It’s Not Old, It’s Vintage

I love perusing vintage recipes. Some of the time, it is a bit like listening to true crime podcasts or watching creepy movies. Recipes of the 1800’s will use any part of any animal to make a meal, including but not limited to lambs’ brains and whole larks. Gelatin was used for unspeakable horrors during the first half of the 20th century. Other recipes use ingredients I am not sure are still available. I have never managed to find baking ammonia (a leavening agent) or salsify (a root vegetable that allegedly tastes like oysters) at the supermarket. Some of the recipes I find look really delicious and accessible, though. I recently came across this fun applesauce recipe.

I did a little searching on the internet and evidently people have been making applesauce with cinnamon candies since the 1920’s or 30’s. It remains a popular way to sweeten and season applesauce today. I had no idea. Today was another cold, snowy day in central Massachusetts, and a sweet spicy treat felt like a good idea.

I used MacIntosh apples, which are one of my favorite varieties. I found the cinnamon candies in the baking aisle of the grocery store near the sprinkles and birthday cake candles. Yes, I peel my apples from top to bottom. I saw Hiroyuki Sakai peel apples this way on Iron Chef, and I have imitated his technique ever since. I find it faster than the spiral method. Once peeled and chopped I set the apples and water to cook over medium-low heat.

It occured to me after I started cooking the apples that the recipe above gives no standard measurement for the cinnamon candies. The bottle I bought contained two ounces, but how big were the bottles sold when the recipe was published? I then noticed the alternative method in the recipe. I was able to verify that I had purchased just about one quarter cup of candies, the same volume of sugar the recipe states can be used as a substitute.

The apples only took about 15 minutes to soften. I added the candies and started mixing. The cinnamon-ish smell was not exactly pleasant at first. It reminded me of those “cinnamon” scented brooms and pinecones sold around Christmas. The smell makes you think of cinnamon but it does not actually mimic cinnamon. In the end, the applesauce was a lovely pink color.

I took a taste and the flavor of the apples definitely helped make the mock-cinnamony candy flavor more palatable. Will I eat this applesauce? Yes. However, I will stick to using real cinnamon in my applesauce from now on. Overall, I am glad I tried this recipe.

If you are looking for some vintage recipes, here are some sources:

• Type “recipes from (time period you are looking for) into your favorite search engine. There are many websites that specialize in recipes from particular eras, such as 1950’s, Victorian, or World War II.
• Similarly, there are vintage recipe groups on social media platforms.
• Your older relatives likely have some vintage recipes on little hand-written note cards or clipped from newspapers and magazines organized in a little box. I suspect these relatives will also be every happy to make the recipes with you.
• Your local public library has cookbooks. Check in the stacks labeled 641.5; that is the Dewey Decimal System designation for cookbooks.

What experiences, good and bad, have you had with vintage recipes? Share in the comments!