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  • Re: How do i make period sugar?

    Some other good words to Google are:

    muscovado

    melado

    muscavo

    rapadura
    [B]Charles Heath[/B]
    [EMAIL="heath9999@aol.com"]heath9999@aol.com[/EMAIL]

    [URL="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spanglers_Spring_Living_History/"]12 - 14 Jun 09 Hoosiers at Gettysburg[/URL]

    [EMAIL="heath9999@aol.com"]17-19 Jul 09 Mumford/GCV Carpe Eventum [/EMAIL]

    [EMAIL="beatlefans1@verizon.net"]31 Jul - 2 Aug 09 Texans at Gettysburg [/EMAIL]

    [EMAIL="JDO@npmhu.org"] 11-13 Sep 09 Fortress Monroe [/EMAIL]

    [URL="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Elmira_Death_March/?yguid=25647636"]2-4 Oct 09 Death March XI - Corduroy[/URL]

    [EMAIL="oldsoldier51@yahoo.com"] G'burg Memorial March [/EMAIL]

    Comment


    • Re: Rations

      Thank you all for tearing apart my question and making me feel stupid because all i was asking was how you make the cone type sugar that is clumped together thats all, i didnt know if theres mollases in it to make it that way or something else just a curious question for better understanding. Im sorry to have bothered you all with my stupid question. i will not post again.

      Comment


      • Re: Rations

        Originally posted by grant View Post
        Thank you all for tearing apart my question and making me feel stupid because all i was asking was how you make the cone type sugar that is clumped together thats all, i didnt know if theres mollases in it to make it that way or something else just a curious question for better understanding. Im sorry to have bothered you all with my stupid question. i will not post again.
        I'm looking for where your question was torn apart. And still looking. Seems you're being a little overly-sensitive.

        Please sign your name to your posts.
        Paul Calloway
        Proudest Member of the Tar Water Mess
        Proud Member of the GHTI
        Member, Civil War Preservation Trust
        Wayne #25, F&AM

        Comment


        • Re: Rations

          Grant,
          I really don't see where anyone did anything that you should be upset, all i found was that they were tryin to help you with your question and even awnsered some questions that i have ponderd. I ask you reread the post of the people that were kind enough give there info and see if you see it in a different light.

          Comment


          • Re: Rations

            Originally posted by grant View Post
            Thank you all for tearing apart my question and making me feel stupid because all i was asking was how you make the cone type sugar that is clumped together thats all.
            Grant,

            I did not originally answer your question about sugar because I really didn't understand exactly what you wanted. Below are instructions for making a sugar cone but please understand that a soldier would probably not have carried a sugar cone with him since they are heavy and were mostly used for at home. The sugar the soldiers was issued was probably brown sugar and you could just bring brown regular or dark brown sugar from home wrapped in a square of cloth or paper. To be most authentic, let it harden into lumps. Coarse granulated sugar could also be used but that was not used as often.

            I would not recommend using the small brown sugar cone that you find in the ethnic sections of grocery stores. In my extensive research on sugar, I have not found any evidence of brown sugar cones that size, except in Mexico and they were made from maize sugar.

            Below are the instructions for making your own sugar cone. You could then break it up into pieces and use them in your impression.


            Homemade sugar loaf
            5 pounds granulated white sugar
            2 egg whites
            1/4 cup brown sugar

            Stir the egg whites lightly with a fork. Combine the egg whites
            with the sugars, using your hands. The consistency should be like modern
            brown sugar or damp sand when building sand castles. If more moisture is
            needed, add a bit of corn syrup or drops of water. Don't add too much or
            the cone will not hold together and take a great deal longer to dry.
            Tightly pack the sugar mixture into a large cone-shaped icing bag. The tip
            of the pastry bag will need to be covered with a plastic bag and the plastic
            bag secured. The large opening will be too wide so you may want to adjust
            the width by making a fold in the side of the bag. Fill the pastry bag to
            the top and stand the filled bag in a tall cylinder while it dries (you may
            have more of the sugar mixture than you need to fill the bag). In about a
            week the cone can be removed from the bag; let it stand in the open air to
            completely dry. This may take several weeks, depending on the humidity.

            You may use blue construction paper or blue Canson art paper to
            cover the cone. The original sugar loaves were covered with blue paper and
            tied with string. Do not use blue tissue paper as it is not strong enough,
            and the original ones were not covered with tissue paper.

            I have made these for living histories and they look just like what
            Sturbridge Village has on display in the historic store. Make sure you
            round the top to obtain the traditional shape.

            I hope this helps.
            Last edited by Virginia Mescher; 12-05-2007, 09:02 AM.
            Virginia Mescher
            vmescher@vt.edu
            http://www.raggedsoldier.com

            Comment


            • Re: How do i make period sugar?

              Thank you all for tearing apart my question and making me feel stupid because all i was asking was how you make the cone type sugar that is clumped together thats all,
              If you're upset at my reply asking if it was a serious question, this is what I didn't understand:

              Originally posted by grant View Post
              i cant find any info on what they put in the sugar to keep it fresh
              People ask lots of similar questions: how do I keep meat fresh, eggs fresh, milk fresh, and so forth. They mean "fresh" as in "not spoiled." It could have been a parody of those questions, because sugar is one thing that doesn't spoil.

              If you'd worded it just as you did now, asking how to keep cone-type sugar clumped together, it would have been immediately clear what you meant.

              Hank Trent
              hanktrent@voyager.net
              Hank Trent

              Comment


              • Re: Good Hardtack Recipe

                Originally posted by Kevin O'Beirne View Post
                This has been posted before, but for any who haven't seen it:

                HARDTACK


                Ingredients:
                • 4 cups of flour in a large bowl*
                • Optional: 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar. (This adds some “air” to the finished crackers and makes them a bit “less dense”. It does not create big air pockets and the crackers will still turn out quite hard. This ingredient can be omitted.)** Mix with the flour in the bowl.
                • 1 teaspoon of baking soda**
                • 1½ teaspoons of salt
                • 1 cup of water

                Dissolve the salt and soda (if used) in the cup of water.

                Mix all ingredients well. Roll out dough ½-inch to 3/8-inch thick with a rolling pin. Because original, issued hardtack was uniform, by far the best results are obtained with a hardtack cutter. If a hardtack cutter is unavailable, cut the dough into squares approximately 3 inches by 3 inches. Use a 1/8-inch diameter dowel to create sixteen holes in each cracker in a 4 by 4 pattern. A hardtack cutter is optimal.

                Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 450 degrees. When done, let air-dry for minimum of twenty-four hours, preferably more, before the crackers are placed into a bag or sealed container. Yield: 9 to 11 crackers.

                * Period hardtack contractors used a flour known as “cracker flour”, which can be simulated by mixing one part pastry flour with three parts ordinary, unbleached flour.

                ** This ingredient is a popular “reenactor addition” to the recipe that was not present in Civil War hardtack. This ingredient will help make your crackers slightly more palatable but, for increased authenticity, omit this ingredient.
                I am planning on trying this recipe but had a couple of questions that are not explained ... First, I am assuming you place the raw, cut-out punched dough onto a baking sheet that has not been pre-heated. Is this baking sheet greased or ungreased? Second, do you preheat the oven before baking?

                Thanks!!
                Dave
                Dave Gink
                2nd US Cavalry
                West Bend, WI

                Comment


                • Re: Rations

                  Ungreased and non- preheated sheet and yes, preheat the oven. Think of how the mechanical bakeries did it. They baked all day long with no interruption.
                  Last edited by C.R. Henderson; 02-03-2008, 04:38 PM. Reason: duh
                  Chris R. Henderson

                  Big'uns Mess/Black Hat Boys
                  WIG/GVB
                  In Memory of Wm. Davis Couch, Phillips Legion Cav. from Hall Co. GEORGIA

                  It's a trick, Gen. Sherman!...there's TWO of 'em! ~Lewis Grizzard

                  "Learning to fish for your own information will take you a lot further than merely asking people to feed you the info you want." ~Troy Groves:D

                  Comment


                  • Re: Good Hardtack Recipe

                    Originally posted by DaveGink
                    I am planning on trying this recipe but had a couple of questions that are not explained ... First, I am assuming you place the raw, cut-out punched dough onto a baking sheet that has not been pre-heated.
                    That's correct.

                    Originally posted by DaveGink
                    Is this baking sheet greased or ungreased?
                    Don't grease it. Use a fine, but even layer of corn meal or grits. Some of the meal will impregnate the cracker. It's no big deal.

                    Originally posted by DaveGink
                    Second, do you preheat the oven before baking?
                    I turn on the oven before I commence rolling and cutting the dough. After the oven has reached the desired temperature, start cooking.

                    You could also cook the dough at 300 degrees for an hour instead of 425 degrees for twenty minutes. Think of the process as trying to dry the water out of the dough rather than baking bread. If moisture remains in the cooked dough, your cracker has a greater chance of going moldy. If you make on a Thursday night before an event, you'll be fine. If you make it the weekend before an event, expect some mold.

                    I cook mine at the lesser temperature for a longer time. Just before the hour has passed, I check the crackers to see if they are sufficiently done. When I'm satisfied, I leave the crackers in the oven and merely turn off the oven.

                    Regarding the baking powder, I use no more than an eighth of a teaspoon for a batch of five or six cups of flour. It causes the cracker to rise only a tad. This gives my teeth a little better chance to break through the cracker.
                    Silas Tackitt,
                    one of the moderators.

                    Click here for a link to forum rules - or don't at your own peril.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Rations

                      Excellent information!

                      Thank you both very much!! I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
                      Dave Gink
                      2nd US Cavalry
                      West Bend, WI

                      Comment


                      • Re: Rations

                        I've actually tried baking the crackers at a lower (275 degrees) for several hours and have gotten some super hard "tiles" out afterwards. The trick is that you should try to turn the pan "about face" about halfway through the bake time so that the water is expelled evenly through the batch (different ovens have different hotspots inside) and you should be fine whatever temp you go. Also, instead of table salt, I like to use Kosher salt that you can find at any grocery store. It has a coarser grain and works well to add a little more flavor.
                        Chris R. Henderson

                        Big'uns Mess/Black Hat Boys
                        WIG/GVB
                        In Memory of Wm. Davis Couch, Phillips Legion Cav. from Hall Co. GEORGIA

                        It's a trick, Gen. Sherman!...there's TWO of 'em! ~Lewis Grizzard

                        "Learning to fish for your own information will take you a lot further than merely asking people to feed you the info you want." ~Troy Groves:D

                        Comment


                        • Source for Hominy, Grits, Beans...etc.

                          Many years ago, there was a link posted a place in the deep South that had a website, from which you could buy period appropriate; hominy, grits, beans...etc.

                          I used to have the place bookmarked on the Old-Computer, but that's long gone now.

                          Any help in producing this link would be most appreciated.

                          Thanks,

                          Paul B.
                          Paul B. Boulden Jr.


                          RAH VA MIL '04
                          (Loblolly Mess)
                          [URL="http://23rdva.netfirms.com/welcome.htm"]23rd VA Vol. Regt.[/URL]
                          [URL="http://www.virginiaregiment.org/The_Virginia_Regiment/Home.html"]Waggoner's Company of the Virginia Regiment [/URL]

                          [URL="http://www.military-historians.org/"]Company of Military Historians[/URL]
                          [URL="http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer"]Museum of the Confederacy[/URL]
                          [URL="http://www.historicsandusky.org/index.html"]Historic Sandusky [/URL]

                          Inscription Capt. Archibold Willet headstone:

                          "A span is all that we can boast, An inch or two of time, Man is but vanity and dust, In all his flower and prime."

                          Comment


                          • Re: Rations

                            I'm not sure if this is the place or not, they are in NC.
                            I believe Charles Heath posted this link.

                            Brian Baird

                            Comment


                            • Re: Rations

                              Originally posted by DaveGink View Post
                              Excellent information!

                              Thank you both very much!! I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
                              Dave:

                              I don't use anything on my pans. A couple of years ago I acquired some old square tin baking pans (3x3) at an antique store. For some reason I never have any sticking problems but I do use a very "dry" hardtack recipe so the dough isn't sticking to my fingers when I knead it.

                              Maybe that has something to do with it?
                              Bob Sandusky
                              Co C 125th NYSVI
                              Esperance, NY

                              Comment


                              • Re: Rations

                                Paul,

                                You may be thinking of these folks:



                                This is a nice place for small stuff:



                                Neill Rose put these folks on the map:

                                Boswin77 menawarkan link alternatif untuk pencinta game slot yang memberikan jaminan tanpa kekalahan dalam bermain. Daftar & langganan bersama, boswin77 dan menangkan uang ratusan juta setiap hari.


                                Some interesting wares show up here:



                                If you educate yourself just smidge, these folks carry a number of good products:



                                Most of all the local grocery store typically has a wealth of 19th century products, but one must dig around a bit on the shelves less frequented to find them. Most of all, don't neglect the opportunity to grow some CW era foodstuffs.
                                [B]Charles Heath[/B]
                                [EMAIL="heath9999@aol.com"]heath9999@aol.com[/EMAIL]

                                [URL="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spanglers_Spring_Living_History/"]12 - 14 Jun 09 Hoosiers at Gettysburg[/URL]

                                [EMAIL="heath9999@aol.com"]17-19 Jul 09 Mumford/GCV Carpe Eventum [/EMAIL]

                                [EMAIL="beatlefans1@verizon.net"]31 Jul - 2 Aug 09 Texans at Gettysburg [/EMAIL]

                                [EMAIL="JDO@npmhu.org"] 11-13 Sep 09 Fortress Monroe [/EMAIL]

                                [URL="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Elmira_Death_March/?yguid=25647636"]2-4 Oct 09 Death March XI - Corduroy[/URL]

                                [EMAIL="oldsoldier51@yahoo.com"] G'burg Memorial March [/EMAIL]

                                Comment

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