"Recreated" Banana Nut Bread

[JPChurch]

I've always used the recipe for banana nut bread from my mom's 1948 edition of "The American Woman's Cookbook." She got this as a wedding gift when she and my dad married that year. So it's a cherished cook book and heirloom. It even has color pictures of different finished recipes on fancy china and includes pictures of how to properly set a table with all the glasses and silverware. Neat stuff...

But, this recipe calls for 1/2 cup of "shortening" or lard or maybe even Crisco. I don't know if Crisco was invented yet in 1948. This holiday season I'm omitting the 1/2 cup of shortening and following the recipe in Irma Rombauer's "Joy of Cooking." It's the same thing but without the shortening.

I've often wondered if a banana bread was common during the Civil War and the decades after it since they originate from central America. I'm making my banana bread for Christmas Eve. Food Lion gave me a coupon for free bananas up to 3 lbs. So I got 3 lbs. of bananas @ no cost!!! I'll take pics and post once the loaf is done and cooled down before I wrap it up.....

What were the recipes for a banana nut bread back then???

 

[donna]

Crisco was invented 1911.

I too have this book. Belonged to my Grandma.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Recipes for banana bread first appeared in America at the end of the 18th century around the time housewives discovered pearlash as a chemical leavening agent. Recipes published in the first American cookbook, American Cookery, inspired housewives to experiment with this leavening agent. Baking powder became commercially available in 1857 so it's likely banana bread as we know it today did not exist until then.

I sure do love having warm banana nut bread with coffee for breakfast. I look forward to seeing your pics!

 

[JPChurch]

Will post pics once the bananas get real ripe and I get it baked....with the finished product.

 

[JPChurch]

Here are the pics of the banana bread with chopped up walnuts folded in. This is the "Joy of Cooking" recipe. Not the "American Woman's Cookbook" recipe. I don't know how it will taste (until tomorrow night) or what the consistency will be like, but it looks wonderful and sure does have a nice aroma to it. Baked for 55 minutes @ 350. Toothpick came out clear. Also made an apple pie with granny smiths. Cinnamon sprinkled on top. Nice desserts for Christmas Eve!!

 

[donna]

They look so good. Thanks for posting.

Have a Merry Christmas.

 

[JPChurch]

I'll report back as to how I liked this recipe from the "Joy of cooking." It differed from the "American Woman's Cookbook" in regards to some of the ingredients. It came out of the loaf dish easily and it is a heavy bread. It's wrapped up in Glad cling wrap and then aluminum foil till tomorrow evening.

 

[JPChurch]

The "Joy of Cooking" recipe turned out to be fabulous. It was a real crowd pleaser come dessert time. Next time I'll use a full cup of chopped walnuts instead of 2/3 cup. I liked it much better than the 1938/revised 1948 recipe from the "American Woman's Cookbook" that called for 1/2 cup of shortening/Crisco

 

[donna]

Sounds like a winner.

 

[lupaglupa]

Legend has it Americans first saw bananas in 1870 and they didn't become common until late in the 19th century.

 

[JPChurch]

I didn't think bananas were something seen during the ACW. Especially with the blockade. Pineapples too, as both products still originate to this day from puny countries in Central America. I'm sure they were popular prior to the SAW and in between the time we entered the World War. The destroyer/torpedo boat J.P. Church's son commanded during the "Great White Fleet" sailing excursion in 1908 was later sold for scrap after it served valiantly in the north Atlantic as part of convoy duty during WW1. An investor saved it from the junk heap and fixed it up a bit (called flipping now days) and re-sold it and it was used a banana freighter for another 10 years. BananaRamaDingDong!!!