Identifying wild plants and using them in a variety of ways is a fascinating hobby... Miriam Williams, Editor, Farm Journal and Farmer's Wife

{HISTORY}

This very rare pamphlet published by Farm Journal brings together canning recipes from farm women across the country whose specialties included making jams, jellies, preserves, conserves, sauces, pies, and canned fruits from wild plants and berries growing in the natural landscape around them. 

Compiled by Miriam Williams, editor of Farm Journal and Farmer's Wife, and containing over 60 recipes, this unassuming booklet contains no publication date, but based on the reference list in the back, we suspect it was produced in the mid-1940s following the end of WWII. 

It's probably safe to say that everyone has or at least knows of a favorite blueberry or blackberry recipe, but growing alongside those common summertime fruits are a wealth of often overlooked plants producing tantalizing treats that have been enjoyed by generations before us for centuries.

 Choke cherries, elderberries, barberries... loquats, kumquats, and manzanita... prickly pear, vine peaches, and rose hips...  those are just some of the fruits featured.  All these wild wonders of the natural landscape find a harvest and a home in the kitchen thanks to recipes submitted by women from all corners of the country. 

Mrs. Ray Solmonson from Minnesota shares her Garden Huckleberry Pie recipe. Josephine Hartzell from Iowa shares a family memory and a recipe for Ground Cherry Preserves. Clementine Simas in California tells readers how to make Vine Peach Pickles and Minerva Kellogg in South Dakota discusses ways to make and incorporate Rose Hip Puree  into other recipes. Other women chime in with recipes too, from Maine and New York, Montana and Washington, Tennessee and Louisiana, Missouri and Illinois. 

The only copy available that we could find online, with no other mention of reference to such a booklet in any other archives, all in all, this rare slim booklet of 32 pages is a lovely collection of what could have become almost entirely lost recipes. Ones that highlight the American food landscape, exemplify regional specialties, and preserve (no pun intended!) women's history and storytelling through cooking.

Passed down through families with techniques and flavor pairings fine-tuned over time, this is such a fun collection for the jam-maker in your life, the local foraging enthusiast, and collectors of forgotten recipes.  

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• Rare find published by Farm Journal, Philadelphia, PA
• 32 pages 
• Staple bound paperback
• Interesting recipes include Thorn apple Relish, Hawthorn Jelly, Spiced Wild Gooseberries, Loquat Jelly, Huckleberry Butter, Sheep Sorrel Jelly, Wild Plum Catsup, Elderberry Jelly, Persimmon Marmalade, Prickly Pear-Crabapple Jelly, and Elderberry and Orange Conserve
• All recipes utilize whole ingredients and all cooking techniques involve stovetop or oven preparation
• Gardening information included with some fruits
• Bibliography/Reference/Further Reading Guide included in back of book 

{CONDITION}

In beautiful vintage condition, this cookbook is clean and bright throughout with no cooking spots, stains, or notations. The staple binding is strong and secure. There's a small paper stuff on the back cover at the top edge. All pages are intact. Please see photos.

{SIZE}

Measures 8.5" inches (length) x 5.5" inches (width) and weighs 2 oz.

{DONATION SUPPORTED}

This heirloom gives back! 20% of the proceeds from the sale of this booklet will be donated to rare.org - an international non-profit committed to protecting, promoting, and preserving global foodways, communities, and the environment through self-sustainability and conservation.