Vegetables in 18th Century America - With Townsends

here we are we made it we're live hold on we can't start until we have the proper nut megalation oh whatever whatever the verb is for properly not making your drink you guys come up with that one in the chat uh we are live and hopefully all the audio and everything is working properly what do you think is it working right you can check it okay good um welcome to the nutmeg Tavern we are live and I am John Townsend a really good talking fun 18th century vegetable stuff today my favorite topic I love vegetables I didn't come up with this live stream topic I am joined in this not on the other side of the time Vortex um by Lauren on the console no on the chat thing hi everybody and not Ivy but will is on the console hello everybody and uh will is the guy that was down in the well if you want to know it's like who's Will where was the guy down in the well it was nice and cool down there today is the day you want to be down in the well instead of up in the top so um where do we where are we starting today what are we supposed to be doing today the first one is the comments on the beef steak beef steak video wow that beef steak let me tell you guys that beef steak pie was uh so good so good got a couple great comments um uh Latigo Morgan uh I've been making that steak and onion pie ever since I found your channel it's become a household favorite with a layer of steak sprinkled with flour and a layer of onions steak flour onions then Captain filled with dark beer I think we also put fresh mushrooms in it for a change up as well this one is nice and simple and yeah I think I'd put alien instead of a dark beer sometimes that bitterness can be you know but dark beer it is and um ephedrus 76 21 I'm from New Zealand and when I got back from a tour of the world in the 90s all I wanted was a decent steak pie I also recommend steak cheese bacon and mushroom by yum whoa putting bacon in there too come on you don't want to like kill people off that would be like oh super um um uh last live stream was the season nine um compilation uh if you haven't seen it make sure and go and watch it it's got in fact almost all of them were when we were on the road there's stuff from Gunston Hall there was uh episodes from when we were at um Mount Vernon uh there's episodes from from uh Connor Prairie I mean it was just like all over the world so I think there were only two or three where we were actually in the kitchen uh amazing amazing season and uh make sure to check that out um and uh something arrived today that was really weird uh Sonia opened it up in shipping thinking well I think it was you know and she's like okay it's not for me so um here it is trying to there it is uh it's a painting no that's not a photograph it's a painting and do you have an image of it yeah we you could pop up go to the slideshow the first slide slide so there you go um check that out it is got everything that the homestead in it obviously the cabin with the shovel and the wood pile and smoke coming out and the three-legged stool and the and the fire pits that they've moved it they kind of adjusted things so that they could fit it all in the painting it's not in the will no there is no well in this it's the one thing they seem to miss it's all right will doesn't mind he's not crying about it a little far off to the left you can see the chicken fence you can see the the thatched um roof we can see the wheelbarrow with the bricks and uh and the Smoke House in the oven and even the Bellows they couldn't quite fit the the forge in there so they brought the bellows in so so such a fun fun painting so super special thanks to Kristen Eastman so thank you so much uh Kristen uh amazing want to find a spot for it here in maybe I'll put it right I was wondering whether you know we probably yeah wow but it's like fill up the tavern with stuff pretty soon it's like uh you don't even bother to put John in there let's just look at the pictures um so so much do we have uh super chats we need to get to before we jump into our content there is a super chat from mandatory Kerry and it's Ryan take a shot from me since I can't drink no more and unfortunately since Ryan's not here today I'll just we'll have to pass the message on but I'll yeah I talked to Ryan for just a few minutes today he was he was going to be working on the thumbnail and the title for this week's uh video and he's so zonkerified from those 18th century doctors have have him on a physic that is just uh he's yeah it's taking a toll on him so he's he's very low right now he's on a low diet and you know but we'll send along your message thing but he could probably use a boo pick me up to uh wake him back up so well a little bit of medicinal wine something like that uh something medicinal something I will I won't say what it is anything else Are We There is that it is that all I need to cover yes no Lauren's looking I don't know oh I'm good okay um so vegetables and um you know vegetables huge very very interesting topic uh obviously you know I don't I don't talk about vegetables on the channel because I'm not like vegetable farmer and and vegetables are like the things you have in the stuff that go along with the meat because some people complain if it's just meat right that's that's me um but you know vegetables are fun anyway um a great resource though for vegetables and what's going on about vegetables in American cookery as you know in our late 18th century contexts let's say 1780 through 1800 is Amelia Simmons's American cookery now there are other good references to find out what's being done in the U in North America versus say England you could find tons of work done on Horticulture and garden agriculture in England in the 18th century lots and lots but you know what are we doing in North America how does it differ from that there are some references for that to dig into this is one of the easiest ones for us to get a glimpse of what the cook is doing about um vegetables so Amelia Simmons um has marketing directions in fact about half of this cookbook and it isn't very big behalf of this cookbook is talking about marketing both for you know oh I'm going to go to the market to get Meats I'm going to go to the market to get vegetables Etc and she's talking about that in the beginning of the cookbook let me see it's like got 48 pages and where does the cooking start uh part I'll say 17. so first 17 or 16 and a half pages are all about vegetables and fruits and so and whatnot and and what we did was we arranged most of the slides here at least the first half of the slideshow uh as we go through the vegetables as she talks about them and she'll talk about them not just how to pick the right one but which kinds of um varieties are are common here so like potatoes potatoes take rank for universe personal use and profit and easy acquirement smooth skin and then there's like known by the name of house potato I'm not familiar with house potato the most mealy enriched flavor um Spanish yellow um so you know they've got directions on on potatoes but let's jump into the slides and we'll have some fun with some images there's our thing there we go so we do have some things like Dieter Rose encyclopedia and other encyclopedias that have Agriculture and some of those are gardening this isn't from um dietero's encyclopedia but dieteros starts off that's the very first topic they cover is agriculture and that has some gardening in it this is from I'm not sure it was in the right museums okay so it's probably from a European um European encyclopedia and we have some strange root vegetables there in the top corner and then the bottom corner we see a garden itself and people standing around and I don't know gardening um we have a nice garden plot image that's you can see that it's right out of a book like somebody's journal and they said oh I'll you know I'll make a quick watercolor or a sketch um who knows do you think this is watercolor or colored pencil I don't know what I believe it's watercolor I think that's the medium this artist Works in mostly right and um and we see a garden plot there and things growing up some some things that haven't been planted yet and um a nice little scene there um another one from the maybe it's from the same book I'll bet it is um and we see the house itself the path through the garden and and the things going on in the garden so gardening is uh common and popular um for you know another way to feed your family you have you know the crops in the field field crops and then you also have Garden crops along with the real things you want to eat like meat stuff like that um but here we go potatoes this is probably rollinson's my guess right yes yep and we see them working with this giant tub of potatoes we've got the wagon here on the left hand side uh cart I'm sorry a cart with bags and bags of potatoes I don't know are they washing the potatoes know that the description gave yeah but you would think they would want to wash them before they took them to Market anyway so that's what we got going on there potatoes going into the tub and apparently potatoes coming out of that I don't know exactly what's going on we also have a wheelbarrow and pigs and we've got other uh vegetables or you know fruit that are hanging around something green or are those supposed to be green potatoes in those baskets I don't know I think when I was looking at it they they looked like something else a different vegetable yeah they look different to me and they're green so I don't know what's going on with that and then people just laying around patting a dog what's going on working right get to work it's not any kind of farm I've ever been on um next up on the uh in the in the list here in Amelia Simmons uh where she talks about onions and what did she say about onions uh madira White is the best in the market an esteemed softer flavored uh and not so fiery but the high red and hard round onions are the best and if you consult cheapness the largest are the best well there you go um she's got more advice on onions this image there are there are a couple of of images that are similar to this um one of them where we're it's framed by a window but it's almost exactly the same operation she's got an onion chopper this uh basically bottom of a barrel or you know a tub that's in a barrel form and they're using this onion and chopping up lots and lots and lots of onions I don't know why you would need that many chopped onions but that they're I don't know making a lot of onions and apparently they're going to eat that bird along with them so it's gonna be chicken and onions as far as I can tell I mean I would probably work on the bird first in an onion second but oh somebody was asking what was on the windowsill and that's actually one of the things that caught my eye when I was looking at this yeah the windowsill is an oil lamp it's a ceramic oil lamp we sell one that's very very similar to it um I'll drop it in the chat yeah um the Gary needer or Potter makes one like that that's um interesting in that the original is from a excavation that it's based on it is from an excavation of bathabra in North Carolina and or is it Virginia I think it's North Carolina and the the the the the thought is possibly that that it was all the way you know into the 19th century the example that we are basing it on but from this image 1771 boom exactly the same kind of interesting lamp that's not vegetables John let's move on is this still onions or is this something else beets apparently there are some beets in here that's what Lauren said I mean okay though in in the center of the picture behind the artichoke right there's there's large reddish yeah I couldn't think of anything else they could be but beets are usually roundish and that thing is like a giant red potato or a I just didn't find any other pictures that did happen let's say that's a beat there maybe um the artist of course is one of those Dutch 17th century look at me I'm better an artist than you are that's for darn sure um but it's got the Cornucopia of vegetables and fruits here and it is a you know uh well it's an amazing piece of art we've got green beans we've got you know grapes and pears and probably things that don't fit the uh you know having them all ripe at once we have obviously what's going on with the asparagus um you know asparagus is usually early season although they forced some of those things to be ripe at different times um just like they do today I mean we go to the grocery store there's asparagus that's out of season um is that one basket toward the center there with all the different colored are those like little potatoes hmm the they do kind of look like it that's true like our kind of thing sometimes we have those little little like salad potatoes where they put different colored ones in there just for the fun of it um carrots and peas and just and not artichoke I you could you could like kill somebody with that artichoke it's so big um neat stuff neat stuff um we're moving on to parsnip um we get Botanical prints in our time period And this is a Botanical print of the wonderful and tasty parsnip [Laughter] [Music] yeah you talk about parsnips in here let me check let's see uh parsnip personal parsnips are a valuable root cultivated best in Rich old grounds and double deep plowed late Zone they grow thriftly and are not so not so prongy wow uh they may be kept anywhere and anyhow so that they do not grow with the heat and are nipped with the frost blah blah blah blah I am now using that word more often which which one was it prongi yeah I mean if I was gonna say sprungy but no it's it's prongy maybe it means not with those little hairs on it I don't know that's that's a weird one it's a weird one oh anyway this one's not so prongy I think we need an emoji for that one uh parangi um um this uh we're moving on to turnips and this is crazy this is a pattern for a particular was it embroidered or printed probably printed right waste good this isn't this is actually just kind of the drawing right yes so if somebody wanted a fabric for a men's waistcoat and so this is their sketch for what the fabric design should look like I don't know whether they intended it to be embroidered or printed doesn't matter but it's uh it's it's it's turnips so somebody thought that everybody wanted um a turnip boys coat which it would look great I actually think it would be and and really the way they made them they're gonna look very decorative so you know what I think we should right now let's let's just work on I'll make up a block print for our own turnip turnip voice coat yes so if you ever lost this waistcoat would you just go a little turn up somewhere yeah gosh that was terrible where's my button can we back that up and right right over the top of that one that is terrible gosh oh well okay is this still turnips yes ah there we go um we got turnips and carrots somebody's taking these to Market they got a donkey I'm trying to think is this English my guess is it's English it might be I looked at too many that looked like this I can't remember right right it's a tough one top one we got carrots in here we got some other Greenery of some sort who knows cabbage leaves who could tell who can tell um there we go this is also probably turnips she's peeling these things they can't be here she's peeling them they're pale I and they're not parsnips so I shouldn't have a hat on either well it's like it's eight yeah and she's at home maybe and so she doesn't feel like she's easy we're at um I like that little stool too a little tiny footstool just to you know how you want to rest your feet by putting them up just a little bit to anyway next uh carrots so there are no okay I've seen different references where people say they only had purple carrots oh oh no because in the other pictures when you see many Orange characters exactly um most of the carrots I see are orange but you do see purple carrots so they're not and there'll be another picture later on with another purple carrot right and it looks like those are radishes besides it things right actually currants oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I guess you know I think that's upside down if you if it is oriented I know maybe not both ways like maybe besides one way and one side to the other way I'm not quite sure they should take their writing out okay um carrots yeah very very um let's see here we've got uh slides that are like cries of London although these are French right is that French I think it's Spanish oh okay Spanish we go sort of like a street cries where the people are you know walking down the street and trying to say you know I've got asparagus for sale nobody comes out um I go home they've got more than they started off with yeah okay so there were other so these are a couple and there were other pictures and some of them were they had non-vegetables right not that they had food but they have like you know brooms and chairs and I guess that would be what you'd go right the guy's gonna have meat on a stick and then you know some bread first like oh you know beans parsley parsley right uh radishes yuck nobody wants to eat a radish come on they're just in there for looks and because it's the first thing that comes out of your garden that's the only reason why anybody puts up with the radishes they're a cream carrier so that you can have cream oh well there you go right right so anyway these people are trying to sell these things on the street uh we also have someone selling garlic and onions okay that that I could believe um cucumbers are you kidding me I suppose in theory there are people in the world that like cucumbers and maybe even as a pickle and so whatever and then onions obviously we can tell by the the fact that there's a giant donkey loaded with onions that people will actually eat onions as opposed to all these other things okay here we go um uh what's this supposed to be Lauren these are uh asparagus it's true I picked this picture actually because I thought it was pretty but it does have asparagus in it right so more importantly it's got butter and fish and meat in it but it also and Trotters apparently and I don't know is that a hunk of liver over there um we've got some berries and uh she actually picked this out for those anemic looking asparagus pieces and I don't know what those prongy looking radishes things or I don't know what they are they're very prongy anyway uh asparagus that's what's here that's this one right here um this one is one of my favorite images 1771 it's a pair of images there's a woman in a kitchen another one there's a man cook in the kitchen um and uh she's got she's bundling asparagus and then there's asparagus on the floor okay now we all ask John why do they keep throwing all this stuff on the floor I don't know I don't but see there's asparagus on the floor and then there's the stuff she's bundling up maybe she didn't have enough room on all the shelves and tables and stuff um we've seen carrots and other assorted strangeness of vegetable types uh it was something I wanted to so there's even gardening kind of tools here and then if you look at the extreme right hand side underneath the cloth um remember we were talking a week or two three weeks ago about paddle baskets and that they would sell these baskets of fruit along the basket along with the fruit sort of like it was a little box or something and then you can see those little bottle baskets with some kind of red fruit in them oh is this still asparagus no this is the radishes in theory this is radishes I think that the title might have mentioned radishes in this one right they could be of course since it's in black and white it's a little hard to see because that's usually how you know something is erratic these are definitely radishes I will completely go with that sure that is just radishes radishes and she's doing it at night because she's got her oil lamp lit I mean I I would have just go to sleep I suppose you probably don't need a lot of light to be peeling radishes by I don't know imagine you know you're ready to eat these radishes right and peel them in the dark right it's like half dirty who who did this um artichoke that's a worm up there it's like snig of some sort uh but anyway we have an artichoke which you know in theory there's something good in an artichoke but it it takes a sort of like what's the point of doing all that work and really they're just giant thistles anyway so I mean anyway I actually like artichoke but it it is an awful lot of work to get to the artichoke yeah let's let's buy them already prepared and I can let me tell you uh some kind of pea Bean thing it actually looks sort of like a soybean I don't know what it is you know what that rat red thing is down at the bottom I have no idea it could be you know there might be more description but I some of this is from the reichs museum too I believe so we don't know what that is but it's fun and you know what it is you can tell us in the chat uh is that the last of the nope um let's see what do we got artichokes cucumbers there's cucumbers in here someplace I don't see them maybe in that little basket down there there's more artichoke oh that's it there's more articles this is the artichoke one this is she's got some of those orange carrots we got I mean that is a that is garden cart full I think there's a bag of potatoes back there too um or it's a lumpy sack with a person in it something like that um a couple different garden carts and I mean that's a that's a lot of is that a tiger back there I'm pretty sure it's not actually it's a dog that's a dog underneath the donkey I thought for a minute there it was like a lion or something that artist it's really good uh cucumber again with that and this is supposed to be the uh yeah cucumber um with some kind of brownie thing on one side uh this crazy thing that looks like uh alligator with like strawberries in his mouth um that that is what is that thing called a bitter melon a bitter melon that's it I've never seen one in my life right but I'm pretty sure that just makes it sound so appetizing this is a bitter melon yeah yeah I was like why would it do anyway yeah it's like um would you like the bitter melon or the sweet melon oh give me the bitter that's the kind of day I'm having today yeah and we've got some kind of bag plant maybe we got okra we got squash we got tomato uh and this is uh 1752 to 1797. definitely probably a Spanish painting okay it's like the English aren't going to paint that or at least not going to eat that that tomato unless it might just be there to look pretty I don't know I wish I have the provenance on this but no nobody's gonna look it up if you want me to yeah forget it we won't do we don't need that lots of I mean but there you go it's got okra and everything that's crazy um and in that live stream that that season nine had the okra episode in it so anyway um what what is this he's from I don't know what we're down to oh this is lettuce this is lettuce this is lettuce in theory she's got lettuce in her lap the the picture reference salad so we know it's some kind of green she's working with okay which I didn't really see a lot of other pictures maybe artists didn't like how you don't make friends with salad you don't make friends with salad no give people meat cabbage uh this is that other pairing to the woman in the kitchen here's the man in the kitchen and notice how his kitchen has very few Greens in it but does have meat and um there's a cat there which I always think it's funny to see cat and cats and pictures but he does have some kind of greens down there not very many just that one big cabbage head or lettuce cabbage whatever it is I don't know do we get close up on it there it is uh there's some carrots there's some something pronging up right beside the carrots and some maybe those could be beats or something on the green yuck I doubt I doubt he would be preparing beats I really don't think that could be a thing um this one is peas carrots peas beans beans beans they're they're snapping beans and um that that's it I mean he's carrying beans they're snapping beans and there's people not working which they should be um more green beans coming from a market cart and yep 17.95 that totally makes sense with that that person not wearing a hat and a blue ribbon and ever the Sash and everything that that really just she's got red shoes though I don't know about that another garden cart this time with uh they're like the biggest green beans in the universe are they peas maybe peas and one of the things that's happening with peas in the time period is the shelling of peas and some people would uh just shell peas as a as a day profession like you'd go to the market and you'd get a job shelving peas for the day and so you'd buy you know you could buy peas that were already shelled and it would cost money um and these folks are pea shellers so they are just sitting there all day long shelling peace you can see you can't we can't see the pieces themselves but we do see the basket there on the ground and that's uh p shellers is that it for this half of the lifestyle yep I looked up the painting with the bitter melon right and it's actually American and I don't know if we got the date right on it in the picture it's actually from the 1820s oh okay yeah it's Pennsylvania that's weird I guess that's what it says the artist intensely interesting I'm really surprised that it would have okra in it so some people in the chat are picking up on the fact that maybe vegetables aren't your favorite food no I I need a piece of meat and John Rose roasts vegetables for an hour every week I try to get the brand new okay brand new patreon tonsils plus YouTube members and all that brand new patreon folks uh Christopher janner Tim vanislo Tony millionaire well that's a great last name um Liz and then some patreon folks from that have been a long time um supporters Carol Campanella uh Justin wheeler Sharon land gone I don't know I didn't spell that right uh Adam McKinney and John Talley hey John Talley uh brand new town says plus people Glenn M Nathan W Peter B and um new and renewing YouTube members those people with the great emojis and uh Russell Murphy Joseph Dotson Damien Brimstone uh Miss Sabine Valerie Grasso Stephanie clay David Freese and Lance gentle another great last name what's up what's up what's up what do we do you want to do a recipe that we will not do what do you think recipe we won't do I have this I have this compound horseradish water speaking of vegetables take the leaves of two sorts of scurvy grass um yeah grass that's high in vitamin C right fresh gathered in the spring of each six ounces add four ounces of Brookline now this is probably Brook lime or also known as Speedwell um and Watercress well I think we've all heard of watercress and of horseradish two pounds that's a lot of horseradish of fresh arum root which I which we around here would call Jack and the pulpit uh six ounces winter bark not sure I did some digging on that I didn't didn't find much if you've got ideas about winter bark I'm not sure what it would be if this would be a European recipe so I don't know what winter bark is and Nutmeg which is probably the actually effective compound in all this the rest of it's just you know there if it looks nutmeg of each four ounces dried lemon peel two ounces that's just for a little bit of looks and French Brandy two quarts draw it all off by distillation this water and I don't know if it may be really water but at this point but anyway this water is good but in both dropsicle and score butic cases so if you have dropsy which is like um I think isn't that congestive heart failure I think it's something like that yeah that sounds about right uh or scorputic if you have uh scurvy I mean you could just eat a lemon or or you could have this and if it doesn't cure you it'll kill you and you won't have to worry about it again wow wow wow wow okay ready for some super chats yes okay so max are cool sends him to Super Chat and says are there vegetables we consider common a place today that people in the 18th century in North America didn't have access to at all or is it we who are missing vegetables that were once common ah probably mostly the other way around I mean if we go to the grocery store we'll find even here in the middle of Indiana we will find um you know vegetables and things that are more common say you know from Asian cultures and even say um you know things from Mexico that are going to be in our so we have a very Cosmopolitan um variety as well as the you know the typicals and uh you know there's going to be much more localized there are a few that they would have like and I've mentioned them before skirates is the example that comes to mind which are very prongy little like white carrots um and what we are missing is variety you remember the celery person right so there we do in a lot of times only have a very small uh variety so like you go to the grocery store how many kinds of tomatoes are there available for you to buy uh usually the anemic you know two kinds right when the reality is is there there are literally hundreds of of um heirloom types of tomatoes and all kinds of colors and shapes um and we just they they typically don't be they aren't good for transportation so um I'll stop there I'll just keep okay so preventorius sends in a Super Chat and says do you know any Colonial vegetable based dishes that would go well with kitchen pepper from what I've seen it's used mostly for meat-based dishes I would think potato like fried potatoes maybe with kitchen pepper on them like fried potatoes with kitchen pepper on it sounds great to me I mean you probably couldn't hurt any vegetable dish by putting it on there because I mean it's already I mean anything's gonna make it better or something and probably if you were gonna do like a vegetable soup a kitchenware for my help quite a bit to bring out the flame should just ask her the question right don't have done questions about cooking vegetables I'll put it in my stew quite a bit it's great still and you put lots of vegetables in your stew it's like a meat stew okay and then there is a super chat from Eric F were they pickling veggies with vinegar at the time or was everything fermented uh it's both and right um a lot of them are very salt so the pickling is it's both vinegar and salt and you know I don't think they had much they were thinking fermentation much that might happen but generally it was oh you know pickling has to do with you know chucking these things in a whole bunch of salt water slash vinegar um there you go okay so I have some other questions um well okay this one's a comment uh Brian B was saying that morel mushrooms are pretty good though right and then other people commented on the fact that technically mushrooms don't count as vegetables no of course no mushrooms aren't vegetables they're they're not in either Kingdom that's true okay so someone else was wondering about what vegetables were native to the colonies um Native yes well not necessarily the colonies but at least North South America you know potatoes are not European they're they are American um and corn as we you know Maize corn that isn't really a vegetable uh there there I I did it I did all I could um somebody was wondering if you knew how the colonial um how they how the Americans overwintered their vegetable plants no I I know don't think they're talking about the actual vegetables but the plants themselves the plants well they would clamp them sometimes you know or throw you know stuff on top and you know cover them up clamp clamp them you know they look it up oh okay okay I will uh yeah yeah so I mean generally though they've just re I mean they must mean the the stuff itself because the plants I mean they die it's true they probably were mostly annuals the the actual vegetable plants they probably had a lot of root Cellars didn't they yeah yeah or you know keep them in probably just our bedroom so this is a tough one the uninsulated rooms stay pretty chilly exactly you don't want to get them too cold you don't want to freeze so what would you say were the most popular vegetables in the 18th century oh potatoes are really popular carrots are really popular and um those are the ones that show up the most in in the cookbooks in the use them with other things you know we've used we cooked with almost everything that we talked about here today um you know yeah we've even made asparagus dishes not we haven't used radishes in anything that I can think of but obviously carrots and even parsnips beets I fried some beets one I mean I guess they turn out all right if you fry them I mean there's hardly anything left uh artichokes I've I've already processed more artichokes in my life than I ever want to uh do we use cucumbers anything I don't think so I don't think so yeah it has good riddance um uh what is cabbage cabbage of course yeah beans peas yeah so you know but the carrots and potatoes come to the top is very very just like anything else you put it in a stew well and obviously it's well I might put it in stew it will might not but that's all right okay it's all right so Kevin wickens has a question being an Indiana fruit are there any references to pawpaw fruit I know it's a vegetable chat just curious and so I was gonna drop in some Paw Paw yeah um you'll see talk about it and of course we did it on the channel we did uh we did a paw paw pie and pudding maybe and and I did the one episode where I talked about paw paws and Lewis and Clark but you don't see a whole lot of references until you get to the 19th century Okay so there is a soup chat from speed and style Tony and it is what vegetables were then considered from then are considered just weeds today I don't know I have to think about that one I don't have a quick coffee anybody anybody got an answer for that one will what do you think the John Thompson answer would be all of them yeah so we don't eat it I don't have a quick answer on that one you stumped do you you've stumped me um if we think of something oh well do we have the the are we ready to jump off or do you have any more thing more to to ask me I think guys I think see Dames rocket green beans are the best if you cook green beans right with a whole lot of bacon they're really good uh Ryan is sick uh beet leaves okay yeah we'll send green some horseradish water maybe it'll maybe it'll maybe yeah we'll horseradish oh there's something there um do you have the can you bring up the two the tool of the weak slide here we go and go okay not the glasses but this is a tool of the week and I don't know what it is and you have to you have to help me answer it so there you can see it's got its original wooden handle and um if this is the end here is see the end is iron and it's like a donut there's the wood is in the center of it and then it's some kind of a possibly it's whacker um it's the handle's a little prungy but uh I there it is it this is help us if you know what this tool is just tool away it's a tool of some sort right possibly uh wait you know will says is a thwacker but well we have some great suggestions from the chat about vegetables that are considered weeds today and they're mostly greens but dandelions per slain um stinging nettles all yeah I would probably put dandelion at the top of that I think um I mean there's a reason why there are dandelions in America and whether our yards are covered with dandelions is that they're not native to North America and they were abroad here because whoever the idiot was I mean whoever those wonderful people were they thought they were good eating and so they were brought and now there are a weed I don't know if you call a green a vegetable or not you know that's a but but as a food thing I'm a dandelion topless if you ask me well we've gotten some some possible suggestions it could be the first wackadoodle yeah it could be a primitive potato masher it could be or possibly a mutated Hammer it's it's gone a little bit it doesn't make I mean the fact that it's this round doesn't Okay it makes sense John Hayes says he believes it is a spindle also known as a falligan I'm gonna have to look this one out or maybe yeah there we've got some some good you guys keep trying keep trying listen we got some we got a few slides we got to jump in before before we before we so you guys keep thinking about that we'll come back to it at the end um we have um these vegetables in markets and the last bunch here is vegetables in marketplaces and uh now this person has fruits and vegetables and Waffles which seems like a poor combination to me but you know when you're hungry you could eat a vegetable or more likely eat a waffle which is what I would probably do you reached down there eat a waffle don't you think well well I don't know about that but we've got cauliflower we've got I mean all those look fabulous and this is mid 16th century I mean if this stuff looked this good in the marketplace today I'd be amazed oh wow 1650 and is that the giant Gooseberry that's on the ground because the biggest of the Norman I don't know what it is is it some kind of a watermelon is it I don't know what that is it's huge I I didn't inquire into this one that was crazy see that short person with the that short person and there's that huge thing I believe it's a it is just a melon it's got to be right like like a watermelon but a different type because it of course I mean it could be the biggest Gooseberry in the universe but anyway we've got other we've got wonderful piles of onions and greens and and either he might even have a basket of tomatoes there I don't know anyway cool 1650 Market um 1660 another one of these Market situations in Europe we've got again the gigantic vegetables just just in just beautiful looking and um you just me it actually it does it does it's like almost edible uh this is you know more about this old man picture no okay so truly I picked this picture because he is wearing Gators it didn't have to do with the vegetables I'm sorry because of what he's wearing but I I did like it because he is I believe a vegetable seller so I like that they're you know and he seems to be in a smaller context well in this High key artwork you know High key image is very interesting you know the artwork it's itself um besides the fact that there tends to be a vegetable in there much more typical of the 18th century paintings here uh not nearly so beautiful as the 16th and 17th century uh but she's got again which is wonderful veggies there on the on the in the baskets uh are those leaks they they may well be I there were actually leaks in quite a few other pictures but I didn't they weren't in the American cookery so that's why they didn't make it anymore she's got that I was gonna make a leak joke but I'd be as bad as well oh again with the cabbages the size of they're so huge like basketballs bigger than basketball I wonder how big our cabbages are before they get their outer leaves stripped off maybe because maybe maybe they're that big or they I don't have an answer I don't have an answer but wow uh this I think is is this Covent Garden or is this the um anyway it's one of those English uh fruit fruit and vegetable markets and besides there are the other things going on I mean there's a guys with baskets on his head yes this is Covent Garden yeah they're the bottom uh left-hand Corner uh looks like she's making like little pancakes or something those kids are like give them to me now which that would be me it's like no I don't want any of those vegetables uh we got a carton they're unloading more stuff they're maybe even something crazy there's some kind of almost like a performance going on in the background I think on the one side on the uh right hand side uh lots of fun stuff though going on in Covent Garden Marketplace I love this one I think Lauren was going to try to not have this one in the live stream and I said hey wait a minute what about that one uh notice how wide the street is and how it's built to have a market in the middle of it and we have stalls and people that just bring things in wheelbarrows uh and we have all those all those markets all those vegetables coming into the marketplace and you know wonderful uh 1779 this one's in black and white and you can see the horses trying to eat some of them and there's so much there that you know nobody's probably going to notice uh there we have the person stealing the money um and then she won't be able to buy as many vegetables uh and there's uh the variety is very interesting like beans in there Matt looks like some of those might be peppers and there's even I was like oysters or or those shallots back there probably shallots that doesn't make any sense to have Oysters um so although there is this is the one that is in a sequence of um there's a fruit market oh yeah and there's a meat market one and there is a fish market one too and they're all very lovely all right and there might be skirts there those one really long skinny pronging ones prongy ones are they're not carrots yep uh this is the Watercress seller yes yeah yes uh uh Street cries um I'm not sure who do you remember who this one is the artist it's not I can look it up yeah just a sec I've got my thing open so it's not very far away okay this is John Raphael Smith yeah yeah okay I thought I recognize him but nope were you think he was the same person with them no I was just anyway uh this is not uh one of those Street Markets but an actual like grocer and this is rollinson um and and we see the the like taking the front off so that they can open up his shop and we've got baskets and carrots and all kinds of stuff going on obviously rollinson were after he's in the very very late 18th century and usually early 19th century this is 1805 to 1810. uh 1815 we're moving along and we've got another classic you know it's like okay boy there's a lot of smoke chimney things going on there um but a little Marketplace and a vegetable seller there looks like the stands are kind of empty like maybe this is the beginning of the day and everybody's just starting to set up or maybe the end of the day and they're taking down I don't know 1811 and that's quite the marketplace there uh with lots of stalls and it's you know really kind of gotten um sort of industrialized here with with uh what's going on even like lines of carts uh with probably produce coming in so as the city gets bigger and bigger this whole operation gets more kind of uh commercialized and and logical 1816 uh this is French and um somebody's selling water or something like that fish and then vegetables with giant carrots and melons and 1821 and we've got a market and um the see all what's going on here in the right hand side here we've got this whole stand with baskets and then and then the fruits and vegetables and then this person is tripped over here these are two drunks that have that are causing trouble in the marketplace so one of them apparently pushed the other one and he fell into all these vegetables and I I don't think these these ladies look they don't look like they're nearly upset enough that look how much yeah it got crushed there right and and I think is that a basket of fish that got knocked over uh yeah right yeah like dried fish somebody's probably gonna take one of those like probably find a stock fish and beat that person upside down Brian B says this guy is losing a fight to the vegetables what was that well yeah yeah we got one of those we'll fix that guy up and then these boys are gonna steal the fruit off the ground take off running and we all know how that happens and then this is the final slide of the marketplaces we see the grocer here in 1819 these uh women are going shopping they have their puddle basket of fruit but there's lots of fruits and vegetables going on background back there we could probably do a little close up and look at each one of those baskets and try to figure out what they are and lots and lots of yummy stuff in the marketplace so good so wonderful oh and airfodie um my knowledge on smushers and thwackers just so you know they can actually be backwards compatible almost so you can use them right the same thing it's a smoosher it's a thwacker depends on you know versatility yeah trust me I'm an expert on these things I don't know Dave brought it to me probably two years ago and said John what is this and it stayed in my office ever since I'm gonna have to give it back to him um now that we know what it is laughs this is genuine the whacker I don't know and it's an iron donut and I don't even really know how they keep it on the handle telling you somebody's going to come up with the real answer for that I've never seen a donut shaped Hammer before but there we go so I've got these other books what's in them anyway that's the one with oh yeah yeah yeah so uh a lot of the cookbooks um are helpful about what's going on seasonally and in the ladies assistant here Charlotte Mason which we use this one a lot she has the the things it says a list of things in season for every month of the year and then and this is um 1780s 1787. um and and here's what she's talking about from the in January what will you'll what will you find um in the marketplace in January which I I find interesting um cabbages savoys call Awards Sprouts broccoli purple and white spinach cardoons then this maybe answer some of your questions about what what did they have that we don't have I'm just like okay um uh parsnip carrots turnip celery Endive leeks onions potatoes beets garlic um mushrooms salsify uh uh or sal sal fi yeah um scores never heard of it uh skirates Sorrel Burnett Parsley Sage thyme Rosemary lettuce cresses mustard radish tarragon mint chervil that was January so let's let's jump ahead and say what's what's uh classic here in the month of um August because you know that's what this month is peas beans kidney beans cabbage cauliflower cucumbers mushrooms sprouts carrots turnips potatoes radishes finnochia um onions garlic artichoke celery Endive Sorrel parsley purslane all sorts of salad all sorts of herbs Dill spinach there you go I mean that's crazy there's a really neat really neat um so I have some questions yes one of them they're wondering about the tool and they're wondering if kidney does the handle get thinner there closer to the end about that four or five inches does that seem purposeful or does it seem like wear has caused that uh no I it seems like the handle was it's always been this length hasn't broken off because it's cut it's made for a hand so it it it gets a little thinner here and a little wider here so that it's a hand held and then it gets thinner thinner this is the thinnest part and then it swells again here for the the head and because it's an iron donut the handle has to be smaller all the way and then they have some kind of an iron wedge here at the very end for it to swell up and hold that on it's not perfect it's kind of Wiggly right now I mean that handle whoever I would try to you know maybe the warranty is but anyway yeah let's see if I could get a new one from the manufacturer but yeah so it seems very purposeful that but it had a that's a pretty small diameter so it's kind of light duty I don't know yeah somebody was wondering they once they realized the head was metal they they thought maybe just a very cheaply made a very primitive Hammer somebody else was wondering if it was a Masher but when you kind of look at the end you when you look at the end you realize that it's not quite smooth enough to really be a matter no it was but why would I mean that it's like it's for tapping but you know why you know usually you have one face on a hammer there's one face you hit with or two faces one on either side you don't make it round totally round I'm sure it had a very important iron donut on a stick I really don't no so so somebody else was wondering about the um the the market where the street was wider and they were wondering if that was the kind of core reason that that street was wetter or whether it had more to do with needing more room for the carriages as the city got bigger no I they I think they're purposefully built in the city spots for markets and they just made an extra wide Street in those kinds of spots or even an open courtyard like Covent Garden it's just a big open area there so that all that activity could happen and I think they're you know streets in in Europe or cities in Europe were designed that way from from the get-go it's like no this area is going to be an open area for a market maybe even designed I mean it would be interesting probably a design concept that's even from Roman times right it's like oh when we design cities a city is going to be like this you know there's residential areas and those are going to be Market areas where people can come in and do that okay I think we're all caught up um this week's video was the steak pie this week's this coming video will be uh a cooling uh a cooling treat we'll call it like that so we figured you know hey what do we can we have something like you know ice cream and I said I wouldn't want to do ice cream let's try to find something else so make sure to check that out on Sunday Toria saying that a bean stew would go well with kitchen pepper and and I do think that that would be a good choice to go in the kitchen yeah bean stew wonderful thing to try out beans probably with some ham in it I was like beans too yeah sounds great wanna put some lentils in there um did we did we get it all done that's crazy that was a lot of uh that was a lot of vegetables in those slides a lot of vegetable pictures whew maybe that'll maybe it'll turn up sometime well guys it's been a wonderful time in the tavern today I hope you guys have had fun um you know crowding in here and the jostling and the joking and everything uh I I always go home excited on a Friday after after a live streams kind of like whoo I get all excited from that so thank you guys so much for coming into the live stream today super duper thank you uh to the people who support us sort of immediately uh with super chats with YouTube memberships uh patreon folks especially because you know and some of those guys have been supporting us for years thank you for that Thompson's plus it's a wonderful thank you so much for uh all the folks that you know check out the merch on the website and all that good not that not this this uh on the website uh it's been a great day and I hope you have a wonderful weekend thank you for watching and have a great weekend [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Townsends

Views: 28,819

Keywords: 18th century, jon townsend, john townsend, colonial lifestyle, vegetables, historical vegetable, Townsends, James Townsend & Son, James Townsend and Son, vegetable art

Id: 1Y5YRskJYMA

Length: 68min 5sec (4085 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 04 2023