Larders, Butteries, Root Cellars - A Pantry by Any Other Name by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

With so many food storage options at our fingertips in today's world, I wondered how people in the 19th and well into the 20th century kept food cool and from spoiling.

Because a root cellar plays an important role in my upcoming release, Winning the Widow's Heart, I did some research and discovered that pantries are universal whether they are called a butler's pantry, a keeping room, a larder, or a dairy.

The word "pantry" comes from the Old French word "paneterie" meaning from "pain", the French word for bread. In medieval times food and supplies were stored in specific rooms. Meats were stored in a larder, alcohol stored in the buttery, and bread was stored in the pantry.

Before 1850, settlers in early American homes, where space was tight and possessions few, stored dry goods and spices in a cabinet or trunk. However, small rooms adjacent to the kitchen hearth began to appear in colonial houses for all manner of food storage. Early pantries--especially in the self-sufficient farmhouse--were unheated and primitive, with simple wood shelving on which to store barrels of dry goods and other bulk staples, as well as cooking utensils. Dark, cool, and dry, the pantry necessarily had a door or cloth covering over the entry to keep out dirt.

Milk room or dairies, many spring-fed, were often adjacent to farmhouse kitchens. Well-insulated dugouts (a walk-in, cave-like structure built into a hill) also ensured safe storage for perishables or preserves.

By the end of the Civil War and the 1920s, pantries were commonplace in homes of all styles, often with a servant's room above or adjacent to the kitchen.

Types of Pantries

Butler's Pantry   A Victorian invention, it is a separate space adjacent to the dining room where food could be prepped and readily served, and where dishes often were washed in a "soft", copper-lined sink. It generally included storage space for tableware, serving pieces, and the family "plate" or silverware, which was the butler's responsibility.

Buttery (or butt'ry)   An old-fashioned word for the pantry or larder found in old farmhouses. This doesn't refer to butter but come from an English term for secondary pantry storage where more extensive provisions were stored in large barrels called "butts".

Keeping Pantry   An old English and New England term for a family sitting room immediately adjacent to the kitchen.

Larder   A small, cold room for storage of perishable food and prepared foods in the hottest weather.

It had slate or marble shelves two or three inches thick. Originally, it was where raw meat was larded--covered in fat--to be preserved. A dry larder was where bread, pastry, milk, butter, or cooked meats were stored.

Milk Room   Also called the dairy, this was a cool work room, often with running water from a spring, within the farmhouse and adjacent to the kitchen where butter

was churned, and pans of milk were stored.

Hoosier Cabinets   Made by the Hoosier Manufacturing Company in Indiana,  

this cabinet was created to be an all-in-one pantry and kitchen for the new

American home. These cabinets stood about six feet high, four feet wide and about two feet deep--making it a perfect size for small kitchens. It had built in storage bins and containers for everyday items like flour, sugar, coffee, tea and household spices.

Summer Kitchen   

Located in the ell or wing of old farmhouses or, in hot climates, in a separate structure, it's a room apart where food was prepared in summertime. It was cooler and better ventilated than the main kitchen, and its usage kept cooking heat away from living quarters.

Even today, regardless of your kitchen size, you most likely have a pantry. It might be as small as a shelf in a cupboard or as large as a walk-in closet. Or if you're like me, you can remember your parents having a pantry just off the kitchen. 

We have one now which we call the "Mary Poppins" closet. When we moved into the house, anything we didn't have a place for went in the closet until we were further along in our unpacking. So now, when my husband can't find something, I tell him to look in the "Mary Poppins closet". 

P.S. Only those who know the story of Mary Poppins and her carpetbag will understand!!!

April 26th Release!

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St. Patrick's Day in American History - by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

Every March 17th, the United States becomes emerald-green for a day. We wear green clothing, drink green beer and milkshakes, and eat green bagels and grits. Parades in big cities and small towns cheer on bagpipers, step dancers and marching bands. However, these traditions weren't imported from Ireland.

They were made in America.

In contrast, March 17th in Ireland had been more of a holy day than holiday. The Irish would attend church in the morning and attend modest feasts in the afternoon. There were no green-tinted foods, since blue, not green was the traditional color associated with Ireland's patron saint prior to the 1798 Irish Rebellion.

While many people believe Boston was the first to hold a St. Patrick's Day celebration in the American colonies, evidence has been unearthed that St. Augustine, Florida may have hosted America's first St. Patrick's Day celebration. Gunpowder expenditure logs indicate cannon blasts or gunfire was used to honor the saint in 1600, and that residents paraded through the town in honor of St. Patrick...perhaps at the urging of an Irish-Catholic priest living there.

Following the devastating failure of Ireland's potato crop in the mid 1840s, Irish Catholics flooded the United States. They clung to their Irish identities and took to the streets in St. Patrick's Day parades to protest the bigotry of the "Know-Nothings", a political party with strong anti-immigrants and anti-Catholics who believed these groups posed a threat to the economic and political security of native-born Protestant Americans.  

"Many who were forced to leave Ireland during the Great Hunger brought a lot of memories, but they didn't have their country, so it was a celebration of being Irish..."

Attitudes toward the Irish began to soften after tens of thousands of them served in the Civil War. They entered the war as second-class citizens but came back as heroes. Notable among them was the 69th Regiment from New York City or as Robert E, Lee called them, The Fighting 69th. As the Irish slowly assimilated into American culture, those without Celtic blood joined in St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

The meal most associated with St. Patrick's Day celebrations--corned beef and

cabbage--was also an American innovation. When ships came into South Street seaport, many women from the slums of lower Manhattan would run down to the docks hoping there was leftover salted beef they could get from the ship's cook for a penny a pound. They would boil the beef three times--the last time with cabbage--to remove some of the brine.

While St. Patrick's Day evolved in the 20th century into a party day for Americans of all ethnicities, the celebration in Ireland remained solemn. For decades, Irish laws prohibited pubs from opening on holy days such as March 17th. Until 1961, the only legal place to get a drink in the Irish capital on St. Patrick's Day was the Royal Dublin Dog Show.

The party atmosphere spread to Ireland after the arrival of television when the Irish could see all the fun Americans were having. Today, the St. Patrick's Day Festival, launched in Dublin in 1996, now attracts one million people each year.

Though the Irish have now St. Patrick's Day traditions, there is one tradition, however, that might not catch on in Ireland...green Guinness! As Mike McCormack, national historian for the Ancient Order of Hibernians says, "St. Patrick never drank green beer."

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Coming April 26th!

Pre-Order Available

In the summer of 1864 in Roswell, Georgia, widow Sofie Bishop struggles to manage the small family vineyard on her own. The War Between the States took her husband and her way of life. Now, with her home in ruins her only option was working at the Ivy Woolen Mill. Her woes go from bad to worse when the Yankees arrive on Roswell’s doorstep.

Courteous and kind, Captain Seth Ramsey is not what Sofie expects from a Union officer. However, charming he might be, she’s determined to keep her distance. Even when she finds herself branded as a traitor, arrested, and transported north to an uncertain destiny, she didn’t think she could lose much more to the Yankees.
But she was wrong.
Will his vow of love mend her wounded heart? Or would a marriage of convenience be the best she can offer?

An Early Spring? or Six More Weeks of Winter? - History of Groundhog Day

 

According to legend, the actions of a certain groundhog on February 2nd determines the arrival of spring every year. If it's cloudy when the groundhog emerges from its underground habitat, spring will arrive early. However, if it is sunny and he spies his shadow and burrows back into the ground, winter will continue for six more weeks.

So, how did it begin?

Groundhog Day has its roots in the Christian tradition of Candlemas, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal--the hedgehog--as a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America and settled in Pennsylvania, Germans continued the tradition. However, they switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone State.

The first documented American reference to Groundhog Day was found in a diary entry, dated February 4, 1841, by Morgantown, Pennsylvania storekeeper, James Morris:

"Last Tuesday, the 2nd was Candleman day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow, he pops back for another six weeks nap but if the day be cloudy, he remains out as the weather is to be moderate."

Groundhog Day was adopted in the U.S. in 1887. Clymer Freas, a newspaper editor belonging to a group of groundhog hunters called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, declared that Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog was America's only true weather-forecasting groundhog. Phil has gained quite a following in recent years, thanks to the movie Groundhog Day, and many more make the annual trek to Punxsutawney to join in the fun.

There is no scientific evidence to support Phil's knowledge of weather predictability, nor does he understand what the fuss is about. Personally, I don't believe in a prediction from a rodent. As a native New Englander, weather in the tundra is a fickle woman, indeed. January could see spring-like temperatures while a snowstorm in May (I kid you not!) is always a real possibility.

***********************************************************************************

Coming April 26th

She was branded as a traitor to the Union.
He was her sworn enemy.
A marriage of convenience would be perilous…wouldn’t it?
In the summer of 1864 in Roswell, Georgia, widow Sofie Bishop struggles to manage the small family vineyard on her own. The War Between the States took her husband and her way of life. Now, with her home in ruins her only option was working at the Ivy Woolen Mill. Her woes go from bad to worse when the Yankees arrive on Roswell’s doorstep.

Courteous and kind, Captain Seth Ramsey is not what Sofie expects from a Union officer. However charming he might be, she’s determined to keep her distance. Even when she finds herself branded as a traitor, arrested, and transported north to an uncertain destiny, she didn’t think she could lose much more to the Yankees.
But she was wrong.

Orphaned at the age of ten, Seth Morgan appreciated the life Aunt Lou and Uncle Tom had given him in Illinois. Though he had no interest in taking over his uncle’s business moving cargo down the Mississippi, it did fire his imagination for a far different career…as a soldier. Dedicated to his career, he’d never had time to entertain thoughts of a home and family.
But a chance encounter with a lovely, but heart-weary Sofie Bishop has him thinking otherwise. His plans to woo her takes on a sudden urgency when General Sherman orders the mill workers north to military prisons. Volunteering to accompany the women and children on the difficult and dangerous trek, he concocts a plan that would change the course of his life…and hers if only she’d agree.
Will his vow of love mend her wounded heart? Or would a marriage of convenience be the best she can offer?

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Desperation Pie - by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

When I was plotting out my Christmas book slated for a Black Friday release, I knew my hero was an only child of a single mother who wasn't a very good cook. But she did make one dish for her son...Vinegar Pie!

I imagine some of you are already puckering your lips, making an "eww" sound! While many people today wince at the thought of a vinegar pie, our pioneer ancestors loved it. They used apple-cider vinegar to take the place of citrus juices to make this tart and sweet pie. The filling is similar to a Key Lime pie or a Lemon Meringue pie, except vinegar is substituted for the lemon or lime juice.

Today, buying lemons or limes is as easy as walking to the produce aisle at our local grocery store. However, the pioneers didn't have that luxury. Something as simple as a lemon, orange, or lime was a rare treat, very expensive, and difficult to find. The availability of citrus fruits wasn't as great as today's demand, let alone the means to distribute the fruits. But that didn't stop many pioneer women from improvising alternate solutions. Thus, the first vinegar pie recipe was born. The acid in the vinegar delivered the same taste and tartness as the citric acid in citrus fruits. 

In the mid- to late 1800's, every logging or mining camp had a cook shack where the loggers and miners gathered to eat. Much of the menu consisted of wild game and fish. But dessert was another story, and while cooks in these camps were very creative, the options were often limited. Since pie was extremely easy to make requiring only water, flour, vinegar, sugar, eggs, and dry spices..."Desperation Pie" was created and became a camp favorite. It was not only sweet and tart but was often topped with a meringue.

 

Vinegar pie is about old-fashioned as it gets. The ingredients are readily available, and the benefits of using vinegar are numerous. If you want to get a good dose, plus appreciate a bit about our past, give this vinegar pie a try!

https://melissaknorris.com/vinegar-pie

Website: https://www.jo-annrobertsauthor.com/

Email:  jrobertsauthor@yahoo.com

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The Thread of a Story - by Jo-Ann Roberts

When I began blogging for Sweethearts of the West, I chose a topic that had been close to my heart for more years than I'm willing to divulge...quilting.

It is easy to sit at my machine, find a color of thread that coordinates with the fabric (however, I usually use a light grey thread when constructing the squares as it is easy to rip out when I make a mistake!) then begin sewing. And when I run out, a quick trip to my local quilt shop, Jo-Ann's or Michaels solves my dilemma.

My current historical WIP is part of a series with quilting as its theme (shh, it's still a secret!) so it got me thinking. How did women get thread, where did they get it, and when was it available to the average housewife, seamstress, or milliner?

And thus, the research began...

Forms of very early sewing thread were made of thin strips of animal hide. This was used to sew together larger pieces of hide and fur for clothing, blankets and shelter. There is proof throughout history of some form of threading used even when cavemen were in charge of the planet. As civilizations moved forward, thread did also and eventually it evolved to including the spinning and dyeing of thread.

There are three basic types of thread, and they are based on their origin, Thread is animal, plant, or synthetic depending on its make up. Silk thread is touted as the best because it is strong, very elastic, and fine in diameter. Silk is interwoven into a lot of regular threads for added strength. Pure silk thread use is done in finer clothing.

However, since the heroine in my story resides in a small Kansas town in 1871, I imagined she'd only use cotton thread, the least expensive in her quilting.

                                                                                                                                                      Thread is made of a series of plies--or cords, twisted together. The plying and twisting creates a stronger unit than the original strands alone. A ply is two or more strands of cotton twisted together. A cord is two or more plies twisted together. The earliest form of cotton thread was three-ply thread--three single strands of fiber twisted together.

Manufactured cotton thread was available to the hand sewers in the U.S. and Europe in 1800. At first, they were sold in hanks as some yarns still are. Thread came on wooden spools beginning in 1820. Like the soda bottles of today., the spools could be returned for a deposit, to be refilled. Mass production put an end to the deposits since the spools could be produced so cheaply.

Historians credit James and Patrick Clark, mill owners in Paisley, Scotland with developing the first cotton thread. When silk and flax became scarce during the Napoleonic wars, they were forced to find a suitable replacement with which to create their famous (and profitable) Paisley shawls.

Eventually, some Clark family members moved to the U.S. and began their own thread companies, including George Clark and William Clark, grandsons of James who opened a cotton thread mill in New Jersey.

 

George Clark perfected six-cord thread for use on sewing machines. He called it "O.N.T." for "Our New Thread," combining fineness with strength as well as being inexpensive.

In 1815, another prominent Scottish manufacturer, James Coats, began making thread. His sons, James and Peter formed J&P Coats, Co., introducing thread to the U.S. around 1820. By 1869, they began manufacturing sewing thread in Pawtucket Rhode Island. It was here where they developed a unique spool shape with smooth curves.

The emergence of the sewing machine in the 1840s further escalated the need for a better-quality thread. Three-ply was too uneven, and six-ply was too thick. Silk and linen threads were either too thick or too weak for use with the machine. Three-ply silk was too expensive. 

Improved cotton seemed the only option.

At the beginning of the 20th century, mercerization was developed to make a stronger, smoother cotton thread. It is a process of immersing cotton thread in a solution of caustic soda, resulting in a stronger, more lustrous that also accepted dye more readily.

Polyester thread became available in 1942, and cotton-wrapped polyester in the late 1960s.

Other Thread Manufacturers

Belding & Corticelli, a silk thread manufacturing enterprise was started by the Belding brothers in Michigan. From their home the produced spools of silk thread which traveling salesmen marketed door to door.  Sales of silk thread dwindled during the Great Depression, forcing the company to close its door the next year.

Max Pollack & Co. operated a silk mill in Mansfield, CT from 1900 - 1904. Textile companies of all kinds located in this area of Connecticut.

 

Rice's Silk Mill

Built in 1876 to house a woolen mill, this multi-section brick building was purchased in 1887 by William Bainbridge Rice, who established his silk-processing operation here. The premises were expanded in 1895 after Rice acquired a New Jersey silkworks and moved its equipment here. The Rice Company was one of Pittsfield's largest businesses at the turn of the 20th century. It produced a number of highly specialized materials, including silk cords for parachutes which they later also made out of nylon. The company was particularly known for its braided silk cord.

This has a local connection for me as I was born and raised in Pittsfield!

Lucky for us quilters, sewers, seamstresses, and those whose talent with needle and thread, thread--cotton thread, in particular--has evolved over the last 250 years and has been supplanted by other fibers.

So, whenever Noelle Prentiss (my heroine) threads a needle and joins fabrics together to make a quilt, she'll be continuing the tradition of those who came before and after her by carrying on the thread of the story.

A Welcome to Autumn Party from the Authors of the Love Train Series

You are cordially invited to welcome in Autumn from the authors of the Love Train Series on Thursday, September 22nd, from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.  Join us for fun, games, and giveaways! One winner will be chosen to receive a $100 Amazon gift card!

Website: https://www.jo-annrobertsauthor.com/

Email:   jrobertsauthor@yahoo.com

            FB Page: Come Home to Love | Facebook

 

"The One-Horse Open Sleigh" - The Origin of "Jingle Bells" by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

Perhaps no single piece of popular music is more universally recognized during the Christmas holiday season than "Jingle Bells", the jaunty tune about the joys of dashing through snow-covered fields while riding in a one-horse open sleigh.
In my current Christmas WIP (shh, I can't say much about it...yet!), the FMC is encouraging her children to practice the song to divert their attention. Further along in the story, the MMC sings it to the FMC when he takes her on a sleigh ride.
By adding accurate historical tidbits to my books, it gives a layer of richness and authenticity to the stories. Because the story's time frame is between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I researched holiday songs and carols. Much to my delight, I discovered that "The One-Horse Open Sleigh" (a.k.a. 'Jingle Bells") was composed in 1850, some twenty-one years before my story takes place.

Although historians are still debating the when, where, and why of the song's composition, it is accepted the tune was written at the Simpson Tavern in Medford, Massachusetts in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont. A witness, Mrs. Otis Waterman, verified the location of the song's composition. While living in Savannah, Pierpont copyrighted "Jingle Bells." Many Savannah historians believe that Pierpont penned the song about sleigh rides in Medford while in Georgia experiencing his first snowless winter as an ode to his Massachusetts snowy upbringing.

The debate between Savannah and Medford began in 1985 when Savannah erected a historical marker across from the Unitarian Church Pierpont called home.

 A few years later the mayor of Medford sent a letter to the mayor of Savannah stating the song was composed in Medford in 1850. Yet, Savannahians contends that because the song was copyrighted in 1857 while Pierpont in their city, they proclaim Savannah as the home of "Jingle Bells".

Regardless of precisely where and when "Jingle Bells" might have been written, it was clear the tune was not intended as a Christmas song. Some local history narratives claim the song was inspired by Medford's popular sleigh races during the 19th century. Though the song only mentions snow--and not Christmas or December--many believe Pierpont wrote the song for a Thanksgiving program at his father's Sunday school. The song proved so popular the children were asked to sing the song again at Christmastime and has been tied to the latter holiday ever since.  

This version of the story has been disputed by some, however, who believe "Jingle Bells" would have been too racy for a Sunday school in the 1850s.

"The references to courting would not have been allowed in a Sunday school program of that time, such as 'Go it while you're young'".

Instead, it was just a sleighing song. Fast sleighs and pretty girls. Some things never change.

   

The song became so popular in the 1860s and 1870s it was featured in a variety of parlor songs and college anthologies in the 1880s. It was first record in 1889 on an Edison cylinder. This recording, believed to be the first Christmas record is lost, but an 1898 recording also from Edison Records survives.

The two first stanzas and chorus of the original 1857 lyrics differed slightly from those known today. It is unknown who replaced the words with those of the modern version. Underlined lyrics are the removed lyrics from the original version. Bold lyrics are the new lyrics in the current version.

Dashing thro' the snow,
In a one-horse open sleigh,
O'er the hills (fields) we go,
Laughing all the way.
Bells on bob tail ring,
Making spirits bright,
Oh, what sport (What fun it is) to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight.

|: chorus :|
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what joy (fun) it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago
I tho't I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fannie Bright
Was seated by my side.
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And we— (then) we got upsot.

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Some people come into your life as lessons…
Unexpected fatherhood finds former bank detective, Lucas Harmon desperate for a woman to care for his orphaned nieces. A governess…perhaps? A housekeeper…maybe? A wife…definitely not! Six years ago, the wealthy Chicago socialite he planned to wed, publicly spurned his affections. Despite his determination to guard his feelings, a meddling matchmaking conductor and an encounter with a past acquaintance threatens to upend his heart.
…some come as blessings
Anxious to leave behind the whispers and stares of two jilted love affairs, Boston socialite, Ainsley MacKenzie hopes for solitude on her way to New Hope, Kansas. But when the kindly conductor enlists her help to care for two orphaned girls, she couldn’t say no. Little did she know their uncle and guardian was the one man she couldn’t forget… Lucas Harmon. Taking a chance, Ainsley offers Lucas an unusual (some might say, scandalous!) arrangement. She’ll look after the children, read them stories and cook their meals until Christmas, giving Lucas time to find a permanent replacement. Yet, the longer she cares for the family the more she longs to be part of it—whatever the risk to her heart.