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Quarantine Cooking with Kallie: Fruit Muffins featured in the “Chicago Ledger” (1918)

  • Posted by: Kallie Stahl
  • Posted Date: July 2, 2020
  • Filed Under: Library News

During the fall 2019 semester, Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement provided free samples of the “St. Augustine” mocktail at their Halloween Open House on Thursday, Oct. 31. The beverage, featured in a Prohibition-era recipe book and digitized through Internet Archive, was well-received and a fun way to explore historical recipes.

Telecommuting from home, I plan to venture beyond mocktails and begin “telecooking” recipes featured in Falvey’s Distinctive Collections. This is the first of a four-part video series that will explore selected recipes and their publications. Videos will provide cooking demonstrations [please note: I am an excellent cook…just kidding, I am an okay-ish cook] and step-by-step instructions for crafting these delicacies.

Fruit Muffins” is the first recipe I selected to bake. This is a timely concoction, as the recipe is flour-less. During quarantine, flour has been hard to come by, so this recipe and others featured in the April 20, 1918 edition of the Chicago Ledger can be made without wheat flour. The original recipe is featured below.

Picture of 1918 fruit muffin recipe from the "Chicago Ledger."

Photo courtesy of Villanova University Digital Library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I altered the recipe slightly when cooking:

  • Heat 1 cup milk and 1 tbsp salt
  • Add 1 cup yellow cornmeal and stir thoroughly
  • Heat milk, salt and cornmeal for 5 minutes
  •  Remove from heat, stir and let cool for 10 minutes
  • Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 tbsp baking powder
  • Add 1 cup of dried fruit (raisins, cherries, cranberries, etc.)
  • Stir and add batter to greased muffin tin
  • Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes
  • Let muffins cool and add (optional) toppings; jam, honey, etc.

Check out my cooking tutorial and the finished product below.

Picture of cornmeal fruit muffins.

Cornmeal fruit muffins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating Gregor Mendel’s birthday on July 20, the next recipe will be “Pea Macaroni Salad with Lemon Thyme Dressing.” For more recipes visit the Digital Library. Questions about the Digital Library, University Archives or Special Collections? Contact the Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement staff.


Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 


 


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Last Modified: July 2, 2020

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