October 1705 was unusually frigid in Colchester, CT. In mid-October a terrible cold snap lasted for three days, followed by mild weather, and then a blast of even colder weather. The river froze, a frigid wind blew and a storm blanketed Colchester under three feet of snow. It was uncommon for the river to be frozen so early, and the winter provisions usually shipped from Norwich and New London hadn’t been laid in.

Colchester, northernmost town in the colony of New London was home to only a handful of families. There was almost no molasses in town. It was clear nothing would be delivered on the frozen river, and it was just a few days until Nov. 4, the day set aside for Thanksgiving.

In the New England colonies, molasses was imported from the West Indies as a cheap substitute for sugar used in baked beans, brown bread and pumpkin pie

Without molasses, there could be no pumpkin pie, the symbol of the New World bounty. Culinary historians consider it the ‘first culinary Thanksgiving tradition.’ Native Americans had for centuries baked, boiled, roasted and dried pumpkins. The English colonists quickly adapted the squash to their puddings, stews, breads, johnnycakes, porridge, butter, syrup and most of all to pies.

Pumpkins were so central to the Thanksgiving feast that some 17^th-century Puritan ministers denounced them from the pulpit. Preaching Thanksgiving had been transformed into such a day of gluttony it should be called ‘St. Pompion’s Day.’

Molasses was indispensable for the perfection of the flavor of the pumpkin. Without it, the townsfolk of Colchester couldn’t make pumpkin pie. Nor could they have baked beans, molasses cake or sweetener for rum. The bottom line: No molasses, no Thanksgiving.

And so Colchester’s town fathers postponed Thanksgiving because it couldn’t be held ‘with convenience’ on Nov. 4. The solution to the problem is recorded in the Colchester town records:

At a legal town-meeting held in Colchester, October 29, 1705, It was voted that WHEREAS there was a Thanksgiving appointed to be held on the first Thursday n November, and our present circumstances being such that it cannot with convenience be attended on that day, it is therefore voted and agreed by the inhabitants as aforesaid (concluding the thing will not be otherwise than well resented) that the second Thursday of November aforesaid shall be set aside for that service.

With thanks to the New England Historical Society. Happy Thanksgiving!

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I found a treasure that is without a date. It’s been sitting on a shelf just waiting for me to pay attention to it. The treasure is a copy of the Norwich Bulletin Social Corner Cook Book. According to page 4 and who am I to argue “The Social Corner was started by A. Walton Pearson, Editor of the Norwich Bulletin, in March 1910. The first Social Corner page was put out on March 10, 1910 with six letters. The editor asked for short gossipy letters upon the affairs of home, household, something of interest, and helpful information.

On October 12, 1912 “Married and Happy” invited the writers to her cottage at the Camp Ground in Willimantic to find out who was who and to get acquainted. There were 12 members there and one of the members brought a bunch of yellow chrysanthemums so they chose the color yellow for the corner color.” Several clubs were formed and the corner grew larger according to the book compiler “Black Eyed Susan, the cookbook was made up from the thousands of recipes sent in by the members. As I read through the book I thought about having a dinner party with Black Eyed Susan, Lucretia, Polleve,Snookie and the ever patient Corner Editor and Staff  that made the book possible.

My apologies to Marka but I don’t think I will ever try your recipe for fried prunes although I am certain they are delicious. Jellied Prunes and Cranberries by Red Head won’t be on the holiday tables either. Sister Sue if I can figure out how to substitute baking soda for the saleratus your Fruit of Coffee Cake sounds heavenly. Harleth, I will be enjoying your Mock Chicken Pie made with canned tuna this evening with some of Jackanapes Fat Rascal potato puffs.

She can bake

She can broil

She can fry

Ne’er a cake does she spoil

Nor a pie

She’s perfectly neat

Her temper sweet

And this is the reason why

She uses the “Social Corner Cook Book.”

Sent in by Green Pastures

For copies of the recipes mentioned or to comment on this blog please send your email to berylfishbone@yahoo.com.

Mary Mac Connell left me one of her most treasure possessions – a 1938 copy of It’s Fun To Cook by Lucy Mary Maltby. It reads like a story book of the life of two teenagers and their cousins and family and friends throughout an active year of life and with discovery in the kitchen.  

Everything is covered from how to properly answer a phone, to planning the event and an appropriate menu, setting the table, what to chill, what to heat, how to serve it. The few pictures are in black and white but they look delicious!

When was the last time you made your own Hot Butterscotch Sauce? Not just opened a squeeze bottle?  I may never make it but a girl can dream can’t she? 3 tablespoons butter, 1 ½ cups brown sugar, 2/3 cup light corn syrup, a few grains salt, ¾ cup evaporated milk.

1. Cook together the butter, sugar, syrup, and salt until a teaspoonful will form a soft ball when put in a cup of cold water. This is 236 F on the candy thermometer.
2. Remove from the heat and briskly stir the evaporated milk into it. Keep hot in a covered double boiler.
3. Pour over the ice cream and serve at once.

Amount: 2 cups This sauce may be reheated almost to the boiling point when desired, but do not allow it to boil.

There are even games to play with suggestions that make you giggle as you read them and silly songs as well to tunes, I admit I do not know well.

I wish I had this recipe for Lemonade a month ago just so I could say that I tried it once so maybe you want to keep this in mind for next summer. 4 cups sugar, 3 cups lemon juice ( 12 to 18 lemons) 4 bananas, 4 quarts cold water, partly ice cubes if possible.

1. Dissolve sugar in the lemon juice. Be sure to remove any seeds from the juice
2. Beat the bananas with a fork until they are fairly well broken up. Add at once to lemon juice.
3. Add cold water and ice cubes. Half of one lemon may be washed, sliced thin – include the rind-and put into the lemonade

Amount: About 6 quarts or 25 servings, tall glasses 

Please tell me I am not the only person who has never put bananas in their lemonade. But don’t you want to try it?

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In the 1800’s the term “pudding” was not a dessert but a meat or vegetable side dish. As to measurements, Miss Leslie says in her Introduction that “four table-spoonfuls or half a jill, will fill a common wine glass; four wine glasses will fill a half-pint, or common tumbler, or large coffee-cup.” Since a jill (or gill) was half a cup, half a jill is a small quantity indeed. Rose-water, is tedious to make but not hard to buy in a Middle Eastern market or place four tablespoons of plain water with just a drop of vanilla or almond extract for a creative substitute. One nutmeg, grated, is anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon or to your taste.  The “powdered sugar” is not the modern stuff so go ahead and use regular granulated sugar. I mix the spices into the sugar for even distribution.

Sweet Potato Pudding Wash half a pound of sweet potatoes, and put them into a pot with barely enough water to keep them from burning. Let them simmer slowly for about half an hour; until only parboiled, otherwise they will be soft, and may make the pudding heavy. When they are half done, take them out, peel them, and when cold, grate them. Stir together to a cream, half a pound of butter and a quarter of a pound and two ounces of powdered sugar, add a grated nutmeg, a large tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and half a tea-spoonful of beaten mace. Also the juice and grated peel of a lemon, a wine glass of rose water, a glass of wine, and a glass of brandy. Stir these ingredients well together. Beat eight eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture in turn with the sweet potato, a little at a time of each. Having stirred the whole very hard at the last, put it into a buttered dish and bake it three quarters of an hour. Eat it cold. (From Miss Leslie’s Complete Cookery: Directions for Cookery by Eliza Leslie, 1851 edition, reprinted 1863, originally published 1837, all in Philadelphia.)

Pumpkin Chips. Cut slices from a high-colored pumpkin, and cut the slices into chips about the thickness of a dollar; wash them, dry them thoroughly, and weigh them against an equal weight of sugar; add to each pound of sugar half a pint of lime or lemon-juice, boil and skim it, then add the pumpkin; when half boiled, take the slices out of the syrup and let them cool; then return them, and boil until the pumpkin becomes clear. The peel of the lemons or limes, pared very thin, boiled until tender, and added to the chips when nearly done, is an improvement. (From The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge, Charleston, South Carolina, 1847).

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