Tagged ‘molasses’

New England Beer

January 18th, 2013 by KM Wall

Tunning beer

“for in that part of the Country where I abode [Maine], we made our Beer of Molosses, Water, Bran, chips of Sassafras Root and a little Wormwood, well boiled”

- John Josselyn, New Englands rarities, p. 46. 1672

Ingredients for John Josslyn’s Down-East Brew:

  1. Molasses:

    molasses

  2. Water:

    Spring water

  3. Bran:

    Bran (wheat)

  4. chips of Sassafras root:

    Sassafras (leaves) - and swallowtail butterflies that love sassafras

  5. Wormwood :

    Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)

    a little wormwood – emphasize little – a little goes a long, long way

 

I think there might have been some corn as the grain base of this brew:

Maize

 

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Eat Like A Pilgrim: Indian Pudding

April 17th, 2012 by KM Wall

INDIAN PUDDING
(recipe from The Plimoth Plantation New England Cookery Book by Malabar Hornblower, The Harvard Common Press, 1990)

This is a true regional New England dish. The first written version of this recipe does not appear until 1796 in the first American cookbook, but there were references to it as a common dish years earlier. John Jossyln refers to the corn meal and milk portion as hasty pudding in 1672, and the addition of molasses as a sweetener isn’t far behind.
BTW, the ‘Indian’ in the Indian Pudding identifies the grain used – cornmeal or Indian meal.

4 cups milk
2/3 cup molasses
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup yellow cornmeal
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

optional — cream, whipped cream or ice cream when serving

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Generously butter a 2-quart baking dish.

In a large saucepan, heat the milk molasses and butter, stirring to blend them. Over moderate heat, bring them slowly to just under a boil, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, combine the cornmeal, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt and sift them into a bowl. When the milk and molasses are close to– but not quite—boiling, gradually stir in the cornmeal mixture. Cook mixing constantly so that no lumps form, until the pudding thickens enough to hold its shape when stirred.
With a rubber spatula, scrape the pudding into the buttered baking. Add the 2 cups milk, but do not mix it in; let it float on the top. Bake the pudding 1 hour without stirring. Then stir in the milk and bake two hours longer,

Serve the pudding with cream, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if desired.

 

XXX

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Posted in Eat Like A Pilgrim program | 1 Comment

Happy National Indian Pudding Day!

November 13th, 2011 by Carolyn

Indian Pudding is a New England regional dish, which we do not see in a written form until 1796, but there is information that the dish was popular in New England long before it appears in cookbooks. This version of Indian Pudding, by Kathleen Wall, contains two staple ingredients found in New England – cornmeal and molasses, which was often baked or boiled for hours. No worries though, this recipe uses a slow cooker instead.

 

 

Indian-Meal Pudding

Ingredients:

3 cups milk

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

2+ tbl butter

2 eggs

1/3 cup molasses

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

Optional: 1/2 cup dried cranberries

 

Butter the inside of slow cooker and preheat on high for 15 minutes.

 

 

Whisk milk, cornmeal, and salt in a large heavy bottomed pan and bring to a  boil. (It will rise up somewhat as it heats, so give yourself lots of unless you like  cleaning up scorched milk off your stovetop.) After it comes to a boil, continue  whisking for another 5 minutes.

 

 

Cover and simmer on low for 10 minutes and then take off the burner. Add the butter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Combine the eggs, molasses and spices. Take some of the hot cornmeal mixture and temper the egg mixture, combine both in to the pot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Stir in the cranberries as this point if you would like. You can also top this with  plastic wrap, cool and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, and then continue at this point.) Scrape final mixture into the buttered slow cooker and cook on high for  2-3 hours or on low for 6-8.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finished pudding will be firm around the edges than the center. Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or light cream. Leftovers make a great breakfast.

Enjoy!

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