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Post by armando on Jul 25, 2022 11:41:29 GMT -7
I have some salt and pepper I carry in a tiny horn container but I've heard of other folks carrying all sorts of spices and it being historically correct for 18th century Eastern longhunters/scouts/etc.
Has anyone come across any primary documentation for any spices (pepper, cayenne, etc)? I've been looking through the Wharton citing I have but have not been able to find any.
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Post by brokennock on Jul 25, 2022 12:02:31 GMT -7
Nutmeg was popular.
I recall seeing some type of hot pepper being called for in an early Colonial cookbook.
Clove I think was common as well, but, like the hot pepper, I'm wondering if it was more a thing in the settlments.
A nutmeg could be carried as is and grated as needed. A little more convenient for use on the trail and during exploration, than preground spices.
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Post by spence on Jul 25, 2022 13:07:38 GMT -7
I have collected many ads for most every spice we use today, some of them quite early, but they are offered for sale in cities. I don't recall ever finding a reference to anything in the way of seasoning or spices used by longhunters. A couple of example ads, to show the variety available.
Boston newspaper, 1732
John Merrett, grocer. At the Three Sugar Loaves and Cannister near the Town-House sells: cocoa, chocolate, tea bohea and green, coffee raw and roasted, all sorts of loaf sugar, powder and muscavado sugar, sugar-candy brown and white, candy’d citron, pepper, pimienta or alspice, white pepper, red pepper, cinnamon, clove, mace, nutmegs, ginger race and powder, raisins, currants, almonds sweet and bitter, prunes, figgs, rice, ground rice, pearl barley, sago, starch, hair-powder, powder blue, indigo, annis, corriander and carraway seeds, saltpetre, brimstone, flower of brimstone, all sorts of snuff, allum, rozin, beeswax, tamarines, castile soap, fine florence oyl, vinegar, capers, olives, anchovies, and fine English pickled wallnuts, icing-glass, hartshorn shavings and burnt gums...
The South-Carolina GAZETTE
October 29, 1764
CHARLES-TOWN
FINE GLOUCESTER AND CHESHIRE CHEESE. —Best hyson and bohea tea, loaf sugar and sugar candy; coffee, black pepper, best Durham mustard, salt-petre, and ginger; cinnamon, nutmegs, cloves and mace, Turkey raisins, and currants in jars, prunes and Jordan almonds; pickled walnuts, capers, Spanish olives, and ketchup, Florence oil in pint bottles.
As an aside, I have found few references to cayenne or other hot peppers, other than just "red pepper", which may be the same. Here is an interesting very early description of cayenne pepper from the 17th century.
Cayenne pepper or bird pepper, is named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana. Guinea as used by Nicholas Culpeper is a misnomer for Guiana Pepper.
Nicholas Culpeper, the 17th century English botanist, physician, and astrologer whose herbal texts greatly influenced medicine in the American Colonies, described the medicinal virtues of Capsicum thus:
“GUINEA PEPPER Called also cayanne pepper and bird pepper. They are so hot they will raise a blister in the mouth and throat if the seeds or husks be used alone. The vapour from them causes sneezing, coughing and even vomiting. If the hands touch the nose or eyes after handling them, inflammation will follow. A powder is made by grinding the husks, a cake is made with the powder and then the cakes are beaten to a powder and sifted. This powder is then used to season meat, soups and stews. It drives away wind and helps flatulency. It takes away the dimness of the sight if used in meats. A decoction of the husks makes a good gargle for toothache and preserves the teeth.” (Culpeper, p.143) [Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician Enlarged, 1814][Original edition 1653]
Spence
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Post by spence on Jul 26, 2022 7:43:42 GMT -7
Armando, Mark Baker's book Sons of a Trackless Forest has extensive accounts of goods purchased by company hunters before their expeditions. I just went through all of them, more than a dozen, looking for any mention of spices, and basically found none. Salt and pepper, sugar, vinegar, chocolate are the only things I found which might be used as seasoning. This was in the period immediately after the F&I war, 1768ish, at the trading post of Baynton, Wharton and Morgan at Kaskaskia, Illinois territory, on the Mississippi river.
Spence
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Post by armando on Jul 29, 2022 12:51:52 GMT -7
Spence
I wish I had that book. I do have a copy of Baker's thesis (I printed out and had professionally bound) but it doesn't have all the Wharton papers like his published book has.
Thank you for looking.
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Post by Black Hand on Jul 29, 2022 18:14:17 GMT -7
Armando, Mark Baker's book Sons of a Trackless Forest has extensive accounts of goods purchased by company hunters before their expeditions. I just went through all of them, more than a dozen, looking for any mention of spices, and basically found none. Salt and pepper, sugar, vinegar, chocolate are the only things I found which might be used as seasoning. This was in the period immediately after the F&I war, 1768ish, at the trading post of Baynton, Wharton and Morgan at Kaskaskia, Illinois territory, on the Mississippi river. Spence Only one copy on Amazon for the paltry sum of $400 plus shipping.... |
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coot
City-dweller
Posts: 152
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Post by coot on Jul 29, 2022 20:34:45 GMT -7
Bookfinder.com shows six copies for sale with $400 being the least expensive.
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Post by paranger on Jul 30, 2022 5:38:34 GMT -7
Bugger the Amazon pirates. With all due respect to Mark Baker, it can't be THAT good.
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Post by Black Hand on Jul 30, 2022 7:16:16 GMT -7
Bugger the Amazon pirates. With all due respect to Mark Baker, it can't be THAT good. Supply and demand (in this case) - drives the price regardless of the quality of the content (as it is out of print, there are a limited number available at any given time). Take some modern art for example, looks like a paint-spattered drop-cloth, yet the demand (for some nebulous reason...dead supposedly "famous" person) makes the price ridiculous. I view ALL "famous" people today as I do Paris Hilton - "famous" because they are "famous" only because others have ascribed some sort of magical powers to them... I judge the value of a person by their character and what they have done for others, not because of an accident of their birth or how well they play some game (equivalent to hereditary monarchy - totally useless and not based on any true merit - sorry, being a basketball/baseball/ football player or singer doesn't count - I can acknowledge their skill at their chosen profession but this doesn't ascribe them with magical powers and knowledge in science or medicine or politics or anything else). Sorry - sore spot for me. |
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Post by spence on Jul 30, 2022 16:38:18 GMT -7
Black Hand said, "Sorry - sore spot for me."
Same sore spot for me. Some days I find it difficult to find a comfortable way to sit down it hurts so.
Spence
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