What Foods Did Americans Eat During The Revolutionary War?

Although it may sound strange at first

the denizens of revolutionary era America often used food to express their anger at the British

From the Boston Tea Party to the coffee riots, Americans would use food to declare their independence

Meals and ingredients associated with the British were rejected and replaced with homegrown alternatives

Today, we're going to take a look at some of the foods Americans ate during the Revolutionary War

Food was a valuable commodity during the Revolution, so Americans were sure to use every part of the animal

even the blood. Take, for example, the recipe for blood pudding from an 1805 cookbook by Hannah Glass

The directions call for mixing cornmeal with boiled milk or, failing that, water

Next, blood is stirred in, and the whole thing is mixed thoroughly. Finally, Glass recommends adding a molasses-based syrup

called treacle, and for good measure, a little hog's lard. Cooks were advised to boil the blood pudding for up to seven hours before serving it

When we said that Americans during the Revolution used every part of the animal, we meant it

Take, for example, Joseph Plum Martin, a private from Connecticut who recorded some of the more

unusual foods he ate during the war. For example, on one occasion, he boiled an old ox's liver

It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wasn't

Martin reports the meat gave him a terrible stomach ache. After taking some medicine, Martin, in his own words

discharged the hard chunks of liver like grapeshot from a field piece

which sounds just awful in every conceivable way. You would think an incident like that would make Martin pickier about what he ate

but no, sir. Not for that Connecticut private. Martin seemed to be especially fond of bits that, even then

others thought of as undesirable. This is illustrated in journals where, among other things

he also records eating a sheep's head so it wouldn't go to waste and an ox's milt or spleen, which made him hurl

As anyone who has seen Hamilton can tell you, as soon as the American Revolution ended, Thomas Jefferson went to France

While he was there, the American founding father may have, for the first time in his life

tasted something many of us take for granted, ice cream. Yes, from the first moment he tried it, the dessert became a huge favorite with Jefferson

He's even the first American to create and popularize his own recipe for the stuff

As president of the United States, Jefferson is known to have served ice cream on at least six occasions

Manasseh Cutler, a congressman from Massachusetts who Jefferson introduced to ice cream

wrote of the experience, ice cream very good crust wholly dried crumbled into thin flakes sounds like a review from a caveman Ice cream very good crust wholly dried crumbled into thin flakes Another White House guest marveled

at the balls of the frozen material enclosed in covers of warm pastry

exhibiting a curious contrast, as if the ice had just been taken from the oven

The recipe for fire cake included water, flour, and not a single other thing

If that doesn't sound too appetizing to you, well, it didn't to revolutionary soldiers either

In truth, they only ate fire cake when they absolutely had to

However, ration shortages during George Washington's winter at Valley Forge meant that many soldiers had no other option

To make it, they would mix their flour rations with water and then bake it in an iron kettle

Since there was no yeast involved, the cake was dense and basically tasteless

But if that sounds boring, there was a way it got spiced up. Maggots and weevils regularly got into the flour stores

Since there was basically nothing that could be done about it, the men would simply cook them up with the flour

Well, at least it added some protein to the meal. If you've never had it, anyone from Philly

can tell you how good this meat concoction can be. Popularized by the Pennsylvania Dutch

scrapple was made from the leftover parts of a pig. That's right

It's the American revolutionary version of the McRib. One recipe that dates all the way back to the colonial period

called for using the pig's head, feet, and any pieces which may be left after having made sausage meat

Is anyone else's mouth watering? The parts were to be tossed into a pot with salt

and boiled until they were soft enough to allow for removal of the bones. Americans were in the habit of seasoning the meat

with salt and pepper and adding Indian meal to thicken the mixture into something closer to a mush

After it was cooked, the chef was to slice the scrapple and then fry it in hot lard

Scrapple made from the best stuff on earth. Pumpkins were a new world food, and Americans of the revolutionary era

had several ways of incorporating them into their cooking. One of the most popular was a way that remains widely beloved today

pumpkin pie. In Hannah Glass's aforementioned cookbook of 1805, she carefully explains how the founding fathers made and ate their own pumpkin pie

According to Glass, the cook should peel a pumpkin and stew it until it gets soft

The recipe then called for one pint of pumpkin, one glass of rosewater, one pint of milk

and one glass of Malaga wine. After that, the recipe was rounded off with half a pound of butter

sugar, salt, seven eggs, and a dash of nutmeg. Like most people, George Washington

enjoyed a drink from time to time And just months after the Revolutionary War began George Washington stocked up on Madeira wine This particular wine was imported from the Portuguese colony of Madeira and might contain brandy or other sweeteners

depending on the variety. In preparation for what he knew would be an extended conflict

Washington ordered 1,900 bottles of the stuff. It wasn't the only founding father

who was fond of the stuff either. In 1760, John Hancock under-reported his Madeira wine

imports to protest British import taxes, which led to a mob in Boston

The delegates to the First Continental Congress drank Madeira while debating independence

and Thomas Jefferson raised a glass of Madeira right after signing the Declaration of Independence

While they didn't have a Starbucks on every corner quite yet, coffee was wildly popular during the American Revolution

In fact, when a merchant named Thomas Boylston drove up the price of coffee by stockpiling it

at least 100 women marched to his warehouse and rioted. The riot took place on July 24, 1777

According to Abigail Adams, at least 100 women, assembled with a cart and trucks, marched down to the warehouse

and demanded the keys, which Boylston refused to deliver. That is when things took an ugly, aggressive turn

Do not deny people their coffee. Adams reports one of the women seized him by his neck

and tossed him into a cart. With no way to escape, he handed over the keys

They tipped the cart over to free him and then opened the warehouse. The coffee was removed, loaded into trucks, and then taken away

It all seems pretty reasonable to a coffee drinker. Unless you're Oprah, bread might not sound too exciting to you

But to the starving Continental Forces of 1777, it was a lifesaver

The troops stuck in Valley Forge had requested more food. but instead, Congress sent them a baker named Christopher Ludwig

Ludwig wasn't just any old baker, though. In fact, his actual title was Superintendent of Bakers

and Director of Baking in the Grand Army of the United States, which I have to admit is the best LinkedIn title ever

Congress offered Ludwig a deal in which he would bake one pound of bread per pound of flour

This would allow him to sell some excess flour and pocket the money. However, Ludwig refused

He told Congress he had enough money and he had no desire to grow richer from a conflict

Instead, he insisted that he would furnish 135 pounds of bread for every 100 pounds of

flour you put into my hands. A very classy move. Made from fermented molasses, which is a byproduct of Caribbean sugar plantations, rum has a

very long history in the Americas. At first, it was shipped to the British colonies by the gallon

But by the time of the American Revolution, the colonists were distilling their own New England alone had over 150 rum distilleries Revolutionary Americans loved rum so much that at the time of the war consumption of the beverage was as high

as an astonishing four gallons per person per year. Being, for the most part, former Brits, the American colonists enjoyed many British foods

However, they also had no opposition to adopting new foods that were grown in North America

In fact, Hannah Glass even included several recipes in her cookbook, which she described as

adapted to the American mode of cooking. One of these recipes was for cranberry tarts

Glass's recommendation was to stew the cranberries into a jelly, add brown sugar, and then bake with butter and flour

Like most soldiers in wartime, the American forces that fought in the revolution received

daily rations to sustain themselves. The rations typically included a pound of meat per day

which might be beef, salt pork, or salt fish. Each soldier also received a pound of flour per day

In addition to those, the troops would get some helping of peas or beans, some milk

and usually a small quantity of rice, corn, and molasses. However, that was under ideal circumstances

and war is often less than ideal. In fact, the troops often didn't receive full rations

and when they were on the march, fresh milk was especially hard to find

During the long winter of 1777 in Valley Forge, many of the allowances had to be adjusted

based on limited availability, and many soldiers just had to go without

Given that they were mostly British, the Americans in the colonies had a special fondness for tea

When Parliament cracked down on tea smugglers, the colonists didn't take it too well

They tossed their tea into Boston Harbor at an event that would forever be called the Boston Tea Party

Once the revolution started, however, many Americans began to reject the idea of drinking British tea

as a matter of patriotism. Moreover, British loyalists who continued to enjoy the drink

would often face criticism from their more revolutionary neighbors, which probably didn't help sales too much

Many of the Americans who swore off drinking tea took to drinking coffee instead

but some replaced it with raspberry leaf tea or other American-grown herbal tea alternatives

The Americans weren't just revolutionaries, they were trendsetters. Just a few years after the former English colonists

won their own independence, their allies over in France staged a little revolution of their own

In Boston, the French Revolution was celebrated with a feast. They hung a sign reading, Peace Offering to Liberty and Equality

around the neck of an ox, and then led the animal to Liberty Square. There, the ox was carved up and served alongside turkey, punch

and 1,600 loaves of bread. Long live the revolution indeed