Life in seventeenth century America was very different for the Colonists that for people living in the United States today. Food was prepared in the kitchen fireplace because there were no stovetops. Ovens were metal boxes that were set in the fireplace so to bake bread and pies. There were no refrigerators and water had to be hauled into the house.
At Thanksgiving and other harvest holidays, or during educational lessons on the early Colonists, we may stop and think about the foods people ate in the seventeenth century and the work that was involved in preparing and cooking that food. The following activities aren’t exact duplications of the work required to put food on the table, but kids can get a taste of life long ago.
Butter Churning Activities with Kids
There was no fresh butter at the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims in Massachusetts because there were no cows in America. None were brought over for a few more years. Colonial children would have then turned a wooden paddle inside a churn to agitate milk and turn it to butter. The following process gives kids an idea of the work involved.
You will need a half-pint of whipping cream and a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. If you are doing this with a group of kids, you can give each child a baby food-size jar so they can all participate. Fill the jar a third or half full of cream. Put on the lid and make certain that it is tight. Now, shake the jar back and forth.
You know you have butter when it turns into a ball. Thin buttermilk will surround it. Serve the butter. You can drink the buttermilk or use it in a recipe.
Cooking with Kids: Cornbread Recipe
Kids can practice measuring and following directions as they prepare this recipe. Remind them that corn, or maize, was native to the New World.
1 cup cornmeal ½ cup flour ¾ teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 1 egg 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the wet ingredients. Beat the mixture until it is smooth. Pour into a greased 8″ x 8″ baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve with the homemade butter.
Although cornbread and butter is a simple side dish or snack, this food also introduces kids to some of the history of the Colonists to America. Have kids think of the ways their preparation of this snack is different from the work Colonial children would have had to engage in to make these same foods (did they remember to mention milking the cow and chopping firewood?).
Source: Laurie Carlson. Colonial Kids, Chicago Review Press, 1997.