Victorian America's Strawberries by Kristin Holt

 

 

by USA Today Bestselling Author Kristin Holt

 

Victorian America's Strawberries

Strawberries are abundant and lauded throughout Victorian-era cook books and newspapers. Since well before Victoria gained the throne, strawberries have been a seasonal favorite. 

Restaurants served strawberries. 

Proudly serving strawberries and cream! The Evening Post, New York, NY, May 3, 1837.

Even fund-raisers included fresh strawberries!

Victorian cooks prepared a variety of dishes with the berries in season. Just as importantly, housekeepers diligently preserved strawberries for off-season use.

Let's see what Victorian Americans did with strawberries!

Successful Victorian Strawberry Patches

This first article comes all the way from Victoria's coronation year, 1837. Notice the vintage tips to ensure an abundant crop!

Strategies for growing strawberries, from The Pittsfield Sun, Pittsfield MA, May 4, 1837.

Growing wisdom continued in newspapers, throughout the Victorian era.

Management of Strawberry Plants; The Inter Ocean of Chicago, Illinois. December 2, 1875.

This 1881 article encourages the planting of more than one variety of strawberries. Science at work!

Plant a variety! The Weekly Star and Kansan of Independence, KS. October 13, 1881.

Victorian America's Strawberry Recipes

Victorians feasted on strawberries in season. I'll show you their preserves recipes, too, below.

So, what did Victorian housekeepers (a.k.a. homemaker) do with fresh strawberries?

Victorian Fresh Strawberry Recipes

Serve with sugar and lemon.

Victorians adored jellied desserts. It's no surprise that cooks incorporated fresh strawberries into a moulded dessert.

The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker, Published 1844.

Oooh! Ice Cream! An at-home Victorian favorite, and also available in ice cream parlors about town.

Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book, published 1846.

Another strawberry ice cream.

 

This "strawberry cream" recipe, known in the Victorian-era as Strawberry Whisk, sounds incredible. Even better than strawberry ice cream--and for this ice cream fan, that's saying something.

Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book, published 1846.

 

Or freeze a strawberry ice without cream, altogether.

 

Miss Leslie's Lady's New Receipt Book, Published 1851.

 

Let's not forget PIE! Victorians adored pies, including berry pies. Notice one of these cooks the berries, and the other doesn't.

 

The New Housekeeper's Manual, Published 1873.

Strawberry sauce for baked puddings. Ooh, this sounds good.

Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving, Published 1877.

 

 

Don't forget the Strawberry Shortcake!

 

Practical Receipts of Experienced Housekeepers, Compiled by the Ladies of the Seventh Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. Published 1874.

Here's another baked strawberry pie recipe, with a Cream (Raspberry or) Strawberry Tart.

Common Sense in the Household; A Manual of Practical Housewifery, Published 1879.

It's no surprise that Strawberry Shortcake remained popular through the turn of the twentieth century.... and beyond!

Victorian Strawberry Preserves

Raspberries and Strawberries are magical in that natural fruit pectin causes the cooked fruit and sugar to set up. Made with mashed fruit, jam results. If the pulp is strained and only the juices are jellied, jelly results. Unless we're talking about a jelly. Different thing. Mostly.

Below, Godey's Lady's Book published recipes for Strawberry Preserves, Strawberry Jelly, and Strawberry Jam.
 

Godey's Lady's Book Receipts and Household Hints, Published 1870.

We're cooking fancy now! Below, an 1871 recipe (or receipt) for preserving (notice bottles, but no lids) whole strawberries. They'd be a treat come January.

 

Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Published 1871.

  

...including Beverages 

Miss Catharine Beecher included the following Royal Strawberry Acid. A tasty beverage for invalids and the well alike.

Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book, 1846.

Tea and coffee were staples in Victorian America, but that didn't prevent folks from looking for alternatives. Some options were medicinal, others were used out of desperation, and others simply because they tasted good.

 

Don't forget the Strawberry Wine and Strawberry Cordials!

Housekeeping in Old Virginia, published 1878.

Strawberries: To Wash, or Not 

Most nineteenth-century cook books and newspaper articles instructed cooks to not wash their berries. Apparently all the flavor would escape in the wash water.

I did find at least one dissenting vote to the no-washing rule.

Housekeeping in Old Virginia, published 1878 AND The Columbian Cook Book, published 1892.

I'm off to buy fresh berries, in season, and whip up a Victorian-inspired Strawberry Whisk!

Invitation

With so many delicious strawberry recipes, do any call to you to adjust for contemporary baking?

Did you learn something new?

Please scroll down and comment.

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Copyright © 2021 Kristin Holt LC

Croquettes: Economic Victorian Dining ~ by Kristin Holt

by USA Today Bestselling Author Kristin Holt

Throughout the nineteenth century, American Victorians enjoyed a dish known as “croquettes”—a thrifty dish that routinely “dressed up previously unused or otherwise unwanted meat” (and fish, macaroni, rice, potato, etc.). [American Restaurants and Cuisine in the Mid-Nineteenth Century by Paul Freedman]

What is a croquette?

“Croquettes, small shaped masses of some savory (or occasionally sweet) substance deep-fried, typically in a coating of breadcrumbs, get their name from their crisp exterior: for croquette is a derivative of the French verb croquer, crunch. The range of potential ingredients is limitless—meat, rice, cheese, fish, pasta, vegetables have all been pressed into service—but undoubtedly the croquette’s commonest filling today is mashed potato. It is far from new to the English kitchen; it is mentioned in the 1706 edition of Edward Phillipps’s New World of English Words: On Cookery, ‘Croquets are a certain Compound made of delitious Stuff'd Meat, some of the bigness of an Egg, and others of a Walnut.’” [An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press: Oxford] 2002 (p. 98), quoted on Foodtimeline.org]

Vintage sources such as newspapers, cook books (always two words rather than a compound in the era), and historian’s articles, list a wide range of croquettes including but not limited to:

salmon croquettes

chicken croquettes

turkey croquettes

beef croquettes

veal croquettes

cold meat croquettes

sweetbread croquettes (sweetbread is the culinary name for the thymus gland, or rarely, the pancreas, of an animal, especially as used for food)

“Philadelphia” croquettes (fowl, sweetbread, and calf’s brain)

potato croquettes

macaroni croquettes

rice croquettes (both savory and sweet)

hominy croquettes

apple croquettes

“Early instructions suggest this [chicken croquettes] “made dish” was a venerable culinary feat, not to be attempted by inexperienced cooks. Modern frozen products must be a far cry from the original offering. Careful notes on shape and presentation confirm croquettes were originally intended for elegant dinners.” [Foodtimeline.org]

The following sampling of recipes (with their original sources) illustrates the variety of croquettes known within American cuisine, as ‘receipts’ were included within cook books published in the United States and homemakers shared their best methods and ingredients via newspapers.

For sake of organization, I’ve listed recipes in order by date rather than by type. Notice that recipes (or receipts) in the nineteenth century required cooks to read through a paragraph-style accounting of ingredients, quantities, and methods, with vital instructions often listed as a near afterthought.

1824

“To Make Croquets. Take cold fowl or fesh meat of any kind, with slices of ham, fat and lean, chop them together very fine, add half as much stale bread grated, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, a teaspoonful of made mustard, a tabel spoonful of catsup, and a lump of butter; knead all well together till it resembles sausage meat, make them in cakes, dip them in the yelk of an egg beaten, cover them thickly with grated bread, and fry them a light brown.” (historic spelling preserved) [Source: The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, facsimile 1824 edition with Historical Notes and Commentaries by Karen Hess [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1984 (p. 106), quoted by Foodtimeline.org.]

1877

To Make Chicken Croquettes, Parts 1 and 2: New England Farmer of Boston, Massachusetts on February 10, 1877.

1879

Rice Croquettes, The Osage City Free Press of Osage City, Kansas on May 2, 1879.

Rice Croquettes, Washington Republican of Washington, Kansas on August 29, 1879.

Hominy and Hominy Croquettes, Washington Republican of Washington, Kansas on August 29, 1879.

 "...croquettes as the attractive French substitute for American hash, and ... how to make them...", The Weekly Star of Plymouth, Pennsylvania on June 12, 1879.

1881

Potato Croquettes, parts 1 and 2, Western Home Journal of Lawrence, Kansas on December 29, 1881.

1885

Apple Croquettes, The Boston Globe of Boston, Massachusetts on December 31, 1885.

1886

Philadelphia Croquettes, parts 1 and 2. The Citizen of Topeka, Kansas on May 8, 1886.

1892

Cold Meat Croquettes, The Columbian Cook Book Containing Reliable Rules for Plain and Fancy Cooking, 1892.

1895

Croquettes of Odds and Ends, Three Hundred Tested Recipes, 2nd edition, 1895.

1905

Chicken Croquettes, Dr. Sloan’s Cook Book and Advice to Housekeepers, 1905.

So there you have it. Croquettes: A nineteenth century favorite dining pleasure—leftovers tucked away in a crispy, fried coating. Like tater tots, only with various bits of leftover “hash”, including calf brains. Yummy.

Interested in more details about nineteenth century baking, cooking methods, and holiday meals? See the following links (click on the title images):

 

Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author, writes Sweet Victorian Romance set in the American West. She writes frequently about Old West history and contributes monthly to Sweet Americana Sweethearts.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

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