Old advertisements provide lots of information about which cooking ingredients were available at different periods of time – and they also sometimes provide information about how those goods were packaged. The waxed paper wrapper surrounding the Swans Down Cake Flour package was obviously seen as a key selling point in this 1919 advertisement.
A Hundred Years Ago 
I can always count on you for a brief respite from work when I need to look up something from one of your posts. Why wrapped in waxed paper led me to a 1919 American Cookery advertisements. Fun!
🙂 It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoy these posts.
Yes. I remember waxed paper being everywhere for wrapping and now it’s plastic. For the sake of the planet we probably need to go back to waxed paper – but I’m not sure what the wax was they used.
The bread industry is working on different packaging that is more earth friendly. Hopefully, it will be perfected sooner than later.
It’s wonderful to hear about this potential innovation. Hopefully it will be available soon.
I agree, waxed paper is probably better for the environment. I’m guessing that waxed paper is made by coating paper with paraffin, but I’m not sure.
I remember using waxed paper for everything – better than plastic – and I still have a roll in my pantry. And for 10 cents you could get a copy of “Cake Secrets.”
I also have a roll of waxed paper. I use it from time to time to line cake pans when I want to take a cake out of the pan, to cover foods in the microwave, etc. I want one of the 10 cent Cake Secret books, too. It sounds like a bargain. 🙂
“Prepared” cake flour. I bet it cost a tad more than the all-purpose flour, but was it worth it? That’s my question!
hmm. . . I know how often I buy cake flour (not very often), so I probably won’t pay much more for it. That said, your comment makes we curious about how much more it cost than all-purpose flour.
Try sending a dime for cake secrets or are they out of biz?😉
We could always try sending a dime, but I’m not holding my breath that we’d get anything back. 🙂
🤣🤣🤣
Do we have any idea what “prepared” flour was? I’ve never heard that before.
No clue. . . it seems like it contains only flour since the advertisement says that it is not “self rising.”
I can remember sending coins in the mail. We would tape them to thin cardboard.
So did we. I’d totally forgotten about that until you mentioned it. We would cut a piece of cardboard just a little smaller than the envelop from a cereal box and then tape the coins to it. Thanks for the memory.
That’s something that you could have a choice of flours a hundred years ago.
I think that there were more types of flour than you might think available a hundred years ago. I’ve made recipes that called for pastry flour, as well as recipes that called for graham flour. And, I’ve found that some of these old-time flours can be somewhat difficult to find today.
I didn’t realize there were choices of flours a hundred years ago. I often shopped with my mother in the 50’s, but I don’t remember specific products. I wouldn’t think there were many different things on the shelf of an independent grocery store in a small Southern town. It would be nice if I were wrong.
I’m sure you’re right. I also remember the small grocery stores in towns near where I grew up. They weren’t very large, and couldn’t possibly have stocked very many products.
Interesting that no address is given for the cookbook … where do I send my 10 cents!
I’m guessing that the maker of Swans Down Flour (Igleheart Brothers) was a major employer in Evansville, Indiana – so if the letter got to the town, the post office employees would be able to get it to the company with no street address.
Those were the days!
I forgot about wax paper being used that way! I’ve used Swan cake flour before for Angel food cakes , now I just use golden medal flour..works just as good .
I occasionally use cake flour (and currently have a box in my kitchen cupboard), but like you, I’m never quite sure whether the finished product is any better when I use it instead of all-purpose flour.
Interesting… I’ve been trying to wean myself from single-use plastic and to use more waxed paper in its place.
I’m sometimes surprised how well waxed paper works as a substitute for plastic wrap.
I absolutely love old advertisements. And you’re right, we can learn from them too!
It’s nice to hear that you enjoy posts that contain old advertisements. I also think that they are a lot of fun to read.