%2—UmcAftor Farming, Saturday, March 13,1976
Decorating the finished product is realty a labor
of love. Here Mrs. Strauss adds icing, colored -
sugars or coconut or nuts. The end product is
delicious.
Mrs. Strauss looks over Richert's recipe
notebook and his father's book of accounts.
SD
Farmers are producing more-consumers eating less
By MELISSA PIPER
Farmers and their families work 10-14 hours per
day to produce food and food commodities and
while in 1975, a farm unit could produce enough for
themselves and 50 other people, food consumption
has hit a slump!
It hardly seems possible that in today’s society
where every imaginable food is offered for the
consumer’s delight, eating has decreased yet on
the records it is very clear. In fact the food con
sumption rate for the people in the United States
during the past year has never been lower since
1968. ' '-S-
Some of the largest declines in per "capita con
sumption included sugar, fats and oils along with
pork and lamb. The provable cause of these
commodity declines bemg : |he increased pr.ipes. At
Historic recipes preserved
by Ephrata
By SALLY BAIR
Farm Featare Writer
Handing down recipes from generation to generation ia
nothing new. Many treasured recipes have been aaved in
this way. A mother teaches her daughter, who in turn
teaches her daughter, and a tradition is kept intact
The case of Mrs. Robert D. Strauss’s favorite sugar
“cake" recipe is a little different however. She learned to
make it from her great-unde, Charles Rickert of
Manbelm, and so these cookies are particularly special.
But bow did this unde become a baker? The Rickert
family resided in lititz during the middle 1800’s, but when
Charles Rickert’s mother died and his father remarried,
be left borne. To support himself be went to work for a
German baker in Lititz, George Wilhelm. Apparently
Rickert chose this profession mostly as a means of sup
port, and not because be was especially interested in
being a baker.
Nevertheless, be learned the trade well, and, in
terestingly, kept a small leather notebook with a few
recipes for “cakes," which all kinds of cookies were then
called.
When he married in 1894, Rickert moved to Manheim,
Mrs. Strauss relates. It was then that be began his daily
_ walk to JUtte from Manheim, “following the railroad
tracks,” Mrs. Strauss said. Eventually, this became'
rather a burden and he went to work for his brother-in
law, Rlam Showers, who was a baker in Manheim around
1910-1912.
Mrs. Strauss explained that her great uncle was “like a
grandfather to me,” since she lived in his home with her
mother. “He never wanted to be called grandfather, just
Uncle Charlie.” She said she learned to bake from him,
“because I was always around him.” At the time she
helped him withhis baking, “he didn’t work asabaker; he
was a laborer.”
Mrs. Strauss recalls that as a child, “I would stand
beside the kitchen cabinet and watch him roll out the
cookies, and at the end he’d let me work with some of the
dough.”
She said, “He never measured when he was baking.” So
when she married, she asked him if she could measure his
work and keep a recipe for herself. And that’s how she
acquired the delicious sugar “cake” recipe which is given
later.
She recalled that Hickert enjoyed baking “cakes and
things" until he was in his seventies. “We used to take
bicylce rides and take walks to White Oaks - we’d follow
the railroad tracks." He died in 1958 when he was 88 years
old. He and his wife had had just one son who died in in
fancy, so die named has died out Mrs. Strauss said.
She said Rickert would bake just for himself or for the
church. If the church was having a function, he would
bake “cakes" in quantities and donate them.
As a little girl, Mrs. Strauss said it would frequently be
her job to get “bottled raw milk” from the store for her
uncle to use in his baking. She also recalled that he had a
bin in his kitchen cabinet which would store about 50 lbs.
of flour. There was a sifter at the bottom, so the flour was
sifted as it came out.
Mrs. Strauss still uses her uncle’s cutting board, rolling
CountryJO.Qmer
the beginning of 1975 we experienced the great
“sugar panic” which sent many people toward
artificial substitutes and with the decreased
number of slaughter hogs the price of pork climbed
upward quickly.
But while prices caused the per capita con
sumption to come down, it should be noted that the
consumer price index for all food in 1975 only
increased by BVz percent compared to the two
previous years when it rose to 14 percent.
When we ponder over these statistics it would
seem that the increases in the total expenditure for
food must indicate long grocery bill tapes but in
reality it is the snacking and restaurant meals that
has really upsurged the figures.
Eating out was responsible for over one-half the
-increase in the food price index during the last
pdrtion of 1975. Fast food chains, the local lunch
Homestead Notes
farm wife
pin and the Juice glass be used to cut out “cakes." She also
uses the same china sup and spoon be used to mix sour
milk and soda.
1 lb. light brown sugar
% cup butter and lard
4egp
1 cup sour milk
1 tap. aoda
4tt cups flour (not level)
1 tap. cream of tartar
Mrs. Strauss offered some tips on bow to make suc
cessful cookies. When measuring the flour, the cup should
not be leveled, and when all ingredients are mixed, the
dough is very sticky. She said, “It looks like you couldn’t
roll it out.”
For best results, she said chill before rolling, preferably
overnight, and return the bowl to refrigerator between
rolling out small batches of dough.
She also said, “Roll the dough very lightly, using a little
flour to prevent it from sticking.” Roll the dough about V*
inch thick and cut it with a juice glass about 2-2V4 inches in
diameter, dipping the cutter in flour each time.
The cookies may be decorated with sugar before
baking, or with icing and colored sugar, coconut or
walnuts while'still warm. Bake for 12 niinutes in a 350
degree oven. The recipe makes about 4-5 dozen.
Mrs. Strauss said she always makes a double batch of
the cookies, and stores them In a lard can. Her children,
Robert, Jr., 20, Deborah, 18, Richard, 17, and Steve, 15
happily make short work of the cookies.
Fortunately, Mrs. Strauss worked out the
measurements for this recipe in the language we use for
cooking today. However, the recipes recorded in the
notebook are in the jargon used in the late 1800’s. In case
you’re brave enough to try some authentic older redpes,
here are some copied directly from Rickert’s notes:
If you’re feeding a crowd, try this recipe, titles
“800 Cakes”
12 quarts of Yeast
4% qts. of Milk
8% lbs. of Sugar
3% lbs. of Butter
3% lbs. of Lard
17 eggs
Cinnamon
For a smaller group, this might strike your fancy.
“350 Cakes"
7 qts. of Yeast
3 qts. of Milk
4% lbs. of Sugar
2 lbs. of Butter
2 lbs. of Lard
10 eggs
This recipe for “Lemon Cakes" uses some unusual
ingredients.
4 lbs. of Sugar
Vh lbs. of Butter
2 dozen eggs
Continued on Page 44]
bar and the ice cream stand are getting more of our
money each year while much of the groceries in our
refrigerators and cupboards go to waste.
Our mobile society has certainly changed our
way of living and eating! It would seem that today
more than ever we are buying more food and yet
eating less - confusing though it may seem.
Maybe the farmers should take a small vacation
or become a little less productive and instead of
feeding 50 people he could cut back to feeding 25.
Well, although it seems tempting, today’s farm
family just won’t give it a try because their labor
combined with the most modern technology and
chemical help will keep their production ever in
creasing. And whether the food goes to our home
kitchens, grocery shelves or local hamburger stand,
it has still been produced by the most efficient
agricultural production unit - the farm family!
Sugar Cookies
03)