Pemmican: It Wasn’t Just for Native Americans

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Pemmican

I love the idea of any food that is billed as coming from the wilds of North America.  Pemmican was just such a survival food.  “The word is from Cree pĭmĭkân, manufactured grease”, or one who makes grease.  “The word is cognate with Abnaki pĕmĭkân.   It was made from whatever meat was the most abundant in a particular region.  In the northernmost areas reindeer was used, in milder climates buffalo was usually specified as being prevalent although deer and other animals were used.

The process was pretty much the same regardless of the type of meat used. After removing fat and gristle the meat was sliced, hung to dry, perhaps smoked as it dried, and then pounded to a powder.  The meat powder was mixed with fat, many accounts specify the fat came from marrow in the bones of the animal, and dried fruit was sometimes incorporated.  Once well mixed the mass was packed into skin bags and the bags sewn shut.  It kept several years as long as it was stored away from excess moisture.  Natives also stored it away in woven baskets.

An account published in 1860 stated that the pemmican was packed tightly into tin canisters leaving a little space at the top, and allowed to cool after which the tin was filled to the brim with hot melted lard.  A lid was then soldered onto the canister sealing in the pemmican.  – The Household Monthly.  March 1860.

Any berries that were available were probably added to sweeten the pemmican, but a few of the fruits I was able to document as an ingredient included June Berry (also called pemmican berry because it was frequently used in that manner), choke cherry, Saskatoon, Service berries, cranberries, Manzanita, blueberries, Juniper berries, currants, etc.

“Sweet pemmican is a superior kind of pemmican in which the fat used is obtained from marrow by boiling broken bones in water.  Fish pemmican is a pemmican made by the Indians of the remote regions of the N. W. by pounding dried fish and mixing the product with sturgeon oil.  The Eskimo of Alaska make a pemmican by mixing chewed deer meat with deer suet and seal-oil.”

Pemmican was made into soup by hunters, trappers, arctic explorers, etc. called Robbiboe, or by the Canadian French rababou.  To make it the pemmican was mixed with a little flour and water and boiled.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie can be consulted for an idea of the weight of the packs of pemmican.  For a journey from Montreal south on the St. Lawrence River he noted the party carried four bags and a half of pemmican, weighing from eighty-five to ninety pounds each in addition to other supplies.  – Mackenzie, Alexander, Sir.  Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence Through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in the Years 1789 and 1793.  1814.  New York.

Robert Huish wrote of a party that carried along an amazing sixty bags each weighing ninety pounds.  Gould tells us that, “one bison cow in good condition furnished dried meat and fat enough to make a bag of pemmican weighing ninety pounds”.  Given that, it becomes clear how much less the meat weighed after processing having removed the bones, skin, etc. and through evaporation in the drying process.

– A Narrative of the Voyages and Travels of Captain Beechey:  To the Pacific and Behring’s Straits and The Travels of Capt. Back, R. N. to the Great Fish River and Arctic Seas.  1836.  London.  Gould, Augustus Addison.  The Naturalist’s Library:  Containing Scientific and Popular Descriptions of Natural History.  1833.  Massachusetts.

Hamilton reckoned one pound of pemmican was equal to five pounds of meat.  – Hamilton, William.  My Sixty Years on the Plains.  1905.  NY.

The following recipe came from Frances Owens’s book, Mrs. Owens’ Cook Book, 1903.  “Pemmican is made of the lean portions of venison, buffalo, etc.  The Indian method is to remove the fat from the lean, dry the lean in the sun; then make a bag of the skin of the animal, and put the lean pieces in loosely.  To this must be added the fat of the animal, rendered into tallow, and poured in quite hot.  This will cause the spaces to be filled.  When cold, put away for future use.  In civilized life, a jar can be used in place of the bag.  Pemmican may be cooked same as sausage, or eaten as dried beef.  It is invaluable in long land explorations, and is of great use in sea voyages.”

For those who prefer more of an actual recipe than a method summary, Mrs. Saray Tyson Rorer offered one, although it varied in method.  ¼ pound of lean beef put twice through a meat chopper, ¼ pound of marrow from the leg or shin bone of an ox.

Chop the marrow with a silver knife and remove the fibre.  Mix the beef and marrow thoroughly, a half saltspoonful of salt and stand at once in a cold place.  – Mrs. Rorer’s Diet for the Sick.  1914.

Blissful meals, yall.  – thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com©

See:  Hodge, Frederick Webb.  Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico.  Washington Government Printing Office.  1912.

Creators of the Orpingtons: Wm. Cook & Children©

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Orpingtons, William Cook

This may be considered a followup to yesterday’s post on Orpington chickens. It will chronicle the lives of the creator and of his children who carried on the business after his death.

All agree that William Cook created the Orpington breed of chickens, first the black, then the buff, but the waters are somewhat muddied regarding the creation of subsequent breeds like the Cuckoo. With that in mind, let’s look at the Cook family and see what part each member played in Wm. Cook & Sons.

An article in the Northern Advocate , on Jan. 26, 1901 discussed a local man who had ordered Orpington chickens and ducks from William Cook & Sons of Orpington House, St. Mary Cray, Kent, whom the writer referred to as one of the greatest poultry breeders in England, if not the world. “He exports hundreds of birds every year to all parts of the Empire, and on a recent trip which he made to Australia he brought out no less than two hundred thoroughbred fowls. It was on his farm of 3000 acres in Kent where he keeps no less than 8,000 birds that the now famous breeds of Orpingtons were produced, taking their name from his house and farm. Mr. Cook is among that unfortunately small number of breeders who believe in breeding for utility more than for ‘show points’. Before the Orpingtons were introduced, it was thought to be well nigh impossible to combine in one fowl all the best qualities of the table and laying varieties. But Mr. Cook by judicious selection and crossing at last succeeded, and all those who keep fowls for profit owe him a debt of gratitude.”

William Cook was born in 1849 in St. Neots, Huntingdon, England. He began working as a carriage driver at age 14. One account said he was breeding poultry by 1869 and established a poultry business at St. Mary Cray, near the town of Orpington, Kent, England in 1886. If those dates are correct, then he spent several years raising and cross-breeding chickens before making a career of it. His son said in an interview, years later that his father spent 10 years developing the first Orpington chicken which means he would have started work in developing them around 1876 which probably leaves about 7 years for the transition from beginning to professional. An article on Orpingtons said William Cook spent 15 years breeding and perfecting the first Orpington.

He began publication of a magazine in 1886. He was a keen businessman who promoted his poultry with tours, lectures, and the magazine which he edited and also contributed articles to. He called it, William Cook’s Poultry Journal. The title was later changed to William Cook & Sons’ Poultry Journal. The journal was filled with ads for Cook’s poultry – namely the Orpington chickens and Orpington ducks.

The blue duck (1896) was the first of the Orpington ducks followed by the buff (1897). They are good layers and quick-growing meat ducks. Apparently they were first shown in the U.S. in 1908, and were admitted to the American Standard of Perfection in 1914. Like Orpington chickens, Orpington ducks are a dual-purpose breed.

William Cook & Sons created a bird hospital and sold medicines, vitamins, and feed for poultry. There were Cook’s Poultry Powders, Cook’s Roup Powders, Cook’s Improved Insect Powder, Ointment for Destroying Nits on Fowls, W. Cook’s Fattening Powders, Poultry houses, sitting coops, drinking fountains and corn bins, W. Cook’s book, The Poultry Keeper’s Account Book, W. Cook’s Flint Grit, etc. Between selling poultry and selling all the products needed to keep them they had quite a monopoly going.

William Cook was also a horse breeder and developed products for horses such as W. Cook’s Horse Powders.

Percy Cook was using peat moss brought over from England on the floor of his chicken houses because it absorbed odors, it could be stirred occasionally so it continued to absorb the droppings, and when it was changed, the material was used as fertilizer.

All of Cook’s children had a hand in running the business at one time or another. There were Elizabeth Jane, the oldest; William Henry, the oldest son; sons Messrs. Albert Lockley and Percy A. Cook; and a young daughter, Lily, who married Arthur C. Gilbert. No indication was found that Lily took part in the business, but her husband did.

Elizabeth Jane married R. Wakeman Clarke. She was forward-thinking in many ways, such as being the first to ship poultry via airplane. Accounts credit her with having created the Cuckoo Orpington although other accounts gave that honor to her brother-in-law, A. C. Gilbert.

Elizabeth Jane ran the poultry yard when her father was away on business or in seclusion writing and became quite talented in raising poultry. After her father died she managed the firm.

William Cook wrote in 1901 that the Orpington ducks were being marketed under a different name by a different party. He named no names, but his children would not always be as discreet. He could have meant Mrs. A. Campbell who is credited with having created the Khaki Campbells, Miss N. Edwards who bred a fawn colored duck, or he most likely meant his eldest son, William Henry Cook, who by that time had left the firm and gone out on his own. It has been written that the family squabbles stemmed from William Cook having lent William Henry money to buy his home, Elm Cottage, which was not paid back in a timely manner. Some accounts claim he did eventually repay the debt hoping to share in the inheritance, but there is no indication he received anything.

Tragedy struck June 25, 1903 and took the life of William Cook’s wife, Jane. She accompanied her son, William Henry, and daughter-in-law, Catherine, on a visit to Lily and A. C. Gilbert’s home. Afterward, she went with them to the property owned by William Henry and Catherine which was undergoing restoration. Noticing a gas chandelier that was lowered, William Henry raised it, when the flame set off an explosion that destroyed the house and rattled the nearby neighborhood. Jane’s death was recorded in The Express July 3, 1903. William’s death was reported by Feathered Life on July 6, 1904. Both are buried at St. Mary Cray Cemetery, Greater London, England.

William Henry first carried out his wife and went back inside to rescue his mother. All three suffered serious burns, with Jane’s being the worst. She died the next day. William Cook died almost one year later of emphysema at age 55. In William’s obituary it was noted that all his children (Elizabeth Jane was now the wife of R. W. Clarke) and Lily’s husband, A. C. Gilbert, would be running the business. Mr. W. H. Cook was said to have relinquished his connection prior to his father’s death. Elizabeth Jane then bought out her other two brothers’ and her sister’s interest in the English branch of the business.

William Henry was called, “Poultry Farmer of the Model Farm” in documents related to his father’s estate. When William Henry advertised his poultry claiming that as the eldest son he had managed his father’s concern until 1903, his sister, Elizabeth Jane, did some advertising of her own claiming her brother had no ties to William Cook & Sons and that anyone who wished to correspond with the business should address their requests to Orpington House where she would receive it.

One of those ads in the International Poultry Book noted William Cook & Sons, originators of all the Orpingtons, had been in business upwards of half a century. “The Original Cook Strains are only obtainable from their one address in England, St. Mary Cray, Kent. They have NO BRANCHES ANYWHERE and no connection whatever with anyone else of same name”. – Woodard, George. Victoria Australia. 1913.

That wasn’t exactly true as her brother, Percy, was operating in New Jersey, USA, and brother Albert operated another branch in South Africa, but Elizabeth Jane’s admonishment was probably never seen outside England in which case it would have had no effect on either of the brothers.

William Cook and Sons became an international entity, operating simultaneously in England, South Africa, and the U.S , each under the care of a different child of William and Jane Cook. “The first foreign plant was started at Sydney, in Australia. After this got under way and a manager placed in charge, another plant was started in England by P. A. Cook, called the St. Leonard’s Poultry Farm. This was sold at a good profit after running for seven months. Then after one month Mr. Cook started for South Africa with eight hundred birds.

The first plant started in South Africa was near Durban in Natal, a beautiful spot. Then a manager was left in charge there and a hurried trip was made to England and from there to the show at Madison Square in New York. Mr. Cook and his father visited this show and won 23 firsts out of 25, then on to Boston and Chicago. They brought 108 birds and sold 107. This was in 1902, and since then they made the raising of Orpingtons worth while in the United States.

Mr. Cook reports that people told them that it would be impossible to sell a bird for more than $50. They said nothing but thought the more, and by the end of the week all their best birds were sold for $200 each, and breeders were looking for more.

After the shows in America, Mr. Cook sailed for England then to Belgium and France to some shows, and back to South Africa, where he started another farm at Johannesburg, having a town office in that town, and the farm eighteen miles out at Misgund, a ride on horseback of thirty-six miles every day. There Mr. Cook demonstrated that an egg will stand more rough usage than was thought possible and still hatch. He tied a box of thirteen eggs on my back, and rode thirty-six miles each day for two weeks, and jumped everything in the way, then set the eggs under a hen and hatched and raised ten good chicks”.

That article said Cook had shown birds and lectured in South Central and Northern Africa, Tasmania, India, Ceylon, New Zealand, South America, Bermuda, Russia, Spain, and Austria.

“It was in 1904 that he came to this country to live [U.S.], and he has never regretted it, and has succeeded in building up one of the largest poultry businesses in the world”. It was in 1904 that Percy’s father died. – Poultry Success. Dec. 1916.

Percy Alexander Cook was born in 1882 and was involved in poultry raising by the time he was seven years old. He married the very wealthy Beatrice M. Davidson on Jan. 2, 1915, the ceremony taking place at the home of the bride’s mother, Mrs. Anna F. Davidson in Saratoga, NY. Beatrice was 34 years old when the couple married. The couple honeymooned in Bermuda and Florida.

Beatrice Cook and her mother were well placed financially in the motor car industry prior to her marriage with Percy which meant they were a very wealthy couple. Margaret E. Knight and Anna Davidson, of Saratoga Springs, received credit for a patent on a “resilient wheel” in 1910. Anna and Beatrice were listed as Corporators for K-D Motor Co. with $100,000 capital to manufacture motors the same year.

“The Knight-Davidson [K-D] Motor Co. was formed with three women, namely, the inventor of the motor, Margaret E. Knight of South Farmington, Mass; Anna E. Davidson and Beatrice M. Davidson, both of 259 Union Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY.” For three women to form a company with that much working capital in 1912, was unheard of. They were certainly ahead of their time.

These ladies were related, however the exact nature of their kinship is not known. Over the course of 45 years Knight was granted 22 patents. Her first was for a machine that manufactured “satchel-bottomed” paper bags [modern grocery bag], her last for improvements in the internal combustion engine in 1915. Knight was awarded the Decoration of the Royal Legion of Honour by Queen Victoria in 1871.

The K-D Motor Co. produced an automobile with the little known K-D engine invented by Knight and Anna Davidson. It was a five passenger touring car and it sold for $6,000.

An obituary in The Westfield Leader [NJ] on November 20, 1958 for Mrs. Percy Cook says she died Monday, Nov. 10 at Cook Island, Summerland Key, Fla. She was “of the Cook Bird Farm, Route 22. She was the wife of Capt. Percy A. Cook, noted sea explorer and retired officer of the British and U.S. navies”. She was buried in Key West, FL. As an author I am reluctant to pass along information without being certain of the facts, in this case I am not certain this refers to the Percy Cook of Wm. Cook & Sons, but it certainly does seem to. The obituary appeared in a New Jersey newspaper where the Cooks were known to live, it references Cook bird farm, and it is true that Percy Cook, son of William, served in the British and American navies, having achieved at least the rank of Lieutenant. The reader will decide whether or not the obituary applies. No obituary was found for Percy as of this writing.

In 1909, Percy Cook attended the Crystal Palace Show after which he brought home to New Jersey 250 Orpingtons, several of which had won first prizes at the show. [This may have been the same year his father exhibited poultry at that facility.] In 1914, he was elected Vice President of the American White Orpington Club and served on the Executive Committee. – American Poultry Advocate. April 1914. – Poultry Journal. April 1909.

After William Cook showed Orpingtons in Boston, New York, Chicago, etc. demand was high and Percy opened the breeding yard at Scotch Plains, N. J., also named Wm. Cook & Sons, to help fill orders for chicks and eggs. “Every one of the old school remembers Peggy the Kellerstrass White Orpington hen valued at $10,000., a 99 score fowl. The many eggs laid by that hen and her prodigy sold at $5 an egg”.

“About 1,500 fowls, including all the varieties of Orpingtons are kept constantly on hand and fresh pedigreed birds are imported from England at the rate of four to six hundred a month. Thus purchasers are sure of stock directly imported from the offspring of the original flock or from birds raised in America from the same stock; the same may be said of the eggs. A careful record is kept of every bird sold so that if a buyer wishes unrelated fowls for the sake of new blood they can always be furnished to him. All fowls coming from the Wm. Cook & Sons Farms are guaranteed to be in good condition.” – Country Life in America. March 1905.

American Poultry Journal called William Cook & Sons the, “well-known originators of all the Orpingtons”. They voiced the opinion that Scotch Plains would have been better called Cookstown, “as nearly everything belongs to them anyway”. Their record was over 12,000 first prizes won in the U.S. shows and the exhibition at the Crystal Palace in England. – June 1910.

“Cook’s Farm”, operated by Percy Cook was once owned by Wesley Roll, a local farmer. It sat on the, “old Springfield Road”, between Springfield and Scotch Plains, NJ. The Roll home was torn down prior to 1855 when Wesley Roll died. Ownership of the property passed to at least one other party who then sold it to Percy Cook about 1904. – Franz, R. J. The Roll Family Windmill: Genealoty of the Roll Family. 1977. http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~windmill/html/letter.html

“During the World War Percy joined the forces of the United States in Uncle Sam’s uniform, and the plant at Scotch Plains discontinued furnishing stock, but under a skillful poultryman the breeding stock was kept up and increased in order to take care of the demand after the war. I had a long talk with Mr. Cook a short time ago and he told me he was proud to say that his stock is better than ever and the stock and eggs he will sell will sure make his customers happy. Besides being the originator and breeder of Orpingtons, Mr. Cook breeds most every kind of water fowl and ornamental bird. He is also a lover of animals even to lions. One large African lion used to be chained like a huge dog on the front lawn. Instead of a flivver [car] Percy Cook rides in an airplane.” – Poultry Success. June 1921.

The ornamental fowl shown by William Cook & Sons, Scotch Plaines, NJ in Atlantic City included: cranes from Austria, India, and Madagascar; white and gray Java Sparrows; Cut-throat and assorted Finches; Austrian Paraquets; talking Beebee Parrots; Brazilian Cardinals, Canaries, and the Dove with the bleeding heart. Besides, they showed Buff Orpington Ducks from England; Cayuga Ducks from East Indies; Mallard, Pin Tail and White Call Ducks from America; Rouen Ducks from France; Famosa Teal Ducks from East Indies; Chinese Mandarin Ducks from China; Tree Ducks from Japan; and a White Trumpeter Swan from America. He also showed Black, Buff, and Blue Orpington chickens. – American Poultry Advocate. Sept. 1913.

Many of the land birds were killed or scattered when a storm blew away the aviary in which they were housed. There were twelve species of cranes, “some costing up to $200 each”, many pheasants and other birds. “Up to the present all the cranes, peafowl, and storks have been caught, and a number of the pheasants but some three dozen are still at liberty but around the place, they will now be left to roam around the gardens and make rather a pretty sight…The damage done amounted to about $2,000 but no part of the poultry plant suffered.” Percy had won 170 first and 106 second prizes during the year 1913 alone.

Percy sold various birds other than chickens and ducks from the New Jersey plant which incidentally was referred to as the largest in America. “Wm. Cook & Sons also breed a fine line of ornamental land and water fowls that they offer at reasonable prices.”

Something happened just prior to 1913 that caused a reduction in orders for chickens, not just from the Cook’s, but nationwide. What exactly caused the “nationwide panic…which has affected the demand for all varieties of poultry more or less”, is not yet known, but Percy Cook said in an interview with Poultry Success that Wm. Cook & Sons was seeing a renewed interest in Orpingtons and an increase in orders. Perhaps the panic was WWI (1914-1918), but it seems a little odd that economic recovery would come during the war. – Dec. 1916.

William’s son, Albert Loxley Cook, established and managed a branch of the business in South Africa and the Orpington club of South Africa still exists today.

Arthur C. Gilbert, Cook’s son-in-law, continued to show Orpingtons after William Cook died, exhibiting birds in a show at Madison Square Garden in Feb. 1905 for which he took several prizes and was still showing blue Orpingtons in Madison Square Garden in April 1918. He was almost certainly living in the U.S. at that time as the American Poultry Journal noted that “A. C. Gilbert, who for a number of years was manager of William Cook & Sons plant in England, has accepted the position of assistant manager of the American plant. P. A. [Percy] Cook is still active manager and will continue to personally attend to the selection of all orders. Both Mr. Cook and Mr. Gilbert are well known in Orpington circles”.

William Henry Cook moved his business to Orpington where he seems to have had great success, enjoying, in addition to his mail orders, increased chance sales at his farm from passengers arriving or departing from the train station as his farm sat within sight of the station and the name Cook was easily recognized by everyone interested in poultry. William Henry Cook operated his business until he retired at age 75 in 1949. He died the next year in London.

His sister, Elizabeth Jane, produced two editions of her father’s book, “The Practical Poultry Breeder and Feeder”. She managed William Cook & Sons until 1936 when the company may have gone bankrupt. She died in 1947 at home in Orpington House. Some accounts say she died of a massive stroke, another says she was attacked and may have died of injuries afterward. Her actual cause of death remains unknown.

Copyright 2014, Victoria Rumble
TheHistoricFoodie is a copyrighted site.©

See: Thompson, J. M. “The Orpington Ducks”,

http://albc-usa.etapwss.com/images/uploads/docs/The_Orpington_Ducks_2013.pdf

http://www.unitedorpingtonclub.com
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Show Poultry of South Africa
OrpingtonHistory.org
Nielson, Bent. “The Story of Orpington”. Translated online.
The Poultry Item. April 1918.
Ohio Farmer. Aug. 12, 1916
The Westfield Leader [NJ] on November 20, 1958
Poultry Success. Feb. 1916.
Poultry. April 1906
Poultry Success. March 1916.
Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent Office. 1912.
Motor World. June 27, 1912. NY.
Automobile Topics. June 29, 1912.
Khan, B. Zorina. The Democratization of Invention. 2005. NY.
1901 England census

Orpingtons: Dual-Purpose Winners

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dual purpose chicken, Orpingtons, William Cook & Sons

Non-commercial chicken enthusiasts often don’t want to, or can’t, keep large numbers of chickens but want to get meat and eggs from their efforts, thus enters the dual-purpose breeds. Dual-purpose chickens are good layers and also produce tender delicious flesh for the table. The down side is they don’t grow as quickly as assembly line chickens but the quality over-compensates for the extra time to reach maturity. The four most prominent all-purpose breeds of poultry in America were the Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Wyandottes, and Orpingtons.

In 1890/91, Mr. William Cook exhibited the first Orpingtons shown in America under the guidance of the Massachusetts Poultry Assoc. After Mr. Cook died, his son said it took Mr. Cook 10 years to create the Orpington breed. The first variety was the single comb black. The Buff Orpington single comb followed shown in 1899 in Madison Square Garden.

Mr. William Cook was both a well informed and talented breeder and a phenomenal businessman. Through the late 19th and mid-20th centuries the Orpingtons were an outstanding success and for many they are still the breed of choice.

[William Cook, Creator of the Orpingtons]

In 1912, Thomas McGrew said, “The first Buff Orpington fowls were made by William Cook, of Orpington County, Kent, England, [1886] who set out to produce the best all-purpose breed by crossing, “Minorca cocks with Black Plymouth Rock hens, then clean-leg Langshan cocks were bred to the above hens”. Another account says Golden Spangled Hamburgs and Buff Cochins were crossed and then those offspring were bred to dark or colored Dorkings. Those offspring were then bred to Buff Cochins and thus was born the Buff Orpington.

“When Mr. Cook decided to give to the world the Orpington fowl he did a service to the poultry fraternity that never can be repaid. It consisted in furnishing us with one of the best and most popular varieties of fowls that has ever been dreamed of. They surely can be termed the sporting and utility variety as there is no better variety for family use, or one that gives the poultryman more genuine pleasure to produce and exhibit.” – The article noted that Wm. Cook & Sons had taken over 13,000 first place prizes, not counting any of the others for 2nd or 3rd place. “Suffice it to state that they have won at all the largest and most important shows in America from one end to the other.” – The Poultry Item. Jan. and April 1914.

One of the goals in breeding them was to get a white-skinned dual-purpose breed for the English market. Americans usually preferred yellow-skin, but the English had a different preference. Mr. Cook compared his Orpingtons to turkeys in flavor and in the color of the meat

Mr. Cook, proprietor of William Cook & Sons, showed two of his Orpingtons at the Crystal Palace, after which he received orders for birds he could not fill because he only had the stock birds he was using as breeders. Sometime later he did sell two hundred sittings of eggs and in 1887 they were acknowledged as a pure breed. A club was established that year to promote the breed. [The Crystal Palace was built in 1851 and stood until it was destroyed by fire in 1936 so it is difficult to attach a date to Mr. Cook’s presentation.]

The marketing strategy for pure Buff Orpingtons worked so well it was impossible to keep up with the demand and some unscrupulous poultry yards began to cash in on Mr. Cook’s success by selling chicks as Buff Orpingtons which were just the offspring of Buff Cochins and Dorkings. One English breeder said up to 75% of chicks sold as Buff Orpingtons were not. “Anything bearing the name Buff Orpington was saleable, or as a Lincolnshire breeder wrote us, ‘If I call my birds Lincolnshire Buff, I cannot get more than 4 s. each for them; if I call them Buff Orpingtons, they readily sell at 10 s. each’”. There is little wonder that advertisements for Cook & Sons promised pure bred chickens from the original strain.

Cook’s second variety was the, buff followed by white, Jubilee (speckled) and Spangled (mottled). It is difficult to tell who actually created the blue. Some accounts say Cook’s son-in-law, Arthur C. Gilbert, should receive credit, some sources give credit to Mr. Cook’s daughter, Elizabeth Jane Cook Clarke.

Elizabeth Jane has also been credited with having bred the first Cuckoo in 1907.

The Jubilee Orpington was named for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (a commemoration of the queen’s 60 years on the throne). Mr. Cook was able to present some Jubilee Orpingtons to Queen Victoria during the Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

Most people couldn’t tell any real difference in productivity or flavor between one color and another. Mr. Cook created the many colors so that growers might choose a color that appealed to them.

“The Orpingtons have made a reputation for themselves as the best winter egg producers we have, and the reputation is increasing by leaps and bounds, because the fowls live up to expectations when given half a show.

The chicks are hardy, quick growers and until they begin to run to leg are always ready to sell for broilers or fryers. As roasters they are world beaters and the most remarkable feature of the Orpington hen is, that it continues to pay its board until six or seven years old. At three years old they are in their prime and will lay quite as many eggs as in the first year if kept from putting on fat. This can be done with exercise and correct feeding”.

Orpingtons lay somewhere around 200 light brown eggs per year on average, and continue to lay through winter. They will go broody and are good mothers.

The Black Australorp was bred from the original Black Orpingtons as created by Cook. It was produced in an effort to tailor the Orpington for South African commercial production.

William Cook also bred dual-purpose Orpington ducks in several colors. The duck is considered “threatened” by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The breed was recognized in England in 1910 and in America in 1914.

See: Drevenstedt, John Henry. “Standard-bred Orpingtons, Black, Buff and White. 1911. Quincy, IL.
Wheeler, Arthur Stanley. “Profitable breeds of Poultry”. 1912. London.
Swaysgood, Susan. “California Poultry Practice”. 1915. San Francisco.
Basley, A. “Western Poultry Book. 1912.

Bourbon Red Turkeys

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bourbon red turkey

Bourbon Red turkeys originated in Bourbon County, KY, probably a cross between the wild turkeys found in mountainous areas and white domestic turkeys. The American Standard of Perfection accepts Bourbon Co., KY as their home and indicated they descended from the wild yellow turkey. They found their way into the Ohio and then to other areas, and were admitted to the American Standard in 1910.

There are naturally a few contradictory accounts regarding the origins of this majestic bird. One school of thought says they were bred in Pennsylvania where it descended from the Tuscarora red and Buffs. That source says from Pennsylvania they were taken to Kentucky where the color was enhanced. With either story, the bird as we know it seems to have come from Kentucky.

Breeders claimed the bourbon reds were more disease-resistant than other breeds, some of which were susceptible to blackhead.

Reds have pin feathers that, “did not show as plainly as darker colored birds, being nearly the color of the skin”, and poults are larger when hatched and also more disease resistant. One breeder said the hens layed larger clutches of eggs, up to as many as 30, they were great rangers, always returning at night. “They are well feathered, and endure the cold winters without shelter. They make fine market birds, having plump, yellow-skinned carcasses…”. The breeder went on to say that if there was a plentiful supply of grasshoppers and other insects, berries, etc. they required no feeding at all. They do certainly enjoy a juicy grasshopper or cricket.

Bourbon reds were described in the Standard of Perfection as being “deep brownish-red” with the head being rich red changeable to bluish white”. The throat wattle is “rich red changeable to bluish white”. The wing bows are “deep brownish red; primaries and secondaries white.” The tail is white. Shanks and toes are reddish-pink. When the males drop their wings the white feathers stand out against the deep cinnamon color giving them a rather striking appearance.

The reds don’t mature as fast as the assembly-line white broad-breasted, so the breed probably wouldn’t be a good first choice if the goal is to get them to weight as fast as possible for market.

Those who appreciate the beauty and the personal characteristics of heritage breeds might look a little closer. A true heritage breed is defined as one that reproduces naturally and grows slowly feeding on its own in the outdoors. Mine meet those requirements although I do keep them in a movable enclosure to keep my girls from flying off to join their wild counterparts and to protect them from preditors. Their pen can easily be moved to allow them access to tender fresh clean grass.

Toms top out at about 23 lbs., hens at around 12, down somewhat from 100 years ago when the toms often reached 30 lbs. Reds are on a “watch” list meaning that while they aren’t common enough to become lost in the shuffle, they aren’t critically endangered either, and I like being able to keep this fine old breed going.

My turkeys like scratch feed, bugs, and greens or grass. They aren’t as fond of cracked corn as the scratch though I sometimes mix extra corn into the scratch. I’ve planted a patch of greens primarily for them, but I do hope to gather a few for myself as well. I add 1 to 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to each gallon of water for them to promote good health through probiotics.

My tom is heavier than his ladies and doesn’t fly as well, but he can get himself hoisted onto the roosting pole in the enclosure at night. My plan is to replace him with a younger, perhaps more virile, fellow within the next year or two and retire the present laird after which he will have free run of the place to do as he will.

Sources: “The Country Life”. Vol. 23. Nov. 1912.
McGrew, Thomas Fletcher. “The Book of Poultry”. 1921.
“The American Standard of Perfection”. 1910.

Driving Hogs

Tags

driving hogs

The idea for today’s post came from the book, “Cracker Culture: Celtic Ways in the Old South”, by Grady McWhiney. In the chapter on herding, he discusses driving free-range hogs to market saying, “Throughout the antebellum period Southerners drove enormous herds of livestock over long distances to market. Thousands of swine went east, north, and south each year along established routes.” He went on to share numbers showing more hogs were herded between 1866 and 1880 than cattle.

In 1820, Winchester, Virginia passed an act to the effect that citizens within the town could not keep hogs and let them go at will because doing so tended to spoil the water for human consumption. The act, however, did not limit a non-resident from driving his hogs through the town in order to get them to market, to butcher them, or to drive them from one plantation to another. – March 1st, 1761.

Just what was it like herding hogs? “The hog is one of the most difficult and unsatisfactory animals to drive and particularly so if an effort is made to force the animal or animals in question. On the other hand, hogs are very easy animals to lead if they are trained to it, and the best way to train them is to get them in the habit of following a man with some feed, which feed they get after they have followed him a certain distance.” This is an excellent example of how a thing was not hard to accomplish when one knew how, but in later years when the knowledge was lost tended to seem very difficult.

How many head could be driven at a time? For the answer to that we look at an account from an old retired farmer in Missouri. He noted seeing 2,000 hogs pass through Columbia on the way to St. Louis. They were divided into, “lots of convenient size. The drovers had long whips which they cracked as they went along”. Cracking the whips was accepted, but striking the hogs with the whip was not as it bruised the meat.

The gentleman claimed that ten miles per day was about the most that could be covered and except for the man in charge the drovers walked along with the herd. The man on horseback was responsible for riding ahead to procure corn to feed the hogs when stopped for the night.

Indeed, farmers often profited from the sale of corn to the hog drovers along established routes. Some farmers planted large fields of corn for this purpose and rode several miles out to meet with the drovers to negotiate the price of said corn. “It is said that the soil of Teay’s valley [W. VA] was worn out by continued cultivation of corn to supply the demand of hog traffic”.

“It was generally the depth of winter during the hog-driving season”, and the drovers found lodgings at a tavern or a farmhouse, most having a room set aside for the use of such persons. When the rivers were frozen hard enough the hogs were marched across at other times they were ferried across.

“The present generation is little aware of the long distances which hogs used to travel during the thirties and forties of last century [1830-40]”, up to the use of the railroads. The railroads eliminated the need to drive large herds but did not bring about an instant end to hog driving because small farmers who could not afford to ship by rail had no choice but to continue to drive their hogs to market.

The books of a Kentucky man were examined and quoted in a book published in 1838 showing the number of animals that had passed his door headed South in 1835. There were 4,716 horses, 1,951 mules, 2,485 beeves, 2,887 shoats, 1,320 sheep, and 69,187 hogs.

As one would expect, the extreme heat and humidity of July and August was noted to make the process more difficult and sometimes the condition of hogs that had been herded some distance at that time of year suffered.

A Cincinnati paper contained an article on pork coming in for slaughter saying that farmers sometimes banded together, each having his own hogs intermingled in the numbers being driven to market, while others chose to sell their hogs to drovers who resold them upon reaching Cincinnati. The greatest danger in combining animals in this way was the spread of disease from sick animals.

Who was doing the driving? In short, just about anybody. Numerous sources depict boys and men of various stations taking the job of driving hogs in order to make wages. Horace Greely noted women doing hard work around farms including driving hogs to and from market. Even the military got into the act of driving hogs as evidenced by a letter from G. W. Randolph, Secretary of War, to General Marshall asking if his cavalry could be employed in driving hogs out of eastern Kentucky [Nov. 12, 1862).

With the introduction of refrigeration, driving hogs to a major market was no longer necessary as they could be processed in smaller numbers wherever needed. While Hollywood isn’t likely to depict a hog drive in a movie, I think we’ll all agree it was big business, as much so as herding cows. ©

SOURCES:
Guilford, William Sumner. “California Hog Book”. 1915. San Francisco.
“Transactions of the Illinois State Agricultural Society”. 1870. Springfield.
Henning, William Waller. “The Statutes at Large”. 1820. Richmond.
Missouri Dept. of Agriculture. “Bulletin”. Vol. 20. Nov. 1920.
U.S. War Dept. “The War of the Rebellion”.
“The Cultivator”. May 1843. Albany, NY.
West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey”. “Fayette County”. Vol. 2. 1919.
“The Wool Grower and Magazine of Agriculture and Horticulture”. August 1851.

A Quick Look at FOOD ADULTERATIONS©

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food adulteration, Fredrick Accum

The simplest definition of an adulteration in food means something in it has been replaced with a cheaper filler which may or may not be bad for us, but which certainly is not worth the price we’re paying for what we think is contained within the product. Papers were advising of the adulteration of foods by the mid-1700’s, and by 1820 Fredrick Accum penned a full volume on the adulterations of food. – “A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons”. 1820. London.

The following are just a few products which may be in your pantry that aren’t what they seem.

1. Ground red pepper is often used to flavor ginger snaps. Stauffer’s ginger snaps, and probably many others, especially cheaper brands, use ground red pepper to boost the hot spiciness of their ginger snaps. The pepper is less expensive so profits are boosted for the companies that use it. Stauffer’s is honest enough to put it on the label instead of hiding it under the ubiquitous, “natural flavor”. Archway’s “spices” could be anything.

2. Wasabi is difficult to grow and expensive plus because it is not oil-based, its flavor begins to diminish as soon as it is prepared unlike chili peppers. Except for that sold in specialty grocery stores and very high-end restaurants, Wasabi sold in the U.S. is actually a mixture of horseradish, mustard, green food coloring and probably starch. Remember that and read the ingredients when comparing prices of various brands. The same goes for products such as Wasabi peas or Wasabi sauce – if horseradish is listed in the ingredients, there is little to no actual wasabi in the product.

“Sushi sonic 100% real powdered wasabi, 1.5 ounce jar a source of authentic powdered wasabi (Wasabia japonica), and blended with horseradish and mustard for Sushi Sonic 46% Real Wasabi Powder, giving sushi lovers the chance to experience genuine wasabi flavor and health benefits while still having that eye-wateringly pungent taste and aroma they expect in their favorite condiment. Traditionally used as a condiment with sushi, wasabi is also a lively addition to sauces and dressings. To prepare, mix a sufficient amount of lukewarm water with a small quantity of wasabi powder to form a smooth, thick paste. Cover and let stand 10 minutes.” On Amazon.com this product sells for $7.95 or $5.30 per oz.

Roland Wasabi paste in the tube contains no actual wasabi according to the ingredients list on the product, “horseradish and soybean oil”, and while it isn’t listed in the ingredients, it obviously has green coloring. It averages $1.41 per oz. Compare that with S&B brand on which the ingredients are listed as “horseradish, lactose (milk), rice bran oil, sorbitol, salt, water, natural flavor, turmeric, xanthan gum, citric acid, artificial color (FD & C Yellow #5, FD & C Blue #1)”. It still contains no actual wasabi, and look at all those “nice” artificial colors and mysterious ingredients lumped under “natural flavor”.

3. Orange juice listed as “all natural 100% juice” is actually flavored with a product extracted from oils and orange essence. You may ask why bottlers need to flavor natural orange juice with orange oils. Large vats of freshly squeezed orange juice are stored for up to a year after removing the oxygen from the container and removing the oxygen removes the flavor along with it. According to Alyssa Hamilton, researcher and writer, the same folks who develop fragrances for perfume companies develop the flavor packets that go back into the juice to flavor it before it is packaged and shipped to markets. Yum. If you’ve ever considered why your family may favor one brand over another when it’s all supposed to be 100% juice it is because the flavor packets differ from one manufacturer to another, some sweeter, others more tart. Want real orange juice as Mother Nature made it? Squeeze your own.

4. Do you purchase some of the more expensive varieties of juice such as mango, passion fruit, or Trop50’s Pomegranate Blueberry juice? Save your money, there is more apple juice in many of these products than the more expensive fruits. Why? It’s simple – apple juice is cheap filler and the label can still read, “100% juice”. The bulk of juices on the market contain apple juice. The Illinois State Food Commissioner wrote in 1908, “Apple juice is the cheapest of the fruit juices used in the manufacture of jellies and jams”, and the same goes for juice.

Grape juice and pear juice are sometimes added to more exotic and more expensive fruits as fillers and still meet the criteria for 100% juice. While grape, apple, or pear juices aren’t necessarily harmful they could be for someone allergic to apples, grapes, or pears. More importantly why would you pay more for an exotic juice that is still largely apple?

“OCEAN SPRAY, 100% CRANBERRY JUICE, NO SUGAR ADDED, Ingredients: Filtered Water, Grape Juice Concentrate and Cranberry Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavors, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).” Because grape juice is listed in the ingredients before cranberry juice, the larger part of the product is grape despite the name on the bottle.
Did you know that Tropicana whose juice is billed as a healthy natural beverage, is owned by the soft drink giant and sugar-peddler, PepsiCo? They don’t own, but partnership with, Dole and so have their finger in the pot, so to speak, for Dole brand fruit juice as well.

“DOLE, MANGO LIME FIESTA, Ingredients: Filtered water, Apple Juice Concentrate, White Grape Juice Concentrate, Mango Juice Concentrate, Lime Juice Concentrate, Clarified Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavors and Ascorbid Acid (Vitamin C)”. On this label we see that apple and grape are the primary ingredients although it is sold as mango.

Perhaps the word “Fiesta” entitles Dole to substitute cheaper ingredients so let’s look at another of their products. “DOLE, JUICE, CHILLED PINEAPPLE ORANGE BANANA, Ingredients: Filtered Water, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Apple Juice Concentrate, Orange Juice Concentrate, Banana Puree, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) and Natural Flavors. We still have a juice made up largely of apple juice in which apple is not included in the name.

Welch’s isn’t above misinforming shoppers about what is in their juice either. Their 100% Juice, white grape strawberry contains apple juice, as does their white grape peach. Read the labels!

Incidentally, in closing, PepsiCo shelled out $1,716,300. in opposing California Proposition 37 which would have mandated labeling on products containing genetically modified crops – think about all that high fructose sweetener in soft drinks and juice or fruit juice drinks the next time you purchase one of their products. Because of the added high fructose corn syrup, studies have shown that 80% of processed foods contain GMO’s.

MORE ON GINGER ALE©

Tags

ginger ale, ginger beer, gingerade

This post may be considered a prequel to the previous post on making ginger ale as it will explore the earliest origins of what became one of the most popular drinks of the 20th century.

In the 18th century Ginger Beer was, “among the most popular drinks in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. This Ginger Beer was put up in stone bottles, and in order to mature it, several weeks’ storage was required before it could be sold for consumption”.

About 1850 a beverage was introduced which by reducing the aging process produced a clear beverage [ginger beer was cloudy] that still offered, “the pungent…taste and warmth-giving to the stomach”. Many found the clear product more pleasing in appearance but the flavor was less stable, a condition that would be remedied with perfecting the carbonation process. It was during this early period that bottlers began boosting the spicy flavor of their products for storage by adding, “chillipods”.

Supposedly the first Ginger Ale was exhibited at an exhibition in London in 1851. It was alcoholic and not particularly well received until through the addition of chili peppers to boost the flavor and ridding it of albuminous matter which fermented in storage and sometimes caused a gelatinous consistency , a clear and flavorful beverage emerged. The alcohol content was then, “trace”, and ginger ale, now billed as highly temperate, began a journey toward unbelievable popularity in 1852.

It wasn’t imported into the U.S. until 1866, but within the year it was being manufactured in New York by Henry Downs. – “American Bottler”. Vol. 30. April 15, 1910.

In 1845, that gelatinous consistency was further described as, “a thick, slimy consistence”, in drinks that were given an effervescent quality by injecting carbonic acid, the common process for the time. The thickening of contents was common regardless of which bottler produced them and occurred when flavored with lemon instead of ginger. – “The Annals and Magazine of Natural History”. Vol. 17. Jan. 1846.

A hundred years ago ginger ale was described as having a hold on the American people which far surpassed any other, “of the so-called soft drinks”, one which had been established as a, “stand-by”, and was bottled by every maker of such beverages. The addition of chili peppers had become a hotly contested issue by the turn of the 20th century prompting hearings to determine whether their use was required in labeling.

“But ginger ale, to be worthy of the name, must have certain qualities which are indispensable. First, it must be absolutely pure. By that, we mean that it must be exactly what its name implies. It must be made of ginger, not a mixture of capsicum or any other harmful substances as a substitute. Made in this way it is the ‘Prince of Beverages,’ always assuming that it is bottled with pure water.”

In other words, the classic warmth of ginger was being replaced with much cheaper but just as warm peppers. Lack of honesty in labeling is nothing new. Pepper soda doesn’t sound as appetizing as ginger ale and bottlers who chose to use only genuine ginger wanted their products distinguished from those with adulterants. Makers of pure ginger ale billed it as drinkable in any quantity, by those of any age, and at any time of day with no injurious effects.

Definitions of various terms regarding ginger ale were published in “Brewers Journal” in July 1922 under the title, “The Ginger Ale Controversy Settled”.

“Ginger Ale Flavor, Ginger Ale Concentrate, is the flavoring product in which ginger is the essential constituent, with or without other aromatic and pungent ingredients, citrus oils, and fruit juices.

Ginger Ale is the carbonated beverage prepared from Ginger Ale Flavor, sugar (sucrose) syrup, harmless organic acid, potable water and caramel color….

Ginger Ale with Capsicum Flavor is the water-soluble product obtained from ginger and capsicum, with or without other flavoring substances. The predominating flavor of the product is that of ginger.”

Manufacturers who used capsicum and color to make ginger ale were instructed to post those ingredients on the labels, “with as large type as ‘Ginger Ale’”.

Let’s conclude with some of the ways Ginger Ale and Ginger Syrup were used throughout the 20th century.

GINGER ALE RECIPES were published throughout the 20th century. The following were taken from “The Northwestern Druggist”. Aug. 1922.

Ginger Drake
1 oz. pineapple syrup, 1 oz. lime syrup, 5 oz. carbonated water, 3 oz. domestic ginger ale. Mix the syrups, add the carbonated water, and then float the ginger ale on top of this.

Ginger Soda
2 oz. ginger ale, 1 oz. lemon syrup, 1 oz. orange syrup, slice of orange, slice of lemon, 8 oz. carbonated water. Mix the syrups, then add the carbonated water and ginger ale and mix again. Decorate with slices of orange and lemon.

Orange-Ginger
1 oz. orange syrup, 4 oz. ginger ale, 3 oz. carbon ated water, sprig of mint. Mix the syrup with the carbonated water and ginger ale, add the sprig of mint, and serve.
Canada Dry Ginger Ale advertised three different ways to use ginger ale in “Life” magazine in April 1958, the first of which was mixing ginger ale and cold milk in a 1 to 1 ratio. The next was to heat 2 cups of ginger ale to boiling and stir in fruit flavored gelatin, mix, and refrigerate to produce, “Bright ginger flavor and livelier carbonation” in gelatin. Lastly, ginger ale was poured into a tall glass and topped with ice cream to make a float.

Using ginger ale in gelatin wasn’t new though as recipes had been published for some 30 years or more by the time Canada Dry’s advertisement appeared in print.

In 1919, Helen Moore included a whole chapter on drinks made with ginger ale and the remainder of the book was also liberally filled with drinks and punches in which ginger ale or ginger syrup was, if not the star, a major player in their production. Among them were what I described in a previous post as one of our favorites – white grape juice and ginger ale over ice. “Put one pint of white grape juice, and one quart of ginger ale on ice until very cold. Mix together when ready to serve”.

Interesting mixtures included ginger and cider, pineapple, eggnog, lemon and sarsaparilla, grape and pineapple, etc. – “Uncle Sam’s Water Wagon”.

For a bracing winter beverage the “Confectioners’ and Baker’s Gazette” recommended combining 1 oz. of ginger syrup with ¼ of a large lemon, and filling the mug with hot water. – Jan. 10, 1915.

GINGER ALE: Home-made Goodness©

Tags

ginger ale, ginger beer, ginger syrup

Often in life there is good news and bad that can go hand in hand, in this article we’ll first discuss the disadvantages of drinking soda but then we’ll look at how to make a healthier alternative. It still contains sugar so remember, “All things in moderation”.
The terms ginger beer and ginger ale can be confusing. Authors have sought to define the two for over a hundred years. Apparently neither necessarily refers to an alcoholic content, although ginger beer can contain alcohol – up to 11%. The difference in intensity of the ginger flavor can vary with either.
Years ago I used to make the alcoholic version with yeast which went well up to a point. I hadn’t yet adopted the philosophy, “If it ain’t broken don’t fix it”, and decided to amp up the alcohol content by increasing the yeast. Can I tell you how big a mess exploding ginger beer makes? Now I prefer a non-alcoholic version and love the ability to prepare it from ginger syrup one glass at a time.
The Canada Dry folks, like many others, do not list the flavor ingredients on the label, instead, they lump everything under the title, “natural flavor”. That doesn’t sound bad until you realize that anything that comes from a plant or animal (any part of it) can be considered “natural”.
Title 21, Section 101, part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations says:
“The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”
By their definition a lot of things we’d never choose to eat can end up in our food or drink. Look up ingredients such as castoreum and you’ll see what I mean. Chances are a food or drink flavored with artificial vanilla, strawberry, or raspberry contains castoreum lumped in with other ingredients under the catch-all name of “natural flavor”. It is an exudate from the castor sacs of mature beavers, quite possibly mixed with beaver urine as the glands are located between the beaver’s pelvis and tail.
There are so many loop holes in food labeling just about anything could be lurking in the food on our plate or the soda in our glass and the FDA would be OK with it.
Ingredients on the label of Canada Dry ginger ale are carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium benzoate, “natural flavors” and caramel color. Since I haven’t observed their process, I cannot say with any certainty, but I suspect the ginger they claim to use is dried and not the fresh version as I find no need for caramel coloring with the recipe I drafted. See photo.
The dangers of high fructose corn syrup are too well known to need clarification so let’s skip to the innocuous term “caramel color”.
Rather than inundate the reader with foreign chemical terms, let’s look at what the Center for Science in the Public Interest has to say about the caramel color found in soft drinks.
“In contrast to the caramel one might make at home by melting sugar in a saucepan, the artificial brown coloring in colas and some other products is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures. Chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole and 4 methylimidazole, which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia in laboratory mice or rats”.
In government studies on the dangers of 4-Mel found in caramel color it was noted that it caused cancer in mice and it was found to be “possibly” carcinogenic in humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. For those who say the amount is negligible, I ask, why have any at all if you can produce a beverage at home that has none?
One bad nasty ingredient in your soda may be considered “safe”, but at the end of the day if we could peruse a total of all the bad nasties we’ve consumed within a 24 hour period and see how high the combined totals are, maybe we’d all be more diligent in eliminating them from our diets.

GINGER BEER. Oct. 2, 1824. “The Chemist”.
“Take three-quarters of an ounce of pounded ginger, half an ounce of cream of tartar, and one pound of lump sugar, (if any person does not like it very sweet, a less quantity of sugar may be used) and five quarts of water; boil the ginger in the water about half an hour, and then pour the whole on the sugar and cream of tartar. When nearly cold, put a table-spoonful of the best yeast on a piece of toasted bread, and add it to the mixture. When it has worked about twelve hours, or somewhat longer in cold weather, bottle it in stone bottles, and be careful to tie or wire down the corks, or they will fly out. In about three or four days it will be fit to drink, and will form a pleasant, refreshing summer beverage”. [The days of home-made yeast are relegated to the past for most of us so I’d suggest starting with a lesser amount of yeast and tweaking the recipe a little at a time until you are happy with the results.]
I read several versions of Ginger Syrup, many of which were described as being very spicy and because I wanted a light refreshing beverage rather than something that would numb my taste buds, I came up with my own version.
GINGER SYRUP
1 generous cup of sliced or coarsely chopped fresh ginger, peel it or not as you like
2 ½ to 3 cups sugar, raw sugar if you like
4 cups non-chlorinated water
Pinch of salt

Put all ingredients in a nonreactive pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 30 to 45 minutes (You should have about 3 cups of syrup). Remove from the heat and allow it to cool. Strain out the solids. Place the syrup in a covered container and refrigerate.

To use: Fill a glass with ice and add the ginger syrup with club soda (1 part syrup to 2 parts soda or to taste) and a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice if you like. I find it quite refreshing and tasty without the lemon.
I then dredged the ginger slices in sugar and popped them into a low oven (about 250 deg.) until they were dry but still chewy (2 to 3 hours). I’ll use the candied ginger in recipes or nibble on it as is.
See: ConsumerReports.org and http://www.cspinet.org/new/201102161.html.

AMERICAN CHICKEN BREEDS ©

Tags

heritage chickens; American chicken breeds

In 1917, the Dept. of Agriculture included in the American class of chickens the Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Java, Dominique, Rhode Island Red, and Buckeye. Plymouth Rocks included these varieties: Barred, White, Buff, Silver, Penciled, Partridge, and Columbian. The Wyandottes included White, Buff, Silver, Golden, Partridge, Silver Penciled, Columbian, and Black. Javas were either Black or Mottled. The Rhode Island Reds could be Single Comb, or Rose Comb.

It should be noted these are breeds that originated in the U.S., some older breeds were classed as English or other.

They were considered “general-purpose” breeds because they were good for both egg and meat production. All of them layed brown-shelled eggs, had yellow skins and shanks free from feathers – traits desirable in table fowl at the time. They were considered fairly good foragers.

They matured faster than meat breeds, but not as quickly as some of the breeds considered only for egg production. They were noted as good sitters and good mothers. “Where they are kept, natural methods of incubation and brooding can therefore be used”.

“The Plymouth Rock has been for years the most popular breed in the United States. The Barred Plymouth Rock was the original variety and was developed in the United States, various lines of blood being used in the making. It is probable that the Dominique, the Black Cochin, the Black Java, the Brahma, and the Pit Game were used for this purpose. The size and type or shape of all the varieties of Plymouth Rocks are supposed to be identical. In general the breed may be described as a good-sized, rather long-bodied chicken, with fairly prominent breast and good depth of body, showing when dressed a well-rounded, compact carcass. This breed has a single comb and yellow legs, bill, and skin. The standard weight of cocks is 9 ½ pounds; of hens, 7 ½ pounds; cockerels, 8 pounds; pullets, 6 pounds. They are layers of good-sized, brown-shelled eggs, and are reputed especially as winter layers.

The Barred Plymouth Rock…is by far the most popular general-purpose or farm fowl. This variety has so long been a favorite with the general public that the barred color is generally associated with quality in table fowls. The Barred Plymouth Rock plumage is a grayish white, each feather of which is crossed by dark bars which are almost black. It is desired that these bars should be as even in width, as parallel, as straight, and as well carried down to the skin as possible. Each feather should end with a narrow, dark tip. The barring in the hackle and saddle is narrower than in other sections. The alternating dark and light bars give a bluish cast or shade to the general color, which should be even throughout the surface. It is common for solid black feathers or feathers which are partly black to occur in practically all strains in this variety, but this should not be taken as a sign of impure breeding. Black spots are also common occurrences on the shanks, particularly in females, but this does not indicate impurity.

There is a decided tendency for the males of this variety to come lighter in color than the females, and for this reason breeders are usually obliged to resort to two separate matings, one for the production of males of standard or exhibition color and the other for the production of females of standard or exhibition color. This system of breeding is known as double mating. In mating for males of exhibition color a male of about standard color is used with medium dark females, or those two or three shades darker than females of exhibition color, in which the barring is as distinct and as narrow as possible, showing a clear-cut line between the black and white bars. This mating is known as the cockerel mating, because it produces a greater percentage of exhibition or standard-colored males, while the females produced are too dark in color for exhibition, but are suitable for continuing this line of breeding. In mating for females of exhibition color, females of about standard color are used with a medium light male or one that is two or three shades lighter than males of exhibition color, but which shows distinct barring and as strong barring in the undercolor as can be obtained. This mating is known as the pullet mating, because it produces a greater percentage of females of exhibition color, while the males produced are too light for exhibition, but may be used to continue this line of breeding.

The White Plymouth Rock…is the second most popular variety of this breed. All the characteristics of the White Plymouth Rock are supposed to be identical with those of the Barred Plymouth Rock except color…the White Plymouth Rock tends to run somewhat larger in size, and the type is a little more uniform and a little better than that of the Barred Plymouth Rock. In color the White Plymouth Rock should be a pure white throughout, free from black ticking and from any brassiness or creaminess.

The Buff Plymouth Rock is distinguished from the other Rocks by the color alone, which should be an even shade of golden buff throughout. Shafting, or the presence of feathers having a shaft of different color from the rest of the feather, and mealiness, or the presence of feathers sprinkled with lighter color as though powdered with meal, are undesirable. As deep an undercolor of buff as it is possible to obtain is desirable. There is a great difference of opinion as to what constitutes desirable buff color, some favoring the lighter color, approaching lemon, while others favor a much darker buff, approaching red. The important point is to have the shade as even as possible over the entire surface.

The Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock is one of the new varieties. Its plumage is distinctive and very beautiful. In general, the plumage of the male consists of a silver white top color, extending over the shoulders and back, the hackle and saddle striped with black. The rest of the body plumage, including the main tail feathers and sickles, is black. The wings when folded show a bar of black extending across below the shoulder. Below this the wing shows white, due to the white on the outside of the secondaries. In the female the general trend of color is gray, with delicate, distinct, concentric penciling of dark on each feather except the hackle, each feather of which is silvery white with a black center, showing a slight gray penciling, with the main tail feathers, which are black, with the two top feathers showing some penciling. The color of the plumage is practically the same as that of the Dark Brahma.

The Partridge Plymouth Rock is also one of the newer varieties of this breed. The coloring of this variety is very attractive and is practically the same as that of the Partridge Cochin and also of the Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock, except that the white of the Silver Penciled is replaced by red or reddish brown.

The Columbian Plymouth Rock, a variety of comparatively recent origin, is very attractive in coloring and has proved quite popular. In general the color is white, the hackle feathers being black with a narrow edging of white, and the main tail feathers black, the tail coverts being black with a distinct white lacing. The wings also carry some black on the primary and secondary feathers, which is almost hidden when the wings are folded. The color of this variety is practically the same as that of the Light Brahma.

The Wyandotte is a rose-comb breed and is characterized as a breed of curves. The body is comparatively round and set somewhat lower on the legs than the Plymouth Rock. It is inclined to be a looser feathered breed, and its general shape and character of feathering gives it an appearance of being somewhat short backed and short bodied. The Wyandotte is a breed which also was developed in the United States, and has become very popular. The Silver Wyandotte was the original variety, and it is generally believed that the Dark Brahma, the Silver-Spangled Hamburg, and the Buff Cochin played a part in its origin. It is somewhat smaller than the Plymouth Rock, the standard weight being, for the cock, 8 ½ pounds; hen, 6 ½ pounds; cockerel, 7 ½ pounds; pullet, 5 ½ pounds. The hens are fairly prolific layers of brown eggs, are reputed to be good winter layers, and the breed as a whole makes a fine table fowl. The young chickens do not tend to have the same leggy stage which is characteristic of the Rocks and most of the other general-purpose breeds, and the breed is therefore well suited for the production of broilers. Like the Plymouth Rock, all the varieties of this breed are yellow legged and yellow skinned, which adds to their market popularity.

In the Silver Wyandotte…the male has a silver-white back and saddle, the hackle and saddle feathers being striped with black. The feathers of the body and breast are white, each laced with a black edge. The main tail feathers are black. The fluff is a slate color with some gray mixture. The color of the female shows white feathers laced with black over the entire body except the hackle, which is black laced with white, and the main tail feathers, which are black, and some black in the wings, while the fluff is slate mixed with gray. The color combination and the character of markings of the Silver Wyandotte make this a very attractive variety.

In the Golden Wyandotte the general color scheme is the same as in the Silver Wyandotte, except that the white of the Silver variety is replaced with red and reddish brown. Like the Silver Wyandotte, the color and markings of the Golden are very attractive.

The White Wyandotte is undoubtedly the most popular variety of this breed. The color is white throughout, and should be free from any brassiness or creaminess or black ticking.

In the Buff Wyandotte the color should be an even shade of buff throughout, being identical with that of the Buff Plymouth Rock.

In the Black Wyandotte the color is black in all sections, showing a greenish sheen, free from purple barring. The undercolor is lighter, somewhat on the slate order.

In the Partridge Wyandotte the color is the same as in the Partridge Plymouth Rock. In the Silver-Penciled and Columbian Wyandottes…the color is the same as in the corresponding varieties of the Plymouth Rocks.

The Dominique is also one of the oldest of the American breeds. The Dominique color is associated in the minds of people throughout the country with the barnyard fowl and is frequently confused with the Barred Plymouth Rock color. The Dominique is somewhat smaller and somewhat slighter in body, with a tail somewhat longer and sickles more prominent, than the other American Breeds. This breed has a rose comb and yellow legs and skin. The hens lay brown-shelled eggs and are good table fowls, although somewhat smaller than the other general-purpose breeds. The standard weights for this breed are: Cock, 7 pounds; hen, 5 pounds; cockerel 6 pounds; pullet, 4 pounds. The pure-bred Dominique is not extensively kept at the present time in the United States.

In color of plumage the Dominique has a general bluish or slaty cast, the feathers in all sections being barred throughout with alternate, rather irregular dark and light bars. The markings somewhat resemble those of the Barred Plymouth Rock, but are less distinct, and lack the clean-cut character of the Plymouth Rock barring. Like the Barred Plymouth Rock, each feather should end with a dark tip. The Dominique male may be, and often is, one or two shades lighter than the female. Slate undercolor occurs throughout.

The Java is one of the oldest breeds developed in the United States. In general this fowl tends to be long in body and broad in back. The comb is single, and the legs of the Black variety are black, or black approaching yellow, while those of the Mottled variety are yellow and leaden blue. The color of the legs detracts somewhat from the fowl for market purposes. The skin, however, is yellow. The hens are good layers of brown-shelled eggs, and the fowls are suitable for table purposes. This breed is not very commonly found at the present time. The standard weights are: Cock 9 ½ pounds; hen, 7 ½ pounds; cockerel, 8 pounds; pullet, 6 ½ pounds.

There are two varieties of Javas, the Black and the Mottled. The color of the Black Java is black throughout, with a greenish sheen on the surface plumage. Purple barring is undesirable. In the Mottled Java the plumage is a mottled black and white throughout, the black being more plentiful than the white. The undercolor of the Mottled Java is slaty…

The Rhode Island Red…is one of the newer breeds which have been developed in this country. At the present time it bears an excellent reputation among the farmers and is kept very extensively throughout the farming districts. The breed originated in Rhode Island, where it was developed by the farmers engaged in poultry raising. The Malay, Buff Cochin, Buff Leghorn, and Wyandotte are said to have been used in its development.

In type the Rhode Island Red has a rather long, rectangular body and is somewhat rangier in appearance than the Plymouth Rock or the Wyandotte. The hens are prolific layers of brown-shelled eggs, and the breed makes a very suitable table fowl, having yellow legs and yellow skin. The Rhode Island Reds have enjoyed an excellent reputation for hardiness, which, in the main, they have well deserved. The standard weights for this breed are: Cock, 8 ½ pounds; hen, 6 ½ pounds; cockerel, 7 ½ pounds; pullet, 5 pounds.

There are two varieties of the Rhode Island Red which are identical in color and type, but one of which has a single comb and the other a rose comb.

In color the Rhode Island Red is a rich, dark red, approaching a mahogany. It is desired to have this color as even as possible over the entire surface. There is a tendency, however, for the hackle and the lower part of the saddle of the male to be lighter in color than the back and shoulders. The main tail feathers in both sexes are black, and the wings also show some black. In the hackle of the female there is also a slight ticking of black. The undercolor of all sections should be red, and free from a dark or slaty appearance, which is known as smut.

The Buckeyes are an American breed of comparatively recent origin. In type they approach somewhat to the Cornish, being erect and broad-breasted. The standard weights are: Cock, 9 pounds; hen, 6 ½ pounds; cockerel, 8 pounds; pullet, 5 ½ pounds. This breed has a pea comb, which doubtless comes from the Cornish blood used in originating it. The hens lay brown eggs. In color Buckeyes are mahogany bay, which is slightly darker on the wing bows of the males. The flight and tail feathers often carry black as well. The undercolor should be red, except in the back, where a bar of slate is desired.

Source: Farmer’s Bulletins. #806. April 1917. Pages 1-18.

Buffalo Meat and Preparing It. ©

Tags

buffalo marrow bones, buffalo tongue, roasted buffalo

©The following recipes may be considered a continuation on the post on buffalo [bison] in Alabama. Cookbooks weren’t being published in America during the heyday of buffalo cookery so while there are few actual recipes in early sources, there are many recorded instances of eating buffalo. As for the cooking, the following accounts, with a little imagination, will serve us well.

For this article, a buffalo ”chip” is not a piece of crunchy meat, and buffalo does not refer to a chicken wing swimming in hot sauce, or to a species of fish.

The prime cuts from a buffalo were the hump and the tongue followed in preference by the liver, ribs, and marrow bones. A sinful amount of meat went to waste when herds were slaughtered for their hides and, “the carcasses were left to the wolves and buzzards.” There was a market for salted buffalo tongues [sometimes referred to as pickled], but the harvesting was still sinfully wasteful, the tongue often being the only cut harvested from an animal.

Salted tongue, required removing enough of the salt to make it palatable when served. It was often boiled in successive waters (pouring off the water and replacing it with fresh water during the cooking process) or soaking it prior to cooking, again often in successive waters. “The salter [sic]meat is, the longer it should be boiled. If very salt, it is well to put it in soak over night; change the water while cooking…”. “Buffalo’s tongue should soak a day and a night, and boil as much as six hours”.

Buffalo ribs from the humps were much appreciated and could be roasted by propping them up near a fire. Let’s look at words penned b y Josiah Gregg for an idea of the quality of the meat that was so vastly wasted. “The flesh of the buffalo is, I think, as fine as any meat I ever tasted: The old hunter will not admit that there is anything equal to it. Much of its apparent savoriness, however, results perhaps from our sharpened ‘prairie appetites’ and our being usually upon salt provisions awhile before obtaining it. The flesh is of coarser texture than beef, more juicy, and the fat and lean better distributed. This meat is also very easy of digestion, possessing even aperients qualities. The circumstance that bulls of all ages, if fat, make good beef is a further proof of the superiority of buffalo meat…Of these, the udder is held as hardly second to the tongue in delicacy. But what the tail of the beaver is to the trapper, the tongue of the buffalo is to the hunter. Next to this are the marrow-bones, the tender-loins, and the hump-ribs.” The author acknowledged that many animals were wantonly slaughtered by travelers and hunters, but said hardly less was, “the still greater havoc made among them by the Indians, not only for meat, but often for the skins and tongues alone (for which they find a ready market amount their traders)…”.

Charles Murray said of choice cuts in the 1830’s, “…the ribs, and the back, especially the hump, are, if properly dressed, as sweet, tender, and delicious beef as the most delicate epicure could desire; and both the fat and marrow are certainly finer than those of any domesticated cattle…”.

Not sure what to do with marrow-bones? After roasting the bones, the marrow was removed. “…oh, shade of Eude, the marrow-bones! No man can guess what marrow amounts to until he has been to the Far West and eaten it as Wallace, who cooked on the plains for me, dressed it. The bone was brought to table in its full length, and they had some way of hitting it with the back of an axe which opened one side of it only, like the lid of a box. The bone, then, when this lid was removed, exposed in its entire length a regular white roll of unbroken marrow, beautifully done. When hot, as the lid had kept it, and put on thin toast, it was perfection! On inquiry I found that the two extreme ends of the marrow-bone only were placed on the red embers, and the heat of the bone itself dressed the marrow. As far as the bison meat went, it was precisely lean beef; with no more flavor than lean beef in England would have…“.

One writer wrote that it took a while to consume a whole buffalo which would have required smoking, drying, or salting to preserve it. “…for a long time, on the general bill of fare at Sydenham’s ranch, was buffalo rump, buffalo tongue, buffalo ribs, buffalo steak, boiled buffalo, jerked buffalo, and dried buffalo…”.

When cooked outdoors, rarely are vegetables or other dishes mentioned as accompaniments, the meat being consumed by itself or with bread or crackers and steaming hot coffee. “Meanwhile, the cook of each mess…has been preparing hot coffee; and offers it with the unleavened cakes which were baked over night against a spade or board, and some boiled or fried buffalo meat for breakfast: as a rarity, he gives them a morsel of fried pork.”

We can thank Frederick Townshend for a look at Native American cooking of buffalo meat, but we must look beyond his words for an accurate picture. Rare beef, or in this case buffalo, is much the standard today and would hardly be worth mentioning, but for Townshend it seems to have made an impression. “The Indian manner of cooking buffalo meat is simple in the extreme. Lighting a large log fire, they bend across it sticks of green wood, on which they hang large pieces of flesh. Then, sitting round the fire, they cut strips of meat off with their knives, and devour it half raw…”.

“Indians often use wood-ashes as a substitute for salt and never use salt with buffalo-meat; but their liking or preference comes from their habit of invariably broiling buffalo-meat on wood cinders or buffalo-chips” [now you know what chips are].

Recipes:
BUFFALO STEAKS. Rorer, Sarah Tyson. “Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cook Book.” 1886. Philadelphia.
Buffalo steaks are broiled precisely the same as beefsteak, seasoning only with butter, salt, and pepper. Buffalo meat may also be roasted or stewed.

Juliet Corson in “A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery”, noted that her venison recipe worked quite well when cooking buffalo. The venison was browned in smoking hot butter on all sides and a Tablespoon of currant jelly added per pound of meat. “It will cook, if it is an inch thick, pretty well done in about twenty minutes. Season it with salt and pepper, and when it is done put it on the platter and pour the currant jelly and butter over it. The cooking of the jelly with the venison makes it a nice sauce or gravy. [1887]

Frances Owens tells us that, “Bear and buffalo meats are cooked substantially the same as beef or venison”.

PEMMICAN—TO PREPARE. Mrs. Owens.
Pemmican is made of the lean portions of venison, buffalo, etc. The Indian method is to remove the fat from the lean, dry the lean in the sun; then make a bag of the skin of the animal and put the lean pieces in loosely. To this must be added the fat of the animal, rendered into tallow, and poured in quite hot. This will cause all the spaces to be filled. When cold, put away for future use. In civilized life, a jar can be used in place of the bag. Pemmican may be cooked same as sausage, or eaten as dried beef. It is invaluable in long land explorations, and is of great use in sea voyages.

SOURCES:
Drury, Newton B., Director, National Par, Service. “The Comeback of the Bison”. Published in “The Rotarian” Dec. 1946.
Hooper, Edward James. “The Practical Farmer, Gardener and Housewife”. 1840. Cincinnati.
Gregg, Josiah. “Commerce of the Prairies”. 1851. Philadelphia.
Murray, Charles. “Travels in North America During the Years 1834, 1835 & 1836. 1839. London.
Berkeley, Grantley Fitzhugh. “The English Sportsman in the Western Prairies”. 1861. London.
Root, Frank A. “The Overland Stage to California.”
Cooke, Philip St. George. “Scenes and Adventures in the Army: Or, Romance of Military Life”. 1859. Philadelphia.
Townshend, Frederick. “Ten Thousand Miles of Travel, Sport, and Adventure.” 1869. London.
Blot, Pierre. “Hand-book of Practical Cookery.” 1884. NY
Rorer, Sarah Tyson. “Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cook Book.” 1886. Philadelphia.
Owens, Frances. “Mrs. Owens’ Cook Book. 1903. Chicago.

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