Source: Ladies Home Journal (May, 1926)

Good to know that 94 out of every 100 husbands supposedly preferred home-canned fruits and vegetables in 1926. And, guess who was going to do the canning . . .

Advertisements from a hundred years ago, such as this Ball Jar advertisement, sometimes portrayed women (and men) in roles that were stereotypical at the time.

In addition to the illustration and the caption in the ad, there was a lot of smaller text, which said in part:

Some women say, “Oh, it is too much trouble to do your own preserving and canning.” But is it? Canning not only means the best preserves at the lowest cost, but the improved methods make it a pleasure.

Millions of women – from their own experience – will tell you that modern methods eliminate drudgery. They make home canning quick and easy. . .

Home preserved fruits and vegetables have that delicious home made taste. An actual investigation showed that 94 out of 100 men preferred fruits and vegetables canned at home. Your husband, undoubtedly, will like them much better, too.

And when you put up your own fruits and vegetables – you know what you are getting. You know they are the finest and choicest. For you choose them yourself. They are pure and safe for your children.  . .

Use the Right Jars

Be sure to get Ball “Perfect Mason” or “Ideal” Fruit Jars. Your grocer has them handily packed by the dozen. They are strong and the sealing shoulder is true. For they are the only jars made by the “Owens Process” – a patented process which absolutely insures an even thickness of glass – this giving strength and durability.

For your own success in canning be sure to get Ball “Perfect Seal” Rubbers and Caps. We urge this because they are especially made to fit Ball Jars. Thus they are air tight and insure a perfect seal. This is the only way you can be sure you are taking no chances.

Ladies Home Journal (May, 1926)

A hundred-year-old issue of American Cookery magazine contained an advertisement for kitchen clocks. To get a clock, people could send $1.50 plus sell seven subscriptions to the magazine, or they could just send $5.25 and not sell any subscriptions. I wonder how many people sold subscriptions to get a clock at a reduced price. I can’t imagine being able to sell subscriptions to seven people.

Actually, I don’t think that I’d purchase one for the full price either. I haven’t had a separate kitchen clock for many years. I just use the ones on my stove and microwave, but, of course, they didn’t yet exist in 1926, so if I went back in time, maybe I’d want one.

The clocks contained pendulums, and needed to be wound every eight days. 1926 was before the era of electric and battery-operated clocks.

According to a 1926 Jell-O advertisement, Jell-O is the most famous American dessert. Really? Was that an accurate statement a hundred years ago? . . . or was it the aspirations of a company advertising a product?

I think that the old ad was referring to the U.S. when the it said “America,” but I’m not sure. Maybe it meant North America or all of the Americas.

Based on an informal survey of two people – my husband and myself – the most famous dessert in the U.S. is apple pie. Of course, it could have been something different a hundred years ago (Jell-O????).

Advertisements in hundred-year-old magazines provide insight into cooking practices and the culture back then. I recently flipped through the October, 1926 issue of American Cookery, and found an advertisement for a Dandy Chopper. Cooks clamped the food choppers onto a table to grind meats and other foods. I flipped a little further and was surprised to find a second advertisement for a food chopper.

At first, I thought that both advertisements were by the same company, but then I realized that one was for the Dandy Chopper, which was made by the New Standard Corporation in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, while the other was for the Joy Chopper, which was made by the Rollman Manufacturing Company in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.

What the heck? Was Mount Joy the Silicon Valley of food choppers a hundred years ago?

 

So many companies and products come and go within the course of just a few years, so I’m always amazed when I find an advertisement in a hundred-year-old magazine for a food that is still available.  According to Wikipedia, in the early 1900’s, Richard Hellmann owned a delicatessen in New York City. He made a tasty mayonnaise that he served with the deli foods. It was so popular that he began selling it to other stores, and in 1913 built a factory to produce Hellmann’s Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise.  The company has been sold several times, but Hellmann’s Mayonnaise (now available in several varieties) is still around.

Until I saw this advertisement for Blue Whirl Egg Beaters in a hundred-year-old magazine I’d forgotten all about hand-crank beaters. I think that I once owned one, but have no idea where it is. I haven’t used it in years. The last time I used it was when my children were small and I didn’t trust them to use my electric beaters.

Does anyone still use classic hand-crank beaters? I did a quick online search and hand-crank beaters are still available, but the comments made it sound like they are difficult to find in stores and generally must be purchased online.

According to Home Grail, a commercial-sized electric mixer was invented in 1914, and home stand mixers were starting to become available in the 1920s; however, a hundred years ago, hand-cranked beaters were still  the norm.

Whisks are another tool that can be used to beat eggs and do other tasks that a hand-crank beater might do. According to Wikipedia, whisks have been around for hundreds of years. The earliest ones were just bundles of twigs that were used to beat foods. Wikipedia noted that whisks were not very popular in the early 20th century and that cooks generally preferred beaters, but that they again became popular after Julia Child used them when she appeared on television.

Bananas are tasty, inexpensive, nutritious, and easy to eat. They are wonderful in smoothies, and delightful sliced on top of cereal or oatmeal. They also are tasty in banana breads and muffins.  Mashed bananas are one of the first solid foods that babies typically eat, and they are equally popular with older children and adults of all ages.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, bananas are sometimes called “nature’s perfect snack.” They are a higher fiber food, and contain lots of vitamins and minerals. They are especially known for being a good source of potassium, which can help reduce blood pressure.

Bananas have been popular in the United States since the latter part of the 1800s. As people became aware of germs, they liked how the peel kept the banana clean until it was ready to be eaten.

By the early 1900’s, large quantities of bananas were imported into the United States from Latin America and the Caribbean. The Fruit Dispatch Company had an advertisement for Unifruitco bananas in the April, 1926 issue of Good Housekeeping. The Fruit Dispatch Company was a selling agency for the United Fruit Company back then. (United Fruit Company is now Chiquita Brands International.) Here are some excepts from the 1926 advertisement:

Offer a child a ripe banana, and see eager eyes light up with the joy of anticipated goodness. Children find an appetite allure in ripe bananas – and do you know what it is? It is sugar – mellow sweetness in its most easily digested form.

Bananas are rich in carbohydrates – the energy-building food values so necessary for children, and so good for everyone. In bananas that are fully ripe, this valuable food element is present in the form of fruit sugars, nature’s most easily digested and most wholesome form of sweetness. . .

Buy them in advance of use and let them ripen at home. . . When all green is gone from the tip, and the yellow skin has turned to a mellow gold, flecked with brown, then a banana is fully ripe and most delicious. . .

The choicest bananas you can find are Unifruitco Bananas. They are grown and harvested down in the tropics, under the most modern methods of cultivation. They come north in specially constructed ships. The Fruit Dispatch Company, Importers of Unifruitco Bananas, distributes them all over the country to wholesalers and jobbers, who keep this fruit in banana rooms until your dealer wants them.

Good Housekeeping (April, 1926)

Both a hundred years ago and now, there was recognition that bananas contain more sugar when fully ripe than when they are greener. The old advertisement recommended eating completely ripe bananas that were a “mellow gold, flecked with brown.” Today people who are concerned about maintaining a steady blood sugar often prefer greener bananas that contain more starch. According to the Cleveland Clinic article:

Green bananas can contain less than half the amount of sugar than ripe ones.

For those concerned about blood sugar levels with more yellow bananas, pairing the fruit with a protein source (such as a handful of nuts or a cheese stick) can help better regulate the increase.