Snow and Biscotti

All of our beautiful snow is gone. We had a huge storm on the 19th, just in time for Christmas (over 9 inches of snow.) During the cold my Grandmom and I baked biscotti.

Biscotti has become very popular in recent years especially in posh coffee shops. Biscotti, the plural of Biscotto (although my Grandmom says it like "bih-scoat"), are a twice baked cookie, originally meant to give the cookie a very long shelf life. 


The shelf life of a Biscotto is naturally about 4 months. Biscotti has been served in Italy for centuries and was a staple food in the Roman military. Some historians say that Christopher Columbus is likely the first person to bring biscotti to the New World.


Grandmom's Biscotti Recipe:

1 Cup Sugar
1 stick of Butter (1/2 cup)
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 teaspoons Orange Peel
2 Cups Flour
1 +1/2  teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Powdered Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Sift the flour with the baking powder.








Grate the orange peel. Jodi has a trick on her blog, Curious Acorn for this. My Grandmother's tip: use clementines, they are smaller and work out to about 2 teaspoons. 


 In mixing bowl, beat the sugar with the butter. Add eggs, vanilla, and orange peel. Slowly add the flour/baking powder mix, cinnamon and salt. Mix until fully blended, it should form a soft dough.

Grease 2 small cookie sheets or 1 large one. (Yes, my Grandmom is using her hands! She said she would have used the butter wrappers but our butter was already on a butter dish.)


Divide batter in half and form two loaves on the greased baking sheet. Try to make loaves 3 inches wide and 3/4 of an inch high. Bake in oven for 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack until it is cool enough to handle (about 10 minutes.)

 Slice loaves on an angle, about an inch wide. Be sure to slice off a little bit on each end so there is no "end" pieces.

Lay peices on their sides on the same cookie sheet. Cook for 12 more minutes (no more.) Remove from oven, flip the peices with tongs and replace back in the oven for another 12 minutes. They will harden out of the oven.

Let cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Harper's Weekly: How to Be Beautiful

This excerpt is from Harper's Weekly in 1861. It has a very beautiful message, especially in a time when luxuries were starting to be impossible to get. A Lady's Toilet was her collection of beautifying agents and also included her clothing and family medicines. Sentiments like the ones in the clipping were common when women had to start to do without luxiouries, men are reported to have complimented the ladies at the time, saying that they were prettier than ever.  

Otto of Rose: The essential oil of rose petals used as a perfume.
Lip-Salve: There were lots of period recipes that contained, wax, oils and fats like many do today; however, Lydia Marie Child, in The American Frugal Housewife suggested earwax for chapped lips!
Sal Volatile: This was ammonium carbonate mixed with ammonia water or alcohol used as smelling salts. Smelling salts were used to relieve headaches and revive the fainted.
Pomade Divine: A cream for bruises, swelling, and chapped skin which commonly used rosewater, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. 
Sticking Plaster: Was silk that had an adhesive brushed on one side, it was used like a modern sticky bandage.
Simple Anodynes: Were sedatives, bromide of
potassium (a salt,) and store-bought medicines (often just alcohol) were commonly used.  

 Many middle class and upper class women had their own "toilets" in their rooms. Toilets as we have today were nonexistent, people still used chamber pots and outdoor toilets. During the war, southern women were asked to save the contents of their chamberpots to produce nitre for gunpowder.  

*Note: Engraving from London Society By James Hogg, Florence Marryat (1860):

Colonial Pockets

 My goal this year is to outfit myself with a full Colonial ensemble, I am tired of having to borrow items when I do living histories. I started sewing my shift ( I am attempting to hand sew it--we'll see how long that lasts.) Hopefully, I will get started on a petticoat or two, some stays and a nice shortgown. I will be starting pockets soon.   

Colonial pockets were not sewn into ladies clothing as is done today. In colonial times, pockets were two pouches strung on a waistband and tied around the waist, under the petticoat (skirt) or on top of it. Skirts were sewn with side slits to access the pockets.

Pockets are an easily hand sewn item that give you a reason to show off your embroidering skills. They are also very useful while reenacting or interpreting. (Make sure you always have a few period items in them, because kids will always want to know whats in there.) If you are interested in making your own, I have included a simple pattern below. 


 Cut 2 pieces of fabric out, these measurements are just a suggestion. Pockets were made a range of different sizes. If you wish to embroider the pocket, do so before you cut the pieces out. Patchwork, embroidery and quilted pockets were all common. Look at original pockets for inspiration.  Slit one piece down the middle.

Sew twill tape around the slit.










Place both pocket pieces with the right sides of the fabric together and sew around the  outside edge of the pocket. Turn the pocket inside out, iron it flat and sew thin twill tape to the top. 



Pockets of History is an online exhibit of pockets from the 1700s to the 1800s.
More pockets.

Preserving Skills and Knowledge for Future Generations

 Sometimes it may seem that our generation is reinventing the wheel by learning traditional skills and learning from historical sources. Sometimes when I try to learn something, older people will say things like "We used to have to do that," or " Why do you want to do that? We used to do that when we were kids for play." It's hard to explain. Yes, I know other people have learned and done the things I like to learn; but, most of them are older and will not be around forever.

If there is one thing I learned from studying history, it is that you never know what to expect. Not that I think we need to train for apocalyptic war, but I think a few life skills would not hurt us. We never know what to expect. Some "advances" are actually making us stupider and leaving the new generation without critical thinking skills. How many of us know people who can not use a map and must rely on GPS and Mapquest? When I had my first job, I worked with a girl who couldn’t tie her shoes; her mother would tie them for her (at 16!) Only half of the employees there could tell time on an analog clock. My sister's friend repeatedly runs out of gas because she relys on an automatic gauge in her car that says " X miles until empty," and cannot do the math to figure out if she has enough gas to get to a gas station. One time, my sister and her friend called me in the middle of the night to pick them up because they ran out of gas and her father ran out of gas on the way to pick them up. It is unfortunate. I wish more people took an interest in real life skills and not “job” and “society” skills.

We know from history what happens when people do not have the required skills to feed, clothe and protect themselves. At Jamestown, many men did not know how to do anything but be “men of society.” Many of these men died, the others were at the mercy of the Native Americans. The “Pilgrims” had to steal food from the Native Americans and loot graves—a grisly scenario. Could you imagine being hungry enough to dig food and pots out of graves?

I am not saying we should all be crazy survivalists, I only think that working with our hands is the natural way of things. When we get disconnected with directly receiving the fruits of our labor, not important things seem really important when they shouldn’t. Industrial production of goods has made all manufactured goods cheaper than they can be made at home—but is this really a good thing?

An Article on GPS: Steered Wrong
A Death said to Be Caused by GPS: Boy Dies
These People are Very into Real Life Skills(I think this is fascinating although I am not a survivalist) : Primitive Ways 

*Note: The second picture is me learning to blacksmith with leading blacksmith Kelly Smyth. 

Hydrochloric Acid--for Cooking?

I was looking for a good housekeeping article and I came across a recipe tucked away under a statement which said that a proper lady only goes into the kitchen once a day, in the morning to write a list for her servants on a large slate. This recipe intrigued me because of the muriatic acid. I do not advise making this recipe but its historical content is fascinating.

An Excerpt from Monday Morning by Barbara Hutton (1863):

"Here are a few good recipes for luncheon-cakes:

            1. One pound of fine flour;

                 Two drachms muriatic acid;

                 Two drachms bicarbonate soda;

                 Three ounces of sugar;

                 Three ounces of butter;

                 Four ounces of currants—the best;

                One pint of fresh milk.

                Mix all together, and bake for one hour in a quick oven."       

Muriatic acid was used in the mid 1800s to add a citrus taste to foods. It is man made by absorbing hydrogen chloride in water and today is known as hydrochloric acid and is used for cleaning and etching concrete!

A drachm is a British unit of measurement that equals 1/8 of an ounce.

Bicarbonate soda is baking soda which also is known to neutralize hydrochloric acid. When used with an alkaline substance, it releases air which helps the food to rise. Today we use baking soda mixed with cream of tartar to make “baking powder.”

Sugar, used to be molded into cones for transport in the 1800s it was called a “sugar loaf.”  “Fine sugar” was regular granulated sugar broken off from the sugar loaf with sugar nippers, and then ground to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle. 

Currants- Being a native plant, Black currants were popular in early America. They remained popular until farming of Black currants became illegal in the United States in the early 1900s. The plants were thought to cause white pine blister rust, a problem to loggers. The plant was widely grown in Great Britain during World War II because of its high vitamin C content. While Britain was at war, it could not get imported fruits such as oranges. Black currants were planted and made into syrups to prevent scurvy.   

Milk- Today we take it for granted but pasteurization was invented in the 1860s by Louis Pasteur. Fresh milk was non pasteurized milk, which can be very harmful. Milk only stays fresh three or four days if not pasteurized. In the 1860s in the cities, milk was delivered to your door on a cart, by the time it came to your door, it would only stay good for one day. 

If you are interested in loaf sugar or old fashioned candies, Deborah's Pantry has a good selection.
A good photograph or an original sugar loaf with a pair of sugar nippers: Loaf.

*Note: Etching by Philippe Galle in the 1600s. It is of a sugar mill, creating sugar loafs.