These were advertised in the Indianola Courier, Oct. 1860.
Fresh
Matagorda Bay Oysters!
Hermetically Sealed.
Harrison's Fresh Green Turtle,
And Turtle Soup,
in Hermetically Sealed two and six Pound Cans
Warranted
To Keep in Any Climate.
Posted on Texas Civilian Yahoo list July 2009 by Robin Gilliam
Now, a *real* Texas pioneer, Gail Borden, had invented, tested and successsfully marketed his New York Condensed Milk in cans by the time the Civil War began, and people in many places would likely have known about it. Our problem in the Southern part of the country would have been access to Northern-made products like "canned cow." Anyway, the article made me want to know if there were any competing brands of condensed milk produced in the South before or during conflict, and if not, when did Borden's or a similar product first become available out here?
So Borden was a Texan ? Cool Did you find out anything yet about a southern version of canned milk?
Debbie Hill Russell
New Yorker but later came to Texas.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbo24.html
Annette
Before Borden did the condensed milk he made canned meat here in Texas. Olmstead had it with him through Texas in late 1850s. He hated it and threw it out .
Annette
I understood that Gail Borden's infamous "meat biscuit" was just that - a dried biscuit (described as "pemmican") and not a canned product? I am not sure I have ever read of an actual industrial cannery in Texas prior to the civil war, but I don't doubt there was one. Does anyone know of one specifically? Or for that matter a specific cannery anywhere in the south? If we had one it should be easy to find out what they were canning.
Terre
my error. From the Handbook of Texas Online. In 1849 he perfected a meat biscuit, made of dehydrated meat compounded with
flour,
Annette
THE RANCHERO [Corpus Christi, TX], January 14, 1860, p. 2, c. 1
Green Turtle Soup.—We have tested a sample of green turtle soup, hermetically sealed in tin cans, and put up by Mr. Harrison, of Indianola, and take pleasure in pronouncing it one of the most palatable soups that ever found its way into our masticating apparatus.
Vicki Betts
And I think that beef had been commercially canned in tins around that time - also on the coast, and maybe at Rockport-Fulton. But I'm remembering it as probably just after the war. Maybe we should try to reproduce Borden's beef biscuits for the reenacting crowd? There must be a recipe or formula somewhere, and they might not be totally unpalatable. Better than hard tack with wevils, and more protein!
Robin G-C
Try here
http://www.todayinsci.com/Events/Patent/SoupBread7066.htm
and
http://www.todayinsci.com/B/Borden_Gail/MeatBiscuit-SciAm.htm
It's also called Portable soup-bread.
Annette
The United States military issued meat biscuits during the 1840's and 1850's. To overgeneralize think of it as a giant boullion cube.
mobley cody
Galveston had some, but there were still occasional blockade runners coming in:
GALVESTON WEEKLY NEWS, December 10, 1862, p. 2, c. 6
75,000 lbs salt, Speers' and other Plows,
12 bxs Powhatan Pipes,
10 bxs Condensed Milk,
So, still don't know WHERE the milk was condensed.
But if you want to do it yourself:
BELLVILLE [TX] COUNTRYMAN, September 6, 1864, p. 1, c. 5
The following in the process to condense milk for the soldiers:
Place two quarts of new milk in a vessel over a slow fire, stir it to prevent burning, until it is about the thickness of cream, add one pound of sugar, a little at a time, stirring constantly, till it becomes thick and stiff, then spread on plates and dry in the oven or the sun, and powder it with a knife or spoon. It can be sent in papers, and serves for both milk and sugar when dissolved in coffee or tea.
(So papers, not cans.)
Vicki Betts
Fresh
Matagorda Bay Oysters!
Hermetically Sealed.
Harrison's Fresh Green Turtle,
And Turtle Soup,
in Hermetically Sealed two and six Pound Cans
Warranted
To Keep in Any Climate.
Posted on Texas Civilian Yahoo list July 2009 by Robin Gilliam
Now, a *real* Texas pioneer, Gail Borden, had invented, tested and successsfully marketed his New York Condensed Milk in cans by the time the Civil War began, and people in many places would likely have known about it. Our problem in the Southern part of the country would have been access to Northern-made products like "canned cow." Anyway, the article made me want to know if there were any competing brands of condensed milk produced in the South before or during conflict, and if not, when did Borden's or a similar product first become available out here?
So Borden was a Texan ? Cool Did you find out anything yet about a southern version of canned milk?
Debbie Hill Russell
New Yorker but later came to Texas.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbo24.html
Annette
Before Borden did the condensed milk he made canned meat here in Texas. Olmstead had it with him through Texas in late 1850s. He hated it and threw it out .
Annette
I understood that Gail Borden's infamous "meat biscuit" was just that - a dried biscuit (described as "pemmican") and not a canned product? I am not sure I have ever read of an actual industrial cannery in Texas prior to the civil war, but I don't doubt there was one. Does anyone know of one specifically? Or for that matter a specific cannery anywhere in the south? If we had one it should be easy to find out what they were canning.
Terre
my error. From the Handbook of Texas Online. In 1849 he perfected a meat biscuit, made of dehydrated meat compounded with
flour,
Annette
THE RANCHERO [Corpus Christi, TX], January 14, 1860, p. 2, c. 1
Green Turtle Soup.—We have tested a sample of green turtle soup, hermetically sealed in tin cans, and put up by Mr. Harrison, of Indianola, and take pleasure in pronouncing it one of the most palatable soups that ever found its way into our masticating apparatus.
Vicki Betts
And I think that beef had been commercially canned in tins around that time - also on the coast, and maybe at Rockport-Fulton. But I'm remembering it as probably just after the war. Maybe we should try to reproduce Borden's beef biscuits for the reenacting crowd? There must be a recipe or formula somewhere, and they might not be totally unpalatable. Better than hard tack with wevils, and more protein!
Robin G-C
Try here
http://www.todayinsci.com/Events/Patent/SoupBread7066.htm
and
http://www.todayinsci.com/B/Borden_Gail/MeatBiscuit-SciAm.htm
It's also called Portable soup-bread.
Annette
The United States military issued meat biscuits during the 1840's and 1850's. To overgeneralize think of it as a giant boullion cube.
mobley cody
Galveston had some, but there were still occasional blockade runners coming in:
GALVESTON WEEKLY NEWS, December 10, 1862, p. 2, c. 6
75,000 lbs salt, Speers' and other Plows,
12 bxs Powhatan Pipes,
10 bxs Condensed Milk,
So, still don't know WHERE the milk was condensed.
But if you want to do it yourself:
BELLVILLE [TX] COUNTRYMAN, September 6, 1864, p. 1, c. 5
The following in the process to condense milk for the soldiers:
Place two quarts of new milk in a vessel over a slow fire, stir it to prevent burning, until it is about the thickness of cream, add one pound of sugar, a little at a time, stirring constantly, till it becomes thick and stiff, then spread on plates and dry in the oven or the sun, and powder it with a knife or spoon. It can be sent in papers, and serves for both milk and sugar when dissolved in coffee or tea.
(So papers, not cans.)
Vicki Betts
