Colonial Era Cold Remedy That Actually Works: 18th Century Elderberry Syrup

It's the middle of September in 1774, your mother is sick and has sent you out to collect elderberries to make syrup. You know just where to find them as you have a favorite spot. You fill your basket and turn to leave but eye up a particularly nice stalk that you can hollow out later.

By the 1700s, Elderberry (Sambucus) was a well known plant. Herbal manuals from the 1600s include it, and it was a favorite plant among young boys for making, of all things, popguns. The berries were also used for making wine. Elderberry wine was a main ingredient in a remedy printed in The Family Physitian (1696) to help treat scurvy in the winter when "herbs are scarce." Elderberry wine and honey make a very simple cough suppressant if you didn't feel like making elderberry syrup.   

You could use sugar instead of honey in this but I prefered to have the extra antibacterial properties of honey. Elderberry is still being studied but there have been a lot of promising studies that support  the healing properties of elderberry in shortening the duration of cold and flu symptoms.

18th Century Herbal Remedy: Elderberry Syrup

Ingredients:

- 1/4 Cup Elderberry Extract
- 3/4 Cup Honey
- 3 Cups of Water

Or

- 2/3 of a cup of berries (fresh or frozen and defrosted)
- 3/4 Cup of Honey
- 3 Cups of Water

Optional Ingredients:

Ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the mixture is reduced by half. Pour into a bottle and let cool. If you used whole berries, crush them with a spoon, and strain into a bottle, let cool before use.  Take a Tablespoonful by mouth 3 times a day or mix the syrup into tea. You can refrigerate the syrup for up to 3 months or freeze them into cubes and use as needed.

For those of you asking if you can just buy it ( I get it, you're sick) I have used and recommend this brand: Gaia Black Elderberry 

If you are planning on buying I would greatly appreciate if you would use the affiliate links above. It doesn't cost you any more but helps me keep the website running.


DISCLAIMER: All information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as medical advice or take the place of a doctor. Use at your own risk. For further research please check: Web MD.

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Colonial Popguns 

If you've found your way to this page I'm assuming you're sick and since you're sick anyway I thought you might have fun passing the time reading about popguns. I have always been curious about what they would look like in the 18th century and how they would work. Making popguns has been a children's pastime for hundreds of years, only to be lost recently. The popguns in the 18th century likely looked and functioned something like this:

Be sure to watch this video of this gentleman having some fun with his homemade, elder popgun and apple chunks. Hope you feel better soon! Have you tried Elderberry Syrup? How did it work for you? Be sure to leave a comment with any elderberry tips you have. 

Civil War Pumpkin Bread Recipe from the Confederate Receipt Book

The blockade hit hard. Wheat prices rose fast. Speculators hoarded flour. By 1863, women were rioting in the streets of the South because they couldn't buy bread. The Richmond Examiner (1865) reported that shops were selling bread in 3 sizes: "The first is only visible by microscopick aid; the second can be discerned with the naked eye, and the third can be seen with outline and shape distinct."

Southerners rushed to show off their ingenuity by using substitutes for wheat and relied heavily on cornmeal but people soon tired of substitutes and worked to try to figure out more complex substitutes that better mimicked the real articles. Soldiers and civilians alike wrote about being sick of corn bread.

Sarah Morgan, expressed her joy of having received real bread in New Orleans in 1863:

One woman who has recently joined us has nothing except a matress... But then, we got bread! Real, pure wheat bread! And coffee! None of your potato, burnt sugar, and parched corn abomination, but the unadulterated berry! I cant enjoy it fully though; every mouthful is cloyed with the recollection that Lilly and her children have none.

This recipe is from The Confederate Receipt Book (1863.) The pumpkin in this recipe is used as a substitute for milk, eggs and butter and to help mask the taste of cornmeal. It has a slight taste of pumpkin but you might not even realize there is cornmeal in it. Topped with a little butter and molasses, it does taste surprisingly like regular wheat bread.

Civil War Pumpkin Bread Recipe

- 1 Cup Pumpkin Puree (fresh or canned)
- 1 Cup Cornmeal
- 2 Cups Bread Flour
- 1 Package of Yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup of warm water (105°F-110°F)
- 1 Tablespoon Molasses
- 1 Teaspoon Salt

In a medium sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients then add the wet ingredients. Knead on a floured surface for 6-8 minutes adding flour to make a soft dough. Place in a greased bowl and cover with a warm, wet cloth and set in a warm spot for 30 minutes to let it rise. Punch down the dough. Grease your bread pan(s) and form a loaf in it. Let it rise in a warm spot, covered with a wet cloth for an hour. Preheat oven to 375°F and bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a cooling rack.

 **I made 3 small loaves which baked fully in 20 minutes.

My site uses affiliate links. If you are planning on making a purchase, I would greatly appreciate if you would use the affiliate links above. It doesn't cost you any more but it does help me keep the website running. Thanks!

This recipe is from the book Allied Cookery (1916), a book written to raise funds to support World War 1 victims in France. It contains recipes from the allied nations. I spent last week in New England and we had bran muffins with butter. It was my first time there although I've lived fairly close by my whole life. I was happy to find this New England Bran Muffin recipe which contains no butter, sugar or eggs and thought it would be a fun recipe to try out.

My grammy and I mixed this up in her kitchen and I'm not going to lie, it looked like something you might remove from a sloppy gerbil's cage. They didn't rise much and also didn't look very pretty until they cooled about 5 minutes. This makes 6 extra large muffins or 12 regular muffins. We used these pans here if you are in the market and want to support me: Jumbo Baking Pans.

They were surprisingly tasty, filling and healthy. My grammy said she used to add bran to her meatballs when my mom and uncles were young because they wouldn't eat it otherwise. She also said this was the sort of this promoted during "her war," (World War 2) as you "just couldn't get sugar."

Easy World War 1 Bran Muffins Recipe

Ingredients:

- 2 Cups Bran
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1/2 Cup Molasses
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
-1/2 Cup Raisins (if wanted)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Mix dry ingredients and slowly mix in wet ingredients and raisins. Butter a muffin pan and fill pans 1/2 way with batter. Top with a few raisins if desired. Bake for 20 minutes, remove and let cool on a cooling rack.

Civil War Era Cheesikins Recipe, What?

Yes, I made this recipe just because of the name, and yes, it's an early cheese-based nibble snack. This recipe if from Cre-Fydd's Family Fare (1864.) A very similar recipe for cheesikins was printed in Godey's Lady's Book in 1865 as well.

The book gives a suggestion about how to serve the cheesikins, as a side dish to lamb and veal. They have a strong flavor from the mustard and pepper. I can't see eating a ton of these in one sitting but they are a nice change of pace that could be used to make an otherwise bland meal a bit more exciting  while using up stale bread.

Civil War Era Cheesikins Recipe

Ingredients:

- 4 ounces (1 cup) Parmesan Cheese (freshly grated)
- 3 ounces (3/4 cup) Breadcrumbs
- 4 Tablespoons Butter
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Ground Mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon White Pepper


Instructions: 

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, cover bowl with a cloth and let it sit for an hour.  Preheat oven to 400°F.  Knead the dough, roll out to 1/8 inch and cut into triangles. Bake on a cookie sheet for 16-18 minutes.