"Corporal's Kitchen" Scott's TN Battery Newsletter-Lemonade

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Jul 12, 2007
Location
Aledo, IL
256px-Mug_of_Lemonade.jpg
Mug of Lemonade
Adryan R. Villanueva [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


At Gaines' Mill, Lt. Henry Kyd Douglas writes of "Stonewall" Jackson: "Gen. Jackson mounted his gaunt sorrell and leaving his position, moved to the front. At that moment, someone handed him a lemon-a fruit of which he was specially fond. Immediately a small peice was bitten out of it and slowly and unsparingly he began to extract it's flavor and it's juice. From that moment untill darkness ended the battle that lemon scarcely left his lips except to be used as a baton to emphasize an order. He listened to Yankee shout or Rebel Yell, to the sound of musketry advancing or receeding, to all the signs of promise or aprehension, but he never for an instant lost his interest in that lemon and even spoke of its excellence."---From "I Rode With Stonewall", Henry Kyd Douglas

General Richard Taylor, son of President Zachary Taylor, wrote a passage in his war memoirs about Jackson eating lemons: "Where Jackson got his lemons no fellow could find out, but he was rarely without one."

With hot summer weather upon us, we all agree that an icey cold, refreshing beverage nourishes both body and soul! So, "Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly!.....Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees" as we enjoy a glass of Civil War Era Lemonade!

Lemonade

Source: The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia of Useful Information for the Housekeeper in All Branches of Cooking and Domestic Economy by Mrs. E. F. Haskell (1861)

Rub some of the sugar on the peel of the lemon to extract the oil; roll the lemons under the hand on the table, and press out all the juice; add to every lemon two heaping table-spoons of loaf-sugar; mix it thoroughly with the lemon; fill the pitcher one-quarter full of broken ice, and add water.
 
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At Gaines' Mill, Lt. Henry Kyd Douglas writes of "Stonewall" Jackson: "Gen. Jackson mounted his gaunt sorrell and leaving his position, moved to the front. At that moment, someone handed him a lemon-a fruit of which he was specially fond. Immediately a small peice was bitten out of it and slowly and unsparingly he began to extract it's flavor and it's juice. From that moment untill darkness ended the battle that lemon scarcely left his lips except to be used as a baton to emphasize an order. He listened to Yankee shout or Rebel Yell, to the sound of musketry advancing or receeding, to all the signs of promise or aprehension, but he never for an instant lost his interest in that lemon and even spoke of its excellence."---From "I Rode With Stonewall", Henry Kyd Douglas

General Richard Taylor, son of President Zachary Taylor, wrote a passage in his war memoirs about Jackson eating lemons: "Where Jackson got his lemons no fellow could find out, but he was rarely without one."

With hot summer weather upon us, we all agree that an icey cold, refreshing beverage nourishes both body and soul! So, "Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly!.....Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees" as we enjoy a glass of Civil War Era Lemonade!

Lemonade

Source: The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia of Useful Information for the Housekeeper in All Branches of Cooking and Domestic Economy by Mrs. E. F. Haskell (1861)

Rub some of the sugar on the peel of the lemon to extract the oil; roll the lemons under the hand on the table, and press out all the juice; add to every lemon two heaping table-spoons of loaf-sugar; mix it thoroughly with the lemon; fill the pitcher one-quarter full of broken ice, and add water.


How do you add 'two heaping table-spoons of loaf sugar' when loaf sugar isn't granulated? Melt it first?
 
A good article on loaf sugar is at:
http:www.wisegeek.com/what-is-loaf-sugar.htm

The cooks used sugar nips to break the chunks of sugar off for baking and cooking. The amount was never precise but after doing so many times I am sure good cooks knew how much they needed. Some probably wanted things sweeter, so chunks were bigger and some not so sweet so chunks were smaller. It was important that chunks were thoroughly broken up in cooking.
 
I am posting on this older thread as someone had new post on General Jackson and lemons. Albert has quotes from people who knew Jackson and wrote about his liking of lemons. Thoughts these quotes worth anyone interested in Jackson able to read.

In several books I have on Jackson they discuss his love of fruits, including lemons. When we toured his house several years ago the guide there talked of his love of fruit. He did keep to a strict diet.
 
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