Here’s advice in a hundred-year-old cookbook on the care of vegetables:

Care of Vegetables

Summer vegetables should be cooked as soon after gathering as possible; in case they must be kept, spread on bottom of cool, dry, well-ventilated cellar, or place in ice-box. Lettuce may be best kept by sprinkling with cold water and placing in a tin pan closely covered. Wilted vegetables may be freshened by allowing to stand in cold water. Vegetables which contain sugar lose some of their sweetness by standing; corn and peas are more quickly affected than others.

Winter vegetables should be kept in a cold, dry place. Beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, etc., should be put in barrels or piled in bins, to exclude as much air as possible. Squash should be spread, and needs careful watching; when dark spots appear, cook at once. . .

A few years ago native vegetables were alone sold; but now our markets are largely supplied from the Southern States and California, thus allowing us fresh vegetables throughout the year.

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (1923)

Wow – it’s amazing that already a hundred years ago that the transportation system in the U.S. was good enough to allow vegetables to routinely be shipped across the country.

Here’s some hundred-year-old advice about the weight equivalents of various common ingredients. It’s interesting how a given volume of some foods weighs less than other foods. For example, 2 cups of granulated sugar equals a pound, but a pint (2 cups) of brown sugar equals 13 ounces.

I found this list in a cookbook compiled by an organization. It made me smile to see how the one item on the list that spilled over to a second line was out of alignment with the other items in the list. I’d probably do something like that – though maybe that’s how it’s supposed formatted.  Not sure.

I don’t think that the timeline for canning fruits and vegetables has changed much across the years – though I’m guessing that this timeline is most appropriate for the northern parts of the U.S. since it is from a cookbook compiled in Michigan. The dates probably would be shifted earlier in more southern locales.

 

A 1923 cookbook contained directions for calculating the number of calories needed daily. It also provided an example of how to use the chart:

To see if the number of recommended calories has changed across the years, I used an online calorie calculator to estimate the number of calories needed by a 35 year old woman who weighs 125 pounds. The online calculator asked for height. I used 5′ 4″. I also indicated that the woman did moderate exercise 4-5 times per week. The online calculator said that she needed 1827 calories per day to maintain weight which is 423 calories less than the hundred-year-old estimate that 2250 calories were needed per day – but perhaps doing two hours per day of general housework back then required more calories than moderate exercise 4-5 times per week does today.

Here’s some hundred-year-old advice for making pies using summer fruits:

Pies from the First Fruits of Summer

As the season of abundant fruit approaches, let us not forget that the most delicious pies of the whole year are the juicy, full-flavored ones made from the summer fruits. To be at their best, they should be eaten the day they are baked.

For fruit pies, allow for a larger upper crust. After trimming it evenly, turn the margin over and under the lower crust, pressing the rounded edge firmly upon the pie-plate. This “hem” effectually seals up the juices, for the edge of the pie crisps first before the fruit begins to simmer. Make a pattern of slits over the top, through which the steam may escape.

Never put a pie in the over and forget it. It often needs turning to get an even brownest. Burned piecrust is unsightly and leaves a bad, black taste in the mouth.

In making plain fruit pies of huckleberries or blackberries, the prepared fruit should be thoroughly mixed with sugar and flour to thicken in a separate dish and then turned into the paste-lined pie plate.

American Cookery (June/July, 1923)

Food is so expensive today. I don’t do a very good job of keeping track of how much I spend on food. I just know that it’s a lot. Maybe I should use this hundred-year-old food expense record sheet from a hundred-year-old home economics textbook. Here is what it said about the record sheet:

Food Expense Record

All expenses chargeable to the food account may be entered under the general heading of “food.” This does not give as much information as is frequently desired and it is helpful and quite usual to make a few subheadings.

Care should be taken to enter only food items under “groceries.” The bill from the grocery frequently includes other items than food – such as soap, brooms, matches, mouse-traps, etc. Frequently, the man of the household and sometimes school children must secure the noon-day meal away from home. The cost of these meals is chargeable to the food account.

Economics of the Family (C.W. Taber and Ruth A. Wardall, 1923)

 

Butter is sooo hard when I first take it out of the refrigerator. It’s impossible to spread. Also, I never seem to think about setting it out ahead of time to soften when I want use it in recipes. I could be imagining it, but I think that cold butter is harder today than in the past.

In any case, I was pleased to find a hundred-year-old tip for softening butter:

When butter is too hard to spread easily, turn a heated bowl upside down over the butter dish for a few minutes. This will thoroughly soften the butter without melting it.

Cookbook (Published by the Bethany Shrine Patrol No. 1, Rochester NY, 1923)