1926 Q&A: Are Vitamins Lost When Vegetables Are Boiled?

Decorative Q&A header

Vitamins Question — Source: American Cookery (December, 1926)

A hundred years ago, American Cookery magazine had a Queries and Answers column. I looked at least four or five times at the header, and kept thinking that it should say “Questions and Answers,” but it actually says, “Queries and Answers.” What a formal way of saying “Q&A.”

One query was about the loss of vitamins when vegetables are cooked. It seems really strange that “vitamins” was spelled, “vitamines” in the query. Maybe that’s an archaic spelling. Here’s the answer in the old magazine:

Loss of Vitamines in Cooking Vegetables

In all cooking of food there is more or less loss of vitamines involved, but the lower the temperature the less will be the loss, so we think your friend probably meant “low temperature” when she said “slow fire.”

Authorities on the subject tell us that the temperatures used in the ordinary methods of home cooking involve no very serious loss of vitamines. but when vegetables or other foods are cooked in water, there is a serious loss of the vitamines that are soluble in water. In our own experience, this rather than the high temperature, is the thing to be dreaded and deplored.

When the water used in cooking is drained off down the sink there is a waste of valuable substances which should be regarded as nothing short of criminal. In some of the classic experiments on these substances, pigeons which had been fed on vitamine-free foods until they were at the point of death were quickly resuscitated and made a complete recovery when the water used in boiling vegetables was administered to them.

We, therefore, pray you, boil your vegetables if you wish (though we’d prefer you to steam them), but save every drop of the water from either process. Use it as a basis for soup, for gravy, for mashing potatoes, for breadmaking – for anything you please, only use it.

American Cookery (December, 1926)

Whew – the author of the answer has a strong opinion! I’m apparently acting in a criminal manner. This answer makes me feel guilty, and I hate to admit it, but when I boil or steam vegetables, I throw the water out. Maybe I should stick with roasting vegetables.

I also am a bit alarmed by the pigeon experiments, but things were different back then. Some things have definitely changed over the years.

Old-Fashioned Cherry and Cantaloupe Fruit Cocktail

Cherry and Cantaloupe Fruit Cocktail in dish

I’m enjoying summer fruits, so when I saw a hundred-year-old recipe for Cherry and Cantaloupe Cocktail, I decided to give it a try. This recipe is actually actually a recipe for a fruit mixture, or a fruit cocktail.

Pre-prohibition fruit cocktails often contained a little alcohol, but during prohibition (and afterwards), fruit juice or sugar syrups were instead used. In this recipe, pitted sweet cherries are mixed with cantaloupe balls, and then a mixture of orange and lemon juices is poured over it.

The Cherry and Cantaloupe (Fruit) Cocktail was tasty and refreshing. It is a lovely summer fruit salad.

Here’s the original recipe:

recipe for Cherry and Cantaloupe Cocktail — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

My melon baller scoop has two scoops; one at each end. I used the smaller scoop to make the cantaloupe balls. To make a nice round ball, press the scoop deeply into the cantaloupe before twisting to make the ball.

The old recipe’s implied serving size seems small. In the directions, it says that the cherries and cantaloupe mixture should be served with 1 tablespoon of orange and lemon juice mixed. There is 1 cup of the juice mixture (1/2 cup orange juice + 1/2 cup lemon juice) and there are 16 tablespoons in a cup, which suggests this recipe makes 16 servings. However, 6 cups of cherries and cantaloupe divided by 16 would make each serving only a little over 1/3 cup which seems really small. I think that a serving size of 3/4 cup would be more reasonable, which suggests that 2 tablespoons of juice should be spooned over each serving.

In any case, this recipe makes a lot of servings, so when I updated it, I halved the recipe, and used 3/4 cup as the serving size.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Cherry and Cantaloupe Cocktail

Servings: 4
Time: 20
Difficulty: moderate
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1 1/2 cups sweet cherries, pitted

1 1/2 cups cantaloupe balls

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

Step 1. Arrange the pitted cherries and cantaloupe balls to make an attractive fruit mixture in serving cups or bowls

Step. 2. Put the orange juice and lemon juice in a small bowl.

Step 3. Spoon 2 tablespoons of juice over each serving of the fruit mixture.

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Old-Fashioned Blackberry Cake

Blackberry Cake on plate

Berries, berries everywhere. I flipped through a hundred-year-old cookbook to see if there were any berry recipes, and came across a lovely recipe for Blackberry Cake.

Blackberry Cake is a spice cake that contains blackberries. The combination works really well, and the cake was delicious. It makes a lovely summer dessert.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Blackberry Cake — Source: Pennsylvania State Grange Cook Book (1926)

A hundred years ago, canned blackberries were readily available. In those days, before home freezers, many cooks canned blackberries to preserve them. Commercially canned blackberries were also sold in many stores.

Since it’s difficult to find canned blackberries today, I substituted fresh blackberries for canned ones when I made the recipe. I used a pint package of blackberries and cooked them with a little sugar prior to using in this recipe. The blackberries I used were very large, so I cut each berry into 2 or 3 pieces before cooking. After they were cooked, they had a consistency (and liquid) similar to canned blackberries.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Blackberry Cake

Servings: 8 - 10
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
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1 cup canned blackberries, including liquid (or use 1 pint (8 ounces) fresh blackberries + 1/4 cup sugar)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon allspice

Step 1. If using fresh blackberries, put blackberries in a saucepan. (If the blackberries are very large, first cut each one into 2 or 3 pieces.) Stir in 1/4 cup sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes to allow time for juice to be drawn out of the berries, then heat, using medium heat until the liquid begins to boil; reduce heat and simmer until the berries are soft (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat.

Step 2. Drain the blackberries. Reserve both the berries and liquid. (Regardless of whether canned or cooked berries are used, they will need to be drained.)

Step 3. Preheat oven to 350° F.

Step 4. Grease and flour a loaf pan or a 9-inch square baking pan. (I used a square pan.).

Step 5. Cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Add water, and eggs; beat to combine. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice; beat until thoroughly mixed. Add blackberry juice; beat until well blended.

Step 6. Then stir in the cooked blackberries. Pour into prepared pan.

Step 7. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Bride’s and Groom’s Cakes a Hundred Years Ago

Bride's Cake — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

There have been beautifully decorated cakes at weddings for at least a hundred years (and the tradition probably goes back much longer). The 1926 edition of Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking cookbook included recipes for both Bride’s and Groom’s Cakes.

I never heard of Groom’s Cake until I saw it in the old cookbook. An online search showed that Groom’s Cake is still served at some weddings. There is regional variation in the popularity of Groom’s Cake, with it being more popular in Britain and the southern U.S. than in other regions.

In the hundred-year-old cookbook, the batter used to make the Bride’s Cake was white. The same basic batter was used for both cakes, but fruit, cocoa and spices were added to the Groom’s Cake batter. It also was smaller than the Bride’s Cake, though both were beautifully decorated.

Groom Cake — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

The cakes in the pictures were beautiful, but since I had no need for wedding cakes, I didn’t try to replicate them. In case you are interested, here are the recipes in the old cookbook:

Recipes for Bride's and Groom's Cakes — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

Old-Fashioned Jellied Rhubarb

Can a recipe failure be a success? I think that I have a case where the dish I made didn’t turn out as expected, but I absolutely love the food I ended up with. Let me explain.

I decided to make a hundred-year-old recipe for Jellied Rhubarb. To illustrate the post, I planned to show a picture of a beautifully molded gelatin ring with the piped whipped cream on top. Instead, I ended up with a bright, sunny rhubarb sauce that contained delightful notes of lemon.

I think that this is the first time that I’ve ever made a recipe that called for both rhubarb and lemon juice (and lemon rind). The combination works! Both the rhubarb and the lemon are tart and tangy, while the lemon brings an additional subtle sweetness and refreshing citrus taste. I can’t figure out why it’s not a common combination.

Each spring and early summer, I make lots of rhubarb dishes, and I’m certain I’ll make this recipe again.

Recipe for Jellied Rhubarb (Rhubarb Gelatin) — Source: Ladies Home Journal (May, 1926)

I’m still trying to figure out why the gelatin did not firmly set. As I go over how I made the recipe in my head, I think that there might be several factors that caused the problems. First, I took some short cuts when making the recipe. To cook the rhubarb, the recipe calls for mixing the rhubarb pieces, sugar, and water, and then baking for 50 minutes. This seemed like an odd (and very slow) way to get cooked rhubarb, so I put the rhubarb, sugar, and water in a pan and cooked it for a few minutes until the rhubarb was soft.

Second, I may have inadvertently not used as much unflavored gelatin as the recipe called for. It calls for 2 1/2 tablespoons of gelatin; I used 2 packets of gelatin. At the time, I thought that 2 packets contained a lot of gelatin and that it must contain at least 2 1/2 tablespoons. In hindsight (and after I researched it following my recipe failure), I realized that each 0.25 ounce packet only contains about a tablespoon of gelatin. (Note to self: Measure don’t guess when making recipes.)

Third, the recipe is a bit vague. It mentions straining the rhubarb juice at one point in the recipe, but at a later point, it mentions that the jellied rhubarb can be an excellent tart filling if it is not strained too thoroughly. This led me to decide to strain the cooked rhubarb, put the juice back in the pan, add the gelatin, and reheat until the gelatin was dissolved. I then stirred the rhubarb that I’d strained out back in. Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that. The recipe mentions the tart filling in connection with “not thoroughly strained” rhubarb, not molded gelatin. In any case, adding the rhubarb back in would have increased the volume of the mixture, and it may have required additional gelatin if I wanted a firmly molded gelatin.

Bottom line, the series of mistakes and shortcuts that I took resulted in the recipe not turning out as the recipe author intended. After the rhubarb and gelatin mixture failed to properly jell, I considered reheating the mixture, straining it, and adding additional gelatin; but, in the end, I decided that I was happy with the dish that I got and didn’t do that.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Jellied Rhubarb

Servings: 5 - 7
Time: 20 minutes active prep time
Difficulty: moderate
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4 cups red rhubarb cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

juice and grated rinds of 2 lemons

2 packets (0.25-ounce packets) unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

Step 1. Put the diced rhubarb, sugar, and 2 cups of water in a large saucepan. Using medium heat, bring to a boil; reduce temperature and simmer until tender (about 5 minutes); stir occasionally. Remove from heat.

Step 2. In the meantime, put the 1/2 cup cold water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin on top of the water, and let soak for 15 minutes.

Step 3. Strain the cooked rhubarb. Keep both the rhubarb and the juice.

Step 4. Put the rhubarb juice back in the pan; add the gelatin that has been soaked in water.

Step 5. Bring back to a boil while stirring constantly.

Step 6. Remove from heat, and stir in the lemon juice, grated lemon rind, and the cooked rhubarb that previously had been strained out.

Step 7. Put in a bowl and put in the refrigerator; chill for at least 3 hours.

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Tips for Using Extra Egg Yolks

In a 1926 cookbook called, Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking, Mrs. Peterson writes that one of the most frequent questions she gets when conducting a cooking class is “What shall I do with egg yolks?”

Both a hundred years ago and now there are numerous recipes that call for egg white, and the cook ends up with leftover egg yolks. To assist readers, Mrs. Peterson provided a list of ways to use them.

List of uses for egg yolks — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

Intrigued by the Yellow Jacket Frosting suggestion, I flipped to the cookbook’s index and found the recipe for Yellow Jacket Frosting. According to the recipe, it is a lemon-colored, cooked frosting made using egg yolks, marshmallows, sugar, and Karo.

Old-Fashioned Chicken Roll (Chicken and Olive Roll)

A recipe for Chicken Roll in a 1926 magazine intrigued me. The roll was made using Baking Powder Biscuit dough, then filled with a chopped chicken and olive mixture and rolled similarly to how a jelly roll is made.

The roll can be cut into rounds prior to baking. After it is baked, it is served with White Sauce.

The recipe turned out well. The Chicken Roll rounds made a nice presentation and were tasty. The tangy, briny olives provided the predominate flavor, with the taste of the chicken being much more nuanced. If I had been the recipe author, I would have called this food a Chicken and Olive Roll.

Chicken Roll Recipe — Source: Ladies Home Journal (June, 1926)

One-half teaspoon of scraped onion did not seem like very much, so I used 2 tablespoons of finely chopped onions.

I assumed that “olives” in the recipe referred to green stuffed olives.

I have made White Sauce so many times over the years that I didn’t need a recipe for it, but I did need a recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits. Here’s a hundred-year-old that I found for them:

As directed in the original Chicken Roll recipe, I doubled the amount of shortening when making the Baking Powder Biscuit dough.

After I added the milk, I mixed the dough with a fork rather than a knife.

When I rolled the dough to 1/3-inch thickness, it seemed rather thick, so I rolled it a little more to make it about 1/4-inch thick.

I cut the roll into rounds prior to baking. Two-inch thick rounds are very thick, so I cut them into 1-inch rounds.

My husband and I ate half the rounds one day, and I reheated the remainder the next. I made a half recipe of white sauce each day that we poured over the baked rounds of Chicken Roll.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Chicken Roll (Chicken Olive Roll)

Servings: 3 - 5
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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Filling

1 1/4 cups cold cooked chicken, finely chopped

1/3 cup chopped stuffed green olives

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1/8 teaspoon paprika

Baking Powder Biscuit Dough

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup shortening

2/3 cup milk

White Sauce

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

Step 1. Preheat oven to 450° F.

Step 2. Put the chopped chicken, olives, onions, and paprika in a bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.

Step 3. Make the Baking Powder Biscuit dough by combining the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl, then cut in the shortening; add milk, and stir with a fork until the dough forms.

Step 4. Put the biscuit dough on a prepared surface, and roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick (approximately 9″ X 12″).

Step 5. Spread the chicken and olive mixture on the dough, then roll the dough starting at one of the short edges (similarly to how a jelly roll is rolled).

Step 6. Cut the roll into 1-inch thick rounds, then place the rounds on a lightly greased backing sheet.

Step. 7. Put in oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until the rounds are lightly browned.

Step 8. In the meantime, make the White Sauce. In another pan, using medium heat, melt butter, then stir in the flour and salt. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce begins to thicken.

Step 9. To serve, put the baked Chicken Roll rounds on a plate, and serve with the White Sauce (or, if desired, pour the White Sauce on the baked rounds prior to serving).

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