Civil War Era Kids Craft: Paper Boats | How to

What kid doesn't like playing with paper boats? It seems like magic that you can make a boat out of paper and even more so that paper can hold out water! You might find that kids today have never made or have seen paper boats and will find them as exciting and novel as kids in the 1860s and before.  

The instructions call for a piece of paper 6" x 4" but we also had luck with 8.5" x 11" sheets. They can be a little tricky to make so you might have to help the first few times but they'll get it eventually. These instructions are from The Boy's Own Toy-Maker (1859) but can be a little confusing, especially to younger readers. I've included a short video tutorial to try to clear things up a little bit.

Please let me know if you are interested in more Civil War kids activities or if there's a certain game or toy you'd like me to write about. 

These instructions are from The Boy's Own Toy-Maker (1859.) 

How to Render Lard and Tallow for Cooking, Soap Making and Cosmetics

In early America, grease pots were a ubiquitous part of a kitchen. Grease was collected during cooking and butchering and was later rendered (made clean), and used to make soap, candles, grease pans, for cooking, and cosmetics. Tallow is the rendered fat of a ruminant and lard is fat from pigs. 

Today, so much good fat goes to waste.   

I'm using fat that my family saved for me from tacos and meatloaf. I don't eat meat so I'm reliant on friends and family whenever I need lard or tallow. My fat wasn't too gross. Yours might have chunks of meat on it, and that's fine for this. Just chop it into pieces and melt.

   

How to Render Lard

Put your fat in a pan on medium heat and add enough water to cover it.

Add 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of fat.

Heat until melted.

Pour into a sieve over a bowl.

Let the bowl Rest for 24 hours. 

Cut the tallow out of the bowl.

Rinse the tallow under running water.

You can repeat the process a second time with a finer sieve. Freeze in zip lock bags for up to a year. 

In the next few weeks I'll hopefully post a few tutorials on what you can do with rendered tallow. Stay tuned! 

Civil War Era Apple Pancakes Recipe

I was very interested to try this recipe as it has molasses, cornmeal, and apples, three flavors that were very common during the Civil War that have since fallen out of fashion. I found the recipe in
The American Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book, 1850. The Housekeeper and Gardener (1858) stated to add "a little more flour than is given to a common pancake batter," so I added a bit more than I would for normal pancakes. 

We served ours with "maple molasses", as it was called then. They were very good. You can barely taste the cornmeal at all. We will be adding these to our regular food rotation. The recipe made about 12 pancakes so I would half it in the future.

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Ingredients:

- 2 Cups Milk

- 1 Teaspoon Saleratus (Baking Soda)

- 1 Cup Corn Meal 

- 1 Cup Molasses

- 3 Apples, pared and minced 

- 3 +/- Cups Flour

- Fat or Oil for frying

Instructions:

Combine cornmeal, molasses, baking soda,minced apples, and milk. Mix in enough flour to make a slightly thicker than usual pancake batter. Fry in oil on medium heat until solid (about 1 minute). Flip pancakes over. Fry other side for another minute.  

Historical Kids Craft: Great Depression Paper Poppers

 This year has been weird, to say the least. My sister is a nurse so I have been spending most of my time being Nanny-Auntie to my nephew who is bouncing-off-the-walls energetic and starting 3rd grade next week. 

It’s been mostly exhausting and I’m sure others are feeling this way. We have been finding crafts and projects from the past to stay busy and paper poppers was a fast, easy history craft that kept him busy for hours. All you need is a sheet of paper.

         

If you're interested in reading more about the Great Depression here is an affiliate link to the book we were reading about it. The Great American Depression book of fun. 

1929 Guacamole Recipe: A Recipe From the Great Depression

Everyone who knows me know I LOVE tacos. I was excited and intrigued to find this early recipe for guacamole. The recipe is from Ramona's Spanish-Mexican Cookery. The author spent 20 years in Mexico learning Mexican recipes and sharing American ones. She wrote this cookbook for Americans who visited Mexico and missed the mouthwatering food.  

This recipe was so good! I've literally made it 3 times since first trying it a few weeks ago and it looks so cute served in the shells and made it easy for everyone to have a personal bowl of guacamole by their plates without dirtying more bowls. 

Ramona's Spanish-Mexican cookery: the first complete and authentic Spanish-Mexican cook book in English (1929).

Vintage Guacamole Recipe

Ingredients:

- 3 Medium Avocados
- 1 Tomato, Minced
- 1 Tablespoon Onion, Minced
- 1 Teaspoon Jalapenos, Minced

- 1 Tablespoon Cilantro

- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil 
- Salt and Cayenne Pepper to taste
- Tomato slices and quartered Lemons for garnish

Instructions:

Cut avocados in half and remove the pits. Set peels aside. Mash the avocado meat. Mix in the tomato, onion, jalapeños, cilantro. Salt to taste. Spoon the avocado filling into the avocado shells and garnish with a slice of tomato, slice of lemon and a dash of cayenne pepper. Refrigerate until time to serve.

   

You can skip the olive oil and not notice the flavor difference. I added another tablespoon of cilantro and onion, and a bit more jalapeño. Click here to watch Tanya Muñeton make a very similar recipe in Spanish.