1890 Compendium of Cookery & Reliable Recipes

Some of our oldest canning recipes come from the charming and amazing 135-year-old cookbook "Compendium of Cookery and Reliable Recipes," by Mrs. H.C. Blakeslee.

The cookbook is so old that the pages are brittle and crumbling. The paper is deeply tanned and the edges of the pages are very dark and almost appear burnt. Mrs. Blakeslee's book is about 400 pages and is half cookbook/half household reference book.

The chapter of recipes for preserving includes jams, jellies, pickles, fruits & vegetables. The book has recipes that typically end once the food is ready to jar. There is no explanation about how to proceed with the actual canning. Mrs. B. assumes a level of knowledge from the reader about how to "put up" food. 

When Mrs. B. does mention what to do once the food is ready to can, she suggests covering the top with wax or with oiled paper before the lids are screwed on. 

All recipes are written with the assumption that the food will be prepared over fire. 

Mrs. Blakeslee's household tips cover everything from how to re-grow thinning hair to how "to have courage." Mrs. B. covers it all!

Here is her advice on how to aid someone choking on food: "A piece of food lodged in the throat may sometimes be pushed down with a finger, or removed with a hairpin quickly straightened and hooked at the end - - OR by 2-3 vigorous blows on the back between the shoulders." YIKES, Mrs. B.

Her pickle recipe is below.

Here is Mrs. B's recipe: 

PICKLED CUCUMBERS

Wash and wipe six hundred (600) small cucumbers and two quarts of peppers. Put them in a tub with one and a half cupfuls (sic) of salt and a piece of alum as large as an egg. Heat to the boiling point three gallons of cider vinegar and three pints of water. Add a quarter of a pound each of whole cloves, whole allspice and stick cinnamon, and two ounces of white mustard seed, and pour over the pickles.