What Did They Eat and How Did They Preserve It 300 years ago

[LeLoup]

Quote "What else can you tell us about - Identifying period trail foods and preservation techniques

I think this is a very interesting subject and I am sure others will also.

Kathleen"

Our research covers 18th century settlers and the woodland Indians in the new world 1680-1760. As with many ordinary chores back then it is rarely written about or recorded. Just like fire lighting, we know they used flint and steel, but do you know how they used it. Fire lighting of course is very much connected to cooking and preserving. You may read that the Indians carried corn on the trail, but in what state was the corn? Parched corn is often mentioned, but there are a variety of ideas floating about in regard to what parched corn actually is. Have you tried eating dried corn?!
Popped corn was also carried, and dried meat, jerky. The jerky sold these days in shops is not the jerky of 300 years ago. I dry pumpkin for trail food, and am drying more for our use at home. But the research goes on, there is always more to learn. Fire lighting, foods, preserving methods, how dried foods were dried, making the equipment/tools required and trying them out, this is called experimental archaeology. Many of the skills have been lost, knowledge has been lost. Methods that worked 300 years ago will still work now, so it is important to us from a self-sufficient and self-reliant point of view as well as living history and possibly survival in the future.

[minnie]

It astounds me with some foods how they ever discovered them to be edible, for instance olives! I haven't by DH had an olive straight off a tree to tree it and by the look of him it wasn't good so how on earth did they figure out to brine them and then to take the oil etc etc... Very interesting to look at the history of how foods were preserved and cooked and as you say those methods still today are more than useful to keep IMHO.

Vicki

[Shadowgirlau]

It is certainly an interesting subject and we could learn a lot from times past.

I know there is a food time line for Colonial America and 17th/18th century France. Don't ask me what it is or was though as I can't remember much now although I do remember reading about it some time back.
I remember reading about what the normal breakfast fare was back then and I think if we were to eat it and drink it now we might all be alcoholics as from memory for the colonial people breakfast was far from the juice, eggs and bacon of today (well for some people). The stoic early settlers rose early and went straight to the chores that demanded their attention. In frontier outposts and on farms, families drank cider or beer and gulped down a bowl of porridge that had been cooking slowly all night over the embers. In the towns, the usual mug of alcoholic beverage consumed upon rising was followed by cornmeal mush and molasses with more cider or beer. By the nineteenth century, breakfast was served as late a 9 or 10 o'clock. You might if your lucky have found coffee, tea or chocolate, wafers, muffins, toasts,at this time as well. Depended who you were and where.
No Lunch around this time period either, they usually had what was called "Dinner" served in the early afternoon and this was their main meal. they then had a light supper in the early evening. This is probably a method that we should follow ourselves as it would certainly be more beneficial with helping us to control our weight.

How did people in colonial times keep food cold?

Drying, dehydrating, canning & salting were all very common practices I know this but I have often wondered about the practices of keeping ice in an icebox. Where did the ice come from? No electricity... way back then. Underground cellars were also common and would have kept food at a constant temperature and is something I would like to build myself one day.

Gosh one could get carried away with this line of thought

Kathleen

[BJTJ]

Yes I find it really fascinating. BJ

[dggoatlover]

This reminds me of an interesting site I came across for making dried food for camping etc? Thought I might sahre it:

http://www.backpackingchef.com/index.html

I though there were some really good ideas on there. I found some of the suggestions for drying/preparing food very interesting.
Desely