WESSON OIL – 1930

Introduction

If you have ever made French Dressing or mayonnaise with Wesson Oil you think of it as a delicious salad oil. It is.

If you have ever made biscuits or pie crust or cake with it you think of Wesson Oil as an excellent shortening. It is.

If you have ever fried anything in Wesson oil you think of it as the ideal fat for all frying. It is.

Wouldn’t you rather make your pastry and biscuits with a shortening so bland and delicate that it is good enough to eat by itself? Or to fry in a fat that is choice enough for the finest salad dressings? Then you will want to know more about Wesson Oil.

Wesson Oil is a delicious salad oil that is just right for every cooking – for panfrying, deep frying, cakes, hot breads, pie crust, the enriching of vegetables and as a base for all kinds of delicate salad dressings. When you’ve used Wesson Oil for cooking as well as for salads, you realize what a convenience it is to have in one can an oil that has so many uses. Instead of two or three or four pails or bottles or dishes on your pantry shelf, you an have one can of Wesson Oil. And from that single can you can pour a very wholesome frying, fat, an excellent shortening and a perfectly delicious salad oil.

Wesson Oil (1) – 1930

  
Wesson Oil (2) – 1930

Wesson Oil Pie Crust

1/2 cup Wesson Oil                                2 cups Bread Flour or
1/3 cup ice water                                       2 1/4 cups Pastry Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder                              1 tsp. salt

Pour the oil and ice water into a bowl. Beat with a fork or with a rotary beater until thoroughly mixed. Add the dry ingredients which have been sifted together. Stir with a fork, knead lightly into shape and roll. Use as two single crusts or for a double crust pie (flour should be shifted once before measuring).

Wesson Oil (insert) – 3 – 1930

I bought this attractive 46-page recipe pamphlet in 2003 for $3.00. It measures 5 1/4 x 7 1/4” and is very good condition. Today’s value should be $6-$7.

That’s it for today folks. Be sure to subscribe to this blog so I can send you my cookbook – “100 Unique Recipes from the Past.

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(From “Ideas: That Became Big Business” – 1959
Editor: Clinton Woods)

(From ‘50 Ways of Serving Cream of Wheat’ (1) – 1924)

Americans eat more cereal foods for
breakfast than all the rest of the world.
This is how one well-known breakfast food,
devised in an effort to save a nearly bankrupt
flour mill, grew into a great American business.

Like many other American institutions, “Cream of Wheat” started in a very small way but with a sound idea and the vision and determination to build a worth-while business.

One almost-victim of the Panic of 1893 was a small flour mill in Grand Forks, North Dakota, owned and operated by a group of men headed by Emery Mapes, George Bull, and George Clifford. These men had fought to keep their milling business alive during the dark days of the Panic and had come through with only the bare bones of that business left. They had little operating capital remaining to keep them going. Even in those days flour milling was a tough, competitive operation for men with little capital.

About this time, it happened that Head Miller Tom Amidon was able to sell his partners on the idea of producing for profit a “breakfast porridge” which he had used at home and had found much to his family’s liking. Amidon’s “porridge” was that part of the wheat taken from the first break rolls of the flour mill. The partners agreed to let Amidon pack some of this cereal and ship it in a car of flour going to the fir’s New York brokers, Lamont, Corliss & company.

The funds of the milling company were now so low that Amidon had to cut the cardboard for the cartons by hand, label the packages himself, an crate them in wooden boxes made up from waste lumber. Mapes, who had once been a printer, found among his stock of old printing plates a suitable illustration to brighten up the package. It revealed figure of a colored chef holding a saucepan over his shoulder and was the ancestor of the company’s present-day widely-known trademark.

Next came the name for the product. Someone suggested the purely fanciful name, “Cream of Wheat” -  a happy choice for appetite appeal. And so the labels for the newfangled breakfast food proudly bore the name “Cream of Wheat”.

Within twelve hours after the arrival of the first shipment of “Cream of Wheat” in New York a telegram was received from Lamont, Corliss saying…”Never mind shipping us any more of your flour, but send a car of “Cream of Wheat.”

“The best part of the whole wheat berry.” That’s what Tom Amidon, first factory superintendent, used to call the raw material from which “Cream of Wheat” is made. The endosperm of hard wheat of high protein content is the raw material used in the manufacture of ‘Cream of Wheat”. This is the product of the first break rolls of the flour mill—the “top of the stream” which is the source of flour of the highest grade. Consequently, each flour mill supplying raw material can take off only a small portion of this stream for us in making “Cream of Wheat”. Also, no one mill could supply enough of this material. The requirements for granulation and freedom from flour dust, bran particles, and other impurities are necessarily so strict that a blend of raw materials from many mills is essential to the manufacture of “Cream of Wheat”.

In 1897 the demand for “Cream of Wheat” had completely outgrown the producing capacity of the small plant a Grand Forks and the business was moved to Minneapolis, then the best source of necessary raw material and a good shipping point with advantageous freight rates to other parts of the country. The original Minneapolis plant was soon outgrown, too, and in 1903 the company moved to its own new building at First Avenue North and Fifth Street, a familiar Minneapolis landmark which housed the “Cream of Wheat” plant until 1928.

Because the need for a larger and more modern building with up-to-date equipment and better transportation facilities, the present plant of the Cream of Wheat Corporation was build in 1927. This building is an ideal plant for cereal manufacture. The raw material is delivered in freight cars on one side of the building and is emptied into hoppers on the first floor. It is then elevated to the fifth floor from where it works it was down through the many stages of manufacture back to the first floor and is automatically delivered, properly packaged, into outgoing freight cars on the other side of the building.

In addition to the Minneapolis plant, the company has maintained a modern plant at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada since 1915 to handle its rapidly growing Canadian business, including shipments to British Possessions outside Canada.

(From ‘50 Ways of Serving Cream of Wheat” (2) – 1924)

This attractive brochure measures 4” x 7” and contains 32 pages. Estimated value is $35-$40.

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(From “The Public Accepts”, by I.E. Lambert – 1941)

When Mr. Tom Amidon began making “Cream of Wheat” in a small flour mill at Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1895, he established a new technique in grocery merchandising by introducing food packaging. The trade-mark, “Cream of Wheat,” was coined but there is no record as to whose imagination supplied the name.

The Story of “Rastus”

The story of “Rastus,” the negro chef, whose picture appears in the advertising and on the cartons with the words, “Cream of Wheat,” is better known. A crude picture of a negro chef was used on the label when “Cream of Wheat” made its first appearance on the market. The picture came from a miscellaneous lot of printing material owned by one of the officers of the Milling Company, who had been formerly in the printing business. This original label was used for about ten years, but the executives of the company were never entirely satisfied with the picture of the chef. Then one day, Mr. Emery Mapes, a company officer at that time, while having breakfast a Kohlsaat’s restaurant in Chicago, saw there a handsome negro waiter. The idea immediately struck him that a picture of this negro waiter would be a better display on the label than the crude picture then being used. For the sum of five dollars the negro agreed to be photographed, and since that time his face has appeared as the well-known “Cream of Wheat Chef.” From the day the photograph was taken, no one in the Cream of Wheat organization has come in contact with this negro waiter. Many have represented themselves as being the original “Rastus,” but the imposters have been detected.

“Cream of Wheat,” which appears so frequently on many breakfast tables, is now manufactured by The Cream of Wheat Corporation, of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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State Fair
Prize-Winning Pork Recipes

This brochure that I’m presenting today is one of the nicer newer ones that I happily added to my collection. The quality is unsurpassed! The layout, colors, content, and paper quality are amazing. Each page is a heavy, high-gloss paper. It measures 5.5” x 8.5” and contains 38 pages and 48 recipes – one from each state representing ‘blue-ribbon’ award-winners. It also contains a handy-dandy cooking guide.

“Each recipe has only five ingredients plus pork (salt, pepper, water and oil don’t count) and were judged the best for getting a creative dinner together fast.”

Newer recipe brochures are just as collectible as the vintage ones. I’m always on the lookout for free brochures and recipe cards when I shop at Safeway, Albertsons, or any other large supermarket.

This particular brochure was free for the asking. You might want to check out their website and request some of their offerings:

www.TheOtherWhiteMeat.com

One other thing…when you receive a collectible brochure through the mail, I suggest that you carefully open the envelope and store both the pamphlet and envelope in a clear plastic sleeve. I believe that the addition of the mailing envelope adds value to the pamphlet. I get my plastic bags from Bags Unlimited and have found that the 2 mil new ‘Comic Bags’ are perfect for any pamphlet up to 6” x 9”.

www.bagsunlimited.com/

National Pork Board (1) – 2006

National Pork Board (2) – 2006

National Pork Board (3) – 2006

Well folks, that’s about it for today. Remember to leave me your name and email so I can keep you informed of future postings. By doing so, you’ll receive a free download of “100 Vintage Recipes from the Past”.

Until Next Time,

Tim

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PURITY ROLLED OATS – “Vintage Black Arts” – 1917

I remember with fondness the days of my youth and waking up to mom’s great breakfasts of waffles or pancakes. Sitting on the table along side my breakfast plate was the famous (and highly collectible, I might add) Aunt Jemima syrup dispenser with the head that tipped back so you could pour the syrup. What memories. Later the Aunt Jemima salt and pepper shakers appeared. And who can forget the ‘Cream of Wheat Man’?

Cream of Wheat – 1924

Any advertising piece with the Cream of Wheat Man is considered highly collectible…and valuable. I purchased this piece in 2003 for $12.00 – A Great Value! Today’s estimated value is $45-$55. The pamphlet measures 4” x 7” and contains 32 pages. It’s one of my favorites and I’ll feature it in one of my upcoming blog postings.

PURITY ROLLED OATS and PURITY CORNMEAL
Two Great American Foods

Purity Rolled Oats (1) – 1919

Purity Rolled Oats (2) – 1919

“If American cookery may be said to have a tradition, and if you pursued that tradition to its source, the trail would lead to one of those fine old Southern mansions, looming out of the picture landscape, spacious, white and colonial. In fact, it would take you right around the backway, and there suddenly drop you –in Mammy’s domain.

“Midst pots and pans and picaninnies, you would find her fat, black self, working the magic that has earned undying fame for “southern cooking.

“Mammy does everything in a distinctly American way. She uses distinctly American products. Her great favorite, her heritage from equally fat, equally black ancestors, is “cawn.” She accomplishes the most amazing feats with “cawn,” each more delicious than the other.

“Mammy’s great modern favorite is rolled oats. That fragrant, steaming bowlful with which she inaugurates breakfast is merely Exhibit A in her rolled oats repertoire.

“Gems from Mammy’s Southern Kitchen”, from the Purity Oats Company, of Keokuk, Iowa was printed in 1919. I paid $6.00 for it in 2003 and because of its condition and rarity I value it today at $25-$30. The pamphlet measures 5” x 6.75” and contains 60 pages.

Well folks, that’s about it for today. Until next time, don’t forget to leave me your name and email and get the free cookbook download.

Tim

Technorati Tags: Black Advertising, recipe pamphlets, Purity Rolled Oats, Cream of Wheat, recipes, vintage recipes, vintage advertising, cornbread, vintage graphics, Purity cornmeal, African-American

In a previous posting I mentioned how the value of a recipe pamphlet is determined in part, to its uniqueness. Die-cut pamphlets are just one type of unique design that has allowed many recipe pamphlets to grow in value for collectors.

This particular pamphlet – “Sunny Cane Sugar” is not only a unique, collectible pamphlet, it’s also a really good vintage cookbook containing approximately 125 recipes, an interesting history of sugar and the manufacturing of sugar, and a ton of hints for using the product. Graphics are somewhat limited but the 88 page die-cut recipe recipe pamphlet is a real keeper. I purchased it off of eBay in 2003 for $8.75 (with shipping) and value it today at $18-$20. The pamphlet measures 6” x 4”.

Sunny Cane Sugar(1) – 1937

Sunny Cane Sugar

The History of Sugar

Sugar today plays such an important part in our daily lives and is such a necessity that few have ever considered how changed our modes of living would be without it.

Modern menus which have contributed so much to the health and happiness of humanity would never have been possible without sugar. Imagine, if you can, a day without this essential. Bread, rolls and muffins, as we know them, would be missing as would also cookies, pies, cakes, jellies, ready-to-eat cereals, sauces, flavorings, dressings, syrups, many beverages and most desserts.

There are references to sugar cane in the Old Testament as “honey bearing reeds,” but knowledge regarding it was most limited. Honey was the most generally used sweetening agent of ancient races, but even this was so scarce that they dreamed of “The Promised Land” as “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

The art of making sugar from sugar cane is accredited to the Bengalese about 400 A.D. and information regarding “Indian Salt,” as it was called, was brought back to Europe by those few adventurous travelers who had journeyed that far successfully.

Knowledge of sugar-making spread westward into Arabia, Persia and Egypt. The Crusaders encountered it here during the Middle Ages and small quantities were brought back to European countries as a curiosity for Royalty.

Cultivation of sugar cane spread rapidly throughout the world following the explorations and discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Spanish, the French and the Portuguese all introduced this highly desirable commodity into tropical countries under their control, where humidity and fertility permitted its cultivation. It was introduced into Cuba as early as the sixteenth century, but was not introduced into Louisiana until 1751 by Jesuit priests who carried it from San Domingo.

Sugar, a curiosity of the fourteenth century, had become the luxury of kings and queens in the eighteenth century. Indeed as late as 1842 sugar was far too expensive to be considered in any other class than a luxury. An old hand-bill printed at that time, listing the prices of food commodities in London, gives the market price of sugar at $2.75 per pound!

If sugar refining processes had not been vastly improved and made a thousand-fold more efficient, sugar might still be selling at this price. But, thanks to modern science and increased efficiency, the price has been steadily lowered and consumption increased until today sugar is a necessity of life and one of the largest single items of food to pass through the hands of wholesale and retail grocers.

The W.J. McCahan Sugar Refining & Molasses Co. – 1937

Sunny Cane Sugar(2) – 1937

Roast Cured Ham

Wash and dry a 12 lb. Cured Ham. Place in roaster, fat side up, cover bottom of pan with hot water, about 1 quart. Cover roaster and bake in a slow oven, allowing not less than 21 minutes to the pound. When more than half done remove the the rind. Sprinkle the fat surface with 1 teaspoonful mustard and 1/2 teaspoonful paprika, add 1/2 cup vinegar to liquid in the pan and continue cooking, basting frequently. About 3/4 hour before serving sprinkle fat surface with 1/2 cup Sunny Cane “Old Time Brown” sugar, dot with whole cloves. Place about six washed and cored red apples around and continue baking uncovered without basting.

Well folks, once again I thank you for stopping by. If you’re new here, please leave your name and email so I can keep you informed of new postings. New subscribers will also receive a free download of my popular vintage cookbook – “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”

Tim Mack

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GOOD LUCK CANNING RINGS

Probably two of my more historically interesting recipe pamphlets are the Good Luck Jar Rubber Rings pamphlets from ca. 1915-1920. The company – Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Company of Cambridge, Mass. adopted a rather unique trademark. Not that there’s a whole lot of interesting recipes from the pamphlets, but the advertising and historical information are quite interesting.

Good Luck Canning Rings – ca. 1915

Notice anything unusual about the cover? You got it! The Swastika! Here’s what the company has to say about their trademark:

THE STORY

of the

“SWASTIKA”

“The oldest “Good Luck” symbol in the world”

“There are many emblems of “Good Luck.” the rabbit’s foot, the horseshoe and the four-leaf clover have long served to satisfy the imaginations of the superstitious, but the ancient Swastika design is by far the oldest sign of “Good Luck” known to mankind.

“Its exact age will probably never be known, but sufficient proof of its antiquity may be obtained from the fact that the name is derived from the ancient Sanskrit language, where it stood for “well-being” or, as we more popularly term it today, “Good Luck.”

“History records the use of the “Swastika” as early as the 13th century BC., where from ancient Troy it traveled east into China, India and Japan, and west into Greece, northwestern Europe, Iceland and the Americas north and south. In later centuries its use must have been general throughout practically the whole world, a fact borne out by excavations in various parts of the globe.

“It may often be seen tattooed on the arms of Chinese and Japanese sailors as a protection against the “Evil Eye,” while in ancient China, it was considered a sign of great fortune if a spider should by chance weave this design into his web on the seventh day of the seventh month of the year. To the North American Indians it represented the four winds of Heaven and is found on shell ornaments and stone idols closely resembling statues of Buddha which have been excavated in various parts of the United States, while in later years the Pueblo and Navajo tribes made use of this design in their pottery, blankets, rugs and bead work.

Good Luck Canning Rings – ca. 1915

“The Egyptian Meander, a design frequently seen in the borders of red and white tablecloths and widely used in architecture, is said to be adapted from the Swastika, while our Persian rugs, as well as napkins and other household linens frequently contain this ancient symbol either in its original form or in one of its many adaptations.

“Today the “Swastika” is used more widely than ever before as a sign of “Good Luck” and a symbol of happiness and success.”

from “Good Luck In Preserving” ca. 1915

Good Luck Canning Rings – ca. 1915 (back cover)

Cold Pack Canning – ca. 1920

My-Oh-My! How this language of ours has changed over the past 90 years. Maybe that’s why they put this on the back cover(?)

Cold Pack Canning –ca. 1920 (back cover)

Inside each of the advertising brochures are handy-dandy, perforated, stick-on labels for your finished canned food. How would you like to give your aunt Mabel a jar of your famous blueberry jelly with one of the following labels? Ouch!

Good Luck Canning Rings – ca. 1920

Advertising brochure #1 measures 6.25” x 3.5” and contains 13 pages plus 4 pages of labels. I purchase these in 2003 for $4.50 and $5.00. They are very rare and the ones I have are in excellent condition so I place a value on each of $20-$25.

Advertising brochure #2 measures 6” x 3.5” and contains 33 pages plus 4 pages of labels.

Well folks that’s about it for today! Hope you enjoyed you weird history lesson. Be sure that you leave your name and email below so you don’t miss my next posting. Remember too – you’ll get a free download of “100 Unique Recipes from the Past” when you sign-up.

Tim Mack

Technorati Tags: advertising pamphlets, recipe brochure, recipes, vintage recipe brochure, Swastika, good luck, canning, canning rings, preserving foods, Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Co.

The Mazola Salad Bowl – 1939

I’ve mentioned in other postings how the use of children or cartoon characters can greatly enhance the value of recipe pamphlet. The advertisers knew that if the pamphlet was colorful and attractive and contained clips of cute kids, folks would hang onto the pamphlet and not throw it in the trash burner or wood stove. Another feature that enhances the value (and keepability) of an advertising pamphlet is its uniqueness; and die-cutting is one such tool.

Vintage Mazola Die-Cut Recipe Pamphlet

Mazola Salad Bowl (1) – 1939

This vintage recipe pamphlet was published by Corn Products Refining Company of New York in 1939. Based upon it being fairly available in the marketplace, I can only assume that the features of uniqueness, colorful graphics, and good recipes, made this a household keeper back in 1939. The pamphlet measures 9.25” high and is 6” wide. It contains 32 pages. Depending upon the condition, I value this pamphlet at $25.00.

Colorful Graphics

On the bottom of each right-hand page of the vintage pamphlet there are alternating colored and black and white pictures of various salads.

Mazola Oil(2) – 1939

Black and White Graphics

Mazola Oil(3) –1939

Mazola Oil

Mazola Oil(4) – 1939

Well folks, that’s about it for today. A warm welcome to all the new subscribers since last time we visited! If you’re new to the blog and just kinda’ stumbled upon it, be sure to subscribe below so you don’t miss any new postings. When you subscribe you get a free, unique vintage cookbook to download.

Tim Mack

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It’s not often that I can share with you an entire recipe pamphlet in full, vivid color. Not all vintage pamphlets are the size of most cookbooks. Take this JELL-O advertising pamphlet for example: It contains three pages! Granted, there are no recipes, nor techniques enclosed other than telling us that it can be prepared in two minutes.

JELL-O (1) – 1902

This unique advertising pamphlet is die-cut and measures 4” wide x 3.5” high. I purchased it in 2003 for $.35 and value it today at $8-$10.

JELL-O (2) – 1902

JELL-0 (3) – 1902

_____

Sorry about the short posting today, but have a full-slate of “non-cookbook” chores to do today. Don’t forget to sign-up below and download the free “thank-you” cookbook – 100 Unique Recipes from the Past

By the way, did you know that the only food that doesn’t spoil is honey.

Tim

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MILK IN COOKING

I’ve always had a love and fascination with advertising; especially small business advertising; and especially vintage small business advertising. I believe that’s where my love of vintage recipe pamphlets and old food brochures come from.

One of the neater recipe pamphlets that entered my collection is called “White Gold in Cookery” copyrighted 1929. It was written by Ina and Bess Rowe apparently as an advertising giveaway for the dairy industry. Small dairies would purchase the piece in bulk and have their names imprinted on them. In this case it was Larson’s Dairy – Phone 1228, if you’re interested.

The piece that I’m featuring here was apparently a combination recipe pamphlet and 1943 calendar. The calendar somehow hung from the bottom of the pages. The bottoms of the pages have perforations where the calendar was apparently torn off showing the next month. I’m not certain how this looked and would really be interested in learning more if any of you out there have a copy of this pamphlet.

Another unique feature of this pamphlet is the hinged metal clasp on the right side. I scanned the book with the clasp open to show you – very unique! Unlike most advertising pieces that get thrown away unless there’s some good recipes inside, a calendar keeps on working for at least a full year…and in this case, 80 Years! Also notice the clever use of children and dogs on the cover. And, to add value to this advertising piece, there’s some really good recipes inside (using milk and dairy products, of course). 

 White Gold in Cookery – 1929

The recipe pamphlet/calendar measures 6” x 8.5” and contains 28 pages. I purchased the pamphlet six years ago on eBay for $5.00 and value it today at $20-$25. 

White Gold in Cookery (2) – 1929 

Sample Recipes

Individual Chicken Pies (for 4)

Combine 1 cup “Biscuit Mix” and 1/3 cup milk. Knead lightly for about 20 strokes. Pat out to a half inch in thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter, smaller than the top of the casseroles to allow steam to escape around the edges. Bake in a hot oven (425 degrees) for about 12 minutes or until the biscuits are done.

Biscuit Mix

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