Also, it could last the entire five or six months without spoiling. To make porridge , the pioneers mixed cornmeal with water or milk. People in the east made their own versions of porridge, known as hasty pudding in New England and suppawn in New York. Some of the pioneers wrote about it fondly. Everyone expresses satisfaction. Like their modern-day counterparts, the pioneers loved coffee on the trail. Whenever they wanted a cup, travelers roasted the raw beans in a skillet over the fire and ground them.
And we thought waiting in line at Starbucks was a drag. They had coffee with breakfast , but as the journey progressed, they drank it more often. Often, it was the last food travelers had left. One person recalled that the smell of roasting coffee was the last remaining comfort when the other food ran out.
Ever resourceful author Randolph B. It dries up in that climate, but does not lose its flavor. Fast, filling, and, flatulence-causing, beans were a menu staple with cowboys as well as pioneers.
The pioneers often ate beans for breakfast. They were relatively quick to make. People simply added them to a big pot with water. Although raw beans lasted for a long time, cooked beans spoiled quickly. So everyone had to enjoy them quickly. That suited the travelers because breakfast needed to wrap up by 4 A. They liked to move when the sun rose. But it was a handy food to have around since it lasted and traveled well.
Plus rice made people feel full, which was important for morale. Traveling along the Oregon Trail involved a lot of peril , from diseases, horse accidents, drowning, and maybe even from a fellow traveler.
A guide written by Joel Palmer , who traveled to Oregon in , advised people to pack 10 pounds of rice per adult for the journey. They could eat it with meat, like dried beef. Travelers also enjoyed rice with water, milk, butter, sugar, molasses, and our favorite, cornmeal mush.
The bread-loving host and all-around superhuman would be pleased to know that pioneers ate her favorite food as the main resource on the trail. The women spent time in the wagons making the dough. It rose in time for them to cook it in the evening. But how did the bread rise? The women used saleratus , a chalk-like powder similar to baking powder, that became commercially available in They found the powder most effective with dough cooked over a hot heat.
If the travelers ran out of saleratus, they could get a natural substitute from soda springs near the Sweetwater River. The soda formed a white powdery crust around the water. It could make bread rise but also tasted a little bitter. If they wanted milk, the travelers milked the dairy cows brought along for just that purpose. They mixed it with cornmeal to make that mushy porridge.
And it had another use, thanks to the rocky ride. Travelers hung pails of milk from the wagons. As they trundled along the rough roads, the milk curdled and form butter!
Every pioneer company faced challenges of food supply. Whether it was problems of forage for the animals, poor storage or packing, or simple ignorance of nutrition, food was the fuel for the trip, and pioneer diet determined their success or failure. The typical pioneer diet consisted of corn-meal mush, white or navy beans, salt-rising bread, dried fruit if they had it , and any meat they may get along the trail.
Things that packed well like flour or beans were the staples. Often missing were fruits and vegetables that are needed for Vitamins A and C. Students will be able to understand the particular challenges pioneers had when packing, preserving, and preparing food along the trail.
They will also find examples of pioneer diet and how food and forage determined many trail decisions. Students will show their learning by packing for a three-month trek, analyzing pioneer diet for its nutrition, and finding examples of how diet affected pioneer life as they play a board-game about trail decisions and food supply. An exciting 'hook' may be creating a pioneer meal see Step 3. Find materials of pioneer diet and food supplies using the books listed in the bibliography and the following links: Introduce pioneer diet by having a typical pioneer meal: beans, corn-meal mush or flour made into a paste, slabs of salt-cured bacon or jerky, salt-rising bread or biscuits or hardtack.
Let students speculate on how this would taste day after day, and what they would wish they could have instead. Point out what is missing: leafy green vegetables or deep orange vegetables, citrus fruits, or other fruits -- all of which give vitamins A and C; milk products, things made from eggs. Ask how the pioneer diet differs from today's diet and speculate why. Give stories and examples of forage problems as well.
What did the pioneers do if there was not enough grass for their cattle and oxen? The bacteria in the air would cause it to ferment. You can read more about how to make sourdough here.
Flat pan? I think you are speaking of a baking sheet. I believe the recipe calls for a baking pan with sides. Just my thoughts. It almost covered the gaminess and often helped tenderize the game. So, silly question but how do you bake without an oven? There are a lot of different solutions, like building a hearth oven out of clay, solar ovens, or a dutch oven on a bed of hot coals.
I guess we should write a post on all of this! What good is an e-book if the technology is no longer available to access it? Why not a hard copy?
Hard copies are always better. Good catch — thank you. You can actually make fritters with just potatoes. Or with just wheat flour, corn flour, old breadcrumbs, rice, or almost any other starchy food yams, parsnips, beans…. I make fritters all the time to get rid of leftovers and they are different every time.
Do you have a wood stove?? I always made my baked beans on top of the wood stove and cast iron pans are a great way to cook on a wood stove. I used to have a wood stove when I still lived in the country. I miss it. My mother also made the eggless, milk less, Butter less cake…. Modern sourdough starters are made the same way!
Although the thing that makes a sourdough starter work is actually wild yeast, which is found in the flour as well as the air all around it. Yeast is a type of fungi, not bacteria! Cooked Cabbage Salad is tasty!
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