Researching Food History

As you prepare for Halloween think of an Irish tradition for that evening called Colcannon Night.  On that night "...a gold ring was co...

Trying to bite into an apple. on a string.  revolving.  with candles.  what could go wrong??  Snap-apple was one of the games played on Ha...

A wonderful wind mill sugar mill!  Other ways to power the rollers which pressed the sugar cane included slave labor, water wheels and far...

While I can’t find out if this is an official day or just put out by a person, company or trade organization, Angel Food does deserve a da...

Gerrit Dou painted "The Mousetrap " circa 1650.  (Musee Fabre)  This closeup of the mousetrap also shows the mother peeling carro...

4 food symposiums and conferences for the fall of 2013. 

" Sandwich-carrots ! - dainty Sandwich-carrots." The 1796 print by satirist James Gillray portrayed John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sa...

Described in the novel Lady Baltimore (1906) as "all soft, and it's in layers, and it has nuts,"   the Lady Baltimore Cake ha...

Joseph Bail (French, 1862-1921) painted many views of kitchen helpers and young cooks.   On this Labor Day, I’ve included some of his pai...

Stuffing olives with capers or truffle pieces?  Yes, in 1818.  Grocery stores now sell all sorts of stuffed olives.

Pullman "Hotel Cars" in 1882 contained many ingenious devices such as a compact kitchen range/oven and temporary dining tables fr...

Savoy Cake, Elkridge Huckleberry Pudding, and Victoria Sponge Cake were just some types of sponge cake.... and then, in 1948 ... Betty Crock...

Iced tea was given out free at a Tea Store in Macon, Ga, in August 1896 (ad below).  Ice or Ice d tea in the second half of the 19th cen...

Continuing with Dutch, Flemish and French butter in paintings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.  The butter in a mound shape is fro...

For those of us who love green fried tomatoes, here is a delicious 1839 recipe for fried red ones with bread crumbs and fried minced onions....

“The Old Black Lead Range” a seven minute video of Peter Brears cooking on the range is on Youtube  HERE  . The Yorkshire Range , popular i...

The two short videos below, show cooking on early cast iron cook stoves, bringing to life these 19th century images.  The first stove has a...

Have you ever wondered what these objects were in the Dutch market paintings?  Butter was sold in various shapes, sizes, weights and '...

President Thomas Jefferson actually wrote this recipe.  And others, some written in French.  This recipe To make biscuit de Savoy include...

Not for Italian bread...but w hen cows ate wild garlic in the spring, the flavor remained in the milk, and the cream was churned  into  garl...