Do you enjoy cooking and history? We here at The Taste Place are quite fond of both. And we belong to and help run a fun active culinary-focused Facebook Group called “Cook Something“, which includes fellow history nerd friends like Lorine Massey from Olive Tree Genealogy and J.D. Thomas from Accessible Archives.
Last year, Colleen got the idea to invite the group to participate in a challenge for 2013 — to try out and post the results from pre-1900 recipes, each month for the full year, citing our sources and sharing any relevant stories about the recipe. Just the recipes have to pre-date 1900; we are conveniently still allowed to benefit from modern day cooking equipment Maybe we will make 2014’s challenge require both pre-1900 recipes and pre-1900 cooking methods and equipment! 🙂
Lorine Massey gets credit for being the first group member to take on the challenge, with her Pine Needle Tea post today. According to Lorine’s research:
Pine Needle Tea was something that the Huron Indians (also called the Wyendot) on Georgian Bay prepared in order to prevent scurvy. When the Jesuits arrived and began construction of Ste. Marie Among the Hurons in 1639, the natives showed them many natural foods from the wild.
Pine Needle Tea was one of those shown to the French missionaries. It is rich in Vitamin A and C so helpful for colds, flu and has other medicinal uses.
So if you live near somewhere that has safe-to-eat pine tree needles, hop on over to Lorine’s cooking blog to get the recipe! And if you would like to take part in this fun challenge, join our “Cook Something” Facebook Group (you must be a Facebook member to view and join group activity).
I guess The Taste Place needs to start researching our own January contribution to the Pre-1900 Cooking Challenge.
