Common Spices

[rbruno]

Re: Common Spices

My question was regarding who the spices would have been packaged and bought at a civilian store. For instance, would the pepper be found already ground or would it be the whole pepper? Would you buy a basil leaf or would it already be ground? I will focus my question on what a civilian store would have on the shelf for someone to go in a buy.

[Rammstein142]

Re: Common Spices

I think Andrew was getting more at common spices in a civilian pantry, basically something that could be packaged and sent to a soldier in a package from home, also what would be the correct packaging for spices or a spice sent from home?

[Doughboy]

Re: Common Spices

I would speculate they might be folded in paper packets like modern Goody's powders. (not that Goody's is "modern")

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Common Spices

Herbs are commonly grown in a family garden by the women of the family. They are harvested and hung to dry in the kitchen or dry storage. Those unable to have a garden might buy or trade for herbs from women who do have a garden. (...similar way the "Butter & Eggs Widow" sells at the Farmers' Market)

Spices are usually imported and bought at the general store. The purchased amount would be transferred to a paper packet or into the spice tin the customer brought with them. (Consider how we handle buying bulk spices in today's "eco-friendly, bring-your-own-bag culture).

Salt might be processed locally or bought at the general store. A family generally buys a larger quantity of salt at a time, so it's more likely to be transferred into a sack for family use.

So... dry seasonings sent from home in a care package would probably be in a paper packet for small quantities or a small sack for larger quantities.

Salt "appropriated" or bought for a mess or Commissary Dept. would have been in sacks... or whatever container came to hand.

Bay leaves and berries are often added whole to recipes. Cinnamon and nutmeg are often given as quantities in recipes... ie: "add a nutmeg, previously prepared." Ginger, cinnamon, allspice, mace, pepper, mustard are usually notated as needing powered... ie: "Mix in... a grated nutmeg, with a teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon.." ...which indicates they are sometimes bought whole or course ground and need further processing. Grating can be done with the nutmeg grater included with a spice tin. Powdering would be done with mortar and pestle in a kitchen. Both were fairly common kitchen tools most families would have.

Some store ledgers are extant and might include references to spices carried and in what quantities they were bought.

I hope this helps some.

[Jboring]

Re: Common Spices

This whole thread has gotten me interested in these "spice tins" that people are referring to. How common were they and what was their general design? Doesn't anyone have a handy guide for folding those paper packets?

v/r

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Common Spices

My wife and I do period civilian cooking demonstrations for the public and we own an original 1850s spice tin. It looks much like this pic:



They were usually lockable with a small latch/lock usually due to how valuable spices were since they were imported from far away. This also kept the spices from being spilled accidentally.

Our spice tin has 6 separate tins inside it and a nutmeg grater in the middle. A whole nutmeg would go in there with the grater for use when you needed it for recipies.

They were also japanned sometimes to prevent rust as ours is.

Now, this is a military discussion thread, so with this brief digression into the world of the 19th century civilians... let's discuss how herbs, seasonings and spices might or might not have made it into a soldier's haversack from home, trade, theft, etc and what was common. ;)

Thanks so much! -Johnny

[Jboring]

Re: Common Spices

Thanks, I much appreciate it. I would think that trade and theft would account for a large portion of acquired goodies. There are many wild herbs that most folks back then were much more used to seeing and utilizing than we are today....so there is that.

[Rammstein142]

Re: Common Spices

That is very true, I guess a thing to do would be to get familiar with wild herbs as well, specially if you are doing a campaign around a good time herbs would be present! Now as for packaging, I know someone mentioned a folded envelope, but what would be a common paper for items such as that? I haven't looked into paper terribly much, minus what was common for writing and labels, but have never ran across anything regarding spice envelopes or really just paper for any goods. Now I have seen items on sites wrapped in blue and green paper, but have never known how authentic they are.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Common Spices

A lot of what you are speaking about, Tim falls into that grey area called colloquially: 'we just don't have a large record of what was commonly done and where is was practiced since these details are hard to find'

An educated guess would be what research Elaine provided earlier in this thread: People reused containers, had small containers that were sold with the items, or the store had some sort of paper to wrap small portions in. Perhaps newspaper or scrap paper was reused also.

Does anyone have any historical references or links regarding this subject?

[Doughboy]

Re: Common Spices

How common would spice tins be among the lower and yeoman classes as opposed to paper?

[PogueMahone]

Re: Common Spices

Sutlers sold papers of spices.

And some still do.

Ahem.

[advanceguard]

Re: Common Spices

Here is an excerpt from the letters of James Irwin of the 124th NYSV:
"...You need not send me the Bible as I have got one given by the Orange County Bile society. You will please send the following articles: Pepper another box mustard, teas as I do not drink coffee anymore it does not agree with me, Can or, two of milk, Licorice, the pepper send a box with it..."

Pvt. Drake of the 124th NYV wrote to his sister to ask for:

"...1 pr w socks1 camp knife of the walden make 1 paper pepper make a bag to carry it..."

This was in January 1863.

I'll find more later

[Mississippian]

Re: Common Spices

If you are looking to season your food, I think it was Billings in "Hardtack and Coffee" who mentions that wild garlic was used a good bit. I bet it kept the bugs and/or females away as well......

http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/allvi.htm

Will MacDonald

[Pelikan]

Re: Common Spices

For much of America's history, garlic wasn't particularly popular for eating. What was gathered (or cultivated) was more often used medicinally. (Interesting link http://lichen.csd.sc.edu/vegetable/v...vegName=Garlic)

Wild garlic was recommended to prevent scurvy during the war (ORs, Series 4, Vol 2, pt. 1., pg. 467; Series 1, Vol 25, pt. 2, pg. 687.)

Areas with larger immigrant populations used garlic in their diets and recipes. Louisiana grew garlic, and it was in demand by the blended cultures, for example.

Garlic can be harvested in spring through the fall, and when dried it can keep for 6-8 months.

I don't go anywhere without a few cloves in my haversack. Goes a long way to flavoring boiled pork and hardtack.