23, 1942

The doughnut has been removed from the list of indigestibles by the Chicago school of domestic science. Those who have been forced to take to their beds after eating them in the past, will now be able to partake in safety.

The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois) Jul 1, 1910

New York Times – Chicago Tribune Leased Wire.

CHICAGO. May 7. — Any housewife who things she may have unexpected guests — say, about 600 of them and mostly male — will do well to cut out and paste in her cook book “Ma” Burdick’s tested recipe for doughnuts.

“Pa” and “Ma” Burdick, the doughnut king and queen of the Salvation Army, reached Chicago yesterday, after nearly two years of service overseas — two years of work for the American doughboys.

“What’s the most important thing in making doughnuts?” “Ma” was asked.

“Speed, she replied. Then she gave her recipe.

“It’s for six hundred,” she said, “but I guess you can divide it.”

Here it is:

Salvation Doughnuts.
Twelve quarts of flour.
Six quarts sugar.
Twenty-four tablespoonsful baking powder.
Three teaspoonsful salt.
Three quarts milk.
Fry in deep fat.

“The secret’s in the mixing,” said “Ma.”

“Ma” Burdick’s “shrapnel cake” was another favorite with the boys.

Here is the recipe:

Shrapnel Cake.
(Three pieces.)
Two large cups sugar.
One cup molasses.
Two cups milk.
One cup strong black coffee.
Three heaping teaspoonsful cinnamon.
One heaping teaspoonful cloves.
One teaspoonful salt.
One teaspoonful baking powder.
Two large cups raisins (the shrapnel).
Flour to make a stiff batter.

The famous flapjacks were made in the following manner:

Fifty Flapjacks

One quart flour.
Two heaping teaspoons baking powder.
One teaspoon salt.
Milk to make a soft batter. Beat until light.

San Antonio Evening News (San Antonio, Texas) May 7, 1919

Hot, tasty doughnuts and a cup of steaming, fresh coffee really hit the spot these damp, cold days in England .   .   . and especially for two Iowa doughboys who know the Red Cross Iowa clubmobile was made possible through contributions by residents of their own state.

Once a week the club-kitchen on wheels drops in at an aerial reconnaissance station with “doughnuts for doughboys.” When it does, Cpl. Clyde Olsen, left, and Pfc. Carl C. Larsen, right, of Forest City, Ia., are among the first to welcome it and its two comely attendants, Miss Leo Lindsley of Fallons, Neb., and Mrs. Georgette Hayes of Middletown, N.J.

Corporal Olsen, a radio operator with a Station Complement squadron, assisted his father on his farm near Missouri Valley, Ia., before he entered the army May 29, 1942. He is the husband of Lucille Craig Olsen, 1 11 Stutsman street, Council Bluffs, and a son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Olson, RFD No. 2, Missouri Valley.

Council Bluffs Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa) Nov 17, 1943

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Sep 21, 1927

* * * * *

* * * * *

The Chronicle Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) Oct 11, 1926

* * * * *

By the way, it’s National Doughnut Day.