Amid the devastating landscape
of the American Civil War, finding sufficient food
supplies wasn't always easy. Blockades and barricades
prevented access to necessary provisions, while
the country experienced a labor shortage as farmers went off to
join the fight on either side. So Civil War soldiers and
their civilian counterparts did what anyone would
do when confronted with a similar situation-- they improvised, and
did the best they could with what they could find. Today on Weird History,
we're exploring a sampler of the
unconventional foods people eat during the Civil War. But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel and let us
know in the comments below what other historical menus you
would like to hear about. OK, let's dig in. Mm. Mm. "Civil-licious." [MUSIC PLAYING] Everyone loves a
good cup of Joe. In a content analysis of
Civil War era letters, one historian noticed the word
"coffee" appeared more often in correspondence than
words like "war," "slavery," and "Lincoln." There was a
significant disparity in the way both sides
discussed the brew. Union soldiers talked about
how they prepared coffee. Soldiers from the
South were more likely to discuss their
lack of real coffee, and what they did to
simulate the beverage. Before the Civil War, coffee
was a staple in most households. But during the war,
it became a luxury. Both Union and
Confederate soldiers drank plenty of coffee
whenever possible. The problem was a decent cup
of mud wasn't always available. So soldiers improvised, brewing
coffee from peanuts, chicory, grains, and apples. Some of them got a
bit more creative using acorns or sweet potatoes. Per General JEB Stuart,
sweet potato coffee wasn't hard to make. To make sweet potato
coffee, soldiers peeled and cut the potatoes
into chunks, approximately the same size as a coffee berry. Then they placed the
pieces into the sun to dry. Once dried and parched
brown, soldiers ground them to the
consistency of coffee grounds. And after that, it
was merely a matter of mixing the grounds
with water until it became a pasty substance. A bit of hot water and brewing
transformed the concoction into a beverage
the soldiers could enjoy with their breakfast. The coffee disparity
affected the South. And they sometimes referred
to their makeshift coffee concoctions as Lincoln coffee,
over the outlandish brewing methods and ingredients. Coffee was an essential
commodity to both sides, and sometimes soldiers received
unique coffee recipes or brews from home. When General George Pickett
received a new blend from his wife, he
remarked, "No mocha or java ever tasted half so good as
this wry sweet potato blend." OK, George. Whatever you say. [MUSIC PLAYING] The army intended
for their rations to only last three days
on an active campaign. Unfortunately, fresh
meat often spoiled or became infested
with flies shortly after the soldiers received it. So the army pickled meat
to make it last longer. Thus, salt beef and
salt pork were born. The two types of meat were often
standard rations at the time. Salt beef, otherwise
known as salt horse, was described by
veteran John D. Billings as, "thoroughly
penetrated with saltpeter, often yellow-green
with rust from having laying out in the brine." And when boiled, was four
times out of five-- if not, nine times out of 10-- a stench in the nostrils,
which no delicate palate cared to encounter at shorter range. Sounds delicious. Salt pork, or salt belly, didn't
receive much praise either, because it was usually black,
rusty, and decidedly unpopular. Soldiers had to soak the
pickled meats in water just to make them palatable. After that, they could
be pretty versatile. Cooks might boil the meat
or stew it with beans. Sometimes soldiers
consumed the meat uncooked, as a sort of sandwich. Of course, the
sandwich bread wasn't your typical 12-gran
whole wheat loaf. It was hardtack. Ultimately, Billings found
the salt pork preferable to the musty and
rancid salt horse. Even at that, he
thought the meat was indigestible and unpalatable. [MUSIC PLAYING] Per the Revised United States
Army Regulations of 1861, Union soldiers got 12
ounces of pork or bacon and a little over
1 pound of beef. Flour, cornmeal, and
a pound of hard bread rounded out the provisions. On rare occasions, a soldier
might get some coffee, sugar, dried fruit, or vinegar to add
some flavor to their meals. Confederate soldiers,
on the other hand, had a very different mess kit. The meat wasn't
always available, and barricades made
getting provisions to the South more
difficult. To make up for the shortage,
soldiers substituted a mixture of rice and
molasses for the meat itself. Cooks occasionally added
cornmeal to pad out the flavor. Molasses is an acquired taste,
but it worked as a sweetener when Confederate troops ran out
of sugar or made other foods. And you thought your
lunch was rough. [MUSIC PLAYING] In a time when we can
have meals delivered straight to our homes, Civil
War recipes may seem strange. Take the case of a dish
called slosh, for instance. Made from a volatile combination
of bacon, grease, and flour, slosh was a bacon
lover's dream come true. It was also a
necessity in the South, where food supplies
weren't always great. Slosh was economical
and easy to prepare. Soldiers took a significant
amount of grease, added some bacon, and poured
in watered-down flour. They'd proceed to
stew the mixture into the liquid disappeared
to create a thicker dish. Alternate versions of
slosh, with colorful names like Confederate
Kush, included beef and crumbled cornbread to
create a more robust meal. Then there was slapjack,
the pancake-style version of the recipe that featured
a flour paste browned on both sides. It's probably not something
you'd order at the local diner, but it'd probably go great with
some raspberries and syrup. [MUSIC PLAYING] While the North had an abundance
of food during the war, some foods like chocolate
were essentially unavailable in the South. But a craving for chocolate
and some ingenuity led to creating a drink
that resembled everyone's favorite winter beverage. We don't mean Starbucks
discontinued gingerbread latte, we're talking about good,
old-fashioned hot chocolate. Only this version of
the drink uses peanuts as a substitute for
delicious confection. As it would come to be
known, peanut chocolate was essentially a sugary drink
made from milk and peanuts. In the 1955 book, A
Belle of the Fifties-- Memoirs of Mrs. Clay
of Alabama, provided a brief historical
account of how people made peanut chocolate at the time. Our chocolate was
made in this wise. Peanuts, or pinders, or goobers,
as they were variously called, were roasted, and
the skin slipped off. They were next
pounded in a mortar. When blended with boiled
milk and a little sugar, a sparing use of this
most costly luxury was also necessary, the
drink was ready for serving. And we found it
delightful to our palates. Wasn't Swiss Miss, but
it was good enough. Sadly, other
culinary developments will forever overshadow peanut
chocolate's place in history. Per the National
Peanut Board, peanuts grew even more popular in
the North after the war. And by 1884, peanut
butter came along to change culinary
history for the better. [MUSIC PLAYING] While coffee alternatives
were all the rage during the Civil War,
what about America's other favorite beverage? Tea. It had its fair share of
imitation recipes, too. Tea was actually more
scarce than coffee. What was a soldier to do
when 4:00 PM rolled around? They improvised from some
incredibly unique sources. Soldiers from both
sides began brewing tea from current, sassafras tree
bark, and huckleberry bushes. For that extra zing, they
occasionally used corn or bran. Yeah, nothing like a relaxing
cup of corn in the evening. For the more refined
palate, there was beef tea. Folks brewed the tea
by putting chopped beef into a pot of boiling
water to create a tea. The tea saw use in
military hospitals as a potential medicine. But if some of the accounts from
the time are any indication, most patients
refused to drink it. [MUSIC PLAYING] In times of low or
reduced sugar supplies, people turned to various
sweetener alternatives. Soldiers turned to our viscous
friend, molasses, for relief. But sometimes even it
wasn't readily available. So what did they do to satisfy
their sweet tooths instead? They turned a watermelon syrup. It is exactly what
it sounds like. The syrup found a place
as a sugar substitute, alongside sorghum
and persimmons. If you want to try
this sweet syrup today, it's pretty
straightforward to make. Simply puree four cups
of seedless watermelon, add a cup of sugar,
then simmer it until it becomes a
syrup production. Let it cool, put
it in the fridge, and serve it as a
tasty dessert topping. If watermelon syrup
isn't your thing, then you could prepare
watermelon rinds as preserves. Preserving watermelon
rinds in this manner actually dates to
before the Civil War. An 1858 issue of the popular
magazine, Godey's Lady's Book contained a recipe for
preserved watermelon rind. The recipe called for
soaking watermelon rind in saltwater, alum
water, and clean water for three days apiece, followed
by changing the water each day to prevent weird flavors. [MUSIC PLAYING] The most common staple
of a soldier's diet was probably hardtack. Made from salt,
flour, and water, it was more like a
cracker than bread. The 3x3 cracker was 1/2
an inch thick and sturdy. It was so hard
that soldiers often dipped it in coffee or
tea to make it edible, but that wasn't the only reason. Soldiers occasionally referred
to the cracker as worm castles. Because hardtack tended
to harbor insects. Dipping it in hot
coffee helped drive out the bugs, which the soldier
would skim off the coffee pot and then proceed
to eat the cracker. According to Army of the Potomac
soldier, John Davis Billings, "eating in the
dark, no one could tell the difference between
infested hardtack and hardtack that was untenanted." Hardtack also had problems with
mold, due to storage issues. And other times it
was so hard, soldiers had to break it with the
butts of their muskets. But it was inexpensive,
nutritious, and simple food that kept the
men fed during the long war. [MUSIC PLAYING] Not to be confused with a timid
or feeble person, or the song by the band, Helmet,
Civil War milquetoast was just another way to mix the
essential parts of a soldier's diet into something tastier. On its own, hardtack
is kind of bland. By soaking it in
condensed milk, soldiers benefited from added flavor to
make the bread more palatable. It wasn't cheap, either. Condensed milk cost upwards
of $0.75 per can, so only a recruit with money to burn
probably did it that way. Milquetoast may
have been creative, but it wasn't the only solution
for making hardtack taste better. Soldiers reached into
their sugar rations to improve the taste
and occasionally made hardtack pudding. They'd pound the
hardtack into powder, add water and flour
to create a crust, then bake it with any
fruit they had on hand. [MUSIC PLAYING] Like everything else
during the period, fresh vegetables were
a bit hard to come by. Soldiers occasionally received
carrots, onions, celery, and greens in cube form. The veggies were chopped, mixed,
and pressed into cubes for use as a portable source
of vitamins and fiber. Desiccated vegetables were
revolting veggie cubes. Some soldiers reviled them and
gave them a different name-- desecrated vegetables. Desiccated vegetables
provided some flavor for soups and stews. And when better fair like
beans, potatoes, or rice wasn't available, desiccated
vegetables took their place. Although reviled
by most, the cubes helped ward off scurvy
and other disorders related to vitamin deficiencies. At any rate, it's still
better than canned spinach. Not good. [MUSIC PLAYING] The cooking methods employed by
some members of the volunteer regiments greatly troubled
US Sanitary Commission member James M. Sanderson. Sanderson wasn't happy with
their injurious and unwholesome mode of cooking and believed
he could do it better. Sanderson began experimenting
with different cooking methods, developing more efficient
ways to use campfires and cooking pots in the process. Not only that, he
advised cooks to limit their use of fat, sugar,
and salt in their cooking. Sanderson, not one to
spill the beans completely, also advised cooks to
avoid over-boiling beans as they cooked. Sanderson left an impressive
legacy of recipes in his wake. Over 18 stews, soups,
and other recipes burst from his
imagination, including commissary Brazilian stew. The primary ingredient
in this particular dish was vinegar-dipped cubed beef. Cooks stewed the
meat with onions and simmered it over low
heat for several hours. If diners were lucky, they
might get some potatoes, too. What a meal. [MUSIC PLAYING] When it came time
to do some cooking, folks got creative
with their ingredients and cooking methods. Thus, different kinds
of cakes were born. Water cakes were made by lightly
beating eggs with cold water to form a thick batter. Cooks would add a touch
of salt and bake it, then serve it with butter. Don't like eggs? Then try an ash cake,
the eggless alternative to the water cake. Instead of flour,
these cakes were made with cornmeal
and boiling water, then wrapped in corn husks
and cooked beneath hot ashes. Cooking methods fundamentally
altered the dish. If cooked in a pan,
it became a hoe cake. And if it was oven-cooked, the
result was a dish called pone. [MUSIC PLAYING] A delicious pairing of
pork and boiled corn was an everyday
meal in the South. Known as hog and
hominy, it was often served with waffles
at breakfast, or potatoes and
greens at supper time. The food was so
associated with the South that President Abraham
Lincoln mentioned it when discussing strategy
early in the war. Vicksburg was a vital
transportation hub and supply chain, sending goods to every
corner of the Confederacy. The story goes that Lincoln
met with his military advisors, pointed to Vicksburg on a map,
and discussed the importance of the Union taking the city. Failure to take the
city, Lincoln said, would result in "hog and
hominy without limit. Fresh troops from all the
states of the far South for the Confederacy." It's kind of a weird
way to underscore the importance of a
military strategy, but Lincoln was on to something. The Battle of Vicksburg ended
up being a turning point in the war, cutting off food
and other supplies to the South. [MUSIC PLAYING] During the conflict, rissoles
were a shining beacon of hope on an
otherwise dismal menu. As a deep-fried patty rolled
in pastry or breadcrumbs, rissoles could potentially
contain any kind of meat. They were like a Hot
Pocket of the Civil War. But unlike the modern
day Hot Pocket, rissoles are more
edible and delicious. Minced meat, fish,
clams, and oysters mixed with egg we're
all common fillings. Ingredients were mixed
with cayenne pepper and other spices, formed
into cakes, and fried. If you want to relive that
glory in the 21st century, this late 1800s recipe
has you covered. Chop beef or mutton into
small pieces and seasoned well with salt and pepper. To each half pint of this, add
a teaspoon of chopped parsley and a 1/2 cup of
chopped breadcrumbs. Then add two whole eggs
and work the mixture into a smooth paste,
form into balls, dip an egg, and
then cracker crumbs, and fry in smoking-hot fat. Serve with a nice
sauce poured over them. It wasn't the most
common meal of the era, but rissoles were often
served on special occasions and Thanksgiving meals. So what do you think? What would be your
dish of choice? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History. [MUSIC PLAYING]
