A short List - Time Frames for Edibles

Here's a few ideas for items and time frames of edibles for that next meal in your camp. We have used this as a simple chart for use in period camps when still in the period food business.

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Approximate documented and dated items grown or traded in North America, we have found something’s earlier than listed, but not that common for the working class or local trade. Theres always the possibility of not being recorded and just passed down by word of mouth.

LEGEND
Pa. German - before 1750 *
Before 1800 - trade item **
Northeast - before 1820 @
Southwest - before 1830 #
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Grains & Seeds
Wild rice (lg. broken) **
Barley-pearled *
Lentils *
Smith beans *
Rice (India Import) **
Rye-kernel *
Split peas-yellow *
Split peas-green *
French pop-corn *
Corn yellow *
Parched corn *

Flours
Barley *
Buckwheat *
Rye *
Wheat *
Corn *

Cereals & Meals
Blended meal @
Barley grits *
Rye-rolled *
Corn grits *
Oats-rolled *
Oats-steel cut *
Wheat-coarse *
Corn meal *
Millet meal *

Pasta
Vermicelli-coils
Fettuccin
Straw twists

A common trade item on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in the late 1700’s, but as John Curry and others agree, it was available for ones that could afford the price, not an item a traveler or hunter would likely have. More of an item found in the settlements or at a fort trading post.

Herbs & Spices
Basil *
Bay leaves *
Cayenne pepper *
Cinnamon sticks *
Cloves-whole *
Garlic-granules *
Ginger root-dried *
Mustard seed-whole *
Nutmeg-whole *
Pepper-crushed red *
Rose hips-seedless *
Walnut oil-haines *

Sweets
Maple sugar (bag) **
Maple sugar (cake) **
Muscavado-cone **
Cone sugar-piloncillo #
“Hat” of sugar (p. wrp)***
Round block sugar #
Spiced chocolate **
Chocolate (ibarra) #
Muscavado (in corn husk)**

* is though that this is where the term “I’ll eat my hat” originated, wrapped in blue paper like the originals.

(piloncillo and ibarra are still molded in the same design form as the originals in a museum in Santa Fe, NM)

Salt
Sea salt (sun dried) **
Orsa salt (sun dried) **

Nuts
English walnuts (meats) **
Pignolia (pine nuts) **
Sun flower (rst/unslt) **
Sun flower seed (raw) **
Spanish peanuts (rst) **
Spanish peanuts (raw) **
Pumpkin seeds (raw) **

Dried Fruit
Apples (unsulphered) *
Peaches *
Pears *

This just touches on the more common items found, the list will grow as you get involved in edible & foraged research. Have fun and enjoy what our forefather ate.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Buck you forgot to list beverages, brandy, whiskey and tea. :shocked2:

 

Buck you forgot to list beverages, brandy, whiskey and tea. :shocked2:

Coffee
·French: La Compagnie - Vanilla bean was a favorite of the officers on New France. A blend of coffee and vanilla for a correct drink fitting 1670-1800.

·Spanish: Santa Fe Trail - Used through out the S/W of N. America, a blend of coffee and chocolate. 1760-1830.

·English: From the Colonies (manuf in N.Amer.) - A collection of beans and nuts blended to the common man’s taste. Used through out the colonies. 1610-1810.

·Coffee Beans (Green /not roasted) - These coffee beans have been imported from the coffee capitals of the world, for centuries by the English, French, Spanish and American ships, taken to their home ports.

Tea
·Brick single-tile; *
Pressed cured blocks of tea, from Yunnan province, used as a currency for hundreds of years, traded in Europe and N. America in the earliest markets known.

·Gun powder; *
Course granulation tea that resembles cannon powder, a quarter teaspoon in a 1/2 pt of boiling water produces a pleasant cup of tea.

·Hyson; *
Small leaf green tea, name means “bright spring”, a good period tea for any camp.

·Bohea; *
Black orange pekoe, many recipes for this tea can be found through out history, was a very popular trade item, found on most supply lists.

·China Black; *
The tea that started the “Tea Trade” in Europe and is still a leader today, in markets around the world.

Dried Meat (jerky)
·Buffalo **
·Elk **
(* most game meats would have been jerked)
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FOOD SAFETY
NOTE:
·Brass and copper items that are NOT LINED with tin are safe for NON-ACID foods only. These items must be well cleaned after each use, and food must not be allowed to remain in them for long periods of time. (This may cause a chemical reaction and create a poison!) Never cook in any vessel that has turned green! (This is verdigris, and is a poison!)

·Brass or copper vessels which are tin-lined are 100% food safe for all foods.
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Blizzard you'll have to go to the recipe page for additional beverages such as brandy, whiskey and other libations. :surrender:

When reading this information, if you find a spelling error, just think of a few of Mark Twain’s statements; “its a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.” or “never tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”

:applause: :hatsoff: