Tips from a Victorian household
Problem: Coffee gone cold
Solution: Hot stove + enamelware cup
Victorians don't need microwaves.
Solution: Hot stove + enamelware cup
Victorians don't need microwaves.
Advice for whipping cream:
For optimal whipping it's best to have both the cream and the bowl as cold as possible. I keep our cream in with the ice in our icebox, and if I think ahead before whipping it I'll put the bowl in on the ice as well. Heavy cream whips much faster than light whipping cream, and there is also variation between brands —some whip better than others due to differing fat percentages in the cream. As a general rule, cheap brands of cream are good enough for soups or coffee but rubbish for whipping: the reason they can be cheaper is that more of the butterfat is removed from them and sold in other products, but the fat is precisely what allows cream to hold air when it's whipped.
If splashing is a problem, a small bowl of cream can be placed inside a larger bowl to keep things tidy. Be sure to place a towel between them to prevent one bowl damaging the other.
For optimal whipping it's best to have both the cream and the bowl as cold as possible. I keep our cream in with the ice in our icebox, and if I think ahead before whipping it I'll put the bowl in on the ice as well. Heavy cream whips much faster than light whipping cream, and there is also variation between brands —some whip better than others due to differing fat percentages in the cream. As a general rule, cheap brands of cream are good enough for soups or coffee but rubbish for whipping: the reason they can be cheaper is that more of the butterfat is removed from them and sold in other products, but the fat is precisely what allows cream to hold air when it's whipped.
If splashing is a problem, a small bowl of cream can be placed inside a larger bowl to keep things tidy. Be sure to place a towel between them to prevent one bowl damaging the other.
Bread:
The cross-hatchings on sourdough bread break up surface tension and help the dough rise more fully.
The cross-hatchings on sourdough bread break up surface tension and help the dough rise more fully.
Goose egg vs. chicken egg
Watch out for bad eggs:
Always break eggs, one by one, into a separate cup or small bowl before adding each to batter or dough. That way, if there's a bad egg it won't spoil the whole batch.
Kitchen slate:
"A slate hung up in the kitchen is a splendid thing, if you make use of it. Set down when you put your bread in the oven, so as to know just when to take it out. When you get out of any groceries, set it down, then you will not forget it." —Cook, Mrs. Kate. The Chautauqua Cook-Book, 1896. p. 147
"A slate hung up in the kitchen is a splendid thing, if you make use of it. Set down when you put your bread in the oven, so as to know just when to take it out. When you get out of any groceries, set it down, then you will not forget it." —Cook, Mrs. Kate. The Chautauqua Cook-Book, 1896. p. 147
Dust bunnies make good tinder
Hiccup remedy
"[H]iccoughs in children are immediately stopped by giving them a lump of sugar saturated with table vinegar. The same remedy was tried on adults with similarly instantaneous success." —Ellsworth, Mrs. M.W., The Queen of the Household, Ellsworth & Brey: Detroit, 1899, p. 644.
The first time I tried this, I was astonished by how well it worked. It didn't taste bad, either —after all, it's just sugar...
"[H]iccoughs in children are immediately stopped by giving them a lump of sugar saturated with table vinegar. The same remedy was tried on adults with similarly instantaneous success." —Ellsworth, Mrs. M.W., The Queen of the Household, Ellsworth & Brey: Detroit, 1899, p. 644.
The first time I tried this, I was astonished by how well it worked. It didn't taste bad, either —after all, it's just sugar...
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Get this antique Ivory soap advertisement on a bag, a card or a poster
Ivory Soap
"Our advice to consumers of Ivory Soap is, buy a dozen cakes at a time, take off the wrappers, and stand each cake on end in a dry place; for, unlike many other soaps, the Ivory improves by age. Test this advice, and you will find the twelve cakes will last as long as thirteen cakes bought singly. This advice may appear to you as being given against our own interests; on the contrary, our interest and desire is, that the patrons of Ivory Soap shall find it the most desirable and economical soap they can use. Respectfully, PROCTOR & GAMBLE, Cincinannati, O." --Ivory soap advertisement from "The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine", June, 1885.
"Our advice to consumers of Ivory Soap is, buy a dozen cakes at a time, take off the wrappers, and stand each cake on end in a dry place; for, unlike many other soaps, the Ivory improves by age. Test this advice, and you will find the twelve cakes will last as long as thirteen cakes bought singly. This advice may appear to you as being given against our own interests; on the contrary, our interest and desire is, that the patrons of Ivory Soap shall find it the most desirable and economical soap they can use. Respectfully, PROCTOR & GAMBLE, Cincinannati, O." --Ivory soap advertisement from "The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine", June, 1885.
For tips on caring for and getting the most light out of oil lamps, click here
Butter's Right To Independence From Crumbs
(Click here)
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Aspirin for cut flowers
Willow water (cut pieces of fresh willow, soaked in water) is a centuries-old technique for making cut plants put out roots, and for prolonging the beauty of cut flowers. Aspirin is derived from constituents of the willow plant first identified in 1823 and synthesized since 1897 by the Bayer company; dissolving two aspirin in the water of a vase of cut flowers will help them stay fresh and pretty, like willow water does.
Willow water (cut pieces of fresh willow, soaked in water) is a centuries-old technique for making cut plants put out roots, and for prolonging the beauty of cut flowers. Aspirin is derived from constituents of the willow plant first identified in 1823 and synthesized since 1897 by the Bayer company; dissolving two aspirin in the water of a vase of cut flowers will help them stay fresh and pretty, like willow water does.
"Books are the windows through which the mind looks out."
—Anonymous, 1889.
Zion's Home Monthly, January 15, 1889. p. 197.
"[I]t is as absurd to get a body to do good work on an empty stomach as to attempt to fire a gun that is empty." --Good Housekeeping, November 28, 1885, p. 53.
Flowering plants love eggshells. Rinse them out, then grind them up and sprinkle them around the bottom of the plants, or mix them into the soil.
Used coffee grounds and tea leaves make great mulch in the garden
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In a seaport town in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest, a group of friends find themselves drawn together —by chance, by love, and by the marvelous changes their world is undergoing. In the process, they learn that the family we choose can be just as important as the ones we're born into. Join their adventures in
The Tales of Chetzemoka
Three Women Awheel:
A Victorian Cycling Club Story
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