How to Make Vinegar Like a Victorian by Kristin Holt

by Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author

of Sweet Romance set in the Victorian American West

Where does vinegar come from? 

The grocery store, of course. Even pioneer women could purchase vinegar at their nearest town general store or grocery. Yet knowing the twin Victorian virtues of THRIFT and ECONOMY, it's evident many penny-pinching homemakers would have taken the advice in cook books of their day (yes, spelled as two words back then) and in their city newspapers. Thrifty advice: Make Your Own.

How?

Why, with ingredients and tools you have lying about the homestead, my dear. Things like rainwater, apple peels, cider, yeast, molasses, and brown paper. Never forget the brown paper. 

Why?

Beyond the economy of making your own vinegar, what if you live a long way from your corner store? With all those long hours of daylight, homesteading women had plenty of time (hear my sarcasm) to make their own vinegar. 

Let's explore a few short recipes, beginning with one shared in 1852:

Vinegar Recipe explaining use of brown paper strips. The Perry County Democrat of Bloomfield, PA. November 24, 1852.

The instructions, ingredients, and method are worth revisiting, especially in the absence of this 1852 Pennsylvania newspaper clipping. Here's a careful transcription:

Making Vinegar.--Vinegar, according to a writer in the Genesee Farmer, is cheaply made. We re-publish his recipe: "To eight gallons of clear rain water, add three quarts of molasses; put into a good cask, shake well, and add two or three spoonfuls of good yeast cakes. If in summer, place the cask in the sun; if in winter, near the chimney, where it may be warm. In ten or fifteen days, add to the liquor a sheet of brown paper, torn in strips, dipped in molasses, and good vinegar will be produced. The paper will, in this way, form what is called the 'mother,' or life of the vinegar."

In 1860, Scientific American's recipe for vinegar appealed to the editors (??) of  The Mountaineer (Salt Lake City, Utah Territory), and they reprinted it. This one starts with forty gallons of rain water. Note that the key ingredient in this vinegar recipe is acetic acid.

Vinegar Recipe calls for Acetic Acid. Published in The Mountaineer of SLC, Utah Territory. April 14, 1860.

Pretty cool, isn't it?

Now, it seems, some people will buy anything. Including a simple recipe for vinegar. In 1873, some dude sold a vinegar recipe to anyone who'd send him 50 cents.

Vinegar Recipe for sale (50 cents), Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, NY. November 26, 1873.

This 1883 recipe appeared in Our New Cook Book and Household Recipes, providing a good vinegar that costs only a pint of honey... and another that requires only apple peelings and hard work.

Vinegar recipes: one calls for honey, another for daily apple peels. Published in Our New Cook Book and Household Receipts, 1883.

The following Corn Vinegar Recipe calls for field corn as a 'starter,' and also references a "mother that has formed on other vinegar...." I understand contextually, but have never seen one.

Wikipedia Image: Mother of Vinegar: "Wikipedia image: Mother of Vinegar. "Mother of vinegar is a substance composed of a form of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids, which turns alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air. It is added to wine, cider, or other alcoholic liquids to produce vinegar."

Note to Victorian-era housekeepers. Do not throw away the muck in the vinegar. You'll wish you had it later.

Corn Vinegar Recipe published in New England Farmer of Boston, Mass. September 25, 1886.

Ah! At last! Cider Vinegar-- something that sounds more familiar to our 2020 palates.

Cider Vinegar by the drip method. Published in The Daily Journal of New Bern, North Carolina. August 5, 1888.

After comparing and contrasting this small collection of vinegar how-to-make-your-own recipes, United States Victorian-era style, I do believe I'll continue to buy mine at the store. But the ideas are percolating, brewing, about vinegar trouble to put my characters through...

Thanks for reading!

Come see a few related articles both here on Sweet Americana Sweethearts and on my own site, KristinHolt.com.

 

Copyright Ⓒ 2019 Kristin Holt LC

Courtship is A Glimpse Into Paradise by Kristin Holt

by USA Today Bestselling Author Kristin Holt

Victorian Americans had a rather peculiar expectation about what marriage should (or perhaps, could) be. To the writer of this vintage newspaper article, Courtship was indeed "a glimpse into Paradise, where all is sunshine and love." The same writer, tongue-in-cheek, teases the young and foolishly in love.

This article so aptly fits with my current WIP (work in progress): The Silver-Strike Bride. I'm having a bit too much fun showing Caroline and Tom (newlyweds) that their glimpse into paradise was a bit of a lie. Their new marriage is in trouble, and neither quite knows how to correct matters.

Vintage Newspaper Article 

Part 1

 

Quote from within vintage newspaper article, The Meade Republican

Part 2

Part 3

Quote from within vintage newspaper article, The Meade Republican

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Courting Couples Play Games

Quote from Vintage Newspaper Article, 1891.

Part 8

Part 9

Isn't it fun to catch a glimpse of Victorian-American life through their newspapers?

What thoughts do you have as you read this vintage article? 

Have you seen behaviors such as those illustrated in this 1891 article in today's dating couples? Have you read historical romances with similar experiences with courtship and proposals of marriage?

by Kristin Holt

visit Kristin Holt at KristinHolt.com

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Copyright © 2019 Kristin Holt LC

Lockets--a Must-Have Fashion Item of the Victorians

by Heather Blanton

Recently I became interested in lockets as a potential symbol in a story. Curious about their history, I did a little research. They really are an interesting and emotional reflection of the heart’s capacity for syrupy love.

Scholars pretty much agree that lockets were originally born out of the medieval transition from amulets to a more rational and less “magical” mindset. Still, items of great value, sentimentality, and power were kept in the lockets. Everything from notes, to hair, to poison.

Queen Elizabeth wore a locket with a painting of her mother in it—the famous Ann Boleyn, beheaded by Henry the VIII. I can imagine the picture and her mother’s untimely demise kept the Virgin Queen on her toes and careful with men!

Lockets, however, truly entered the mainstream of fashion with the Victorian age. Prince Albert gave Queen Victoria a bracelet with eight pendants on it, each containing a lock of hair from all their children. The queen was rarely ever without the sweet gift.

When Albert died, she was devastated. She had a locket made with the Prince’s photo inside. Hearts melted by the sentimentality of her gesture, fashion aficionados of the day turned the mourning locket—and then lockets in general—into the fashion trend of the day. Black bog oak (an old wood) was the material of choice. Just as there was a cultural expectation that a widow would wear black for a year, she was also expected not to wear any jewelry other than the mourning locket for the same amount of time.

I was more impressed with the spinner lockets, though—a particular style that became popular during the Victorian era. According to the ebay buyer’s guide, “These lockets have a bail, which is a D-shaped or oval component used to connect the locket to the necklace chain. The bail is not fixed to the locket itself, leaving it free to spin.” I don’t know why that impresses me. Possibly because I’ve never seen one and they tend to be more valuable than a normal locket.

If you find a spinner locket, snap it up!

Victorian Courtship: Love in Pa's Hat

by USA Today Bestselling Author Kristin Holt

While researching something else entirely, I stumbled across this little gem in Walnut Valley Times (newspaper) of El Dorado, Kansas of May 21, 1880. The original short story, titled "Love in Pa's Hat" reads like so many other Victorian-era fictional tales rich in mores of the era. It's a charming short story, encouraging obedience by young ladies to their fathers (who always know best), while reaffirming the rightness of true love. Good girls, naturally, who carry on a proper courtship will be awarded with the desire of their hearts. (Read: Virtue and Patience, two of Victorian America's most highly prized female attributes.)

The author of the tale remains unnamed; rarely, if ever, were newspaper columns attributed to a specific writer. More often, when syndicated, the column would disclose the original source. (Such as this story,  having been obtained "From the Hair-Dresser's Chronicle.") As you read this cute short, you'll see why such a tale was sold to that magazine pre-May, 1880--The hairdresser is cast in the role of Cupid.

"Love in Pa's Hat" Part 1, Walnut Valley Times of El Dorado, KS, May 21, 1880

"Love in Pa's Hat" Part 2, Walnut Valley Times of El Dorado, KS, May 21, 1880

"Love in Pa's Hat" Part 3, Walnut Valley Times of El Dorado, KS, May 21, 1880

What kind of hat? Top hat? Bowler?

More bowlers won the west than Stetsons, but wealthy businessmen like "Pa"? Probably a tophat.

 

According to Victoriana.com, businessmen from 1850 to 1900 wore top hats.

Courtesy of Victoriana.com (speaking of men's clothing and tophats)

Did men really have a barber (or hair-dresser for men) look after their beard and wig twice per week (as Pa did in this tale)? Oh, yes.

The amateur historian will find rich elements of daily life (at least for the middle- to upper-class American) peppered through the story: brushing of men's hats, ironing of the hats by a professional to restore its shape (I suppose) or perhaps its finish. Use of the term "swain" prompts a quick dictionary check, as the term is outdated. Swain simply means a young suitor or lover (which we know is a G-rated term in the Victorian era).

Definition of 'swain', courtesy of Google.

 

Did you learn something new? Or have thoughts to share about the elements of Victorian-American life gleaned from this short story? Please scroll down and comment.

Do you know someone who would enjoy this article? Please share!

Copyright © 2017 Kristin Holt LC