43

for shortening in veal and lamb dishes; in pastry, cookies, gingerbread
and steamed pudding.
Meats were stored in cold cellars; barrels of corned beef and
crocks of sausages in barns; hams in smokehouse; beef and mutton as long
as possible in ice houses; huge tubs or lard. Everything was used.
In their cooking, they used methods now recognized as nutritious.
For instance, they used the water in which certain vegetables were cooked
for making gravy, stew and soup. They scrubbed their vegetables and steamed
them in their peels,(steamed, rather than boiled, so as not to take out 'bene-
ficial salts, rt ) As early as 1871, they protested that millers were separating
and discarding the live germ of the grain" in their attempt to make flour
light in weight and color and subsequently making it deficient in nourishment.
The Shakers went so far as to say that "what had for countless ages been the
staff of life had now become but a weak crutch. "
Bread was baked early in the morning (having been set the night before)
but not eaten until evening. Sister Laura's admonition was "wheaten loaf" taken
from the oven should never be eaten while hot no matter how tempting it smells.
This rule applies especially to the aged, to children and to those with weak
stomachs. All bread should be allowed to T ripen T before being cut and consumed.
Bread goes through a chemical change after baking, when it sends off carbon
and other gases while cooling. Always let your bread ripen where itgets plenty
of air; do not wrap it or put it into a closed container until it is thoroughly
cooled. Never put bread away with any other food, for it absorbs moisture
rapidly and takes on foreign flavors." 30

30. Piercy, op. cit. p. 47