The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.
C is for Cookbooks
Grandma's old cookbooks or recipe cards are a wonderful heirloom in any family. You can tell the ones that were used the most as they may be dogeared and possibly falling apart. There may be notations in the margins, or perhaps a recipe for silver cleaner written in the back.
Most recipes are adaptable for today's food guide, while still retaining the flavours and memories of eating at grandma's.
Many clubs and associations put out cookbooks as a fundraiser. Perhaps one of your ancestors submitted a family favourite to her church group or for a local festival. Check at local libraries, they will usually keep one on hand.
A cookbook was different than a recipe book, which had recipes for mixing paint and paint colours, plaster work, furniture polish etc.
Related Post: Cooking Up a Storm
There is something so special in having a journal, diary - or cookbook - in the handwriting of an ancestor. I had never thought of looking for contributions in local fundraising cookbook - a great idea. We do tend to call a cook book a recipe book here in Britain, and I had never heard of the term "recipe book" used for decorating techniques etc. - interesting use of the word.
ReplyDeleteI should have given an example of a recipe book - so I just added one in. There are more in a post in Beyond the BMD called Tricks of the Trade
DeleteI have a couple recipe cards written by my grandmother. She wrote with a distinctive back slant. Just looking at the card brings up such wonderful memories of her steamy kitchen.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from AtoZ
Wendy
Jollett Etc.
Thanks for visiting!
DeleteI have been organizing clipped, hand written etc. recipes and the other day thought I should add stories to those that have them :D Examples would be Maple Pouding Chomeur (Lazy Cooks Pudding) that brings back childhood memories, or the Easter marshmallow Bunny Cake another childhood memory.
ReplyDeleteWish I had more hand written recipes from the woman that went before me :D
You should make a whole book of your mothers recipes, so good!!
DeleteWhat? I had no idea they had recipe books that were for mixing paints and such. Very interesting! My cousin had my grandmother's cookbooks and it was so nice to see things in her handwriting. She even made cute little notes along with her recipes.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather was a travelling salesman for paint and varnish companies and he had recipes on scraps of paper, I only salvaged those my Dad snagged for refinishing furniture. Oh and I also have one for Hair Tonic - no idea what i's supposed to do LOL... and guesses?
DeletePrecious mementos. I hope future generations also appreciate these treasures I have hoarded.
ReplyDeleteFor ease of reading, my mother used to type her recipes but the ones with her writing and illustration (e.g. how to decorate the Christmas ham) are the most treasured.
ReplyDelete