Exhibit on American Home Cooking in the 1920s

Image of cooking exhibit webpage — Source: University of Michigan

The 1920s were an exhilarating time. At the beginning of the decade, women in the U.S. got the right to vote and prohibition went into effect. Women foresaw an era of expanded personal freedom and independence. They wanted more time for leisure activities as well as well-managed homes. Scientific home management and home economics were greatly valued. Changing technology, and forward thinking women, supported the implementation of this vision.

I recently virtually attended a wonderful opening event for the Faster and More Fun: American Home Cooking in the 1920s exhibit at the University of Michigan. The exhibit goes through December 16 at the Hatcher Gallery in the University of Michigan library. It features materials from the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive and other special collections.

The exhibit opening event featured a panel moderated by Juli McLoone, Janice B. Longone Librarian for Culinary History. The panel was comprised of:

Margot Finn (University of Michigan), author of Discriminating Taste: How Class Anxiety Created the American Food Revolution
Mark A. Johnson (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), author of American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon
Helen Zoe Veit (Michigan State University), author of Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History

The panel discussion was very engaging, and I’d like to share a few things I found interesting.

Modernization

By the 1920s, cooking and eating had modernized in many ways. Women (it generally was women who prepared foods at the time) did not want to spend all day cooking.

Recipes were largely standardized by this time and typically contained a list of ingredients, directions, and oven temperatures. Many kitchens contained a refrigerator and a gas or electric stove. Foods were becoming less seasonal as transportation improved. It also was less regional.

Commercially-produced food was seen as the hallmark of quality food. Efficiency was a key consideration in the 1920s, and mass-produced, uniform foods were held in high esteem. Jello was very popular, and cooks appreciated that it could be prepared ahead of time. Commercially-canned foods reduced food preparation time. Mechanically sliced bread became readily available in the later part of the 1920s.

Diet Culture

As the jazz age progressed, women’s dresses became more revealing than in the past, often with a body-skimming straight silhouette and a skirt that exposed the legs. Women wanted to look good in these outfits. This shift led to a diet culture with an increased focus on calories (and calorie counting).

Food Trends

The panel discussed changing food preferences.

Dr. Johnson said that salted and pickled foods became less popular in the 1920s as more modern ways of preserving food were developed and popularized. For example, bacon was seen as a residual of a previous era. When compared to other breakfast foods, such as “modern” cold cereals, it was considered time-consuming and messy to cook. Meat processers focused on ways to make bacon more modern, and began to promote the sale of pre-sliced bacon.

There was a focus on foods being produced under sanitary conditions in the 1920s. Consumers remembered The Jungle, the muckraking novel published early in the 20^th century, about the horrific and unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry.

To help allay fears about food safety, advertisements for bacon in the 1920s sometimes indicated that the bacon was “okayed by Uncle Sam,” which meant that it had been inspected by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) meat inspectors. It wasn’t until the late 20^th century that bacon once again became extremely popular.

Many of the safety issues surrounding various foods were resolved by the 1920s. For example, Dr. Veit said that milk was much safer than it had been in the past. Pasteurization, milk inspectors, and better transportation made high-quality milk more readily available.

In the 1920s, milk was promoted as the perfect drink, and consumers were told that children should drink a quart of milk a day. However, an unintended consequence was that if children actually drank that much milk, they often were not hungry at meals. This contributed to children becoming fussier eaters. At the same time, processed foods made it easier to cook special foods for children.

Upcoming Library Event

You might enjoy another hybrid event that the University of Michigan library is sponsoring. Rebecca Sharpless will be presenting Biscuits, Cornbread, Tortillas, Naan: Making Sense of the American South through Baking on Thursday, October 22, 2026 from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Eastern time. There is a Zoom link to the event on the event webpage. This event is not focused on the 1920s, but will include lots of information about the history of baking in the South.

Old-Fashioned Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Since photos are few and far between in hundred-year-old cookbooks, I was surprised to see a photo of Halloween Spice Cupcakes in a 1926 cookbook. The adorable cupcakes (Can cupcakes be called adorable?) were decorated to look like jack-o-lanterns. Raisins were used to make the faces.

I decided to try to replicate the cupcakes in the photo. The recipe on page 180 of the cookbook is for a loaf cake and does not specifically mention Halloween Spice Cupcakes, so I just put the batter in a cupcake tin that I had lined with paper liners.

Recipe for Spice Cakes — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

I decorated the cupcakes similarly to the way the cupcakes in the old photo were decorated. Since the photo in the old cookbook is black and white, it is difficult to tell what color the icing was. Since food coloring was readily available in 1926, I assumed that the icing was tinted orange.

The cupcakes were fun to make, and turned out wonderfully. The cupcakes were tasty and had a lovely spice flavor.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Servings: 12 - 14 cupcakes
Time: 1 hour active prep time
Difficulty: moderate
Print

1/2 cup shortening or butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

frosting, tinted orange

raisins

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Put paper cupcake liners in cupcake tin(s).

Step 2. Put the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and allspice in a bowl. Stir to combine, then set aside.

Step 3. Put the shortening (or butter) and sugar in a mixing bowl, then cream.

Step 4. Add the eggs; beat until combined.

Step 5. Add the milk and dry ingredients; beat until smooth, then put in the prepared cupcake tin(s). Fill each cupcake cup 2/3 full.

Step 6. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Step 7. Let the cupcakes cool, then ice the cupcakes with icing that has been tinted orange.

Step 7. Use raisins to make the faces on the cupcakes. Use round raisins for the eyes, elongated raisins for the nose, and chopped raisins to make the mouth.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

The Charm of Candlelight

Tapioca in serving dishes — Source: Ladies Home Journal (November, 1926)

Candlelight evokes so many warm, cozy feelings. Candles are calming and make me feel peaceful and hopeful. And, sometimes candles help create a lovely romantic atmosphere. I recently was browsing through several hundred-year-old magazines, and was surprised to see two items that featured candles.

The first was an advertisement for Minute Tapioca in a 1926 issue of Ladies Home Journal. It included a recipe for Cream Supreme that was embedded in an image of a beautiful tablescape with candles. I probably will never make that recipe, but my eyes lingered for several minutes on the picture. It was so relaxing, and it made me remember times long gone when I ate a special dessert in a room decorated with candles.

A few minutes later, I flipped through a hundred-year-old issue of American Cookery and was surprised to find an article titled “The Charm of Candles.” Here are some excerpts:

The Charm of Candles

Candlelight and the romantic evolution of lighting devices is a truly fascinating thing to think about.

The romance of candlelight remained a shadowy companion to progress. Like some silvery-haired, gentle-faced old lady, candlelight kept alive hallowed memories that linked the present with the past.

Within my own memory is the friendship of candlelight – that little bedside candle of childhood, linking us to a world of reality, with its warm glow after prayers were said.

Have you never lain in a big-four-poster bed watching the dancing shadows your candle cast on the old, hard-hewn timbers? If you have never seen your candle “burn blue with terror”, as the wind steals in noisy gusts about the house, then you certainly have missed a deep, undefinable kinship with the past.

Candlelight against our modern backgrounds has a soothing, quieting influence, like old hands. It offers a sort of antidote for that ache of antiquity which sends us on passionate quests after old furniture, old books, old ships, old pictures, and old things. It indicates our inability to quite sever our life cord from the past.

American Cookery (August September, 1926)

Much has changed over the past hundred years, but some things stay the same. Candlelight still has a soothing, quieting influence.

Old-Fashioned Escalloped Cabbage

Escalloped Cabbage in baking dish

The farmers’ market had some lovely cabbages, so I bought one and then started looking through my hundred-year-old cookbooks for a cabbage recipe. I found a recipe for Escalloped Cabbage in a 1926 women’s club cookbook from Peoria, Illinois

The Escalloped Cabbage was a delightful, simple, side dish. It’s just boiled shredded cabbage in a white sauce. It is then put in a baking dish. topped with bread crumbs, and put in the oven until it is hot and bubbly.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Escalloped Cabbage — Source: 1926 cookbook compiled by the Domestic Science Class of the Peoria (IL) Women’s Club

The bread crumbs for the topping can be made by grating 1/2 slice of bread using a box grater.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Escalloped Cabbage

Servings: 4 - 6
Time: 50 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Print

1/2 cabbage, coarsely shredded

water

1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon butter (melted)

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Step 1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

Step 2. Put the shredded cabbage in a large saucepan, then add about a quarter inch of water. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the cabbage is tender (about 20 minutes). (If the water evaporates while cooking, add a small amount of additional water.) Then remove from heat, and drain to remove any remaining liquid.

Step 3. In the meantime, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens.

Step 4. Pour the white sauce on the boiled cabbage; stir to combine.

Step 5. Put the cabbage mixture in a baking dish.

Step 6. In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon melted butter, then spread the bread crumbs on top of the cabbage mixture.

Step 7. Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly (20 – 30 minutes).

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

1926 Jolly Time Pop Corn Advertisement

Popcorn was a popular snack in the 1920s (and it became even more popular during the depression years of the 1930s since it was an inexpensive snack). Technology, and new processing techniques, made it easier to make popcorn than it had been earlier in the 20th century. A 1926 Jolly Time Pop Corn advertisement highlighted that it was guaranteed to pop.

The American Pop Corn Company, which makes Jolly Time, began selling popcorn in 1914. In 1924, the company began packaging popcorn in metal cans. Popcorn pops best when it contains approximately 14-15% moisture. If it too moist or too dry, it does not pop well. The metal cans helped ensure freshness and a consistent moisture – and the company began advertising that its popcorn was guaranteed to pop. Consumers also liked that they could just buy popcorn that was ready to pop.

Historically, many people in the U.S. lived on farms and raised a little popcorn. People planted popcorn in the spring. In the fall. after the corn husks and stalks turned brown and felt dry, the popcorn was harvested by twisting or breaking the ears off the stalks and then pulling the husks away from the corn, but not removing the husks. The husks of several ears were tied together to enable them to be hung to dry in a shed or other well-ventilated, covered area.

After the ears dried for a month or so, the husks were removed and the popcorn was shelled. It was shelled by pushing the kernels on the ears sideways so they would separate from the cob. This could either be done by using fingers or a corn husking tool that was strapped on a person’s hand. After the first few kernels were removed from each ear, it was easier to break the remaining ones off. The popcorn kernels were then stored in a glass jar (and they hopefully had the right amount of moisture to successfully pop).

Whew, what a lot of work! It’s no wonder that packaged popcorn quickly became popular. (And, I can’t help thinking about how technology has continued to change the way popcorn is made and eaten.)

Old-Fashioned Apple Mallows (Baked Apples with Marshmallows)

Apple Mallow (Baked Apple with Marshmallows) in bowl

Baked apples are a classic fall comfort food. So, when I saw a hundred-year-old recipe for Apple Mallows (Baked Apples with Marshmallows), I decided to give it a try. The recipe was included in an advertisement for Campfire Marshmallows in the November, 1926 issue of Good Housekeeping. Here is the original recipe:

recipe for Campfire Apple Mallows — Source: Good Housekeeping (November, 1926)

Processed foods were rapidly becoming part of the U.S. diet by the 1920’s. Advertisers, including the Campfire Company, developed recipes that incorporated the food they were promoting into traditional desserts and dishes.

The advertisement said that the recipe was “tested and approved by Good Housekeeping Institute.” Apparently, the Campfire Company thought cooks would be more likely to trust that it was a good recipe if they were assured that the magazine’s research arm had tested it.

I agree with Good Housekeeping Institute’s decision to approve the recipe. Apple Mallows are a delightful variation of a classic dessert. Toasted marshmallows on top of the baked apples bring back memories of toasting marshmallows over a summer campfire, while marshmallows in the center of apples melt into a lovely, thick, sweet, gooey syrup.

The recipe indicated that the Apple Mallows should be served with cream. I didn’t have any cream, so I poured a little milk on some of the Apple Mallows. They were yummy. Additionally, I tried the Apple Mallows without any cream or milk, and they were also tasty that way.

The original recipe called for six apples and 12 large marshmallows, which is two marshmallows per apple. When I made the recipe, I used approximately three marshmallows per apple, so when I updated the recipe I increased the number of marshmallows to 18.

Similarly, I used more butter than the original recipe called for, so I increased the amount when I updated the recipe.

Since this recipe basically entailed just stuffing cored apples with marshmallows, the number of servings can easily be adjusted.

After the apples that had been stuffed with marshmallow pieces were baked, I added whole marshmallows on top. I then put the baked apples under the broiler for a minute or two to lightly brown the marshmallows prior to serving.

The original recipe says that the apples can be served hot or cold, but I served them hot. The gooey marshmallow filling in the middle of the apples was lovely. My sense is that the texture of the marshmallow filling would be quite different if the apples were served cold. When I updated the recipe, I indicated that this dessert should be served hot.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Apple Mallows (Baked Apples with Marshmallows)

Servings: 6
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
Print

6 apples (Use an apple variety that keeps its shape when cooked – Haralson, Rome, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Braeburn, etc.)

18 large marshmallows

2 tablespoons butter

water

cream or milk (optional)

Step 1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

Step 2. Use a sharp paring knife or an apple corer to cut out the apple cores. Once it is cut, a spoon can be used to help scoop the core out. When cutting out the cores, do not go all the way through the apples. Leave about 1/2 inch of the apple at the bottom so that the marshmallow filling will not seep out.

Step 3. Make 6 or 8 vertical cuts in the skin of each apple that goes half way down the apple. Don’t cut all the way through the apple. Just cut the skin.

Step 4. Put the apples in a baking dish that can go under the broiler.

Step 5. Cut 12 of the large marshmallows into eights.

Step 6. Put the marshmallow pieces in the center of the apples. Put small bits of butter in the apples with the marshmallow pieces.

Step 7. Gently pour about 1/2 inch of water into a corner of the baking dish.

Step 8. Put into oven and bake until the apples are tender (about 35-45 minutes).

Step 9. Remove from oven and put a whole marshmallow on the top of each apple. The marshmallows are held in place by gently pushing the bottom of each marshmallow into the holes in the apples.

Step 10. Place under the boiler until the marshmallows are lightly browned (1-2 minutes). Remove from oven and serve. If desired, serve with cream or milk.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Hundred-Year-Old Tips for Getting Picky Eaters to Eat

drawing of woman making an individual casserole — Source: American Cookery (October, 1926)

Many children are picky eaters, though a recently published book, Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History, says that it wasn’t always that way. Years ago, children ate the same foods as adults, but with changing technology and the abundance of food, there was a shift toward children eating a narrower diet of “children’s foods.” This shift was already occurring by the 1920’s. A short article in a 1926 magazine suggests making individual casseroles for children:

Individual “Casserole”

I have found that it is an easy thing to fill a little ramekin or custard cup and bake it separately when preparing a casserole dinner. Often the grown-ups must have their heavy meal in the evening, and by doing this I can give my child his most substantial meal at noon. A “fussy” child is often tempted to eat when his own special little dish is set before him, and another point is that one often uses seasoning and spices in the grown-ups’ casserole that he will be better off without.

Children appreciate pretty dishes and well-served meals as much as grown people, though many mothers do not seem to realize this. Children who are served from “left-over” China often have table manners to correspond, whereas dainty food set before them has a wholesome effect on their morale at mealtime.

American Cookery (October, 1926)