Historical Nibbles

Edible Flowers

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

I’ve always appreciated the fragrant beauty of fresh flowers served on my plate, but never considered eating them as part of my dinner. After learning about the variety of edible flowers, I’m eager to try them.

Boiled hibiscus makes a slightly acidic beverage.

Gladiolus tastes a bit like lettuce.

Lemon Verbena’s lemony flavor can be steeped to serve as tea.

Lilacs also taste like lemons with a pungent floral aroma.

For salads, use arugula for a nutty, peppery flavor. Chives add a mild onion taste. Basil tastes like lemon and mint. Adding borage will give a hint of cucumber flavor while fennel provides hints of licorice.  

When fried in butter, young dandelion buds have a similar taste to mushrooms.

Dill is often added to cheese dips, seafood, and sour cream.

One teaspoon of dried marigold, jasmine, chamomile, rose, or yarrow petals can be steeped in boiling water for five to ten minutes to make a fragrant cup of tea.

Violets are sweet.

Roses are also sweet and fragrant, but the petals contain bitter white portions that should be removed.

Both safflower and calendula are described as “poor man’s saffron.”

Lavender has a floral flavor. Lavender oil may be poisonous.

Chicory buds and nasturtium buds can be pickled.

Carnations have a spicy, peppery taste while English daisies have a tangy, leafy flavor.

Fresh and dried flowers have been used in cooking for centuries, yet cooks and bakers must be careful. Some flowers are poisonous or otherwise unsafe for consumption, so check with food or plant experts to understand which are safe to eat. Also, flowers must be grown without pesticides and sprays to be edible.

Cooks and bakers have prepared dishes with edible flowers at least as early as the Roman Empire.

After doing all this research on edible flowers, I’ll be happy to sample different floral flavors.

Sources

“Edible Flowers,” 101cookbooks.com 2025/06/09 https://www.101cookbooks.com/edible-flowers/.

Hawkins, Linda J. The Unspoken Language of Fans & Flowers, Heart to Heart Publishing, 2007.

“How to Cook with Edible Flowers,” Savannah Bee Company 2025/06/09 https://savannahbee.com/blogs/the-latest-buzz/how-to-cook-with-edible-flowers.

Sundae Bars–A Fun Addition to Summer Celebrations

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

I bought ingredients for a sundae bar for a recent family birthday at my daughter’s suggestion. What a great idea this turned out to be!

Two choices of ice cream started the fun. (Most people chose both chocolate and cookies and cream. 😊) Ingredients were placed in ramekins and arranged on the table. My daughter enlisted her first-grader’s help as excitement built for the ice cream bar that took only minutes to prepare. What a joy it was to watch the magic happen.

Below is the list of ingredients I used for our sundae bar. Choose your favorite ice creams and change the toppings for your family’s preferences.  

Ingredients

Whipped cream

Chopped walnuts

½ gallon Chocolate ice cream

½ gallon Cookies and Cream ice cream

Variety of sprinkles

Caramel syrup

Hot fudge syrup

Vanilla blueberry granola

Chocolate chips

Mini M&Ms

Mini marshmallows

Mini Peanut Butter Cups

Bananas

Strawberries

These were arranged in the center of the table and everyone made their own sundae. Honestly, that’s half the fun!

Everyone’s creative side came into play. The more ingredients, of course, the bigger the dessert, and let’s just say that few were able to finish. I didn’t mind at all.

Delicious! As if it could be anything else with all those ingredients. My sundae was heavy on the walnuts, granola, bananas, and strawberries. So refreshing! Yet it wasn’t nearly as much fun as watching everyone choose their own toppings.

What a great summertime celebration for both children and adults! I will do this again.

Enjoy!

Pimento Cheese Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

A friend got me hooked on pimento cheese spread while attending a writing retreat. I bought a couple of different brands upon returning home, but neither was as delicious as the brands available in the Carolinas.

My mother had bought sliced pimento cheese for sandwiches when I was a child, but I haven’t seen that in delis for years.

I read several recipes for the spread and then tweaked them.

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 4-ounce jar diced pimento, drained

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

¼ teaspoon onion powder

½ cup mayonnaise

2 cups sharp shredded Cheddar cheese

Using a strainer, drain the pimentos into a bowl. This can take about 10 minutes.

Smooth the cream cheese into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle on the garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and onion powder.

Allow the flavors to set together for a couple of minutes and then mix in the mayonnaise. Stir in the pimentos.

Add the shredded cheese. Mix together.

Keep refrigerated.

This pimento cheese tastes good on a variety of crackers or as a sandwich. It is good for about two months—at least, that’s as long as it has been in my fridge before being devoured. 😊

I make this often. When my sister visits, she usually asks if I have any pimento cheese in the fridge. She loves it too!

Roasting and Brewing Fresh Coffee in a Tides of Healing Scene

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

The final book in the Spies of the Civil War Series, Tides of Healing, shows that everyone had difficulty adjusting to Union occupation in Vicksburg after surrender.

In an early scene, Southern belle Savannah Adair wants to make coffee for the wounded men convalescing in her parlor. The feisty young woman, who has never even boiled an egg, makes a watered-down flavorless beverage unrecognizable as coffee. That prompts one of the wounded soldiers to demonstrate how to roast and brew the coffee.

It’s a lighthearted scene in the midst of one challenge after another.

But how many modern coffee drinkers would do any better when faced with handfuls of raw coffee beans?

The authors of an 1877 cookbook urged readers to buy raw coffee grains or small amounts of freshly roasted beans. They preferred Mocha and Java or a mix of the two flavors.

Place washed raw coffee beans in a skillet. Begin by roasting them in a moderate oven (probably about 350 degrees) and then increase temperature so they roast quickly, stirring often. The beans are ready when tender, brittle, and a rich dark brown color. Test for doneness by pressing one bean with your thumb—it will crumble if done.

Coffee beans can also be roasted on a stove burner but make sure to stir constantly.

Add a lump of butter to the hot, roasted beans or let them cool and stir in a beaten egg white. This clarifies the coffee beans.

Simmer a few minutes and then strain the beans.

Grind roasted coffee beans. Many people owned coffee grinders similar to the one in the photo. Turning the crank grinds the roasted beans. The grounds are collected in the drawer beneath the grinder. Some grinders attached to the wall.

Allow one heaping tablespoon of ground coffee per person and add “one for the pot.” Mix the grounds with an egg (part or all of the egg) with enough cold water to moisten it thoroughly.

Boil a pint of water per person less one pint. For example, if ten people are drinking coffee, use nine pints. (If you find this confusing, read the original recipe!)

Place the prepared coffee grounds into “a well-scalded coffee-boiler.” Then add half the boiling water to the coffee pot.

Stop up the spout with a rolled-up cloth to lock in the flavor. Boil for five minutes “rather fast,” stirring as the mixture boils up. Then simmer for ten to fifteen minutes.

Add the remaining boiled water to the coffee when time to serve.

Store the unused roasted coffee beans in a tightly-closed tin.

Read Tides of Healing to discover how they fare with coffee making and so many other challenges following the city’s surrender.

Amazon

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 2011.

Chocolate Pudding Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

I often bake different pies during the holidays that include old favorites while trying new-to-me recipes and putting my own spin on them.

I found this recipe in a family cookbook. This will make one pie. I’ve made it as pudding and also in a pie. I prefer the pudding. There are several in my family who will probably be trying this one for Christmas celebrations this year.

Ingredients

1 1/8 cup water

7/8 cup milk (3/4 cup + 1/8 cup)

1/8 cup cocoa

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 egg yolks

Combine milk and water in a double-boiler. (I don’t have a double-boiler. Instead, I used a metal mixing bowl over a medium saucepan, which works well.) Stir and then heat on medium until lukewarm. This will take 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine cocoa, flour, sugar, and salt in a separate bowl. Stir together until blended well. In another small bowl, blend egg yolks and vanilla together.

Once the milk is warm, add the cocoa mixture and egg yolks. Whisk together until well blended. Lower the heat to medium low and stir often until thickened and fully cooked. This took about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Cool the chocolate filling for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to release the steam.

Pour into serving bowl or individual serving glasses and chill until ready to serve. It makes 6 servings.

As an alternative: If you are making this as a pie, pour the filling into a baked pie shell and refrigerate until serving. Top with a meringue, if you like.  

This is a deliciously creamy, smooth chocolate pudding. The cocoa takes the chocolatey flavor beyond the cook-and-serving pudding mixes. Everyone loved it except for the one who doesn’t like chocolate—he prefers the boxed pudding mix.

Whether you serve it as pie or pudding, I hope you enjoy this chocolatey dessert as much as our family does.

Enjoy!

Christmas Dinner in the 1870s

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

Christmas dinner is a big meal at our house. We roast a turkey large enough to feed the family and provide leftovers for pot pies and sandwiches. Side dishes are plentiful with everyone’s holiday favorites with pie for dessert—both pumpkin and chocolate. There are plenty of Christmas cookies too.

I thought this was a big meal until I read suggestions for Christmas dinner in an 1870s cookbook.

Here are the meats:

Clam soup, baked fish, Holland sauce;

Roast turkey with oyster dressing and celery or oyster sauce, roast duck with onion sauce, broiled quail, chicken pie

There were plenty of side-dishes:

Baked potatoes in jackets, sweet potatoes, baked squash, stewed carrots, turnips, canned corn, southern cabbage, tomatoes, canned pease (peas);

Graham bread, rolls; plum jelly, crabapple jelly;

Salmon salad or herring salad, pickled cabbage, mangoes, French or Spanish pickles, Chili sauce, gooseberry catsup;

Beets, sweet pickled grapes, and spiced nutmeg melon

There were lots of dessert choices:

Christmas plum pudding with sauce, Charlotte Russe;

Pies—mince, peach, and coconut;

Cakes—citron, White Mountain, pound, Neapolitan, and French loaf;

Cookies—peppernuts, ladyfingers, centennial drops, almond or hickory nut macaroons;

Candy—coconut caramels, chocolate drops;

And even ice cream!—orange or pineapple

Beverage choices were coffee, tea, and Vienna chocolate.

If large families (grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) prepared even a third of these dishes, they undoubtedly had one thing in common with us—leftovers!

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.

Pecan Pie Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

My daughter requested that I bake a pecan pie for Thanksgiving dinner this year. It’s a favorite for my son-in-law. Because he rarely eats dessert, I hoped this meant he’d allow himself to splurge at the meal. I’ve made the pie using this recipe before and it’s always been a hit.

Ingredients

3 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup butter, melted

1 cup dark corn syrup

1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare pie crust for 9” pie. Line the pie plate with the pastry.

Blend together the sugar, salt, and butter. Stir in the beaten eggs. Add the corn syrup and stir until blended.

Beat with an electric mixture for one minute. Pour mixture onto prepared pie crust.

Lay the pecans in a circle on top of the filling. Don’t press the nuts into the pie filling. Then add another circle inside the outer ring. I placed 1 pecan in the center that submerged during baking.

Bake at 375 degrees until set, about 40-45 minutes.

Refrigerate until serving.

This deliciously sweet and nutty pie was a hit with the adults. The children were happy with Jello.

The pie filling only takes about 5 minutes to prepare. The longest part is arranging the pecans on top and that doesn’t take long either.

Enjoy!

Sources

Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book, Macmillan and General Mills, Inc, 1950.

Cranberry Orange Bread Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

by Sandra Merville Hart

I go through seasonal cycles in cooking. This fall, I’ve been playing with a recipe for cranberry orange bread, two flavors that complement each other well.  

Ingredients

2 cups fresh cranberries

2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

1 large orange

¼ cup water

2 cups sifted bread flour (or all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon orange extract

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a bread baking pan with cooking spray.

Sift the flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir. Set aside.

With a vegetable peeler, peel strips of the orange rind, using about half of the orange.

Rinse cranberries and put them in a small saucepan. Add the orange peel, ¼ cup water, and 1 tablespoon of sugar to berries and stir. Cooking on medium low and stirring occasionally, heat the cranberry mixture about 8 minutes to soften the fruit and blend the flavors together.

Remove from heat. Drain the fruit mixture over a bowl or the pan. I find it easiest to drain it using a sifter. Remove all the orange peel strips and discard.

As the mixture cools, slice the orange in half. Squeeze the juice from ½ of the orange over the cranberries as they cool in the sifter. Allow the fruit to cool at least 10 minutes.

In a separate mixing bowl, thoroughly blend 2/3 cup sugar with the butter until all the sugar is incorporated into the butter. Pastry blenders work well for this. Beat 2 eggs and stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in the orange extract to further enhance the orange flavor.

Gently fold in the cooked cranberries to the batter. There will be juice left over in the saucepan. Measure ¼ cup of this cranberry juice and add to the batter. Stir in 1 tablespoon of milk.  

Stir dry ingredients into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. It usually bakes in my oven for about 53 minutes.

Many people prefer to eat a slice of this delicious bread with cream cheese. It’s also good without it.

I’m so pleased with the flavor of this bread! If you prefer less orangey flavor, omit either the juice or the extract.

This bread takes me about a half hour of preparation. There’s nearly an hour of baking time in addition.

It’s good for breakfast and brunch. I also served it as an addition to snacks at a recent game night. It was a hit.

Enjoy!  

Taste of Fall Pumpkin Cake

/ sandramervillehart / 1 Comment

by Pegg Thomas

Today’s post is by talented editor, fellow author, and dear friend, Pegg Thomas. She shares her delicious seasonal recipe and tells us about her newest release. Welcome back to Historical Nibbles, Pegg!

This is a special date for me. November 25 was my grandfathers’ birthday. That’s right. Both grandfathers were born on this day 8 years apart. It’s also firearm deer season here in Michigan, and I spent many years on this date in a cabin in the woods near Pinestump Junction with my father’s father. It was a rustic cabin with a hand pump for water, a wood stove to cook on, and a little building out back for… well… you know. So many happy memories of baking cakes in that wood stove with the help of my great aunt and singing “Happy Birthday” when everyone returned to the cabin after a full day hunting in the woods. Memories of family, love, and all the best things of Fall.

But this year, I’m celebrating a different way, with the release of Freedom’s Promise, book three in my Path to Freedom series. With this series, it’s best to read the books in order, but each is its own complete story. Here’s a back cover copy of Freedom’s Promise:

Zachary Brown has a prosperous dairy farm, good friends, and the respect of his neighbors and fellow Quakers in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. But something is lacking.

Someone to share his life with.

Daniel Whiteford lost everything that meant the most to him. It has brought him to a hard truth. He gave away his grandson four years ago to save the reputation of his family and business, but it wasn’t enough.

He wants the boy back.

When a fugitive slave shows up at the farm, Zachary recognizes the need to help others outside of his sheltered community. But there are dangers due to the laws that uphold slave owners’ rights. And then Daniel arrives—with a young slave girl.

A clash is coming to Mount Pleasant.

And as an extra for the release celebration, here is a yummy fall recipe!

Taste of Fall Pumpkin Cake

  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 cup pumpkin
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 2 teas. pumpkin spice
  • 1 teas. vanilla
  • 1 cup flour (or 1/3 cup whole wheat and 2/3 cups white)
  • 1 teas. baking powder
  • ½ teas. baking soda
  • ½ teas. salt

Mix in order given, bake in greased 9” square pan at 350 for 35 minutes. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Bio:

A lifelong history geek, Pegg Thomas lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with Michael, her husband of *mumble* years. She creates American stories with real history and fictional characters inspired by her ancestors who immigrated here in the early 1600s. When not working or writing, Pegg can be found in her garden, her kitchen, or sitting at one of her antique spinning wheels creating yarn to turn into her signature wool shawls. https://PeggThomas.com

Mulligan’s Meatloaf

/ sandramervillehart

by Ane Mulligan

Ane Mulligan, welcome to Historical Nibbles! Ane is a talented author and dear friend. I love how her love of books and drama collide in Take My Hand, her new release. I can’t wait to read it! She is sharing a recipe for delicious Mulligan’s Meatloaf with us. Thanks for joining us today, Ane!

Nearly everyone has had meatloaf, but it has an interesting history, which has changed since the 1700s, when German immigrants brought meatloaf to the United States. It was first served as a breakfast food in New England. The first recorded recipe for modern American meatloaf dates back to the late 1870s. The recipe called for chopping up whatever meat was on hand, adding salt, pepper, onion, egg, and milk-soaked bread. 

I have a series of books (The Georgia Magnolias series) placed in the Great Depression. I researched foods and found meatloaf became a household staple in the 1930s, when families were struggling to stretch their food. People combined ground meat with seasonings and stale breadcrumbs to create a flavorful and filling meal. Meatloaf became more creative and personalized in the 1950s and 60s, with recipes including sherry-barbecued, mushroom-stuffed, and spicy peach loaves.

This is our favorite meatloaf recipe. We don’t measure when we cook; we simply use what feels right, then later adjust by taste.

Meatloaf:

1¼ -1½ lbs Ground beef, 65-70% lean. If you go higher, the meatloaf isn’t as juicy, and you can pour off the excess fat.

3 eggs

Italian bread crumbs

3 med onions, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

Garlic powder

Dried parsley

Onion powder (yes, even if you add onions, it rounds out the flavors)

Salt & pepper

Red onion sauce:

1 med onion, diced

1C (or more) Ketchup

Garlic powder

butter

Instructions:

Sauté 2 onions and the peppers in butter. Mix in a large bowl; the ground beef, sauté mixture, bread crumbs, garlic powder, dried parsley, onion powder, and salt and pepper. Put in loaf pans or use parchment and form a loaf in that. We prefer this because the excess grease leaks out. Be sure if you use parchment to put it on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 for an hour.

When the meatloaf is done, set it aside and sauté the onion in butter with garlic powder. Add the ketchup and cook until hot and thick. Serve over slices of meatloaf.

Take My Hand

Dreams and futures are at stake.

Small town community theatre changed Marleigh Evans from a shy, timid girl into a confident young woman. Now she wants to pass that gift along to others and dreams of owning her own theatre. After years of searching, she’s found the perfect place in Sugar Springs to see her dreams realized … and transform her community.

Chef Gabe Sadler has grown irritated at his father’s business practices. His dream is to own a farm-to-table restaurant and enough land for a small urban farm. After years of searching, he’s found the perfect place in Sugar Springs to see his dreams realized, and he’s not used to anyone standing in his way.

Which one will win? And at what cost?

Amazon

About Ane

Ane Mulligan embraces life from a director’s chair—in community theatre and at her desk creating novels. Entranced with story by age three, at five, she saw PETER PAN onstage and was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. One day, her passions collided, and an award-winning, bestselling novelist emerged. She believes chocolate and coffee are two of the four major food groups and lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. You can find Ane on her website.