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 Beverly shared details of Food Storage in Colonial times (Special Thanks to Teresa Wallace, Ph.D.). "1775 was one of the mildest winters in New England in memory. It never went below zero and was often above freezing. January and February had only light snow." While warm temperatures made life more comfortable in the home ... the Hartwells and their neighbors probably had to deal with food that did not stay frozn and therefore rotted. Attics were used for storage of items that did not require freezing temperatures, like meal, flour, herbs, dried corn, apples and pumpkins. Whole apples, squash, onions could be store in an attic in the fall but not later when the temperature would be too cold. Potatoes, carrots, beets and cabbages were sensitive to heat and cold and fared best in the cellar where the cider was also kept.
On the topic of Diet in the eighteth century, Beverly and Kelly explained that much of their information comes from their volunteer work at the Hartwell house, from Teresa Wallace Ph.D., and directly from the Will of Ephraim Hartwell.
Most people ate heavily salted meat and fish. Women fried the salted meats, and boiled vegatables for an hour. This fare did not change much throughout the year. Saturated fat and sodium were high; vitamins were low. One can amost hear the arteries hardening from the cholesterol and see the rising blood pressure from the sodium.
The midday meal was the largest meal of the day... Women served supper in the evening. It was a much lighter meal and could consist of bread and milk, toast, cheese, a slice of pie. In poorer families breakfast and supper could be bread and milk in the summer and bean broth or cider with bread in the winter.
A good selection of vegetables was available. They included peas, beans, parsnips, turnips, onions, cabbage, squash, carrots, corn, pumpkins and garden greens. Everyone called raw or cooked vegetables, "Sauce". Perhaps the long boiling turned them into a sauce.
When Ephraim Hartwell made his will, among other things, he gave his wife, Elisabeth, food items which were described in detail in the Will. They included an annual allotment of twelve bushels of Idian meal, six bushels of rye meal, a bushel and a half of malt, half a bushel of white beans, two hundred poulds of pork, eighty pounds of beef, two barrels of cider, and six bushels of winter apples.
Notable facts regarding the amounts willed to Elisabeth Hartwell: The amounts of meat listed below equals about 5.4 pounds a week or 3/4 of a pound per day. The amount fits the pattern of high meat comsumption for the era. Also, Ephraim wills her more pork than beef which also fits the pattern of the time when pork consuption was much higher.
References:
- "Everyday Life in Eighteeth Century Lincoln Massachusetts" by Teresa Wallace, Ph.D. Curator
- Our own Snug Fireside, Nylander
- The Minutemen and Their World, Gross
- Good Wives: Images and Reality of Women in Northern New England, 1650 - 1750, Laura Thatcher Ulrich (New York: Vinage Books Edition, 1991)
- Samuel Hartwell House and Ephraim Hartwell Tavern, Luzader
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Kelly Malone and Beverly Malone provided information regarding cooking, food storage, and diet of Eighteenth century Americans.