A Rich Ice Cream

At a small civilian living history this summer we gave making ice cream a shot.  It was so successful and tasty that I feel compelled to share it here.

It all really started with my fiancée and I getting a hand crank ice cream freezer as a wedding shower gift.  The manufacture claims that they have been making them since the early 1850’s.  Some quick research found that the first ice cream freezer or “artificial freezer” patent was in 1843 by Nancy M. Johnson. There is an image in the 1854 American Home Cook Book of another ice cream freezer.  With a little searching I can see that the models produced in recent times is a later concept in the details of the mechanics.  Each of these has differences in the inner workings with the basic concept being the same.  That being, put ingredients in one container that goes inside another, with the first being surround by ice and salt.  The contents are then stirred/paddled/scrapped and/or spun until frozen deliciousness is made.  Before the “artificial freezer” this basic concept was still done without any mechanics, just a wood spoon or something similar.

The next question was what type of ice cream to make!  Well, there is no shortage of recipes from period cookbooks on that topic.  We found ice cream directions in the Kentucky Housewife (1839), The American Home Cook Book (1854), The American Frugal Housewife (1833), and The Young Housekeeper’s Friend (1859).   Most involved some cooking such as warming the milk or working with eggs for custard.  We were prepared to do this until something came to mind, condensed milk.  The label for condensed milk from the New York Condensed Milk Co. has ice cream directions right on it.  These are very simple as you can see.  We did some online looking and decided to substitute water for milk.  Mixing 1 can of condensed milk with four cups of whole milk along with flavoring ingredients.  This would make it much easier to make the ice cream and would allow for much faster freezing since we would not be dealing with a warm mixture.  Huzzah for “modern” conveniences!  

The first flavor was an easy choice as there are multiple mature mulberry trees around the property.  Saturday late morning an expedition went out to fill a bowl with the ripe sweet purple staining berries.  Those were then washed, sorted and then smashed in some cheesecloth with a bit of sugar.  The can of condensed milk, three cups of milk, and one cup of cream was added to the freezer.  Yes, we changed the ingredients on the fly since we had cream and decided this would make a creamer and richer ice cream.  Then the sweetened mulberry juice was poured in and the crank turning began.  About 20-30 minutes later the purple ice cream was scooped into bowls as a success. 

Later in the day we choose to make one more batch since we the ingredients.  This time a receipt in The Young Housekeeper’s friend inspired us.  It read to take the juice of a dozen lemons and pour over enough sugar to absorb it and then add to three quarts of cream to make a “a rich ice-cream”.  We just about had the lemons squeezed when it hit me that it said “three quarts of cream”, that is a lot of cream!  In our heads I think we were thinking one quart.  We also realized how much lemon juice and sugar this was!  Here is why I say this inspired us!  We took the dozen lemons worth of juice and added enough sugar to make it a syrup texture.  Sorry, I didn’t measure and just poured it in till it tasted good to us.  We didn’t have that much cream so we did three cups of that with one cup of milk.  Put it all in the freezer to crank away.  The time came that it was a bright white frozen mass scooped into some bowls.  We all agreed this was one of the most refreshing ice creams we have ever had!  It was creamy, tart with some sweetness that instantly put a smile on our faces.  It turned out and is on the list to do again one day in the future!

While our ice cream freezer is not completely correct for the period we had a great time experimenting with this food in our history.  Without that compromise we would have missed out on some satisfying and guilt pleasure experimental archeology.  In that we adjusted things with what we had in ingredients compared to the receipts.  No doubt, in my mind, like they would have been doing as well.  This experience also taught us once again, like so many other things, that nothing was quick and easy back then.  Even making ice cream with then modern conveniences of an “artificial freezer” and condensed milk there would still be considerable time and labor invested.  This includes gathering the ingredients, preparing ingredients, breaking down an ice block, turning and freezing the mixture, and then the clean up.  In both of our cases it all seemed worth it!

On to Richmond Event AAR

This past June, I attended the On To Richmond event as part of a progressive adjunct battalion.  With this post, I will touch on the event report and editorial descriptive used in this blogs synopsis.  The editorial portion coming from sharing both the positive and the not so much positive aspects of the event, like an event report should.  Not every event is the best ever and there are or should be learning opportunities from each.

With each event I attend my minimum hope is that I get to converse with and see friends, new and old.  I also hope to gain some new experiences or insights from an experimental archeology concept.  I deem this event a success on both of these aspects.  I have not included any photos with this post since I cannot stand seeing phones/cameras at something like this.  Plus, there were plenty of photos taken which can be found all over the internet to see. 

I was adjutant for Roscoe's 3rd PA Reserves adjunct and had a good time through Sunday morning.  Our camp on Friday and into Saturday was near perfect!  Men came in and got settled while rations were issued.  Some had to go out on picket even with food needing to be cooked.  Hopefully, these men took this as a real experience challenge and dealt with it accordingly in attitude and action.  Attitude meaning some complaining would be expected but hopefully in a period way!  We were just about out of sight of anything modern which was an achievement on this property.  The land seemed a but small to pull everything off and I know this was a greater challenge for the organizers because of a lot of recent rain making property limitations.

This rain and mud was one contributing factor that lead to the Saturday earlier scenario not working for us real well.  We had almost nothing to our front but were constantly being flanked on our right. Causing us to have to pull back or be cut off.  Not an inaccurate thing but I know the boys wanted to fight!  This pulling back, which eventually seemed to go too far back, put us behind the port-a-johns, right behind on the right, banging away. I repositioned first company (refused the line) so at least they were not aiming right at the damn blue boxes.  The reason they were in the way was explained later as an issue with mud so their location needed to be moved.  Putting them on the edge of the battlefield.  I can understand that with thoughts that we could have ended the scenario a bit sooner or stopped pulling back to still prevent that from happening.  Having them behind us is marginally better than in front. 

Our commander and adjunct organizer did what he could with the site for the adjunct participants and what they expect in that capacity. I think we had the best spot for the Gaines Mill scenario as we had the houses in our way of the cars and vendors behind us. The smoke and the setting sun helped hide it all some more. The Colonel did a good job "prepping" between things as to what we were doing and how it was rooted in history, for those that listened. For example, the Gaines Mill scenario, the 3rd PA Res. fought till they ran out of ammo and then pulled back. They made a stand with bayonets fixed and bluffed a fight which the Rebs backed down from taking on. He tried to recreate that and said many, many times that we should be out of ammo and tried to make that happen. When we made our stand he made a quick speech of how even without rounds we would hold the ground and commanded Arms-Port. A few yelled they had rounds or “I am loaded”.... completely missing the rooted history in it all.

For us I think the highlight was the night march Saturday. Everyone was tired from marching around and fighting during the day. Then we had a 5+ mile march to get to our next camp. That was something many, if not all, had never done. That being marching at night after a day of activity.  He arranged for us to get hit on the road as a rear guard retreating again in the campaign. It was some tough ground we marched on after that.  Much earlier that day we were ordered to drop our packs and haversacks, per the history.  It was amazing to meet our packs again that night about 1am. That dry shirt and socks was a blessing before bedding down to sleep.

Sunday during the Glendale scenario I feel we lost the momentum at the event. We deployed as a battalion skirmish line and everyone was ready. I felt energy as we deployed and waited.  Then the blue line fell back through us and the gray was formed in the trees to assault. Everyone was ready.  Then it stopped...for...a...long...time. We sat in the hot sun and that seemed to suck the life of the moment away.  The far left end of the battalion line said their goodbyes and headed out.  Then I got detailed to get a company to haul a cannon several hundred yards up a rise to Malvern Hill, after this scenario ended.  I thought we could treat it as a save the gun experience with how the task was presented.  That was not how it turned out.  While a new experience we were not excited to be a pick-up truck but we know they were appreciative of the help. Looking around for the Malvern Hill scenario, which I was looking forward to, more men had left. The battalion was melting since the big stall.  My traveling partner and I already had concerns going into it on how to make the 12 hour drive home and then I had over an hour after that to my house.  Some recent life changes made it not possible to not work that next morning as originally planned.  We both admitted we lost the excitement and that we needed to get on the road.  Beating the traffic out of the event site.  Saving us a couple hours to get home. We said good-bye and walked to Endview to leave. Hearing the firing still in the distance as we pulled out of the parking lot. I felt guilt on the premature evacuation however not regret.  Especially after both of us needed to sleep in the car to keep going and it was still after one o’clock AM when I pulled in the drive.  

In the end, the adjunct that was planned worked in my opinion. He recreated history whenever possible (camp life, rations, dropping packs, mail call right before Gaines Mill as the 3rd had, fighting to no ammo and making a stand anyway, fighting by day and marching at night, surprise night fight, pay issued in the ranks before Glendale as the 3rd had). Everyone just had to listen some or know the history to understand the why. If it were not for all of those efforts I would be saying I am just glad I went to see so many friends. While that is still true, I also got some good experiences, which is what it should also be about, every time.

Cabin in the Little Woods

Looking back at the posts in this blog I got a walk down memory lane for the first event we did at a log house in Ohio.  That was in April of 2014 and we have had many more adventures there since then.

We do an event at the cabin not three times a year.  Generally in the spring, fall, and Christmas with occasional one that has been in February and summer.  In this post, I will share a bit from the last three times we stepped back in time there.

Summer Time

The most recent was in June and we had amazing weather.  Thankfully, the summer had been dry and the mosquitoes were not out of control!  This has been the case in a past summer event after a wet spring and summer. 

We used having a picnic on Saturday as an end of war celebration as the catalyst for the event.  The time was spent preparing for the gathering.  We had a plethora of food to enjoy in the shade on our sunny day.  This started off with mulberry ice cream (the mulberries being picked earlier that day) because I was concerned with the ice melting.  A visiting friend and daughter brought a plum cake and blanc mange.  Both of these were amazingly good.  Besides desserts we enjoyed ham, bread, pickles, hopping john, cucumber salad and other items that I am forgetting at the moment.  

 Afterwards we played various games such as graces and horseshoes.

Sunday we had just three of us with nobody visiting for the day.  We agreed to provide living history for any public until 3pm so we wanted to be prepared for visitors in any case.  We set up a smaller picnic that included a lemon pie from a friend.  We laid down on painted floor clothes while eating, drinking lemonade, and reading the news in the reprinted local newspaper from June 1865.  We then had a lot of kids came back to see us!  We showed them how to play with racing hoops, graces, and there was a sack race.  Even as adults we really enjoyed playing graces!  After they departed it was time for us to take our leave as well until next time.

Spring Time

In April we occupied the cabin on  the same weekend that a blacksmith was at the museum.  This was great as he adjusted the height of  my spider legs.  He did it for nothing but did offer him some of the maple candy we made.  This was something I wanted to try while we were there.  I really would have liked to have tapped some maple trees and boiled the sap down from the start.  But we had to start at the syrup stage already.  We took pure maple syrup boiling it down to a candy and then went on until it was pure maple sugar.  It was amazing! 

Christmas Time

Perhaps this event has grown to be my personal favorite.  It is a lot more work to prepare for which I am sure I complain about before!  We get the log house decorated for the holiday on Friday and early Saturday.  Including greenery around the windows outside and some inside. Along with other decorations such as a table top tree and stocking over the fireplace before we go to sleep.  We make a large meal that is German inspired to include sausage, sauerkraut, noodles, and stollen bread.

There are some highlights from the last few times we stepped back into rural Ohio cabin living in the 1860s.

The Snow White Blog

This blog has started and stopped a few times.  Really, it has been asleep more time then it has been awake.  Thinking of that somehow reminded me of the tale of Snow White.  Not the warm and fuzzy Disney version but the Grimm Brother’s version.  In that version Snow White is tricked multiple times by the evil stepmother causing her to slip into slumber, which should result in her death.  Each time, the stepmother believing she is dead for good.  Only to be revived somehow by her dwarf friends. 

Each time I have stopped making posts in this blog I just didn’t get it done.  After sometime I have believed it has gone to sleep for good every time.  But something, such as a comment from a friend, has resurrected it.  I really do not need something else to remember to do, as I am bad enough remembering it all now!  However, I do enjoy sharing history and sometimes feel I need an outlet for the randomness that I might have in my mind!  This blog will be that place. 

I have multiple blogs already written that can be posted.  A few are new and some are older articles that have been posted on old unit websites, newsletter, and in a select couple cases a hobby publication.   So for the time being I just need to remember to post them!  After that I hope to continue to post random history centric adventures and research. 

"Looking-glass, looking-glass, on the wall,
Who in this land is the fairest blog of all?"

Between posts here enjoy video uploads about the Civil War at:

www.civilwardigitaldigest.com

Marking and Finding History

The other day a friend and I went out to look at Michigan Historical Markers that relate in someway to the Civil War in Detroit.  There were about seven markers in the City that mention the War.  Of course, there are many more markers on other topics and time periods all over the City.  Out of the seven we went searching for two were missing.  The first was for a St. Matthews Episcopal Church which closed during the War for declining membership.  Unfortunately, if quickly became obvious that the church and marker were removed to make room for the Ford Field complex and parking.

The other missing marker was for the Detroit Free Press as the oldest daily Michigan newspaper.  The building is still there but only an outline remains where the marker was on the stone.  Driving around the City looking for these was a lot of fun even if only one of the makers still stood next to its original structure, Fort Wayne.  If your not familiar, Fort Wayne is a star fort built in the 1840's.  The Fort served the State and Country from the Civil War to Vietnam.

We finished the Detroit tour at Fort Wayne and decided to press on to a marker at an old cemetary in Taylor about 15-20 minutes away.  The cemetery is Sandhill Cemetery on Telegraph just west of Eureka.  It is not much to look at and is fairly small with many headstones not legiable or broken.  What made it worth the drive is finding out someone that we were familiar with was interred there.  This man was in the 24th Michigan which we both did much reading and research on a year earlier.  His photograph is also one we have seen many times.

Barney Letogot's image has been seen by tens of thousands every year at Greenfield Village.  He was Henry Ford's uncle and his photographs from 1862 and 1865 are at the Ford Home in the Village.  In the 1862 photo he stands next to his brother John who was killed at Gettysburg, I believe.  Barney was wounded there along with being wounded at the Wilderness.  He continued to serve in the 24th Michigan taking part with the rest of what was left of the Regiment as honor guard at Abraham Lincoln's funeral in May 1865, before coming home to Michigan.  Sadly he only lived to age 35, passing in 1873, when Henry Ford would have been ten years old.  Next time you are at the Village take a moment to visit Barney and John's photos in the Ford Home.  I always find it amazing to see how much Barney aged in appearance in just 2-1/2 years from his photo at enlistment in 1862 and the below photo taken in May 1865.  It is a testament to how hard life was in the army during the Civil War.

Gear Review: Camp Chair

When looking around reenactments camp furniture is abundant both in military and civilian areas.   Often times much of what is used at events is not correct to the period.  This is an area where even in some of the best fixed camp impressions compromises are made.  Part of the reason for this is our modern bodies want to sit in a comfortable chair and accurate camp chair reproductions are not readily available.  Some resort to restoring and reupholstering  original frames. I recently acquires a frame to do this myself however, using originals may not always be the best solution but thats a debate for another post.  I have been disappointed in everything I have seen and purchased.  Either the chairs are so far from correct its sad, they sit to low, fabric is wrong, construction is wrong or hardware looks modern. Until recently.  Searching one night I found camp chairs on Etsy that I fell for and starred at many times over a couple of months.  I finally took the chance and placed an order for two of PaWoods chairs.  Why did I fall in love with these chairs?  Well lets take a look at the details.

Both chairs are made of one inch oak stock assembled using mortise and tenon joints.  They are both finished with a top coat of hand rubbed tung oil over a rosewood oil stain.  Most importantly they are both copied from original camp chairs.

The above folding chair is a beauty with lots of great details.  Taken from PaWoods listing in the description this chairs "design and dimensions were taken directly from an original antique manufactured by the E. W. Vaill company."  The hardware for the hinged joints are riveted and the back slats are shaped nicely by steam bending. What really sets this reproduction chair apart is the details such as the brass buttons across the top slat and finials.  I found an image of an original online and they are a vary close match.

The second chair style from PaWoods that I ordered is a folding arm chair.  This might be my favorite as this style is in a famous photo of Ulysses S. Grant during the war.

Just like the other chair this one features correct looking hardware for the assembly where needed.  To match the original chair the arms and back slats are steam bent which gives this chair perfect curves.

When I contacted PaWoods to place my order the communication and response time was outstanding.  Emails were quickly replied to and most importantly the chairs shipped fast.  Five days after I paid the chairs were on my doorstep packaged very well to ensure they showed up in great shape.  They sat in my living room for two days while I admired them.  The first event for them was last weekend at the log cabin that another blog post is about.  They looked and functioned with distinction in the cabin.  I found the armless version to be quite comfortable with the fabric back.  With Grant being one of my hero's the "Grant" arm chair remains my favorite. I highly recommend either of these chairs and likely any camp chair PaWoods is selling if they hold to this level of craftsmanship which is worth the investment.

Head in the Woods

This past weekend was a special one in the context of my living history career.  With several close friends we spent about 72 hours living in a log cabin built in the 1860's at the Wood County Museum in Ohio.  Opportunities do not come up like this and when we found out we had permission the excitement was hard to contain over the several months of waiting for the time to come.  During this time the planning and gear purchasing began!
The cabin and land it was on was owned by the same family for many generations.  The home was added to and updated many times over those numerous decades.  The property was sold and the house was to be torn down.  As this was in process under the siding and plaster very old logs where found.  The family didn't even know part of their house was a 150 year old cabin.  The structure was saved and moved to the Museum.  The cabin was originally two stories with a stairway and a stove instead of a fireplace.  During the restoration the county museum decided to make it a loft instead.  A fireplace was put in as a doorway was cut where the stove sat at one time which was used to access one of the later additions.

Once the cabin restoration was complete two 1850's bed frames and a loom along with fireplace implements were placed inside.  The fireplace tools were there to use but the bed frames could not be slept on and the loom could not be used.  A large table and four chairs are in process but were not in by the time we arrived. Those were the only disappointments.

Skipping past the gear gathering and planning we can get to Friday mid-afternoon which by that time we were set up.  The evening was spent quietly with a simple ham and boiled potato dinner cooked in the hearth with some chocolate tart which was baked and brought along.  All to soon the fire was stoked up and I placing my sleeping cap on to start my first night of slumber in the cabin.
The morning dawned quickly with the sun shining into the windows and the birds singing.  The next two days are now sort of blended together in my mind.  All four of us were kept fairly busy with various chores.  Meals needed to be prepared, water was brought in from a well in buckets, water was heated for washing and dishes were cleaned.  This process took place three times a day.
Other chores that took place included roasting green coffee beans, putting up a clothesline for hanging washed towels, stocking firewood and creating a "summer kitchen".  Knowing the temps would get rather warm Sunday we dug two fire pits outside with one having a sapling tripod to keep a fire out of the cabin.

So what did we eat?  A variety of items but I will touch on the highlights.  I think my favorite meal was handmade egg noodles the ladies made with shredded smoked chicken.  There was also a rice pudding made from a period cookbook with a peach sauce.  The last breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes made from a period patent self rising flour with some of the left over peach sauce was a good end to the meals.
The 72 hours ended with two school groups coming through Monday about 1 in the afternoon.  The children came in as we were playing The Checkered Game of Life and we told them some of what they were seeing and answered their questions.

During this experience I had the realization of just how difficult life was comparatively with today.  I have spent most of my time reading about the soldier side and war years.  I thought I understood what general life was like.  To live it brought it to another level of understanding.  Being tired at the end of the day and having to go get water so we can wash up after a warm day was an experience.  Not having much concept of time was an experience.  Waking up to stoke the fire to cook and gather water was an experience.  This time spent was such a small sliver of the large living life of the mid 19th century but it opened my eyes wide.  I have a greater appreciation for the luxuries we have such as running water including hot water!  However, just a full day back in modern life I yearn for the chance to do it again.