THAT OLD HANDWRITTEN BOOK OF GRANDMOTHER’S WAS MORE THAN A recipe book; it was a “doctor book” as well. On its back pages under the heading of “miscellany” were listed numerous remedies for many ills. Again the years have brought about many changes. Should Junior get a fish bone in his throat today, Mother would likely rush him to the doctor. But doctors were not so plentiful or so handy in Grandmother’s time, and when called, it took one a long time to arrive in the horse-and-buggy days. So Grandmother resorted to those home remedies listed in the back of her book. The lodged fish bone in Benny’s throat was simple enough to remove by her remedy; he merely had to swallow a raw egg!
Along with these remedies were many helpful suggestions to use on the farm or in the house. It was no doubt very helpful for Grandpa to “know how to get at the weight of cattle” in the absence of scales. An old book said, “If the animal girths five feet, it will weigh between 700 and 750 pounds.” It must have helped Grandma, too, in dyeing rags for rugs, to know how many ounces of cochineal to add to oxalic acid, in order to make them red. Since we buy most of our dyes and medicines today, these old recipes hold little more than historical value.
It is difficult, however, to plan a cookbook without having a chapter for miscellaneous recipes. As in Grandma’s book, so in the back of this one you will find some oft-used recipes that do not rightfully belong in any of the preceding chapters. Many of our farm families make homemade soap, using their collection of meat scraps and fats. Some families do not have access to lockers and still enjoy dried and canned corn. There are also folks who will appreciate knowing how to clean wallpaper and to make simple hand lotions. These recipes, along with others, are to be found in this chapter.
Homemade Grape Nuts
3½ cups graham flour
1 cup brown sugar or ¾ cup syrup
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
Sift flour.
Measure and add soda and salt.
Sift again.
Add sugar to flour and mix thoroughly.
Add buttermilk to dry ingredients.
Beat until smooth.
Spread dough ¼ inch thick on flat, greased pans.
Bake at 375° for approximately 15 minutes or until crisp and a golden brown.
Let cool thoroughly and grind through a food chopper.
Crisp in oven just before serving.
MRS. J. M. BRENNEMAN, Elida, Ohio; MRS. ALVA SWARTZENTRUBER, Hydro, Okla.
To Dry Sweet Corn (I)
3 quarts fresh corn
½ cup sugar
¼ cup salt (scant)
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup cream
Cut fresh corn off the cobs.
Combine sugar, salt and flour and mix thoroughly.
Add dry ingredients to corn and blend together.
Spread corn in thin layers and dry in a slow oven (250°).
Stir frequently.
When corn is thoroughly dried, store in tight containers.
MRS. PAUL MAUST, Montgomery, Ind.
To Dry Sweet Corn (II)
Cook corn on cob for 3 minutes.
Cut off and spread on flat pans to dry.
Dry in slow oven (250°), stirring frequently.
When thoroughly dry, place in sterilized jars and seal.
Corn prepared in this way keeps well.
MRS. H. D. H. SHOWALTER, Broadway, Va.
To Dry Hay Beans
Wash and string green beans.
Hull kernels from older beans.
Break or cut green beans in 1 inch lengths.
Cook beans for 20-30 minutes or until green color disappears.
Spread beans in thin layers in flat pans.
Dry in the sun or in a slow oven (250°) until thoroughly dry.
Place dried beans in a cloth bag and tie to rafters as Grandmother did or store in sealed cans.
Beans may also be dried without preliminary cooking.
Place in pans and dry in sun or in attic.
These require a longer drying period.
FROM GRANDMOTHER’S BOOK
To Hull Corn for Hominy
1 quart shelled corn
2 quarts cold water
2 tablespoons soda
Wash corn thoroughly.
Add soda and water and soak overnight.
In the morning, bring to a boil in the same water in which corn has soaked.
Cook for 3 hours or until hulls loosen.
Add more water as necessary during the cooking process.
Drain off water and wash corn in clear water, rubbing vigorously until all the hulls are removed.
Bring to a boil again in clear water and drain off water.
Add salt, 1 teaspoon to each quart of hominy.
Use an enamel kettle for cooking hominy; do not use aluminum.
MRS. ELLA ROHRER, Wadsworth, Ohio
Liquor for Canning Stuffed Sausage
1 gallon boiling water
¾ cup salt
½ cup sugar
1 clove garlic
Dissolve sugar and salt in boiling water and bring to boiling point.
Add sausage and garlic and cook for 30 minutes
Pack sausage in sterilized jars and cover with boiling liquid.
This is enough liquid to cover 10 quarts of sausage.
MRS. SAMUEL NAFZIGER, Kalona, Iowa
How to Keep Raisins from Getting Sugary
Wash raisins in hot water 2 or 3 times.
Drain thoroughly.
Place a cloth on baking sheet and spread raisins on cloth.
Let stand 2 days and then remove cloth.
Put in a slow oven (250°) to dry for one hour.
Pack in sterilized jars and seal tightly.
Raisins prepared in this way will keep for years.
MRS. JESSE J. SHORT, Archbold, Ohio
Homemade Hand Lotion
½ gill glycerin
½ gill alcohol
¼ ounce gum tragacanth
½ gill cologne
Dissolve gum in 1 cup lukewarm water.
Soft water should be used.
Let stand 24 hours or until it gels, and add other ingredients.
Shake well and dilute with warm soft water until the desired consistency is obtained.
MRS. GEORGE S. BAST, Wellesley, Ont., Can.; MRS. IRA EIGSTI, Buda, Ill.
A Good Remedy for Worms on Cabbage
Use a gallon tin can with tight-fitting lid.
Punch bottom of can full of holes with a nail.
Fill can ¾ full with slaked lime.
Add 2 cups of sifted ashes and mix thoroughly.
Dust cabbage late in the evening or early morning when leaves are damp with dew.
Repeat as often as worms appear.
A very inexpensive method that is effective.
MAGGIE DRIVER, Versailles, Mo.
To Clean Silverware
Fill a gallon aluminum kettle ¾ full of water.
Add 3 tablespoons of Ivory or Lux soap flakes.
Bring to boiling point and add silverware.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Remove from water and rinse in hot water.
Rub thoroughly with a soft, dry towel.
This is especially good for pieces of silver difficult to clean.
MRS. LYDIA HESS, Marion, Pa.
Homemade Laundry Soap
16 pounds meat scraps
3 pounds caustic soda or lye
7½ gallons water
2 pints salt
Dissolve caustic soda in water in an iron kettle.
Remove 1½ gallons of solution in a stone jar.
Add meat scraps to remaining solution and bring to boiling point.
Cook until scraps are dissolved, approximately 2 hours.
Add the 1½ gallons of solution during cooking period.
Add 2 pints of salt and blend into mixture.
Dip mixture into another kettle to cool or allow to cool in kettle in which soap cooked.
When cold and hard, cut in blocks of desired shape and size.
MRS. ALVA SWARTZENTRUBER, Hydro, Okla.
MRS. FRANK F. SCHMIDT, Greensburg, Kan.
Cold Laundry Soap
2 quarts strained grease
1 can lye (1 pound)
1 quart water
½ cup ammonia
2 tablespoons borax dissolved in
½ cup water
Combine lye and water in a stone jar or earthenware vessel.
Stir until lye is dissolved.
Let lye solution cool and then pour over cooled melted grease.
Stir until lye and grease are thoroughly combined.
Add ammonia and dissolved borax and stir until quite thick (about the consistency of honey).
Pour into a granite or earthenware mold.
Let stand several hours, but cut before hard.
Put pieces of soap in a dry place to harden.
MRS. P. L. FREY, Archbold, Ohio; MRS. WALTER WEAVER, Christiana, Pa.
Food for a Barn Raising
This bit of information was found in a quaint, old handwritten recipe book from Great-grandmother’s day. It is included here mainly for the purpose of giving us a peep into the past. As many of us know, a “barn raising” was quite an event during those early years. When a new barn was built, all the friends and neighbors came on the specified day to help put up the framework of the barn. This policy is still carried out in some communities where neighbors are neighborly. Homemakers of our day will no doubt be astounded at all the food consumed in one day. What is more difficult to believe is that it was all made in Great-grandmother’s kitchen.
Here is the list as 1 found it:
115 lemon pies
500 fat cakes (doughnuts)
15 large cakes
3 gallons applesauce
3 gallons rice pudding
3 gallons cornstarch pudding
16 chickens
3 hams
50 pounds roast beef
300 light rolls
16 loaves bread
Red beet pickle and pickled eggs
Cucumber pickle
6 pounds dried prunes, stewed
1 large crock stewed raisins
5 gallon stone jar white potatoes and the same amount of sweet potatoes
Enough food for 175 men.
HOUSEHOLD HINTS
Dry green celery or parsley leaves until crumbly. Store in covered jars to use as seasoning in soups and fillings.
After rice has been cooked and drained, place a slice of dry bread on top of the rice and cover. The bread will absorb the moisture and the rice will be dry and fluffy.
Before melting chocolate, rub the inside of the pan it is to be melted in with butter. The chocolate will not stick to the pan.
When washing pans and baking dishes to which food has adhered during cooking, turn the pan upside down in steaming, sudsy water. Food will loosen in a very short time.
When cookie dough is soft and difficult to handle, place it between pieces of waxed paper that have been floured. Roll to desired thickness, remove top paper and cut cookies.
To gel fruit juices that are difficult to gel, such as peach juice, add 1½ teaspoons plain gelatin to each cup of juice. Soften gelatin in 3 teaspoons juice and add to remaining hot juice. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to each quart of fruit juice.
Before discarding the empty catsup bottle, pour some vinegar into the bottle and use in making French dressing.
Pour melted paraffin on the cut end of cheeses or dried beef to keep them from molding or drying out.
To improve the flavor of green string beans, place 1 or 2 small onions in kettle before adding beans.
Singe chicken or other fowl by holding over burner of oil or gas stove.
When baking whole fish, wrap in well-oiled cheesecloth. When fish is done, it can be lifted from baking pan without falling to pieces. To remove cloth, slip a spatula under fish and slide cloth out after fish is on platter.
When pork or beef liver is tough, run it through a food chopper. Season and drop by spoonfuls into hot frying pan.
Wash fresh pineapples thoroughly before paring. Cover parings with water and cook until soft. Use strained juice for making jelly.
To keep muffins from burning around the edges, fill one section with water instead of batter.
Stick 2 or 3 pieces of macaroni in the center of the top of a double crust pie. The juice bubbles up these sticks and prevents pie from running over.
Do not beat egg whites for cakes or meringue until ready to use. If allowed to stand, some of the white will return to liquid.
To prevent onions from burning your eyes, hold them under water when peeling or slicing them.
Miscellaneous
To make yellowed piano keys white again, rub them with a cloth dipped in cologne water. Be careful not to touch the black keys.
Add 1 teaspoon of castor oil or 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the roots of your fern every 3 or 4 months to promote their growth.
To prevent clothes from sticking to line on a cold winter day, wipe the line with a cloth moistened with vinegar.
When making a rolled hem, put a row of machine stitching near edge to be rolled. This prevents stretching and aids in speeding up the job.
When watering house plants, use warm water rather than cold. The cold water shocks some plants to the extent that the roots are damaged and growth is retarded.
Do not wring out corduroy after laundering. Hang it up dripping wet, and it will be fluffy after it dries.
When wrapping a package for mailing, dip cord in water to moisten. The cord will shrink as it dries and will make a tighter package.
Do not discard empty pint-size ice cream containers. Clean them thoroughly and paint in bright colors and use them for house plants. These add a decorative note to your windows.
For dusting out corners and crevices, use a new soft paint brush. This is also good for dusting books and bric-a-brac.
Remove chewing gum from chair bottoms or table linens by massaging with an ice cube. Pick off hard gum in small pieces.
To keep scatter rugs from slipping on polished hardwood floors, place old rubber jar rings under each corner; fasten them with adhesive tape.
Place pieces of cloth moistened in camphor in your silverware drawer to help prevent tarnishing.
Remove white marks on your furniture by rubbing them with boiled linseed oil.
If your needle is rusty, push it into a piece of soap several times, and it will come out smooth.
When wooden knitting needles or crochet hooks get rough, paint them with clear nail polish.
Save the empty adhesive tape spool to wind your tape measure on. This will save trying moments caused by a jumbled sewing basket.
Apply a coat of paraffin to the bottom of your flowerpots to prevent them from scratching your table or other pieces of furniture.
To remove paraffin from the tops of jelly glasses, lay a piece of string across the top of glass just long enough to hang over edges and pour hot paraffin over it. When removing paraffin, lift by the ends of the string.
Another way to remove paraffin is to place the top of a milk bottle on the jelly. Leave the pull-up tab raised before pouring paraffin over it. When ready to use, pull by tab and the paraffin can be removed easily.
A cracked flower vase may be sealed so that it is water-tight to cold water by melting paraffin and filling up the cracks.
Remove stubborn sink stains by adding 3 tablespoons of liquid washing compound to 1 quart water. Pour on spots and let stand for several minutes.
To remove starch from an electric iron, heat it to “Rayon” and rub over sheets of waxed paper.
If your basement is dark, paint the bottom basement step with white paint. This will prevent accidents.
To remove a spot from the oven caused by a pie or casserole dish running over, first let the oven cool, then place a cloth on the spot and saturate it with household ammonia. Let soak 2 hours, then rinse.
To give new life and body to a rayon dress that has been laundered a number of times, add 1 teaspoon of plain gelatin to 1 quart of water in the last rinse.
Boiled rice water makes an excellent starch for dainty collars, cuffs and baby dresses.
A small brush with stiff bristles should be kept with your laundry equipment. Use this to brush shirt collars and other soiled pieces of clothing.
When drying chenille bedspreads, turn tufts inside. These will rub together while flapping in the breeze and will become soft and fluffy.
An interesting way to serve a meal to a convalescing child is to use a bright muffin pan. In a 6 compartment pan there is 1 place for a glass of milk, 4 places for food and another compartment for flowers.