Civil War Fruit Cake

Our homeschool co-op is studying the Civil War. This week I was teaching about food. We talked about, and ate several wild foods. The kids were very good about trying them, but I thought I would also give them something a bit more familiar to enjoy.

I went searching for recipes and found several sites with recipes from the era. Since the ingredients normally used were not available during the war, cooks had to improvise and develop new recipes based on what they did have available. The recipe I decided to try was fruit cake. You can find two original recipes at American Civil War Recipes.

I modified the recipes slightly.

3 medium apples, peeled and diced
2 C raisins
2 C water
1 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 TB shortening

Boil for five minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.

3 C flour
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Sift together. Add apple raisin mixture. Stir well. Add 1 C chopped walnuts and 2 TB molasses. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 F for about 50 minutes.
I used regular walnuts when making this, but would like to try it with about 1/2 black walnuts.

The cake was moist and flavorful. Yum!

The Civil War era cooks had to be creative and to improvise. We have the luxury of using about any ingredient that our hearts desire, but using what you have on hand, or items that are common will save you money.