I always made canned biscuits and never complained. One day, I was looking at my Great Great Grandma's recipes for biscuits because I was curious about how they tasted back then. What I found was quite shocking, they didn't have measurements like you would typically see in modern day cookbooks. "A pinch of this, a dab of that, and a handful of this" was used by her to make it work. When I made her recipe for biscuits, it took a while to get it right. My reward? It smelled awesome, and tasted the same. I then spread butter, and some molasses like she would have done back in the day. Now let me tell you, I've never touched molasses in my life, and always thought it was disgusting because of how it looked. However, when it came into contact with my taste buds, it was the most phenomenal thing I have ever tasted on biscuits. Oh, after that, I never bought canned biscuits again.
molasses with butter on bread is still a thing in my region of Germany, was apparently very popular post-war as it gave you the sweet you craved while being cheap enough. It's really nice.
@@jasonvoorhees7288 Butter and maple syrup on just about any type of bread or biscuit (crackers not cookies) works really well. Toasted first so the butter melts a little and then drizzle the syrup.....makes the best camping snack ever! Cheers
Being from the south, alot of these recipes have still survived til this day. I have enjoyed souse, fritters, pickled water melon rinds, and molasses to name a few
Thats crazy obviously there wasn't anything we have now I love the south there recipes took enginuitie just to stay alive imagine what the black soldiers had to eat shit I'd took my gun and went hunting for anything birds rabbits deer raccoons whatever was available there's a story two cousins seen each other on a creek bank and had coffee smoked and talked about the nanny who was black and both knew they loved her and it was wrong to hurt blacks cause they were people too but after they were done both went back to there sides never telling anyone its a story told by one that lived though war.....
My Dad was born 1905, I was born 1956. I'll never forget the first time he made a loaf of grits ,sliced it and fried it.To this day I love grits. My Mom was born and raised as a Moravian in then Czechoslovakia. She told me after the war, then in a Germany refugee camp. They made one potatoes last Three meals, outside peel, the next the potatoes exterior, then the last meal was the inside of the potato. I didn't grow up poor. Very blessed. I thank heaven my wise parents showed us how to make food last and be grateful for it. Thank you for sharing these recipes. My Daddy was Southern born and bred from Mo. I grew up in Mid West. We are so blessed in USA.
When I was little in the 1950s, my father made milk toast almost every Saturday. Buttered toast with a pudding-like sauce on it that he made on the stove with milk, sugar, vanilla extract & a bit of flour for thickening.
My grandmother made milk toast if anyone was sick! As a kid, eating toast in warmed milk made me sicker! And worse she called it GRAVEYARD STEW! I didn't know what a graveyard was at age 3-5. What a name for a horrid recipe!
@@HellScream107 Johnnycakes and Hoecakes are essentially the same, Johnnycakes are the Northerner one where as hoecakes are the southern version. Hardtack is a completely different beast, it's a double cooked piece of dough.. Essentially just some flower with JUST enough water to make it hold together that gets baked once then was cooked again at a cooler temperature (generally over the ovens themselves) to drive off the very last bit of water that make it into something that could break teeth and drier than death valley in the middle of a heat wave.
I'm gonna be a penthouse popper I'm gonna be a millionaire I'm gonna be a real fast talker And have me a love affair Gonna get my timing right It's a test that I got to pass He said I'll chase you all the way to the stairway honey And kiss your sassafras Love in an elevator Living it up when I'm going down Love in an elevator Loving it up till I hit the ground
A joke from Civil War: A soldier bit into some hard tack, encountering something softer than the hard tack. A fellow soldier asked him if bit into a worm, as worms often infested hard tack. Soldier replied, no, it was just a nail.
took me a couple seconds to get it but when i did i laughed really hard, this joke is almost 160 years old and it is the funniest thing I've heard in weeks! my question is how on earth did a nail get in this poor fellows hardtack?
@@dguy0386 If you like jokes from that era, another one comes to mind: "A night with Venus a lifetime with mercury." (Men who contracted syphillis were often treated with mercury.)
I'd probably forage a lot. One of the Union commanders was quoted as saying he was surprised he gained 10 pounds on a diet of worms, and felt better than ever. The freshly cooked worms were indeed probably a lot healthier than the rancid meat in many of the rations.
During the late 60's my boy scout troop would go out on "live off the land" campouts to get an idea of what life would be like if a nuclear war ended civilization. We learned how to run a stick up and down another one with knobs to create a vibration that drove earthworms out of the ground. We collected the worms and placed them in water which made them pass whatever was in their digestive track. Then we dry roasted those with bug larvae in a frying pan before eating them. We also fished using a cranked railroad telephone magneto so we could get plenty of fish in the shortest period of time so we could get back out finding wild greens, berries and edible roots. Our scoutmasters brought along beans and rice so we wouldn't starve to death.
@@Vegoonery The first thing we learned was to appreciate and eat whatever was served at the dinner table if we liked it or not. The second was the need to work together as organized teams performing different tasks.
Poor guys they almost starved to death, I don’t know how they were able to fight. My heart has always gone out to our soldiers. They’ve always been so young..
Civil wars are always fought with an extra measure of hatefulness and brutality. The tendency to heap incredible misery upon once fellow countrymen and their families speaks of churlish behavior by people with hurt egos. It's almost like the abusive spouse that threatens the victim if they try to leave..."I'll kill you. If I can't have you, then no one will. " The idea that people can own people and governments can own populations is all related to the same evil...the desire for power one doesn't deserve.
@@dgeneeknapp3168 built on the same concept of the ailing government we have today history is starting to repeat itself because America is facing problems it never resolved like to much government control how dare you not do as I tell you
@@joshblocker9653 It's I inevitable. Any gvt is just a creation of man...a most imperfect creature (I don't mean males...I mean ALL humans). Nothing out of the mind of a human will work long. All are destined to fail. Man is a fundamentally flawed thing, and so is anything he conceives of. There won't be peace until the one that corrupted man is finally put down. Until then, there is NOTHING new under the sun.
I could relate to this video! Being born and raised in the south, many of those dishes survived with my grandparents. Unfortunately, my mother and grandmother weren't close; so many of my grandmother's recipes disappeared. My grandma made Hoe cake sometimes. My grandma's Hoe cake looked more like Indian naan bread. She had a large heavy black iron skillet to cook it. I always thought it was a Native American recipe passed down from her mom. She would serve it with molasses. At the time, I loved molasses. Last year, I found the brand of molasses she used to buy in the commissary. It doesn't taste the same. I don't really know what sulfur taste like, but I claimed it had a sulfur after taste. I never ate it again. In the late 70's to early 80's, some grocery stores (ie: Winn Dixie, A&P, and etc) used to sell salted meats hanging from the ceiling in the meat section. Don't see that anymore. When I was enlisted, we often experiment with our MREs in the field. The creamer packet could be heated over a flame to make a cookie inside the packet. The coffee, chocolate power, and sugar were mixed to make a latte. Add water to the dehydrated fruit sponge to make a nice syrupy fruit cocktail. The Army was a great experience until the 2010's. It's amazing to see how some traditions never change.
Lol. I used to love MREs as a kid. 😆 Both of my parents were in the air force. I never mixed the MREs with anything though. I actually didn't know you were supposed to mix them with anything until I read this post. I just ate whatever dry powdery stuff came out of the packet. It tastes good. 😆
Bacon wrapped smoked watermelon rind. Me and my Bar-B-Que cooking team took first place at a competition in Texas once with this. It was well received.
@@mrsantoro8306 No lie, true story. It was at a competition held in conjunction with a huge festival held each year in Texas that started in this guy's backyard. Homer's Backyard Ball (Travis Homer). It originally was a small party to celebrate a move that grew exponentially over a few years to a few thousand attendees and headline music acts. It was a great time every time. Sadly they don't have them anymore. The cook-off started with just calf fries and grew to a full fledged Bar-B-Que competition. Personally I not big on calf fries, but I've prepared and served probably close to a hundred pounds of them. Do you like calf fries?
I recently bought an old survival book. Full of recipes from the civil war era. They learned to be very creative. For instance, acorn flour. Squirrel. They had to be resourceful. Cat tails. Apparently, cat tails can be used as food and fuel. The stems are eaten and the fluff is fire starter.
Watermelon pickle is still a thing. Most recipes actually include those cinnamon red hots candies, so the rinds (without the skins) are pink, but it's still very much a foodstuff people eat.
I think the whole point people wanted coffee was to stay awake. I would imagine there wouldn't be any caffeine in sweet potato coffee. So I dont really get it.
Your videos really help me take my mind off my problems in life. Thank you for entertaining me and informing me at the same time, it means more than you know!!
I'm not going to lie most of these foods actually sound pretty good. Since I work as a cook, I'd love to learn to cook some of these dishes for myself.
As a passionate coffee drinker,it makes me happy to know that soldiers in the Civil War" felt coffee was a vital part of their day. I know I can't start my morning without my mug of java ☕️
The North learned quickly that coffee was as important to get to the soldiers than hardtack. It was a small luxury the Northern soldier made at every opportunity that provided a boost to energy and most importantly morale. Unroasted, whole beans were issued so contractors couldn't add sawdust and other fillers to add weight so every morning one would smell beans being roasted and hear musket butts on tin plates used to grind them up.
Seriously, I couldn't believe my ears at that line, "molasses is an acquired taste." Yeah, you just need to acquire a *tongue!* Seriously, how can you not like molasses? Either blackstrap or sorghum molasses.
@@Whoozerdaddy I've never cared for either. Just way too sickening sweet for me. Though I have to admit that it's pretty darned appetizing compared to most of the garbage in this video.
I remember hearing condensed milk was as critical as hard tack. For example one general would not move his troops another step unless he was resupplied with condensed milk.
I did some research about condensed milk, and apparently one can of condensed milk +8 cups of water can feed nine children. And plus can I smell didn’t go bad, I totally get his reasoning.
@@yurdp well I don’t think they had ice in summer 😂. I was thinking how key lime pie started as a depression era treat and now it’s still made the same way
@@audiohabbits6475 so what are we to call it? "Non-White Plague"? This side of the pond it's the Black Death because of the colour of the pustules not the patient? Anyway the Python team had its song off pat - "Rat, Rat, Rattity Rat, Rattity Rat!", sung to the tune of Spam,Spam…." Well you get the idea. Also "Bring out your dead", "But I'm not dead yet_", "Close enough"'. Or words to that effect. You could consider the C19 Siege of Paris, where the local zoo was a major victualled and your Rump Steak was not always sourced from quadrupeds or furry primates (hint: "Would you like an extra cushion for your chair?".
Most of these foods are not the "ingenuity" of soldiers but are African based and learned from slaves. As you can see in many of the pictures in the video clip, many of the slaves were tasked with cooking for soldiers. Sweet potato coffee is the same as in Africa where Yams are dried then grounded into a powder to make a coffee like drink. Peanuts were a food brought over from Africa and slaves were the primary people who grew and ate them pre-civil war. The slaves ate them raw, roasted or boiled them. The Boiled P-Nuts became popular with the soliders after being showed how to boil them. In Africa, the Bantu word for pnuts is "goober' or they were known as pinders. Sloosh, hoecakes, pone, etc are all african variations that the slaves were already preparing. Most Southern food as we know it today primarily has African Slave roots, deep frying, pit roasting (bbq) jambalaya, gumbo, hoppin jon, and other one pot rice dishes, grits, shrimp & grits, okra, black eyed, peas, watermelon, boiled p'nuts, etc. You can't discuss any kind of history without mentioning how the slaves shaped alot of it, especially its food.
I wonder if unknowingly, they liked these coffee alternatives because it offered a much needed boost of vitamins. The body craving what it needs, instead of what it wants.
I doubt. The slaves were the ones who primarly grew the food, cooked, prepared it, and served it. Alot of these things claimed to be "innovative" actually were the doing of slaves.
@@jaye4856 yes, but just because food is prepared for you, doesn’t mean you don’t have favourites. It was said, these are the men’s favourite substitute. No one doubts the reaches of slavery, but slavery doesn’t change a persons palette. It doesn’t change the body wanting something based on nutrient rather than flavour.
@@jaye4856 culinary innovations mostly came after the war when they were free to create whatever they wanted and we got real good southern cooking..before that they mostly cooked whatever scraps they were given like all the parts of animals no one wants to eat..
They usually had a supply train (wagons) following the troops with more being brought each day. The troops usually went into battle with a sack holding some rations so they would have something to eat during the day out in the field. At Shiloh, US General Grant noticed that the attacking Confederates stopped their surprise attack at the Union camps to eat the breakfast Union troops were cooking in skillets and to ransack the tents and supply wagon for food. He rightly figured that they were sent into battle without rations and weren't fed first since their commanders didn't bring much along so would be easy to rout the next day and keep them running due to having nothing to eat.
60 years ago, my grandfather began taking me to his favorite restaurant in New Orleans, Antoine's, for beignets and fresh chicory coffee. Still on St Louis St.
@@FreggFaerie True starvation has often even pushed people to cannibalism. There are several records throughout world history of that happening. In the 1990’s cannibalism due to starvation is reported to have been epidemic in North Korea, for example.
Sassafras is a wonderful thing. Years back, my father and I made what was effectively a root beer by cutting and boiling the roots and adding some honey. It was great. He said they used to make it every year in the scouts.
Having been drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968, i’m sure glad it wasn’t the civil war era. The C-rations we got almost seem like gourmet meals when compared to fare served to civil war troops.
My grandfather was a Georgia cracker. He grew up very poor and told me how when he was a young boy, he would make what he called a homemade milk shake. He would take a sweet potato, mash it up in a cup, mix it with clabber and pour honey over it. Lol, that was a poor boys milkshake in the 20's.
That's actually how the US always is. We are a nation of self sufficient people as in this country we have everything we need to live a good life. All it takes is ingenuity and the opportunity to try it. War and government always eliminate opportunity.
We should have a month out of the year where kids in grade school aren't spoiled in the modern sense and have to live on food from the past and walk to school.. up hill both ways.. and spend a day in the mines..
Our school did that with parents permission for a day including lunch. You got 1st world, 2nd and 3rd. This was a private catholic school focused on religion so this isn’t cream of crop private school. If you had the money a grant from the state then you were good. This was 2001 right after 9/11 in Ohio, I was a 13 yr old girl who just was myself elevated from lower class to middle class overnight. So you had to pull a random paper and be assigned to that group. For each you were given a name of a country that match the wealth level you got. 1st world got regular lunch and some free snacks. 2nd(my group) got buttered bread, juice/milk, apple and veggies and a sliver of some meat, chicken? 3rd world got unbuttered bread, an apple and a limited supply of water. We were we sectioned from each other all day; recess, gym, class time, library, etc. You could only use certain things based on your own economic status (hence why help could be asked or give to others.The exception was 2nd world we could talk to 3rd or chose to help them and 2nd to 1st could speak but they couldn’t ask for help. So it was eye opening if you were in 2nd and 3rd but 1st was down right vicious. They wouldn’t speak to you, hand you anything of it fell, let doors shut in your face and make ridiculous demands that were mostly done for them. Us 2nd/3rd worlds worked together and 1st world-ers treated you like scum. They tried to turn us against each other by telling their lower ranking friends they wouldn’t help or speak to them anymore because as 2nd you elevate your self to be good enough for 1st. Parents even after agreeing and signing documents swore they had no idea. My parents were satisfied with the lesson. At my mom’s house we poor (1st world poor) so having some bread and juice didn’t even bother me. Experiment conclusion: I see why a lot revolutions/ coups/ treaties happen. When you don’t realize how far 3rd world poor and 1st world poor you feel like a jerk. Private school parents are the worst. Even their own religion was used as basis for the lesson they still said their kids were starving all day and treated like animals. It’s like they forgot about all those statues located everywhere from the church attached to the school and the school itself. The office has a huge portrait of Jesus, I’m sure they looked at it as they yelled at the office staff. Lol.
@@janoahlee7499 .. that's a really good lesson no matter how many parents complained.. a lot of them don't understand that they most likey wouldn't even survive if all of a sudden they were thrust into a 3rd world economic status.. or say thrust into a world were they had to hunt to survive and gather food.. it's sounds like a good lesson in humility if they can grasp it..
I mean that would possibly be considered child abuse but also it doesn't seem like it would have a high rate of success either and with lawsuits from parents not wanting their children to be possiblity injured or have lung inhalation of coal dust.
Interesting to see how weird food got during times of war. Makes me wonder how weird food might of got in other countries during times of war. Wouldn't even have to be a specific war like China and the 2nd Mongol invasion of Burma but like food during war times in China during the 1300's or something. Huge fan and love all the vids, keep em coming!
Do you really not know what the Chinese ate during times of war? There’s a reason they eat bats, pangolins and bugs. Those people crossed the entire country eating whatever they could fit in the mouths, including tree bark and even human babies. Check out a book called Ways that are Dark by Ralph Townsend
I’m so confused as to why They made coffee out of things that had no caffeine. Did they know coffee had caffeine back then??? How is makinf it out of sweet potatoes passable 😂
@@kamj6607 Are you just looking to argue? he didn’t mean the phrase to be condescending.. If anything he was praising Chinese people for their survival skills ..
It is said that at the end of the siege of Vicksburg, there were no rats or mice in the town. The townsfolk of Vicksburg had ate them all. Many people were reduced to living in caves in the banks of the Mississippi River to avoid the siege bombardment.
Yep and after the surrender of vicksburg on July 4th the city didn't celebrate the 4th of July for nearly 100 year. I had a few ancestors who fought there and were paroled by the Yankees
At hardest time financially, my mother and I were down to just three ingredients. Rice. Raisins. Honey. We had this combination for two days before I got my first paycheck from my first post high school job. When I left work I cashed my check and went straight to the grocery store. It makes for a tasty desert on occasion, but after two day of it I was done.
I can relate. Money ran out before mom's payday often, so once we were down to canned tomato soup...9 meals straight. It was a long time after I was grown before I'd eat it again. It was Spring break and school lunch wasn't happening, so the food budget was thinner than usual and it was pretty thin anyway.
When I was younger our family struggled pretty hard. I had to eat mostly pickle onion and mayo sandwiches for dinner. No lunch cuz I couldnt afford school lunch. Same with breakfast. Lasted about 3 months going like that. Maybe rice and potato but, usually just onion bread and condiments.
@@dgeneeknapp3168 same for tomato sauce. The food bank gave us a lot of it. Same for margerine... She used it so often as dinner i won't buy it even now.
I always knew hardtack was like that and always looked like big crackers, but I never knew there were alternatives for making hardtack tastier, such as using it as sandwich bread, making milk toast, or hardtack pudding.
Roasted dandelion root, acorns and chicory were often used in the UK and Europe (especially Germany where they'd be known as Ersatz Coffee) during both world wars, and probably during the inter-war depressions too - I'll have to check that last bit out, I'd not thought of that before. Nowadays, could they be considered as an acceptable substitute for decaf?
@@roblamb8327 IDK Rob, I found the taste to be good. So as a decaf sub, perhaps. Not bitter at all, at least from my own back yard ;-) I need to dig up a larger batch and try different roasting times. I also have cooked the greens with onions and some bacon fat and they were very much like spinach in taste and texture if you only use the younger leaves.
I actually buy dandy blend from Amazon. It's great if you don't want caffeine before bed. The only drawback is the dandelion is a huge diuretic, and can be tough on your kidneys if you drink too much...otherwise, it's a good coffee substitute. A lot of reviews on Amazon swear by it when they have to give up coffee for medical reasons...
I have something to add to this topic. This is an actual account from one of my Ancestors who fought in the Civil War. It was put in a book that details this county's history and the families who settled here. I am paraphrasing here, but the gist of it was: "We had nothing to eat for a long time, except a little parched corn. After weeks of either going hungry or having nothing but parched corn rations, we were finally blessed one day when someone had found some meat and made a tasty stew. When I got finished with my second helping, I found 4 little puppy feet staring back at me in the bottom of my bowl" - J.W.B. 1st sergeant, Texas Cavalry, my 4th great grandfather. He was a 24 year old bachelor when he went to fight for the Confederacy. After the war, he came home and met his future wife, the daughter of a Union soldier who had just moved to Texas as a "carpet bagger". He married her and she is my 4th great grandmother. The reason I mention this is to point out that, not only did a Confederate marry a Yankee's daughter, The Yankee gave his blessing, making the Confederate a part of his family. They held no ill regard for each other, even though they fought on opposing sides. So why are we still arguing over the war that they fought and killed in if they didn't? Don't get me wrong, I believe that secession is a basic human right guaranteed in the Constitution. I mean, it kinda was the whole premise to the American Revolution, after all.
There were a good number of Texans that opposed succeeding from the Union. Some were forced to leave while others stayed due to having the greater numbers. Your ancestor might of been raised in their region so they were just glad to see that he survived the fighting.
@@billwilson3609 he was a Baptist and helped start the church that holds the cemetery he is buried in. There were Texans who opposed secession. Sam Houston opposed secession. But there were many factors at play by the time the war came around. It wasn’t only over slavery. Many of the people joined the confederacy because Lincoln had violated the constitution when he sent troops to march on Virginia. Many didn’t want slavery to end because they knew once the slave class was freed, all citizens would be slaves. And here we are today, all of us slaves to the system with only the rich who get huge tax breaks, sometimes the government owes them money. Slavery was important to the rich who owned slaves more than anyone though. And it was the rich slaveholders who were writing the secession documents. War has always been that way. For those in power, it was over power, for those who actually fought, they had their own reasons for fighting. And many times those reasons were not the same as those in power. Look at Russia and Ukraine.
@@ScotchIrishHoundsman Yep. We dance to tunes that the wealthy call. Lincoln sent troops into Virginia to take back the Harper's Ferry Armory from the abolitionist John Brown after Virginia's state militia failed to. The South was mad at the Northern States for passing stiff export tariffs on cotton to keep the price lower for the New England textile mill owners and clothing manufacturers. Most were also aware that the institution of slavery would come to an end once inventors like McCormick came up with horse drawn mechanical cotton pickers and field balers. Horse drawn cotton seed planters had been in use for a few decades when in 1850 a North Carolina planter invented a mechanical cotton picker with the assistance of his trained slaves. He got it patented and tried to get financial backing to manufacture those in Memphis yet couldn't since the banks and planters felt using those would lower the value of their slaves which were used as collateral for loans each spring to buy seed and obtain operating funds to get by on until the cotton crop was brought in and sold. Some southern planters took notice of that device and decided to relocate their slaves to regions in East Texas that were sparsely populated where they could establish new plantations that were set-up as communities providing goods and services to other residents in the region so they could fend for themselves and not be bothered by others once slavery was prohibited by law. Other slaveowners in the region thought that wasn't a bad idea so took similar steps to get theirs organized. Once freed, their former owners paid to have churches and schools built for them and provided financial assistance since the banks wouldn't lend them money until they were running profitable operations. A good number of their communities are still around. Many are now small since their offspring left for better employment opportunities elsewhere. There's one south of me called Holland's Quarters that has done well over the years in lumber operations, raising livestock and farming then in the oil & gas industry and electric generation plants and lignite mines. A good number of their children went off to college and returned to work as degreed professionals in industry, commerce, medicine and law. They live in nice housing developments out in the country built on land sold by a prosperous Black rancher to a Black developer that used local Black home builders. They're real nice home sitting on an acre of land where nobody is allowed to have any sort of fencing. That allows the residents and their big outside guard dogs to have a clear view of the yards to prevent break-ins. Our local Hispanic communities have been growing in size and economically over the past 44 years I've been here. I was a painting contractor for 30 years so got to know quite a few that worked for the concrete, roofing and landscaping contractors. Many struck off on their own and did well, so sent their kids to college and JUCO trade schools. They came back to help grow the family business and start new ones. They managed to take over neighborhoods that went ghetto and get them back in the same tidy condition those were in when I arrived in 1977. The once empty strips of storefronts are now full of their businesses offering goods and services. Larger buildings that once held supermarkets and furniture stores are now back in operation as Hispanic supermarkets and department stores. They don't seem to be affected by the wealthy that don't pay taxes and consider workers to be wage slaves. The only ones I see whining are those that don't want to make the effort to get ahead in life.
@@alundavies8402 - yep yep yep that's a good point! Really embarrassing on my end because I literally make my own chicken broth all the time and I KNOW how it's made. RUclips commenter moment! lol
“Beef Tea. Receipt for 6 Pints” “Cut three pounds of beef into pieces the size of walnuts, and chop up the bones, if any; put it into a convenient-size kettle, with ½ pound of mixed vegetables, such as onions, leeks, celery, turnips, carrots (or one or two of these, if all are not to be obtained), one ounce of salt, a little pepper, one teaspoonful of sugar, two ounces of butter, half a pint of water. Set it on a sharp fire for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, stirring now and then with a spoon, till it forms a rather thick gravy at bottom, but not brown; then add seven pints of hot or cold water, but hot is preferable; when boiling, let it simmer gently for an hour, skim off all the fat, strain it through a sieve, and serve.” This recipe is authentic. I found it in a book I bought in Gettysburg, entitled "Confederate Camp Cooking."
I'm no historian, but in the series The Civil War by Ken Burns, Historian Shelby Foote says that the dish you called Slosh was actually pronounced Sloosh.
Good catch, Michael O'Toole. I vote for Sloosh. I noted my mouth shape and sound difference and found it better related to the food consistency and maybe even how a man sucked it in.
Yeah they say the hardtack were so hard that lot of the soldiers swear they could stop bullets, not to mention they were often times infested with worms and they were so hard that you had to soak them in coffee or bacon grease just to get it soft enough to chew. But I'm sure if you had a good imagination there's many ways you can fix that hardtack and salt pork.
The craziest story I heard was... starving soldiers would go to the farms cook pit where the beef and chicken juice would drain down to the dirt.. the soldiers would dig up 3 feet across 1 foot down and put that dirt into a pot and boil the dirt in water.. the fat in the dirt would rise to the surface of the pot. They would pull the pot off the fire wait for the fat on top too cool then cut the fat into chunks and eat it...
My grandmother made watermelon rind preserves when I was growing up. You mention that today and people look at you like you are crazy, but they were delicious. This video makes me wish I had some with some home made biscuits..:-)
Apart from the vinegar, commissary Brazilian stew is basically the common Norwegian dish lapskaus. Potato, carrots, meat, and other solid greens in a pot, with thin, unleavened barley bread on the side. Not bad, but I always preferred fårikål ("sheep in cabbage") myself. (Of course, Norway only became a developed country starting in the 60s, so...)
Dandelion roots, dried and ground are a good coffee substitute. i've done it as have many others. A lot of these recipes survive to this day and are still enjoyed. I still like and make pine needle tea- it's good for you. A lot of people turned to foods that were traditionally "animal food"- blackeye peas, known as cow peas. Corn was primarily an animal food. And yup, I'm from the South- hoe cakes are STILL a staple.
I LOVE the idea of peanut chocolate! Oh man! It makes perfect sense. My favorite combination of flavors in one hot drink! If there is chocolate/peanut butter ice cream I always choose it and I love Reeses and chocolate peanut butter cups. Sure wish someone gave me some hot peanut chocolate too but no one had ever heard of it.
Good ol molasses. I think I had rice and molasses before. My grandmother made something similar that had rice and molasses in it. More of a dessert item. Loved it as a kid. She often chilled it and tasted almost like rice pudding, but without the cream added. She even made slosh and slapjacks. Loved those too. Some of these foods and rations look pretty good to be honest. I come from the south, and I probably wouldn't mind eating these if I had to.
This is good content. The overall presentation and delivery reminds me a lot of the way the show Wishbone would present history. Plus it's about food which makes it even better. Subbed.
I would to see the Korean war and what our american soldiers had to go through. in memory of many that served and the ones are still here here. In honour of my great uncle
That's an excellent idea .. yes, please, food of the Korean War! I know I read that one Thanksgiving it was so cold the hot food literally froze on the way out of the mess tent.
@@maryannparker4299 thank you for responding. If your uncle is still around please say thank you for his service from. My god bless y'all. If not always keep him in his honor. My family doesn't. I had to someway get my aunt to talk about. It was hard from her cause things he had to do in war he didn't want to do. Basically couple of us in my family keeps his honor. I have noticed even on ch. 13 KERA doest do a documentary on the Korean war like the all of other wars.
Well into the 1960's, my grandmother in New Jersey made pickled watermelon rind, corn cakes, corn relish, Manhattan clam chowder, biscuits, and her famous home made rice custard pudding. Her ultimate dessert for special occasions was Strawberry Shortcake.... home made biscuits split open and slathered with Charlotte Russe (vanilla flavored fresh whipped cream) and fresh strawberries. All these family recipes came from before the Civil War. And how good it was!
I've "enjoyed" many an hour eating hardtack. Some time this year I ought to be finished with that first piece, lol. Seriously, most of the food and drink you mentioned were not horrible. I've eaten an drank many of them.
Watermelon rind preserves are delicious! I’ve been eating them since I was a young kid and every time I go back home to NC I make sure to get some at the only restaurant in town that has some
Learn to make them! Great story: couple years I sold veggie pickles at farmer’s market. Met a lady visiting her father for mom’s funeral. She was delighted at my watermelon pickles, her dad couldn’t find them in stores. I gave her a couple jars cause I’m mush hearted & like old folk. Tickled me as much as the lady. Spreading the joy. But I didn’t like those pickles, far too sweet.
Sassafras tea is excellent. Made from boiling the roots of the sassafras tree, which are numerous in the south. Biscuits with molasses is delicious. I'll have to try watermelon syrup. But the black eyed pea saved many in the south from starvation. Union soldiers not familiar with the dried peas which are rock hard, thought it animal feed and left it while ransacking farms.. today it's a traditional New Years day meal for good luck in the coming year. Cooked with onion and or sausage, it's fine table cuisine. Other food such as bread pudding made from stale bread, milk, sugar or molasses and if one was fortunate, raisins. These foods also fed the poor during the great depression.
Hunger is the best sauce,I also believe we take so much for granted. A long time ago in basic training we were on intense training for a month in the bush.A guy broke his leg so was brought back to the regiment by the corporal over our section. He returned with a bag of stale bread and pots of marmalade and let us divide it between us. Possibly the best food I ever tasted.
I'd like to have seen something on foraging. At squad level there were often dedicated foragers. Also weird foods.... How about insect meals ? Pretty common around the world.
Throughout history, foraging for armies has usually meant getting food for your unit from locally available food sources. Those were, more often than not, farmsteads and enemy's rearguard stockpiles.
That would be interesting to see. At my altitude near the Appalachian mountains, sassafras as mentioned, as well dandelion and many kinds of edible mushrooms grow natively. I'm sure there's a ton more edibles out there that I don't know about
Loved the video; however, you omitted one done had by our men in gray…Ram Rod Rolls. A mixture of cornmeal, water and salt made into a thick paste then wrapped around their ram rod and cooked over an open fire.
It's actually called suet, the beef fat flour, and the "beef tea" wasn't drank as tea, it was a tonic, and it is called bone broth because it's made with the bone and not the meat.
Other Southern coffee substitutes/additions were okra seeds, chicory, toasted rice, etc. Molasses and sorghum were popular in the south before the war. Many of these ersatz recipes would have been known by poorer classes before the war. Hardtack soaked in water (to soften) and fried with bacon and onions is actually very good if your stomach is used to consuming so much fat. I bet water melon pickles and syrup were also popular. there were also many condiments available to soldiers through sutlers and packages from home including various ketchups (mushroom was popular), mustards, hot sauces, etc. Pickled and canned vegetables and canned fruits were also available. Corn, corn meal and hominy were also a common in the South before the war. It should also be understood that many of the so called "Southern" foods were also popular foods of rural northerners. Beans were another staple the soldiers actually liked, only problem was it required time to cook, one method was to line a pit with hot coals, place a the cooking pot filled with beans, water, salt pork, etc, etc. in the pit (deal the lid), cover it with more hot coals and bury it and let it cook overnight.
Somebody actually made a negative remark about molasses and buttered biscuit?!? If so, they are brainless. I'm gonna go thru rest of the comments. My favorite side with biscuits is gravy. Gotta make buttermilk biscuits with gravy at least once a week. Honey is good on a biscuit too.
My momma used to mix cold butter chopped small into dark corn syrup or sorghum molasses and called it stuff or maybe us kids named it that. It is Delicious on hot biscuit, corn fritters or pancakes.
Southerners also combined cornmeal with water to make a thick paste, wound it around the ramrods of their rifles, and cooked it over a fire. The result was kind of a charred spiral of unseasoned cornbread, but it was better than nothing.
What’s amazing is how many of these foods have variants that we still eat now and is a staple I live in South Carolina and while surly better nowadays the influences are undeniably close
Yeah, I would imagine just about anything food adjacent tastes pretty damned good if it’s seasoned with starvation.
Hunger is the best sauce
😭😭😭
Best type of seasoning my guy lol
That is correct....
Even a with a season of starvation hog and harmony taste hella good
I always made canned biscuits and never complained. One day, I was looking at my Great Great Grandma's recipes for biscuits because I was curious about how they tasted back then. What I found was quite shocking, they didn't have measurements like you would typically see in modern day cookbooks. "A pinch of this, a dab of that, and a handful of this" was used by her to make it work. When I made her recipe for biscuits, it took a while to get it right. My reward? It smelled awesome, and tasted the same. I then spread butter, and some molasses like she would have done back in the day. Now let me tell you, I've never touched molasses in my life, and always thought it was disgusting because of how it looked. However, when it came into contact with my taste buds, it was the most phenomenal thing I have ever tasted on biscuits. Oh, after that, I never bought canned biscuits again.
molasses with butter on bread is still a thing in my region of Germany, was apparently very popular post-war as it gave you the sweet you craved while being cheap enough.
It's really nice.
In my family it's always been a little butter and a spoonful of jam on biscuits, either that or gravy 😂
We use butter with either maple syrup or honey.
Share the recipe!
@@jasonvoorhees7288 Butter and maple syrup on just about any type of bread or biscuit (crackers not cookies) works really well. Toasted first so the butter melts a little and then drizzle the syrup.....makes the best camping snack ever! Cheers
Being from the south, alot of these recipes have still survived til this day. I have enjoyed souse, fritters, pickled water melon rinds, and molasses to name a few
I had pickled watermelon rinds once in Pennsylvania at a multi-family summer party. (I forgot until you brought it up )
I had no idea u could pickle water melon rinds! Do u have any tips for a 1st timer, cuz im gonna try it when watermelon is in season
Thats crazy obviously there wasn't anything we have now I love the south there recipes took enginuitie just to stay alive imagine what the black soldiers had to eat shit I'd took my gun and went hunting for anything birds rabbits deer raccoons whatever was available there's a story two cousins seen each other on a creek bank and had coffee smoked and talked about the nanny who was black and both knew they loved her and it was wrong to hurt blacks cause they were people too but after they were done both went back to there sides never telling anyone its a story told by one that lived though war.....
I'm very curious what a pickled watermelon rind tastes like
@@gohawks3571 If you closed your eyes and took a bite you'd swear it was a slice of pickle you were bitting into.
My Dad was born 1905, I was born 1956. I'll never forget the first time he made a loaf of grits ,sliced it and fried it.To this day I love grits.
My Mom was born and raised as a Moravian in then Czechoslovakia. She told me after the war, then in a Germany refugee camp. They made one potatoes last Three meals, outside peel, the next the potatoes exterior, then the last meal was the inside of the potato.
I didn't grow up poor. Very blessed.
I thank heaven my wise parents showed us how to make food last and be grateful for it.
Thank you for sharing these recipes. My Daddy was Southern born and bred from Mo. I grew up in Mid West.
We are so blessed in USA.
Fried cornmeal mush is a tasty breakfast food, but it gets a lot of bad press.
I’m a fan of fried hominy myself. Loved it as a kid.
I can see that aweet potato could be good if I r does not have coffee beans
When I was little in the 1950s, my father made milk toast almost every Saturday. Buttered toast with a pudding-like sauce on it that he made on the stove with milk, sugar, vanilla extract & a bit of flour for thickening.
My mom made that for us in the 40's. I'd forgotten until you mentioned it.🇺🇸
@@shaggydog563 my mom used to make it for me in the 20s
@@killer....... People still make that stuff post 2020? Had no clue!
1642 mom made 4 me 2😊
My grandmother made milk toast if anyone was sick! As a kid, eating toast in warmed milk made me sicker! And worse she called it GRAVEYARD STEW! I didn't know what a graveyard was at age 3-5. What a name for a horrid recipe!
There is Civil War hardtack in the Gettysburg National Military Park museum. That stuff lasts forever, as long as it doesn't mold.
Yeah, except they had some added protein in them.
Sometime maggots would get in the hardtack and you would get bonus protein.
True. There was also a Southern version that used cornmeal and molasses called a Johnnycake.
@@comettamer That is good to know! I always thought Johhnycakes were a New England dish based on The Sopranos.
@@HellScream107 Johnnycakes and Hoecakes are essentially the same, Johnnycakes are the Northerner one where as hoecakes are the southern version.
Hardtack is a completely different beast, it's a double cooked piece of dough.. Essentially just some flower with JUST enough water to make it hold together that gets baked once then was cooked again at a cooler temperature (generally over the ovens themselves) to drive off the very last bit of water that make it into something that could break teeth and drier than death valley in the middle of a heat wave.
As a non native English speaker Sassafras is now my new favourite word.
I'm gonna be a penthouse popper
I'm gonna be a millionaire
I'm gonna be a real fast talker
And have me a love affair
Gonna get my timing right
It's a test that I got to pass
He said I'll chase you all the way to the stairway honey
And kiss your sassafras
Love in an elevator
Living it up when I'm going down
Love in an elevator
Loving it up till I hit the ground
@@bigB6flyer succotash*
@@foolapprentice3321 I need more coffee
😂
It’s pretty tasty if you like minty flavors. Imagine minty root beer, that’s what sassafras tastes like to me.
A joke from Civil War: A soldier bit into some hard tack, encountering something softer than the hard tack. A fellow soldier asked him if bit into a worm, as worms often infested hard tack. Soldier replied, no, it was just a nail.
A Nail?
Not a tooth?
@@aa-vk6hd Nah. That's what he lost in the hardtack.
@Waddup Mayne I know that. I was extrapolating on it.
took me a couple seconds to get it but when i did i laughed really hard, this joke is almost 160 years old and it is the funniest thing I've heard in weeks! my question is how on earth did a nail get in this poor fellows hardtack?
@@dguy0386 If you like jokes from that era, another one comes to mind:
"A night with Venus a lifetime with mercury."
(Men who contracted syphillis were often treated with mercury.)
I'll never take any of the food we have nowdays for granted. These guys had it rough.
I'd probably forage a lot. One of the Union commanders was quoted as saying he was surprised he gained 10 pounds on a diet of worms, and felt better than ever. The freshly cooked worms were indeed probably a lot healthier than the rancid meat in many of the rations.
Both are pretty gross if you actually think about it ....
@@heidimisfeldt5685 pure protein vs rotten meat🤷🏼
During the late 60's my boy scout troop would go out on "live off the land" campouts to get an idea of what life would be like if a nuclear war ended civilization. We learned how to run a stick up and down another one with knobs to create a vibration that drove earthworms out of the ground. We collected the worms and placed them in water which made them pass whatever was in their digestive track. Then we dry roasted those with bug larvae in a frying pan before eating them. We also fished using a cranked railroad telephone magneto so we could get plenty of fish in the shortest period of time so we could get back out finding wild greens, berries and edible roots. Our scoutmasters brought along beans and rice so we wouldn't starve to death.
@@billwilson3609 That's pretty cool! I bet you all learned a lot.
@@Vegoonery The first thing we learned was to appreciate and eat whatever was served at the dinner table if we liked it or not. The second was the need to work together as organized teams performing different tasks.
Nothing like a cup of history in the morning
More like a cup of sweet potato.
@@schris3 lol
@@schris3 the Weird History Cinematic Universe
Poor guys they almost starved to death, I don’t know how they were able to fight. My heart has always gone out to our soldiers. They’ve always been so young..
Thousands starved in camps.
@@joycecoletta7699 Breaks my heart coz if not for them & all the other soldier hero’s we would not still be free at this time. So sad
Civil wars are always fought with an extra measure of hatefulness and brutality. The tendency to heap incredible misery upon once fellow countrymen and their families speaks of churlish behavior by people with hurt egos. It's almost like the abusive spouse that threatens the victim if they try to leave..."I'll kill you. If I can't have you, then no one will. " The idea that people can own people and governments can own populations is all related to the same evil...the desire for power one doesn't deserve.
@@dgeneeknapp3168 built on the same concept of the ailing government we have today history is starting to repeat itself because America is facing problems it never resolved like to much government control how dare you not do as I tell you
@@joshblocker9653 It's I inevitable. Any gvt is just a creation of man...a most imperfect creature (I don't mean males...I mean ALL humans). Nothing out of the mind of a human will work long. All are destined to fail. Man is a fundamentally flawed thing, and so is anything he conceives of. There won't be peace until the one that corrupted man is finally put down. Until then, there is NOTHING new under the sun.
I could relate to this video! Being born and raised in the south, many of those dishes survived with my grandparents. Unfortunately, my mother and grandmother weren't close; so many of my grandmother's recipes disappeared. My grandma made Hoe cake sometimes. My grandma's Hoe cake looked more like Indian naan bread. She had a large heavy black iron skillet to cook it. I always thought it was a Native American recipe passed down from her mom. She would serve it with molasses. At the time, I loved molasses. Last year, I found the brand of molasses she used to buy in the commissary. It doesn't taste the same. I don't really know what sulfur taste like, but I claimed it had a sulfur after taste. I never ate it again. In the late 70's to early 80's, some grocery stores (ie: Winn Dixie, A&P, and etc) used to sell salted meats hanging from the ceiling in the meat section. Don't see that anymore. When I was enlisted, we often experiment with our MREs in the field. The creamer packet could be heated over a flame to make a cookie inside the packet. The coffee, chocolate power, and sugar were mixed to make a latte. Add water to the dehydrated fruit sponge to make a nice syrupy fruit cocktail. The Army was a great experience until the 2010's. It's amazing to see how some traditions never change.
Lol. I used to love MREs as a kid. 😆 Both of my parents were in the air force.
I never mixed the MREs with anything though. I actually didn't know you were supposed to mix them with anything until I read this post. I just ate whatever dry powdery stuff came out of the packet. It tastes good. 😆
Bacon wrapped smoked watermelon rind. Me and my Bar-B-Que cooking team took first place at a competition in Texas once with this. It was well received.
I forgot to mention, it was pickled watermelon rind...
Stop lying
@@mrsantoro8306
No lie, true story. It was at a competition held in conjunction with a huge festival held each year in Texas that started in this guy's backyard. Homer's Backyard Ball (Travis Homer). It originally was a small party to celebrate a move that grew exponentially over a few years to a few thousand attendees and headline music acts. It was a great time every time. Sadly they don't have them anymore.
The cook-off started with just calf fries and grew to a full fledged Bar-B-Que competition. Personally I not big on calf fries, but I've prepared and served probably close to a hundred pounds of them. Do you like calf fries?
@@mrsantoro8306 bacon wrapped pickled watermelon rind is classic southern food!
I ate this as a child growing up on a cattle ranch. It was quiet tasty and we'll liked. Also had cow tail chilli from time to time it
I recently bought an old survival book. Full of recipes from the civil war era. They learned to be very creative. For instance, acorn flour. Squirrel. They had to be resourceful. Cat tails. Apparently, cat tails can be used as food and fuel. The stems are eaten and the fluff is fire starter.
High in protein
They ate cat tail roots which resemble a skinny tuber.
Cat tails are plants @@peggyivey5828
Nobody does "snarky tongue in cheek" sarcasm better than Weird History..exactly why I ♥️ love this channel!!
I absolutely love this channel. Watch it every night before bed. Plus I can seem smart talking to my friends.
Me too.😂
Watermelon pickle is still a thing. Most recipes actually include those cinnamon red hots candies, so the rinds (without the skins) are pink, but it's still very much a foodstuff people eat.
It also makes for an awesome kimchi recipe 🔥
they're good in hot weather
Yeah, my mom loves that stuff. 🤮
I haven't had pickled watermelon rind since the 70s, when I was a kid.
I’ve tried watermelon rinds inside Christmas cakes
I am hooked on this channel. If there is ever a "Weird History Trivia Night" I am totally prepared!
“Sweet potato coffee wasn’t hard to make.”
Hard to drink, I would gather, but not hard to make.
If it was sweet, wasn't it good tho?
It is tolerable, but could use some caffeine.
@@Righteous1ist sweet taters ain't really sweet
@@allenwilson9656 I eat sweet potatoes and they are sweet
I think the whole point people wanted coffee was to stay awake. I would imagine there wouldn't be any caffeine in sweet potato coffee. So I dont really get it.
Your videos really help me take my mind off my problems in life. Thank you for entertaining me and informing me at the same time, it means more than you know!!
I'm not going to lie most of these foods actually sound pretty good. Since I work as a cook, I'd love to learn to cook some of these dishes for myself.
Check out Townsend channel for recipes and techniques.
@@OffRampTourist Thank you so much
@@OffRampTourist I was thinking the same
@@nicksoapdish157 I have done some of Townsends recipe and they were excellent
Pickled watermelon rind is awesome.
As a passionate coffee drinker,it makes me happy to know that soldiers in the Civil War" felt coffee was a vital part of their day. I know I can't start my morning without my mug of java ☕️
The North learned quickly that coffee was as important to get to the soldiers than hardtack. It was a small luxury the Northern soldier made at every opportunity that provided a boost to energy and most importantly morale. Unroasted, whole beans were issued so contractors couldn't add sawdust and other fillers to add weight so every morning one would smell beans being roasted and hear musket butts on tin plates used to grind them up.
The thing is, my grandma made a lot of this when I was a kid. And we had biscuits and butter with molasses as a desert.
Seriously, I couldn't believe my ears at that line, "molasses is an acquired taste." Yeah, you just need to acquire a *tongue!* Seriously, how can you not like molasses? Either blackstrap or sorghum molasses.
@@Whoozerdaddy I've never cared for either. Just way too sickening sweet for me. Though I have to admit that it's pretty darned appetizing compared to most of the garbage in this video.
I remember hearing condensed milk was as critical as hard tack. For example one general would not move his troops another step unless he was resupplied with condensed milk.
I did some research about condensed milk, and apparently one can of condensed milk +8 cups of water can feed nine children. And plus can I smell didn’t go bad, I totally get his reasoning.
Sweetened condensed milk Please!
That’s so they could make key lime pie.
@@annacostello5181 or peach ice cream
@@yurdp well I don’t think they had ice in summer 😂. I was thinking how key lime pie started as a depression era treat and now it’s still made the same way
"Peanut Chocolate" drink is still a thing in Asia actually.
It's actually very good!
It's peanuts. How can it not taste great?
The corn cob tea is a hit in Korea, and tastes better than it sounds.
I'm going to try the peanut chocolate drink.
Peanut Chocolate & Corn Cob Tea actually sound really good by the way
It’s basically peanut butter milk, how can that be bad??
Unconventional foods during the Black Plague? Love the content.
poops
You cant call it that anymore its rasis
@@audiohabbits6475 so what are we to call it? "Non-White Plague"? This side of the pond it's the Black Death because of the colour of the pustules not the patient?
Anyway the Python team had its song off pat - "Rat, Rat, Rattity Rat, Rattity Rat!", sung to the tune of Spam,Spam…." Well you get the idea. Also "Bring out your dead", "But I'm not dead yet_", "Close enough"'. Or words to that effect.
You could consider the C19 Siege of Paris, where the local zoo was a major victualled and your Rump Steak was not always sourced from quadrupeds or furry primates (hint: "Would you like an extra cushion for your chair?".
@@audiohabbits6475 Not even remotely related to race…
Rats
They were some damn tough people back then , that’s a fact .
Most of these foods are not the "ingenuity" of soldiers but are African based and learned from slaves. As you can see in many of the pictures in the video clip, many of the slaves were tasked with cooking for soldiers. Sweet potato coffee is the same as in Africa where Yams are dried then grounded into a powder to make a coffee like drink. Peanuts were a food brought over from Africa and slaves were the primary people who grew and ate them pre-civil war. The slaves ate them raw, roasted or boiled them. The Boiled P-Nuts became popular with the soliders after being showed how to boil them. In Africa, the Bantu word for pnuts is "goober' or they were known as pinders. Sloosh, hoecakes, pone, etc are all african variations that the slaves were already preparing. Most Southern food as we know it today primarily has African Slave roots, deep frying, pit roasting (bbq) jambalaya, gumbo, hoppin jon, and other one pot rice dishes, grits, shrimp & grits, okra, black eyed, peas, watermelon, boiled p'nuts, etc. You can't discuss any kind of history without mentioning how the slaves shaped alot of it, especially its food.
I loved this historical food series.. Please make more
I wonder if unknowingly, they liked these coffee alternatives because it offered a much needed boost of vitamins. The body craving what it needs, instead of what it wants.
I doubt. The slaves were the ones who primarly grew the food, cooked, prepared it, and served it. Alot of these things claimed to be "innovative" actually were the doing of slaves.
@@jaye4856 yes, but just because food is prepared for you, doesn’t mean you don’t have favourites.
It was said, these are the men’s favourite substitute.
No one doubts the reaches of slavery, but slavery doesn’t change a persons palette.
It doesn’t change the body wanting something based on nutrient rather than flavour.
@@jaye4856 No, they weren't. They did as they were told yes, they grew yes, they labored but they took orders. .
@@jaye4856 culinary innovations mostly came after the war when they were free to create whatever they wanted and we got real good southern cooking..before that they mostly cooked whatever scraps they were given like all the parts of animals no one wants to eat..
@@jaye4856 believe it or not everyone in the south had slaves … Many of those soldiers were poor white Boys who grew their own food ….
“UnLike the modern day hot pocket, these were delicious.” 😂
Zing!
That made me laugh too! Hot Pockets are disgusting!
shots fired
I like hot pockets 🥺
As I'm eating a hot pocket at lunch 😂😂
I've always wondered how they were able to feed thousands of soldiers every day while they were on the move.
They usually had a supply train (wagons) following the troops with more being brought each day. The troops usually went into battle with a sack holding some rations so they would have something to eat during the day out in the field. At Shiloh, US General Grant noticed that the attacking Confederates stopped their surprise attack at the Union camps to eat the breakfast Union troops were cooking in skillets and to ransack the tents and supply wagon for food. He rightly figured that they were sent into battle without rations and weren't fed first since their commanders didn't bring much along so would be easy to rout the next day and keep them running due to having nothing to eat.
got hooked on these for a day or two. best line was from this one "Yeah nothing like a relaxing cup of corn in the evening." haha.
60 years ago, my grandfather began taking me to his favorite restaurant in New Orleans, Antoine's, for beignets and fresh chicory coffee. Still on St Louis St.
For those who are starving to death, they'll probably eat even a rotten food just to fill their stomach.
You'd have to be very desperate to live. Doesn't seem worth it to me 😂
@@FreggFaerie literally starving to death does give you the sort of drive needed to eat stuff like maggots and the like.
@@FreggFaerie
True starvation has often even pushed people to cannibalism. There are several records throughout world history of that happening. In the 1990’s cannibalism due to starvation is reported to have been epidemic in North Korea, for example.
@@totallyfrozen Do you Remember the Donner family?
Be in there, does that. Not cool.
I grew up drinking sassafras tea, I always thought it was good. My grandmother would boil a cutting of root, add sugar and yum.
I love sassafras tea..... delicious
We had it also when young
Every fall we had Sassafras tea….loved it as a kid…when they occ. have the roots in a grocery, I will buy and make tea.
We did, too, except for some reason the older we were the more effective it was as a laxative. Unfortunately, we all ended up growing out of it...
Sassafras is a wonderful thing. Years back, my father and I made what was effectively a root beer by cutting and boiling the roots and adding some honey. It was great.
He said they used to make it every year in the scouts.
Having been drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968, i’m sure glad it wasn’t the civil war era. The C-rations we got almost seem like gourmet meals when compared to fare served to civil war troops.
My grandfather was a Georgia cracker. He grew up very poor and told me how when he was a young boy, he would make what he called a homemade milk shake.
He would take a sweet potato, mash it up in a cup, mix it with clabber and pour honey over it.
Lol, that was a poor boys milkshake in the 20's.
That's actually how the US always is. We are a nation of self sufficient people as in this country we have everything we need to live a good life. All it takes is ingenuity and the opportunity to try it. War and government always eliminate opportunity.
Omg cornbread fritters! One of my absolute favs that my grandma would make. Basically a cornbread pancake lol
My mom made those, delicious
And hush puppies!
My mom made the best, good eats.
@@Nocturnal_Rites 😳 fresh trout and homemade hush puppies that takes me back 😁
Johnny cakes ?
Hitting us with a recipe at the end!
I definitely wanna try the better Hot Pocket.
This brings even more reality to hard times.
Great video. Extra thanks for the bonus recipe at the end as well.
We should have a month out of the year where kids in grade school aren't spoiled in the modern sense and have to live on food from the past and walk to school.. up hill both ways.. and spend a day in the mines..
Preach! Amen.
Our school did that with parents permission for a day including lunch. You got 1st world, 2nd and 3rd.
This was a private catholic school focused on religion so this isn’t cream of crop private school. If you had the money a grant from the state then you were good. This was 2001 right after 9/11 in Ohio, I was a 13 yr old girl who just was myself elevated from lower class to middle class overnight.
So you had to pull a random paper and be assigned to that group. For each you were given a name of a country that match the wealth level you got.
1st world got regular lunch and some free snacks.
2nd(my group) got buttered bread, juice/milk, apple and veggies and a sliver of some meat, chicken?
3rd world got unbuttered bread, an apple and a limited supply of water.
We were we sectioned from each other all day; recess, gym, class time, library, etc. You could only use certain things based on your own economic status (hence why help could be asked or give to others.The exception was 2nd world we could talk to 3rd or chose to help them and 2nd to 1st could speak but they couldn’t ask for help.
So it was eye opening if you were in 2nd and 3rd but 1st was down right vicious. They wouldn’t speak to you, hand you anything of it fell, let doors shut in your face and make ridiculous demands that were mostly done for them.
Us 2nd/3rd worlds worked together and 1st world-ers treated you like scum. They tried to turn us against each other by telling their lower ranking friends they wouldn’t help or speak to them anymore because as 2nd you elevate your self to be good enough for 1st.
Parents even after agreeing and signing documents swore they had no idea. My parents were satisfied with the lesson. At my mom’s house we poor (1st world poor) so having some bread and juice didn’t even bother me.
Experiment conclusion: I see why a lot revolutions/ coups/ treaties happen. When you don’t realize how far 3rd world poor and 1st world poor you feel like a jerk.
Private school parents are the worst.
Even their own religion was used as basis for the lesson they still said their kids were starving all day and treated like animals. It’s like they forgot about all those statues located everywhere from the church attached to the school and the school itself. The office has a huge portrait of Jesus, I’m sure they looked at it as they yelled at the office staff. Lol.
@@janoahlee7499 .. that's a really good lesson no matter how many parents complained.. a lot of them don't understand that they most likey wouldn't even survive if all of a sudden they were thrust into a 3rd world economic status.. or say thrust into a world were they had to hunt to survive and gather food.. it's sounds like a good lesson in humility if they can grasp it..
@@janoahlee7499 That just sounds like kids role-playing under totally contrived rules.
I mean that would possibly be considered child abuse but also it doesn't seem like it would have a high rate of success either and with lawsuits from parents not wanting their children to be possiblity injured or have lung inhalation of coal dust.
As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!
Ok Scarlett!
Hush Scarlett.
Gone With the Wind
Interesting to see how weird food got during times of war. Makes me wonder how weird food might of got in other countries during times of war. Wouldn't even have to be a specific war like China and the 2nd Mongol invasion of Burma but like food during war times in China during the 1300's or something. Huge fan and love all the vids, keep em coming!
Do you really not know what the Chinese ate during times of war? There’s a reason they eat bats, pangolins and bugs. Those people crossed the entire country eating whatever they could fit in the mouths, including tree bark and even human babies. Check out a book called Ways that are Dark by Ralph Townsend
I’m so confused as to why They made coffee out of things that had no caffeine. Did they know coffee had caffeine back then??? How is makinf it out of sweet potatoes passable 😂
@@DandelionPink672 "those people"yeah you're totally normal arent you
@@kamj6607 Are you just looking to argue? he didn’t mean the phrase to be condescending.. If anything he was praising Chinese people for their survival skills ..
@@checkurwalls1929 didnt ask
It is said that at the end of the siege of Vicksburg, there were no rats or mice in the town. The townsfolk of Vicksburg had ate them all. Many people were reduced to living in caves in the banks of the Mississippi River to avoid the siege bombardment.
Sounds a lot like a prediction of 2022
United States. First country to wage war against its own civilians
Yep and after the surrender of vicksburg on July 4th the city didn't celebrate the 4th of July for nearly 100 year. I had a few ancestors who fought there and were paroled by the Yankees
@@crueshaw7930 And why is that? He is just telling the truth.
Ahhh damn it! My bad man I replied to the wrong person that's my bad! '_' lol
At hardest time financially, my mother and I were down to just three ingredients.
Rice.
Raisins.
Honey.
We had this combination for two days before I got my first paycheck from my first post high school job. When I left work I cashed my check and went straight to the grocery store.
It makes for a tasty desert on occasion, but after two day of it I was done.
Same but no honey.
@@GrifoStelle Tough times make for creative cooking.
I can relate. Money ran out before mom's payday often, so once we were down to canned tomato soup...9 meals straight. It was a long time after I was grown before I'd eat it again. It was Spring break and school lunch wasn't happening, so the food budget was thinner than usual and it was pretty thin anyway.
When I was younger our family struggled pretty hard. I had to eat mostly pickle onion and mayo sandwiches for dinner. No lunch cuz I couldnt afford school lunch. Same with breakfast. Lasted about 3 months going like that. Maybe rice and potato but, usually just onion bread and condiments.
@@dgeneeknapp3168 same for tomato sauce. The food bank gave us a lot of it. Same for margerine... She used it so often as dinner i won't buy it even now.
I always knew hardtack was like that and always looked like big crackers, but I never knew there were alternatives for making hardtack tastier, such as using it as sandwich bread, making milk toast, or hardtack pudding.
One other sub for coffee was roasted dandelion roots. I have tried and found not too bad for a morning hot drink but of course no caffeine kick.
Roasted dandelion root, acorns and chicory were often used in the UK and Europe (especially Germany where they'd be known as Ersatz Coffee) during both world wars, and probably during the inter-war depressions too - I'll have to check that last bit out, I'd not thought of that before. Nowadays, could they be considered as an acceptable substitute for decaf?
@@roblamb8327 IDK Rob, I found the taste to be good. So as a decaf sub, perhaps. Not bitter at all, at least from my own back yard ;-) I need to dig up a larger batch and try different roasting times. I also have cooked the greens with onions and some bacon fat and they were very much like spinach in taste and texture if you only use the younger leaves.
I actually buy dandy blend from Amazon. It's great if you don't want caffeine before bed. The only drawback is the dandelion is a huge diuretic, and can be tough on your kidneys if you drink too much...otherwise, it's a good coffee substitute. A lot of reviews on Amazon swear by it when they have to give up coffee for medical reasons...
@@christineparis5607 Thanks Christine, I did not know of that name/blend :-)
Another is chicory root.
Weirdly fascinating, as always.
My nephew is a big stoner and his ears perked up when you said Confederate Kush 😂
If I was a grower, I'd name a strain that
@@92bagder "Get higher than the Confederate body count" 😩
@@watchdealer11 general Stonedwall Jackson
So did mine! SO?!?!
Robert E. Weed
Music at 8:17 Paul Mottram - Moonlight Liaison
Music at 10:21 Paul Mottram - Troubled heritage
I have something to add to this topic. This is an actual account from one of my Ancestors who fought in the Civil War. It was put in a book that details this county's history and the families who settled here.
I am paraphrasing here, but the gist of it was:
"We had nothing to eat for a long time, except a little parched corn. After weeks of either going hungry or having nothing but parched corn rations, we were finally blessed one day when someone had found some meat and made a tasty stew. When I got finished with my second helping, I found 4 little puppy feet staring back at me in the bottom of my bowl" - J.W.B. 1st sergeant, Texas Cavalry, my 4th great grandfather.
He was a 24 year old bachelor when he went to fight for the Confederacy. After the war, he came home and met his future wife, the daughter of a Union soldier who had just moved to Texas as a "carpet bagger". He married her and she is my 4th great grandmother.
The reason I mention this is to point out that, not only did a Confederate marry a Yankee's daughter, The Yankee gave his blessing, making the Confederate a part of his family. They held no ill regard for each other, even though they fought on opposing sides. So why are we still arguing over the war that they fought and killed in if they didn't? Don't get me wrong, I believe that secession is a basic human right guaranteed in the Constitution. I mean, it kinda was the whole premise to the American Revolution, after all.
There were a good number of Texans that opposed succeeding from the Union. Some were forced to leave while others stayed due to having the greater numbers. Your ancestor might of been raised in their region so they were just glad to see that he survived the fighting.
@@billwilson3609 he was a Baptist and helped start the church that holds the cemetery he is buried in. There were Texans who opposed secession. Sam Houston opposed secession. But there were many factors at play by the time the war came around. It wasn’t only over slavery. Many of the people joined the confederacy because Lincoln had violated the constitution when he sent troops to march on Virginia. Many didn’t want slavery to end because they knew once the slave class was freed, all citizens would be slaves. And here we are today, all of us slaves to the system with only the rich who get huge tax breaks, sometimes the government owes them money. Slavery was important to the rich who owned slaves more than anyone though. And it was the rich slaveholders who were writing the secession documents. War has always been that way. For those in power, it was over power, for those who actually fought, they had their own reasons for fighting. And many times those reasons were not the same as those in power. Look at Russia and Ukraine.
@@ScotchIrishHoundsman Yep. We dance to tunes that the wealthy call.
Lincoln sent troops into Virginia to take back the Harper's Ferry Armory from the abolitionist John Brown after Virginia's state militia failed to. The South was mad at the Northern States for passing stiff export tariffs on cotton to keep the price lower for the New England textile mill owners and clothing manufacturers. Most were also aware that the institution of slavery would come to an end once inventors like McCormick came up with horse drawn mechanical cotton pickers and field balers. Horse drawn cotton seed planters had been in use for a few decades when in 1850 a North Carolina planter invented a mechanical cotton picker with the assistance of his trained slaves. He got it patented and tried to get financial backing to manufacture those in Memphis yet couldn't since the banks and planters felt using those would lower the value of their slaves which were used as collateral for loans each spring to buy seed and obtain operating funds to get by on until the cotton crop was brought in and sold. Some southern planters took notice of that device and decided to relocate their slaves to regions in East Texas that were sparsely populated where they could establish new plantations that were set-up as communities providing goods and services to other residents in the region so they could fend for themselves and not be bothered by others once slavery was prohibited by law. Other slaveowners in the region thought that wasn't a bad idea so took similar steps to get theirs organized. Once freed, their former owners paid to have churches and schools built for them and provided financial assistance since the banks wouldn't lend them money until they were running profitable operations. A good number of their communities are still around. Many are now small since their offspring left for better employment opportunities elsewhere. There's one south of me called Holland's Quarters that has done well over the years in lumber operations, raising livestock and farming then in the oil & gas industry and electric generation plants and lignite mines. A good number of their children went off to college and returned to work as degreed professionals in industry, commerce, medicine and law. They live in nice housing developments out in the country built on land sold by a prosperous Black rancher to a Black developer that used local Black home builders. They're real nice home sitting on an acre of land where nobody is allowed to have any sort of fencing. That allows the residents and their big outside guard dogs to have a clear view of the yards to prevent break-ins.
Our local Hispanic communities have been growing in size and economically over the past 44 years I've been here. I was a painting contractor for 30 years so got to know quite a few that worked for the concrete, roofing and landscaping contractors. Many struck off on their own and did well, so sent their kids to college and JUCO trade schools. They came back to help grow the family business and start new ones. They managed to take over neighborhoods that went ghetto and get them back in the same tidy condition those were in when I arrived in 1977. The once empty strips of storefronts are now full of their businesses offering goods and services. Larger buildings that once held supermarkets and furniture stores are now back in operation as Hispanic supermarkets and department stores. They don't seem to be affected by the wealthy that don't pay taxes and consider workers to be wage slaves. The only ones I see whining are those that don't want to make the effort to get ahead in life.
Because modern politics and media have given everyone brain rot, that's why
This brings “an army marches on its stomach” to light. Great video. As always ✌🏾
"Beef Tea."
You mean "broth" right?
We have bovril in the U.K. and in the olden days they called that beef tea but it is the residue of cooking beef bones for a long time
Broth is made from the bones of the animal, not the meat. It probably wouldn't taste much different than broth though.
@@alundavies8402 - yep yep yep that's a good point! Really embarrassing on my end because I literally make my own chicken broth all the time and I KNOW how it's made. RUclips commenter moment! lol
“Beef Tea. Receipt for 6 Pints”
“Cut three pounds of beef into pieces the size of walnuts, and chop up the bones, if any; put it into a convenient-size kettle, with ½ pound of mixed vegetables, such as onions, leeks, celery, turnips, carrots (or one or two of these, if all are not to be obtained), one ounce of salt, a little pepper, one teaspoonful of sugar, two ounces of butter, half a pint of water. Set it on a sharp fire for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, stirring now and then with a spoon, till it forms a rather thick gravy at bottom, but not brown; then add seven pints of hot or cold water, but hot is preferable; when boiling, let it simmer gently for an hour, skim off all the fat, strain it through a sieve, and serve.”
This recipe is authentic. I found it in a book I bought in Gettysburg, entitled "Confederate Camp Cooking."
it was a staple in the bigger Federal Hospitals. as was Bread pudding.
A lot of these actually sound pretty good. I wanna try that Peanut Hot chocolate substitute.
I'm no historian, but in the series The Civil War by Ken Burns, Historian Shelby Foote says that the dish you called Slosh was actually pronounced Sloosh.
Ken Burns war Documentaries are all Amazing, love his stuff
Slosh reminds me of a traditional Mexican dish called tlacoyos that also use corn and pork
Good catch, Michael O'Toole. I vote for Sloosh. I noted my mouth shape and sound difference and found it better related to the food consistency and maybe even how a man sucked it in.
@@jamesrobiscoe1174 Awesome James. I learn as much from the comments on this show
You're right
speech
Michael O'Toole
Perhaps watching this is a reminder of the sacrifices early American citizens made for the freedom of man. God bless this country
It's so grateful I live today where I can eat whatever I want when I want!!!
Yeah they say the hardtack were so hard that lot of the soldiers swear they could stop bullets, not to mention they were often times infested with worms and they were so hard that you had to soak them in coffee or bacon grease just to get it soft enough to chew. But I'm sure if you had a good imagination there's many ways you can fix that hardtack and salt pork.
Worms are just a free protein boosts
Toss it in "stew" to soften it and act as a thickener.
There is saying in the German army still today..
If you run outta bullets.. throw the hard tack...
Ah, good ol' "weevil castles..." 😂
But they last a 100 yrs
Always count your blessing, it could always be worse.
Yea, fighting for freedum like totally blows and stuff
I have often said I cried because I have no shoes until I met the man who had no feet.
Give it until the 3rd yr of Brandon's presidency!
@@controversialhunter8032 who the hell is Brandon?
@@shaggydog563 F¿€k Joe Biden turned in to let's go Brandon. Have you been stuck under A Rock?
That peanut-chocolate drink actually sounds really good. I may actually try making some.
I'm with you. I love peanuts, so even if it's a fail, it's a win.
*Reeses furiously taking notes*
Me too
I like to put peanuts in an ice cold glass bottle of coke
It does sound wonderful!! Make me a cup too please.
The south side of the civil war is where biscuits and gravy came from. Y'all welcome 😂
Those are pretty good.
This is one of my absolute FAVORITE channels! Have you done ancient African tribal food?
The craziest story I heard was... starving soldiers would go to the farms cook pit where the beef and chicken juice would drain down to the dirt.. the soldiers would dig up 3 feet across 1 foot down and put that dirt into a pot and boil the dirt in water.. the fat in the dirt would rise to the surface of the pot. They would pull the pot off the fire wait for the fat on top too cool then cut the fat into chunks and eat it...
That is hunger for real innit
There’s no way bruh 💀
@@ad2838 just wait until you're starving. You'd be surprised what a body will do to live.
When I was a kid, we'd just eat dirt. We weren't even hungry, though. :-D
Confederate soldiers were picking corn out of horse sh!t and eating it.
My mother made watermelon rind preserves, and believe it or not, it was really good.
I like watermelon rind raw. It has a nice flavour.
I cut the rind in small pieces then add to pickling liquid in a glass jar. Let sit one week in the fridge.
I do believe it..
My grandmother made watermelon rind preserves when I was growing up. You mention that today and people look at you like you are crazy, but they were delicious. This video makes me wish I had some with some home made biscuits..:-)
I made watermelon rhind jam last year and after spices it tasted like apple butter.
Let's get this hardtack out on a tray....Nice!
We're going to start the day out right with some hard tack, some salt horse, and some sort of decomposed vegetation...
Nice hiss.
❤️🤣
My favorite is when steve says something is disgusting then goes in for another bite.
@@kaitlynrauch3454 "This is really NOT good, at all"
**Proceeds to finish all of it**
Apart from the vinegar, commissary Brazilian stew is basically the common Norwegian dish lapskaus. Potato, carrots, meat, and other solid greens in a pot, with thin, unleavened barley bread on the side. Not bad, but I always preferred fårikål ("sheep in cabbage") myself.
(Of course, Norway only became a developed country starting in the 60s, so...)
Dandelion roots, dried and ground are a good coffee substitute. i've done it as have many others. A lot of these recipes survive to this day and are still enjoyed. I still like and make pine needle tea- it's good for you. A lot of people turned to foods that were traditionally "animal food"- blackeye peas, known as cow peas. Corn was primarily an animal food. And yup, I'm from the South- hoe cakes are STILL a staple.
"HOE" Cakes? 🤣🤣🤣
I LOVE the idea of peanut chocolate! Oh man! It makes perfect sense. My favorite combination of flavors in one hot drink! If there is chocolate/peanut butter ice cream I always choose it and I love Reeses and chocolate peanut butter cups. Sure wish someone gave me some hot peanut chocolate too but no one had ever heard of it.
Solid reference to the band Helmet. Love the song *Milquetoast* .
Thanks for this video, Weird History. Please keep these videos coming!
I found Civil War bullets in my backyard growing up in Petersburg VA 😝
I do not doubt it. Pretty cool.
Civil War history and the 1800’s is the best and most interesting to learn 👍🏽
A+ video!
LOVE IT! What unique foods!
Good ol molasses. I think I had rice and molasses before. My grandmother made something similar that had rice and molasses in it. More of a dessert item. Loved it as a kid. She often chilled it and tasted almost like rice pudding, but without the cream added.
She even made slosh and slapjacks. Loved those too.
Some of these foods and rations look pretty good to be honest. I come from the south, and I probably wouldn't mind eating these if I had to.
My sister's ex-husband ate molasses and biscuits for breakfast when he was young. My mom said "that's a cheap way of filling up your kid".
I love blackstrap mallasses on plain donuts &. Flapjacks very good
Blackstrap molasses would also help with a cold.
sorghum is better than molasses, real southerners know
This is good content. The overall presentation and delivery reminds me a lot of the way the show Wishbone would present history. Plus it's about food which makes it even better. Subbed.
I would to see the Korean war and what our american soldiers had to go through. in memory of many that served and the ones are still here here. In honour of my great uncle
That's an excellent idea .. yes, please, food of the Korean War! I know I read that one Thanksgiving it was so cold the hot food literally froze on the way out of the mess tent.
My husband was in the Navy during the K war. He said it was the coldest place on the planet. We never could warm up.
My Uncle was also in the Korean War.
@@maryannparker4299 thank you for responding. If your uncle is still around please say thank you for his service from. My god bless y'all. If not always keep him in his honor. My family doesn't. I had to someway get my aunt to talk about. It was hard from her cause things he had to do in war he didn't want to do. Basically couple of us in my family keeps his honor. I have noticed even on ch. 13 KERA doest do a documentary on the Korean war like the all of other wars.
It’s amazing how far along we’ve come in such a short period of time
Well into the 1960's, my grandmother in New Jersey made pickled watermelon rind, corn cakes, corn relish, Manhattan clam chowder, biscuits, and her famous home made rice custard pudding. Her ultimate dessert for special occasions was Strawberry Shortcake.... home made biscuits split open and slathered with Charlotte Russe (vanilla flavored fresh whipped cream) and fresh strawberries. All these family recipes came from before the Civil War. And how good it was!
I've "enjoyed" many an hour eating hardtack. Some time this year I ought to be finished with that first piece, lol. Seriously, most of the food and drink you mentioned were not horrible. I've eaten an drank many of them.
Don’t give Starbucks any ideas about “new” coffee recipe concoctions!
Next Starbucks hit, "Hardtack time."
I would totally try these coffee substitutes lol
Watermelon rind preserves are delicious! I’ve been eating them since I was a young kid and every time I go back home to NC I make sure to get some at the only restaurant in town that has some
PLEASE, where is it?
Commenting because I want to know too.
I made some Watermelon rind pickles last year. They were pretty good
Learn to make them! Great story: couple years I sold veggie pickles at farmer’s market. Met a lady visiting her father for mom’s funeral. She was delighted at my watermelon pickles, her dad couldn’t find them in stores. I gave her a couple jars cause I’m mush hearted & like old folk. Tickled me as much as the lady. Spreading the joy. But I didn’t like those pickles, far too sweet.
What restaurant is that, please?
Excellent, Weird History. Thank you.
Sassafras tea is excellent. Made from boiling the roots of the sassafras tree, which are numerous in the south. Biscuits with molasses is delicious. I'll have to try watermelon syrup.
But the black eyed pea saved many in the south from starvation. Union soldiers not familiar with the dried peas which are rock hard, thought it animal feed and left it while ransacking farms.. today it's a traditional New Years day meal for good luck in the coming year. Cooked with onion and or sausage, it's fine table cuisine. Other food such as bread pudding made from stale bread, milk, sugar or molasses and if one was fortunate, raisins. These foods also fed the poor during the great depression.
Hunger is the best sauce,I also believe we take so much for granted.
A long time ago in basic training we were on intense training for a month in the bush.A guy broke his leg so was brought back to the regiment by the corporal over our section.
He returned with a bag of stale bread and pots of marmalade and let us divide it between us.
Possibly the best food I ever tasted.
why didnt you die in combat
@@kamj6607 I've often wondered why myself,I reckon I was spared just so I could annoy people on RUclips
Barrels of Hard Tack were called “worm castles”.
How awful. Sad that people had to survive on worm infested food.
I'd like to have seen something on foraging. At squad level there were often dedicated foragers. Also weird foods.... How about insect meals ? Pretty common around the world.
Townsend has videos on foraging in both Revolutionary and Civil War eras.
Throughout history, foraging for armies has usually meant getting food for your unit from locally available food sources. Those were, more often than not, farmsteads and enemy's rearguard stockpiles.
That would be interesting to see. At my altitude near the Appalachian mountains, sassafras as mentioned, as well dandelion and many kinds of edible mushrooms grow natively. I'm sure there's a ton more edibles out there that I don't know about
Loved the video; however, you omitted one done had by our men in gray…Ram Rod Rolls. A mixture of cornmeal, water and salt made into a thick paste then wrapped around their ram rod and cooked over an open fire.
I don't know about that.....how would they have kept it on the ram rod? Sounds kindo fishy to me.
😀,,, fine show . Thank you
It's actually called suet, the beef fat flour, and the "beef tea" wasn't drank as tea, it was a tonic, and it is called bone broth because it's made with the bone and not the meat.
Other Southern coffee substitutes/additions were okra seeds, chicory, toasted rice, etc. Molasses and sorghum were popular in the south before the war. Many of these ersatz recipes would have been known by poorer classes before the war. Hardtack soaked in water (to soften) and fried with bacon and onions is actually very good if your stomach is used to consuming so much fat. I bet water melon pickles and syrup were also popular. there were also many condiments available to soldiers through sutlers and packages from home including various ketchups (mushroom was popular), mustards, hot sauces, etc. Pickled and canned vegetables and canned fruits were also available. Corn, corn meal and hominy were also a common in the South before the war. It should also be understood that many of the so called "Southern" foods were also popular foods of rural northerners. Beans were another staple the soldiers actually liked, only problem was it required time to cook, one method was to line a pit with hot coals, place a the cooking pot filled with beans, water, salt pork, etc, etc. in the pit (deal the lid), cover it with more hot coals and bury it and let it cook overnight.
Growing up in the South, WE all know what molasses and a buttered biscuit taste like. 😋 Don't knock it.
Somebody actually made a negative remark about molasses and buttered biscuit?!? If so, they are brainless. I'm gonna go thru rest of the comments. My favorite side with biscuits is gravy. Gotta make buttermilk biscuits with gravy at least once a week. Honey is good on a biscuit too.
I always loved going to South Carolina for the food. I'm from Quebec
When he mentioned rice and molasses, I thought, now that sounds good.
Sorghum molasses, butter and a biscuit.
My momma used to mix cold butter chopped small into dark corn syrup or sorghum molasses and called it stuff or maybe us kids named it that. It is Delicious on hot biscuit, corn fritters or pancakes.
Why would you be so desperate for “coffee” if it doesn’t even have caffeine?
Hartack and Coffee is a GREAT book about the soldiers' experiences in the Civil War.
for anyone who is interested, the Civil War Digital Digest goes into more detail in various videos about Civil war foodstuffs
I'm dutch and i buy risoles at indonesian shops and take outs very often. Didn't expect to see them here!
The Southerners were into French cooking.
Reminds me of my boarding school days where we used to come up with weird tasty snacks and food.
Southerners also combined cornmeal with water to make a thick paste, wound it around the ramrods of their rifles, and cooked it over a fire. The result was kind of a charred spiral of unseasoned cornbread, but it was better than nothing.
What’s amazing is how many of these foods have variants that we still eat now and is a staple I live in South Carolina and while surly better nowadays the influences are undeniably close
NOTHING LIKE A CUP OF WARM "PISS" CUT WITH MOLASSES ON A COLD MORNING!