Vintage Cookbooks and Recipes

Thanks to Beth, one of my local readers and a sweet person, I acquired a free box load of vintage cookbooks. These belonged to her mother and they are just fabulous peeks into culinary delights of average folks from the 1960s to 1980s. This was the time when many organizations put together spiral bound cookbooks with recipes from their members as fundraisers.

Here’s just a small portion of the books in the box!

Surprisingly, some 40 to 60 years later, these cookbooks sell. I’m guessing in part because of their quirkiness, but also for their association with a particular organization. For others it may be to relive some of the foods from their younger years!

Recipes back then often included cans of soup as ingredients with cream of mushroom leading the way. Minute Rice was also favored and Jello (gelatin) desserts and salads were popular though you rarely hear about them these days. It’s been a kick looking through these books.

Vintage Recipes

Here’s a recipe from1972. Velveeta cheese was a favorite at that time and I remember loving my mom’s macroni and cheese made with Velveeta. Turns out this processed cheese is still made today, though my taste buds have evolved since then and I can’t imagine eating it!

This is a quintessential type of “salad” popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Doesn’t sound too appetizing to me.

Here’s a recipe from a 1962-1963 cookbook that I would consider making! I love mushrooms and blue cheese though I dread to think of the calories in this.

This1978 bread recipe comes from “Living High on the Sugarless Hog.” Sweetening comes from a cup of honey. I’m tempted to try this one.

The 1977 three-bean salad recipe is one of our family favorites. My husband makes it to perfection adding fresh parsley, oregano or cilantro.

Any strike your fancy?

Book Sanitizing

The only downside as Beth shared, the books have a musty smell indicating at some point they were stored in a moist environment. Now folks will buy books that have a smell, but it’s a tougher sale. So I will be trying to remove or at least minimize the smell.

Here are three smell-removal techniques:

• Transfer the books to a closed bin with an open box of baking soda or activated charcoal. (Some folks sprinkle the baking soda on and in the books, but then you have the task of trying to remove it all later and I’m not doing that.)
• Put books outside in the sun and fresh air. (So far it’s not making a noticeable difference.)
• Spritz with vodka. The ethyl alcohol in vodka is effective at killing bacteria and neutralizing odors. (Vodka also works great on clothes and fabrics.) You don’t want to saturate the paper and you need to make sure they are completely dry before storing them.

I suspect some (or all) will need a vodka spritz so I’ll need to purchase some cheap vodka (under $6) but it will be worth the effort.

Wishing you happy cooking!

Karen

P.S. For some different reading, check out my new blog, Today’s Women of Age.