Manuscript Location

Winterthur Library, Quaker and Special Collections

Place of Origin

United States ➔ Pennsylvania ➔ Philadelphia

Date of Composition

mostly ca. 1820-1853

Description

This 34-page manuscript originally belonged to Jane Duval Leiper Kane (1796-1866). She was the wife of John Kane (1795-1834), a Pennsylvania lawyer and politician who was appointed to a federal judgeship by President James Polk. The couple had seven children. A note on the inside cover, written around 1933, states that the book was handed down to the Jane Kane's granddaughter, Jean Kane Foulke, by Foulke's aunt, E. D. Kane. It is unclear how much, if any, of the book Jane Duval Leiper Kane wrote.

The book is in multiple hands, the first three of which appear to be of the early nineteenth century, the remaining three (or possibly more) somewhat later. A recipe for plum cake on the penultimate page of the book (digital page 32) is dated 1853. The final recipe, Pumpkin Bread, is in a novel hand and may postdate the rest of the book by several decades. (This uncommon recipe seems to be a yeast-raised precursor to modern soda-raised pumpkin breads.) The book includes instructions for curing meats and recipes for puddings, beers, cakes, pickles, pickled oysters, vinegars, syrups, and "tomato mustard," more commonly called tomato ketchup. In addition to food recipes, the book also includes cures for sprains and coughs, and recipes for cold cream and "yellow wash" (paint). Some recipes are attributed to specific people, including one to Dr. Physick of Philadelphia. The book is indexed at the front through page 18 by the second and third writers. A full index of the book's contents is available in a database at the library.

To view digital images of this book, click on the link in the library catalog under "Multimedia," and then click on "1800s" and scroll down to the recipe book attributed to Jane Duval Leiper Kane.