Taking Notes

I spent several hours today backing up my Facebook Notes. I had been using Notes as a recipe archive a few years ago, finding it an easy way to include photos and send friends to the page when they wanted one of my recipes.

Apparently, FB stopped supporting the section as of October 31, 2020. I had noticed they were becoming more and more difficult to find, but I didn't know they'd gone away. Well, not quite; FB is not allowing any new notes, but the old ones are still there, if you can find them. 

(Go to your FB home page on a computer, not mobile; click on the ellipsis ... at the top; click Activity Log; click Filter; scroll down and choose Notes; hit Save Changes. You should see all your Notes listed. You can read, copy, or delete them, but can no longer edit.)

I'm going to post the Notes here. I was planning to do them in chronological order, but this one is fun, and we need fun right now, so here ya go: a classic from September 9, 2010.

Indian Sauce (1931 Recipe)

My treasure from the local library book sale yesterday is a copy of the "Grand Union $1,000 Prize Contest Recipe Book -- The winning Recipes, published in permanent form on the occasion of Grand Union's 59th Anniversary, 1931".

Pages 86 and 87 of the 1931 Grand Union Prize Recipe Book

 

It contains lots of ads for companies that no longer exist (including Grand Union) and for some that are still around (like Sunshine crackers and Crowley's milk). Every recipe has the contributor's name on it, whether it was one of the 28 prize winners or not. They're all from the Northeast, mostly N.Y. state.

And the recipes don't coddle the reader. Only a couple of them include oven temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit; some say "hot" or "moderate" oven; a few just say "bake" or "cook." 

 If it says to heat 1 tablespoon of Crisco with 1 clove of garlic, you're expected to know enough to chop that garlic up first. (Or not.)

When Mrs. J.E. Eckard tells you, for her Southern Sweet Potato Pudding, "Use enough sweet milk to make real moist," she expects you know what sweet milk is, and how moist is real moist.

And in the preserves section, the final step for Mrs. C.H. Chappell's Ginger Pears is "Boil four hours." After all, you should already know how to put the finished product up in canning jars. Doesn't everybody?

In the "Miscellaneous" section, the recipe for Indian Sauce, by Mrs. William J. Tipp of Watertown, N.Y., caught my eye. It appears to be a variation on chutney (hence East Indian, not Native American Indian). The really intriguing part was the final sentence. Makes me wonder if her descendants still have some around.

Indian Sauce

10 large ripe tomatoes, 12 sour apples chopped fine, 6 onions chopped fine, 2 pounds seedless raisins and 1 red pepper chopped fine, 2 pounds brown sugar, 1 cup salt, 1 gallon cider vinegar. Boil all together 1 hour, then add 1 ounce Pocono Ground Ginger, 1/4 pound mustard mixed with vinegar. Let boil 1/2 hour. When cold, bottle. Needs no sealing just put cover on to keep out dust. Will keep indefinitely.

9/05/2010