CHAPTER 6
“The extremely popular cakes, twisted, sprinkled with salt, and baked crisp and brown, called pretzels (brezeln) were known in Pennsylvania long before the cry for . . . a glass of lager and two pretzels was heard in the land.”
PHEBE EARLE GIBBONS, 1874
“Casper and I went to market with cherries, strawberries and potatoes. Sold out in a hurry.”
PETER C. HILLER DIARY, JUNE 3, 1891
Our ancestors had a knack for turning work into a Versammling (gathering, often social). Events such as apple butter boils and corn-husking bees, held in the 1700s and early 1800s, and church quilting bees, held after the 1860s, kept the hands busy while the talking kept the same busy pace. For some, it was hard to do both at once. However, the Pennsylvania Dutch truly believed that “idle hands were the devil’s workshop.”
Using work as a reason, neighbors assembled to eat, talk, sing, and dance. Games and music gave the young people an opportunity to meet and court the opposite sex. Social gatherings included moving and butchering days, barn raisings, and get-togethers such as cherry festivals and Whitmonday.
At a cherry fair, neighbors flocked to the nearest town or hamlet to visit market stalls filled with fresh cherries, pies, jams, jellies, candy, and other confections. John Hickernell of Schaefferstown in Lebanon County remembers cherry fairs held in the early 1900s in the market building in the town square. Fiddlers wandered through the crowd playing music. And, John noted, the hotels provided ample drinks. Patrons sometimes overimbibed and created ample disagreements. “Oh, they were powerful when they had a few drinks,” John said. John’s sister was especially fond of dried cherries and bought them to take to school and eat during recess.
Watermelon Cake
Red Part:
4 egg whites
½ cup butter
1 cup raisins
2 cups flour
1 cup red sugar
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
White Part:
2 egg whites
¾ cup sugar
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup butter
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
For the red part, cream butter, red sugar, and vanilla. Mix baking powder and flour together, and add alternately with milk. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Fold in raisins last. Note: Use the red sugar sold for decorating cookies, readily available at Christmas.
For the white part, cream butter and sugar, and add vanilla. Mix flour and baking powder, and add alternately with milk. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites last.
To assemble the cake, grease and flour an oval baking pan. Make a poster-board collar that is about 1 inch smaller than the inside of the pan. Tape the collar together, wrap it with foil or plastic wrap, and place inside of pan. Pour the red batter inside the collar and the white batter outside. Remove the collar and bake the cake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. When you slice the cake, cut it into wedges so that they look like water-melon slices, with a white rind and an inner red flesh with seeds.
Orange Wine
48 oranges
5 gallons water
orange peels
10 pounds sugar
1 pint best brandy
Heat the water and pour it over the peels; let this stand for three hours; then add the strained juice of the oranges, then the sugar, and lastly the brandy. Bottle it, and in a few weeks it will be an agreeable beverage.
John Baer’s Sons Agricultural Almanac, 1884, Lancaster
John Baer’s Sons promised their customers that their almanacs contained “a variety of useful and entertaining matter.” The orange wine recipe may have been more entertaining than useful, as the ingredients required were much too expensive for the average farm family in 1884. Oranges were still considered a luxury item in the nineteenth century, and the child who found an orange on his or her Christmas plate was lucky indeed.
For Making Beer
3 gallons of water
3 lbs of sugar
3 cents crematerter
One quart of molasses
3 cents worth cloves
boil it al together then coleing at colt water milk warm then one quart of yeast in then Ster all together put it in a tup let stan 10 to 12 hours skim ant it makes 8 galons.
Samuel H. Snavely, c. 1860, contributed by Clarke Hess
“In America it’s wonderful. The wine flows in Through the window. We drink a bottle wine And forget Germany.”
IMMIGRANT SONG
BY S. F. SAUTER, 1845
Receipt for Beer c. 1900
1½ quarts molasses
3 cts [cents] worth Cinamon
1 Table spoonful Cloves
1 pint of sots [liquid yeast]
2 Table spoonfuls Allspice
1 Table spoonful Ginger
½ of nutmeg grated on Five gallons of water put all together in a cask and shake it well and put it in the sun and shake it every twenty minutes for ten or 12 hours then put it in a cool cellar for one day or tile settled it is then fit for use.
Mrs. Bentz, c. 1900, contributed by George Roland
Lebkuche (Gingerbread)
3 pounds sugar
4 quarts flour
Saleratus, weight of 3 copper cents
1 quart thick milk
1 pound butter
Cut into squares, brush with egg, and bake. Note: We include this recipe from one of the Lebanon County Historical Society’s publications because of the reference to 3 copper cents’ worth of saleratus, which was the predecessor of modern baking soda.
“We had fried beef, sweet potatoes, pie, very nice apple-butter, canned peaches, barley-coffee, brown sugar, etc. The charge for board was at the rate of one dollar per day.”
PHEBE EARLE GIBBONS, 1873,
WRITING ABOUT A TAVERN NEAR MOUNT JOY,
PENNSYLVANIA, IN 1871
Cherry Tarts like Those Sold in Philadelphia in 1850
2 cups tart cherries, pitted and washed
2 or 3 tablespoons flour
dash of nutmeg
1½ cups sugar
hunk of butter
meringue topping (see recipe below)
Bring cherries and sugar to a boil about 5 minutes. Mix flour with water to make a smooth paste. Take cherries off the heat and add the paste, put back on stove, and cook until thickened. Add butter and nutmeg. Let cool and then place in baked tart shells. Ice with meringue topping.
Meringue Topping
4 to 6 tablespoons sugar
3 egg whites
Beat egg whites with a whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Top cherry tarts with meringue. Heat a salamander or broiler until red hot and brown the tops.
Dried Corn Chowder
1 cup dried corn
2 quarts water
1 small onion, finely cut
4 large potatoes, diced
¼ pound bacon, cut up in small cubes and fried
1 cup celery, finely cut
1 quart milk
salt and pepper to taste
Place dried corn and water in a large kettle, and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 1 hour. Then add onion, potatoes, celery, and bacon. Simmer about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Add milk and simmer until well heated. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Winnie Brendle, contributed by Mrs. Henry Brooks
Fried Cucumbers
Peel large cucumbers and slice lengthwise. Mix 1 cup flour, ½ cup yellow cornmeal, and a little salt and pepper. Place in a bowl or on a plate. Beat 1 egg with about 1 tablespoon of water. Dip the cucumber slices in the egg and then in the flour mixture. Fry in a pan of hot lard. Turn over and fry the other side. Serve immediately. Taste is similar to eggplant.
Great Western Almanac, 1843, Philadelphia
Cream Chockolet Cake
½ cup sweet milk
Yolk of 1 egg
Bring to boil. Cool
1½ cups sugar
½ cup sweet milk
2½ cups flour
1 cup chockolet [cocoa]
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon soda
Cream sugar and butter, add eggs and beat well. Add chockolet mixture. Sift flour and soda. Add flour and milk alternately. Place in 2 greased and floured 8-inch pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Jacob Brown, c. 1870–1900, contributed by Clarke Hess
Lemon Sponge Pie
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
4 eggs, separated
2 cups sweet milk
2 cups granulated sugar
2 heaping tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon melted butter
Mix sugar and flour; then add melted butter and lemon juice and rind. Add well-beaten egg yolks. Blend in the milk and mix well. Beat the egg whites stiff but not dry, and fold into the liquid mixture. Divide between two 8-inch pastry-lined pie dishes. Bake at 435 degrees for 10 minutes. Then turn the oven to 400 degrees and bake 30 to 35 minutes longer. The pies will be dark brown on top. Helpful hint: Fill the pies ¾ full, place in the oven, and finish filling them in the oven.
Contributed by Emma Shirk
Salad Dressing
7 egg yolks
1 cup hot vinegar
2 cups sweet milk
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mustard
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon butter
Beat the egg yolks and add sugar, salt, mustard, pepper, and flour. Mix well, add the milk slowly, then the hot vinegar. Cook in a double boiler until the consistency of a very thick cream. Remove from the heat and add butter. Stir until butter is melted and thoroughly mixed. Can be served hot or cold. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Boiled Dressing
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup vinegar
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
Beat the eggs lightly without separating; add the vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and melted butter. Mix well and put over hot water. Stir constantly until the dressing is thickened; cool and serve. If too thick, thin with cream, as desired. Can be served hot or cold.
Elderberry Pie
Gather elderberries and remove them from the stems. Wash well and drain, and measure approximately 2 cups. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of flour. Add 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons molasses, and a little lemon juice if desired. Place in an 8-inch pastry-lined shell, dot with butter, and put on a top crust. Bake about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Most fruit pies should start out at 400 degrees and be lowered to 375 degrees after 20 minutes.
Spice Cake
½ cup sugar
½ cup milk
½ cup butter
½ teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves, and ginger
2½ cups flour
½ cup molasses
1 egg
½ teaspoon baking soda
Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and molasses. Blend in the spices. Mix the baking soda with the flour, and add alternately with the milk. Place in a small greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until done.
“Friday 2nd Clear and freezing cold morning with a heavy winter frost, The beans, tomato’s, potatoes, pepers, cucumber, squashes & c., were nearly all frozen this morning, some water standing in basins last night, had ice on this morning, the radish leafs had ice on them.”
MATTHIAS ZAHM DIARY, LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA, JUNE 2, 1843
Brown Flour Potato Soup
3 cups diced potatoes
½ cup chopped celery
½ teaspoon celery seed
½ cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
½ cup sliced onions
2 hard-boiled eggs
⅓ cup butter
1 quart milk
parsley to garnish
Cook the potatoes, onions, and celery in 2 cups water for 10 to 12 minutes. Place the flour in a heavy skillet on medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula until flour turns medium brown, not burnt; takes approximately 10 minutes. Add butter and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add milk slowly, stirring with a whisk. Place back on heat and stir until thoroughly heated. Add cooked potatoes, celery, and onion, plus celery seed, salt, and pepper. Add hard-boiled eggs—sliced or chopped. Garnish with parsley.
Potato Soup
3 cups diced potatoes
1 teaspoon thyme
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup finely chopped carrots
3 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon basil
½ cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
parsley to garnish
Place potatoes, 2 cups water or chicken stock, herbs, celery, onions, and carrots in a large pot to simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf. In a saucepan melt the butter and stir in the flour until smooth. Add some of the cooking liquid, and stir into the flour mixture until thickened. Pour slowly into the soup and stir until thoroughly heated. Add salt and pepper along with the sliced egg. Garnish with parsley. Optional: Cook vegetables in a small amount of water and add light cream to make the amount of liquid needed, and then thicken.
“We were to the hills today in company with I.G. Sensenigs, Sam Sensenigs & Bro W.W. Hursts. Our refreshments were composed of 2 frezirs ice cream, ice Lemonade, coffee, Roastin Ears, 2 big cakes, and lots of peaches, pies, eggs, dry beef, and cheese crackers and many other articles. We were 12 in number strolling around the table which was spread on the ground under the shady old tree. After dinner the men enjoyed a good smoke while the women were chattering so noisily that it was impossible for the men to speak. It was a fine huckle berrie picnic, we got 10 quarts.”
NOAH W. HURST, 1905
Apple Lemonade
6 apples, chopped, with stems and blossom ends removed (do not peel or core)
1½ cups water
cold water
2 cups sugar
3 lemons
Combine apples with 1½ cups water in a covered saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until apples are tender, about 20 minutes. Strain apples through a colander lined with two thicknesses of cheesecloth, reserving apple juice. Discard apple pulp. Measure out 2 cups of apple juice, adding a little water if necessary to make the 2 cups. Put juice in a saucepan, add sugar, and place over low heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Divide the apple syrup equally into six 10-ounce glasses. Squeeze the juice of ½ lemon into each glass. Add ice cubes and fill glasses with cold water. Stir.
Ice Cream Cake
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten
½ cup butter
¾ cup sweet milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cups granulated sugar
2½ cups flour
vanilla to taste
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Sift flour and baking powder, and add alternately with milk. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Place in two greased and floured 8-inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Jacob Brown, c. 1870–1900, contributed by Clarke Hess
Ice Cream
3 pints sweet cream
1 pint pulverized sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 quart milk
The white of 2 eggs beaten light
Put in freezer till thoroughly chilled through and then freeze.
Henry H. Landis Ledger, late 1800s
Note: Because of the health risks of using raw eggs, we suggest instead you use meringue powder, available at gourmet food shops. Mix ingredients and put into an ice cream freezer. Turn until thick and chilled. Serve or freeze until ready to use.
Chocolate Cake
1 cup sugar
1 egg
¼ cup sour milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup butter
¼ cup cocoa
½ teaspoon soda
1 cup flour (or a little more)
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg. Add vanilla. Sift soda, flour, cocoa, and add alternately with milk. Place in small greased and floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Elder Blossom Vine (Wine)
4 pounds white sugar
1 quart picked off blossoms
4 quarts water
2 tablespoons yeast
1 lemon
Boil sugar and water together. Let it stand until cool. Pour it over blossoms. Let sit 3 days, and then strain it. Add 1 lemon, sliced, and 2 tablespoons yeast. Ferment 2–3 weeks. Strain off lemon. Pour into gallon jug and cork loosely. When it clears, it is ready—about 6 months.
From a family cookbook, 1903, contributed by Lois Coleman
Walnut Cake
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
1 cup milk
2 cups walnuts
1 cup butter
4 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon soda
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks. Sift flour and soda, and add alternately with milk. Add stiffly beaten egg whites. Lightly flour walnuts and fold in. Bake in greased and floured pans at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Jacob Brown, c. 1870–1900, contributed by Clarke Hess
Marble Cake
Dark Dough:
½ cup brown sugar
2 egg yolks
½ cup dark molasses
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup butter
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon each: cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg
Light Dough:
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
¼ cup butter
⅛ cup milk
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
For the dark dough, cream butter, sugar, and egg yolks. Add molasses. Blend the flour, spices, cream of tartar, and baking soda together, and add alternately with the milk.
For the light dough, cream butter and sugar. Blend flour with baking soda and cream of tartar. Add alternately with the milk. Last of all, fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Grease and flour a small bundt pan or a 9-inch cake pan. Alternate the two doughs and swirl around in the pan to make a marbleized effect. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
Lemon Ice Cream
rind of 1 lemon
juice of 1½ lemons
1 cup sugar
2 pints heavy whipping cream
Grate the rind of a lemon into a bowl and set aside. Squeeze the juice of 1½ lemons into a cup, and put through a fine sieve to get rid of pulp and seeds. Add juice to the rind. Place the juice, rind, and sugar in a stainless steel bowl of about 3- to 4-quart size, with a tight-fitting plastic lid. Stir well to try to dissolve the sugar. Then add the heavy cream. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Put some ice and ice cream salt in a large stainless dishpan. Put the lid tightly on the bowl, and nest it in the larger bowl of ice. Pile more ice and salt around the bowl until it is completely surrounded. Be sure the bowl is well seated in the ice and salt mixture. Now with your fingers, start to revolve the bowl in the ice. After about 5 to 7 minutes, take off the lid, and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a heavy spoon. The ice cream should be freezing fast to the bowl; you are scraping the frozen ice cream to the center so that more ice cream can freeze to the bowl. Put the lid back on and continue to turn for another 3 to 5 minutes, then remove the lid and scrape the sides again. Continue to do this until all the ice cream is frozen. It shouldn’t take more than about 20 minutes, if you have enough salt mixed in with the ice. The ice cream can remain in this ice-salt mixture for about 1 hour to keep it frozen until ready to serve. If longer than that, place in your home freezer. This is a very wonderful ice cream and extremely rich. Most folks won’t eat more than a tablespoon or two.
Cherry Bounce
2 quarts cherries, sweet or sour, or a combination of both kinds
2 pounds sugar
2 fifths good whiskey
Place cherries, sugar, and whiskey in a large gallon jug, and shake it every day for a month. Let sit until Thanksgiving or about two weeks before Christmas. Strain off the cherries and bottle. It is a good Christmas drink. Note: It is not necessary to pit or crush the cherries. You can, if desired, but then it produces more sediment and needs to be strained more.
Apricot Ice Cream
1 pound fresh apricots
1 cup sugar
2 pints heavy whipping cream
Cut the apricots up into small pieces, and then mash with a masher. Add sugar and stir well. Now add cream and freeze as in above recipe. Note: Because apricots are not in season very long, you can use 1 can of apricots instead of fresh ones. Drain off juice and smash apricots. Add only about ½ cup sugar and mix with the cream. Freeze as above.
Both of these ice cream recipes date from the early 1800s. The freezing method is just as the Pennsylvania Germans did with the sourboughteer, a wooden tub with a tight-lidded metal can that sat in the tub full of salt and ice. This can was turned to rotate the contents.
German Fritters
Take some well-tarted crisp apples. Pare, quarter and core them. Put into a stew pan one fourth pint of French Brandy, a tablespoon of sugar, and a little cinnamon. Put the apples in the brandy and cook slowly, stirring often, but not breaking up the apples. Set another pan on the fire with a couple of tablespoons of lard. When hot, drain the apples and flour them. Put them on the fire. Put sugar over the apples and glaze them over top with a red hot salamander.
Modern Domestic Cookery and Useful Receipt Book, 1828
Note: A salamander was a long-handled heavy iron disk-like paddle used to brown foods. It was heated until it glowed red and held 2 inches above the food to be browned.
Boiled, unpeeled potatoes are potatoes with the jackets on.
PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN FOLKLORE
Soft Pretzels
2¼ cups warm water
1 tablespoon salt
4 to 5 cups flour
½ cup brown sugar
1 packet yeast
Mix water, brown sugar, and salt together. Dissolve yeast and add the flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Knead well until very smooth and satiny. Let rise about 1 hour. Punch down the dough and divide into about 18 to 20 pieces. Let rest a few minutes. Meanwhile, in a large shallow kettle, mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda into 1 gallon of water, and bring to just under the boiling point. Roll out the dough into long ropes about 24 inches in length. Twist into pretzel shapes. By the time you have all the pretzels shaped, you can start placing them in the simmering water solution, 3 or 4 pretzels at a time. Leave them in about 1 minute, then take out and drain on towels. Place on lightly greased baking sheets, and cover the pretzels with pretzel salt or kosher salt. Bake in a hot oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
To dry pretzels for Christmas decorations, place them on a cookie sheet and let dry several hours or overnight in a barely warm oven of about 100 to 150 degrees. They will last several months if well dried. Attach strings or yarn and hang on your Christmas tree.
For Making Indian Cakes, or Pones
To one quart of milk add three eggs—beat them well—then add as much meal as will make a batter of the same consistency as is used for buckwheat cakes, pour into a bake kettle and bake as for other cakes. When sour milk can be had it is preferred, into which put some pearlash, as for baking biscuits.
When cakes are made according to the above directions, most people prefer them to wheat bread, and no doubt they are healthier. They should be eaten warm and with a cup of coffee make an excellent breakfast. In addition to all their recommendations, they are economical.
Baer’s Almanac, 1835, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Note: Pearlash is an eighteenth-century leavening that was first used commercially in bakeries, and then found its way into homes. It probably was used into the 1840s. As the name implies, it is a by-product of wood ash. We have used pearlash in our cooking demonstrations at Landis Valley Museum. It must be well dissolved in a little water or milk and used immediately. Otherwise, it can make black streaks and leave a bitter taste, and it can lose strength if it sits too long.
Corn Bread (as prepared at Landis Valley Museum)
2 cups buttermilk
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 cups cornmeal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup flour
Beat the eggs; add buttermilk, sugar, and baking soda. Add flour and cornmeal, and mix until smooth. Pour into a well-greased Dutch oven that has been preheated. Bake about 20 minutes. Or pour into a greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.