What was in their pockets and packs?

I'm a bit curious as to which variety of heirloom tomato is being referred to as"unattractive".Some probably are but some are downright just as pleasing to the eye as well as the palate.

tenngun said:

I’m having to disagree about potatoes not being used much in America till late nineteenth century. Eighteenth century cookbooks are full of potato recipes, and dried potatoes are common New England ship food. By the late unpleasantness with the north recipient for soldiers was full of potato use. I’m thinking it was Hanna Glass who had bread and ‘cheese cake’ recipe using potato

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From what I got from the research isn't that potatoes weren't eaten by many in certain areas and by certain groups (like sailors) in the US it's that it hadn't become nationally prevalent in our cuisine until Luther Burbank's discovery of disease resistant potato hybrids in the late 1800s that catapulted the potato to national acceptance as a primary source of food. Obviously I didn't clarify giving the wrong impression they we didn't eat potatoes at all, my appologies. From what I understand they were a major source of food fed to horses and other livestock first.

tenngun said:

Meat pies made a sealed dinner. Wrapped in paper or cloth. Smoke, pipe, strike a light kerchief would be stuffed in pockets. Pudding still in the pudding bag.

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So they would make a "cased" dish, which was ground meat and potatoes in many cases, inside a salt and flour "case" or crust. These were made to then sit out and cool, and were served at room temp. The crust or case was a protective covering, similar to the meat pie, BUT it was not consumed as it was very very salty. It protected the contents from flies and such, and retarded bacterial growth for a time. This could easily be reduced in size.

Boiling meat in vinegar and water with some salt would keep the meet in a cloth "safe" good for about three days. The acid and salt did the trick, and the boiling killed off micro-organisms.

I've made lots of boiled puddings and unless one made a very small one..., they wouldn't fit in one's pocket or pack. A small pudding of the period is about the same size as a large grapefruit, and a standard one is about the size of a volleyball cut in half...but there's no hollow portion as with an actual volleyball. Not to mention the cost with the suet and the sugar.

LD

Grayman said:

I assume a guy in 1830's south east Texas would have carried the same stuff, but how would that have looked?

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One thing a fellow in Texas would've known about is Pinole. The Spanish influence in the area would pretty much guarantee that. It's parched corn, coarse ground into a meal. It is NOT the same as cornmeal. Easterners called it "rockahominy", but it's not actual hominy either. This was pretty much a universal trail food in the Southwest, from before contact with English speakers, into the 20th century. It was adopted from the indigenous peoples, and was known as far East as the coast. Pretty much anywhere there was corn, there was parched corn, and where there was parched corn there was pinole/rockahominy, but the names were different for different Indian languages.

You can take a spoonfull, and then drink about a half cup of water while on the trail, to keep hunger at bay, and you keep moving (or in dangerous times when one kept a "cold camp"). You can in normal camp, add some to boiling water and have a hot porridge, and if more substantial fare is found, such as wild game, it thickens the water-and-game soup.

I normally carry rockahominy or parched corn, jerky from venison, raisins (potassium in them prevents cramps, the sugar is a good energy boost), tobacco, tea, and if going overnight, high proof rum [151] with lime and sugar already added to it (to this in my mug gets added warm water = grog). Oh and some salt, and some red pepper flakes.

LD

We see some paintings of small soft ball sized puddings. And besides sweet or simi sweet like a hunters pudding or quaking pudding one could have peas pudding. A ball of very thick green pea soup, or could be made with other ‘peas’ that we tend to call beans today. Thicker then canned refried beans and made with white peas, white beans today. Butter or lard works as well as suet in a beef pudding.
Many of the meat pies an oil bound the flour. One recipe is ‘Salmon the Italian way’ apparently what makes it ‘ Italian’ is the dough is bound with olive oil it make a heavy but none to salty cover that is very tasty after baking.
Obviously there is a difference between some men going hunting over a night or two, one man on a Saturday slipping in to the woods, and a man traveling to some spot a couple of nights away sans taverns along the way, and a band of fellows going on a hunting or trapping expedition

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Agree with you folks about potatoes useage, my family packed up and left Ireland in the late 1700's because of the potatoes they grew where collected by the land owners leaving nothing for them to eat. It was decided to leave as conditions would get worst and the conditions did get bad.

The Irish Potato Famine began in 1845 when a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) spread rapidly throughout Ireland. Because the tenant farmers of Ireland—then ruled as a colony of Great Britain—relied heavily on the potato as a source of food, the infestation had a catastrophic impact on Ireland and its population. Before it ended in 1852, the Potato Famine resulted in the death of roughly one million Irish from starvation and related causes, with at least another million forced to leave their homeland as refugees.

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Buck Conner said:

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Agree with you folks about potatoes useage, my family packed up and left Ireland in the late 1700's because of the potatoes they grew where collected by the land owners leaving nothing for them to eat. It was decided to leave as conditions would get worst and the conditions did get bad.

The Irish Potato Famine began in 1845 when a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) spread rapidly throughout Ireland. Because the tenant farmers of Ireland—then ruled as a colony of Great Britain—relied heavily on the potato as a source of food, the infestation had a catastrophic impact on Ireland and its population. Before it ended in 1852, the Potato Famine resulted in the death of roughly one million Irish from starvation and related causes, with at least another million forced to leave their homeland as refugees.

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AH but your reference is to the Great Famine of 1845, which is also known as the Irish Potato Famine outside of Ireland. Because it was the largest potato famine, not the first...

Prior to the arrival of the potato blight, there was dry-rot and curl. Neither of those two were as bad as blight. By the time The Blight hit, there had been two dozen failures of the potato crop in Ireland, as far back as 1728. Widespread crop failures happened in 1739, 1740, 1770, 1800, and 1807. In the years 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1836, dry-rot and curl badly damaged the crop. Again on a general basis the crop suffered throughout Ireland in 1836, 1837, 1839, 1841, and 1844.

It was the massive loss of life, and the large exportation of Irish to the United States during the Great Famine that has it foremost in our minds, but Irish were sent to Amerikay in smaller amounts after each of the lesser, general crop failures. It's likely the reason all the potatoes were taken from your ancestors was due to one of the failures, and the land owners took what was left to cover the rent.

LD

Ireland was a big exporter of food at this time. Mostly wheat. The blight hit all of Europe but only the irish peasants were so heavily dependent on the potato crop, as most of the land was set aside for wheat and other grain production and sheep.
The English prime minister at the time said that he understood a million Irish may die in the famine and he was afraid that wouldn’t be enough.

My treking kit

tenngun said:

My treking kitView attachment 61249

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The canteens, what era would they be from?

"Don’t forget the flask of whiskey."

Drinking while hunting is kinda stupid is it not?

My memory is drawing up something from my past. A teaching that maybe france was saved by the potato?? People were afraid to eat them as they so closely resembled another plant which was poisonous that it took real convincing it was safe. Thus ending the famine??
Walk

kje54 said:

The canteens, what era would they be from?

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They are F/I-Revolutionary period in wool sleeves. Ones the D shape the other is the kidney shaped

Walkingeagle said:

My memory is drawing up something from my past. A teaching that maybe france was saved by the potato?? People were afraid to eat them as they so closely resembled another plant which was poisonous that it took real convincing it was safe. Thus ending the famine??
Walk

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It took Luis XVI and Count Parmentier (a pharmacist, chemist and employee of Louis XVI) to convince the population potatoes were safe.
Parmentier planted 50 acres of potatoes on a plot of land on the outskirts of Paris. During the day, he instructed a royal guard to watch over it. When the locals noticed that that the crop was of such value that royal guards were protecting it, their curiosity grew and hoards of people came to see what all the fuss was about. The trick worked. The potato gained a heightened intrinsic value overnight, and very quickly attracted widespread acceptance.

Here's one source:
The Man Who Made Potatoes Popular in France in the 1700s: Antoine-Augustin Parmentier - Geri Walton

tenngun said:

They are F/I-Revolutionary period in wool sleeves. Ones the D shape the other is the kidney shaped

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Thanks. I have recently wondered whether those canteens went as far back as the F&I War considering the number of gourd and wooden canteens marketed as F&I and AWI.

kje54 said:

It took Luis XVI and Count Parmentier (a pharmacist, chemist and employee of Louis XVI) to convince the population potatoes were safe.
Parmentier planted 50 acres of potatoes on a plot of land on the outskirts of Paris. During the day, he instructed a royal guard to watch over it. When the locals noticed that that the crop was of such value that royal guards were protecting it, their curiosity grew and hoards of people came to see what all the fuss was about. The trick worked. The potato gained a heightened intrinsic value overnight, and very quickly attracted widespread acceptance.

Here's one source:
The Man Who Made Potatoes Popular in France in the 1700s: Antoine-Augustin Parmentier - Geri Walton

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Cook learned that sauerkraut would prevent scurvy. He took it on his first voyage to the pacific. The men wouldn’t touch it. So he restricted it it to the ships officers only. Pretty soon the crew was demanding it. Same sort of trick.
I’ve never developed a taste for champagne. I’ve had good caviar but found kippers a lot better. And lobster is good but I will take steamed clams instead thank you very much. I do think some foods are popular only because the wealthy can afford them

Tenngun, you must have some big pockets.

appalichian hunter said:

Tenngun, you must have some big pockets.

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I'll bet he doesn't have any pockets, but carries most of it in his hunting pouch, his blanket roll, or tucked inside his hunting shirt.

For a good trekking/hiking/hunting food to pack, try Parched Corn. Parched corn is easy to make and was common in men's haversack's of the 1700's. To make parched corn, take corn on the cob (sweet corn) and hang up with string until the all kernels are dried-out, will shrink in size, and be hard. Next, pull the kernels out of the cob. Next, you need bacon grease, either fry -up just before making parched corn or saved bacon grease. In a cast-iron pan or standard pan on medium heat with your bacon grease, add your corn kernels and let the kernels simmer until they puff-up. You are not making Pop Corn you just want the kernels to absorb the bacon grease and will puff-up back to normal size, then remove from the pan to cool. Do not allow the kernels to burn or the corn will taste burnt when eating. You will get the idea how to cook once you cook for the first time. Store the rest in a air-tite jar. I like to place about one cup of parched corn in a cloth bag and is eaten while walking a-little-at-a-time and it will to give you a good energy source. I place the cloth bag in my shoulder haversack along with my fire-starting kit and other items I might need to quickly grab. If you have not tried parched corn, give it a try.

tenngun said:

Cook learned that sauerkraut would prevent scurvy. He took it on his first voyage to the pacific. The men wouldn’t touch it. So he restricted it it to the ships officers only. Pretty soon the crew was demanding it. Same sort of trick.
I’ve never developed a taste for champagne. I’ve had good caviar but found kippers a lot better. And lobster is good but I will take steamed clams instead thank you very much. I do think some foods are popular only because the wealthy can afford them

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I'd think sauerkraut would be hard to carry as a trail food, but could be used as a camp food.