The Quilt Inn Country Cookbook

Aliske Webb

Songs From the Hearth

I have a copy of The Woman’s Exchange Cook Book by Mrs. Minnie Palmer,

published in 1901 by the W.B. Conkey Company of Chicago. It’s been in our family for

a long time. I think it was my great-grandmother’s. Now, before you think it is valuable

or something let me tell you this is a very beat up copy. In fact, the original cover was

lost years ago and as long as I can remember it’s been held together by the very

beaten up cover of another (lost) book called, Heart Songs. As a little girl I misread the

tile and always thought it said “Hearth Songs”. Somehow that seemed appropriate. A

cookbook would contain songs from the hearth. Isn’t that what Shakespeare was

alluding to when he wrote, “If music be the food of love...”?

Unlike Elena Molokhovets’ book about pre-Revolutionary aristocratic excesses,

Mrs. Palmer’s book is a plain, down-to-earth anthology of everythinga North American

homemaker at the turn of the century needed to know. It included everything from

dressing game, to preserving food, to baking pies and making ice cream delicacies.

For extra value in the over 500 pages, there are chapters on cooking for an invalid,

how to run a nursery, how to make soap, perfumes and cosmetics, and remedies for

common ailments, my favorite. So, before we become too nostalgic for the good old

days, here are some of the invaluable (and sometimes unbelievable) cures you might

want to try.

To Stop Bleeding

“Apply wet tea leaves, or scrapings of sole leather to a fresh cut and it will stop

bleeding, or apply a paste of flour and vinegar.”

To Stop Bleeding at the Nose

“Bathe the feet in very hot water, drinking at the same time a pint of cayenne

pepper tea, or hold both hands above the head.”

Toothache

“The worst toothache, or neuralgia coming from the teeth, may be speedily and

delightfully ended by the application of a bit of clean cotton saturated in a solution of

Published by Bookmice.com

Country Cooking