Whether a 19th century recipe for sponge cake or a cure for spring fever,
cookbooks in Delaware County Historical Society’s collection demonstrate
flavors of a former time and attest to how palates have changed.
There’s the “Cook Book of Sarah Ann Clayton,” who married Nelson
Clayton Sept. 23, 1831 and died in 1859.
Her wallet-sized book features ways to bake cupcakes and doughnuts, as
well as bologna sausages and plum pudding. A reader can also learn how
to fry calves’ feet or stew pigeons.
For those interested in keeping game, detailed instructions are provided:
“Game ought not to be thrown away even when it has been kept a very
long time; for when it seems to be spoiled, it may often be made fit for
eating, by nicely cleaning it, and washing with vinegar and water.”
An 1887 notebook held advertisements and instructions for products from
Henry K. Wampole & Co., Manufacturing Chemists. However, the front part
of the book was transformed into a recipe book with handwritten entries
and portions of newspaper columns pasted into it.
In the back, a reader would find information on Wampole’s products like
Wampole’s Bromo-Pyrine useful for treating “a very troublesome class of
diseases” such as migraine or “sick-headache,” “applicable to rheumatic
troubles.”
The front is full of various recipes such as this one paragraph for Mame’s
Sponge Cake: “5 eggs, cup and a half of sugar and flour each. Bake in
layers or one cake.”
The seventh edition of “Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes and
Sweetmeats” is revised with the addition of 40 extra recipes. Published in
1834, author Miss Leslie of Philadelphia presents details on how to make
19 types of cake, including French almond, flannel and pound; 12 different
types of jellies and 16 types of pudding.
There’s also 10 ways to prepare oysters from spiced to stewed to fried or
baked and 12 recipes for preserving items from crab apples to peaches to
quinces and strawberries.
“Choice Receipts from Delaware Co. Households,” compiled by a Delaware
County housekeeper and published in 1883 highlights 128 pages of recipes
for bread, soups, fish and oysters, meats, game, poultry, vegetables, boiled
and baked puddings and other delicacies.
There is also panaceas for indigestion and coughing. For spring fever, it
lists the following cure: “Two ounces Epsom salts, one-half ounce of cream
tartar, one quart of boiling water and rind of one-half lemon. Take a wine
glass every morning.”
These books - and others - are stored at the home of Delaware County
Historical Society at 408 Avenue of the States in Chester. It is open to the
public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to
6:30 p.m. Thursday; and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of
the month. It is closed on Tuesdays. Appointments are also available upon
request. Parking is free in the lot behind the building or across the street in
the city’s municipal lot.
For more information, ways to get involved or to contribute items of historic
significance, please call 610-359-0832.
Recipes and cookbooks from years past - and the equipment used to make them - are part of the collection at Delaware County Historical Society.