• Welcome to the Receipts of the Blue & Gray. - The receipts you will find here are original Antebellum, and Civil War period receipts, as originally published between the years 1796 and 1880. One exception, is: Newspaper Clippings & Periodical Receipts are limited to a publishing period from 1858 to 1866.

    Some receipts from this era attempted to give medicinal advice. Many dangerous, and in some cases, deadly, "cures" were given, reflecting the primitive knowledge of that time period. Don't assume everything you read here is safe to try! Recipes and Receipts posted here are for Historic Research Purposes, enjoy them, learn from them, discuss them!

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Sweet Baked Goods Lemon Gingerbread

lemon gingerbread
1630006099095.png
(from Godey's Ladies Magazine, edited by L.A. Godey, Sarah J. Hale, 1861)

Ingredients:

rind and juice of 2 to 3 lemons​
1 glass of brandy​
1 lb. flour​
1/2 lb. treacle​
1/2 lb. butter melted​
1/2 oz. ground ginger​
1/4 oz. cayenne pepper​

Instructions:

Grate the rinds of two or three lemons, and add the juice to a glass of brandy; then mix the grated lemon in one pound of flour, make a hole in the flour, pour in half a pound of treacle, half a pound of butter melted, the lemon-juice, and brandy, and mix all up together with half an ounce of ground ginger and quarter of an ounce of cayenne pepper.​


The Godey's Lady's Book from December 1861 is chock full of great period holiday recipes. Here's one for a very interesting spin on gingerbread cookies.

By the way treacle is like modern Karo syrup - I assume you'd use the dark variety since it's gingerbread.
 
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lucy washington’s lemon gingerbread
(from Lucy Washington's Personal Cookbook, The WV & Regional History Center.)

Ingredients:

rind and juice of 2 to 3 lemons​
1 glass of brandy​
1 lb. flour​
1/2 lb. treacle​
1/2 lb. butter melted​
1/2 oz. ground ginger​
1/4 oz. cayenne pepper​

Instructions:

Grate the rind of 2 or 3 lemons and add the juice to a glass of brandy then mix the grated lemon in one pound of flour make a hole in the flour pour a half pound of treacle half pound of butter melted the lemon juice and brandy mix up all together with an half ounce of grated ginger and a quarter of an ounce cayenne pepper.​


This is nearly word for word, taken from the Godey's recipe... So the question becomes, which recipe came first!

Image of Original Recipe: https://news.lib.wvu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/3212_009.jpg

Here is an article about Lucy Washington of Locust Hill, near Charles Town, West Virginia, and her recipe.....

https://news.lib.wvu.edu/2015/03/30/lucy-washingtons-lemon-gingerbread/
 
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