Manuscript Location

Old Sturbridge Village, Research Library

Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

recipes likely ca. late 1820s-ca. 1830s

Description

This book, likely of New England, contains food recipes as well as a few pages of financial records that are dated 1795-1797. The online library record shows four images from the book: the book's front cover, the first page; two middle pages; and the last page. All of the pages are written sideways rather than top-to-bottom, and all appear to be written by the same hand, albeit in different moods. The recipes are a bit later than the financial records, probably of the late 1820s or 1830s. The tip-off to the later date is the recipe for Composition Cake, which is written on the first of the two middle pages. This fancy fruited tea cake did not emerge until around 1830. The first page of the book contains a recipe for rolled molasses gingerbread that is titled Potash Cake. The name is unusual and interesting. It refers to the gingerbread's alkaline leavening, food-grade potash, which was more commonly called pearl ash. Recipes for Pickling Hams and Shrewsbury Cake (a sort of butter cookie) appear on the second middle page of the book, and a rich recipe for yeast-raised Waffles is outlined on the last page.