Not Your Momma's Seed Cake Trivia Quiz

Answer:

It was common for 17th and 18th century writers to use uppercase for nouns or anything they wished to stress or emphasize, as evidenced in the manuscripts of Pope, Swift and Butler, to name a few, and in cookery books as well. As we see, Elizabeth Raffald used the practice in her recipe found in her book "The Experienced English Housekeeper" published in 1769.

The of use of "Flower" instead of "flour" isn't really a misspelling. Both are derived from the Old French "fleur" meaning "blossom" and flower/flour meant the finest part of grain. Both terms were used until the19th century.

One culinary obstacle our ancestral matriarchs had to overcome was flour becoming rancid. Fatty acids in grain react as soon as the germ (part of the grain which develops into a plant) is milled and exposed to oxygen. Since these clever cooks didn't have the resources we have today, "dried by the fire" would remove the germ and leave only the finest flour/flower. Adding ingredients "by degrees" simply means slowly or gradually, a little at a time letting the ingredients build up air.

Caraway was used as a popular seasoning. Its taproot was often an alternate for parsnips. In fact it was even used as an ingredient in love potions! What we call "caraway seed" is really the fruit of the plant which has been split and dried.

Starting out as a cure for mostly anything from hiccups to fainting spells in the Middle Ages, nutmeg continued to be dispensed by apothecaries in the 17th century but was quite pricey--85 to 90 schillings per pound! Often upper-class Victorian ladies and gentlemen carried some nutmeg ready to be grated whenever (and wherever) they pleased. Nutmeg graters became a fashionable accessory and a hallmark of sophistication. It eventually became valued for its culinary uses also and was surely found in the kitchens of Arely Hall, the home of Lady Elizabeth Warburton, where Raffald held the position of housekeeper from 1760 to 1769.

Cake hoops, as the name indicates, were used to shape and keep the mixed ingredients together while baking. Made of metal, wood or even paper, and sometimes adjustable, they were placed on baking trays. Tin or iron hoops were frequently mentioned in 18th century cookery books.

After leaving the employment of Lady Warburton, Rabbald wrote "The Experienced English Housekeeper". She wrote recipes (receipts) from her own "experience and not borrowed from any other author" in her uncomplicated writing style, which no doubt made "The Experienced English Housekeeper" one of the most popular cookery books of the time.