These recipes have been around for a very long time. During a time of collapse, these foods can provide nourishment when food is scarce. Find out how to make these meals at home.

Civil War Era Foods:
Fire Cake and Hoe Cakes
Even though making a simple dough and fry or bake it over a fire may not be very appetizing, for the soldiers it was a hot meal that helped raised their morale. Hoe cakes were made from corn meal dough carried to the fields by slaves and other farm workers. At lunch they cleaned their hoes, put the dough on them and cooked it over a fire.

Hardtack
Hardtack was a virtually indestructible 1/2-inch thick cracker about three inches by three inches, pierced with sixteen holes and made from flour and water. The daily ration was nine or ten crackers, but there was usually enough for those who wanted more since some men would not draw a full ration. They were eaten plain, soaked in coffee or crumbled and added to the stew pot.

Hospital Gingerbread
Gingerbread was a favorite food when it was available and it is one of the Civil War era foods described as a comfort food. It was often called the “food for sick men” or the “dying man’s food” because it was offered to wounded soldiers in field hospitals. This food was often found in care packages sent to the soldiers by their families and it was a constant source for many food-related fights within the ranks.

Confederate Shortbread
Wheat flour was quite scarce in the South during the Civil War so soldiers baked bread from available ingredients such as white cornmeal. Some people prefer to add baking powder, but you have to keep in mind that Confederate soldiers did not have baking powder.

Idiot’s Delight
Also known as Idiot’s cake this simple but tasty food was one of the civil war era foods that gained rapid popularity amongst soldiers. Although not as common as the other foods, this deep-dish, dark brown float of biscuit-like objects in a thick cinnamon-raisin sauce was often found in packages soldiers received from home. Since it was easy to put together from readily-available ingredient, it was said that even an idiot can make it, hence the name of the food.

Horehound candy
This was another wildly popular civil war era foods and it was often eaten by Civil War soldiers fighting for both the Union and the Confederacy. This threat was made from Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), a sturdy plant brought to America by settlers. Horehound candy was not only a sweet indulgence, but was used as a cure for stomach aches and sore throats.

Swamp Cabbage Stew
Foraging for food was often a necessary activity as resources were running low. Swamp cabbage stew was a favorite southern dish and it was highly appreciated when salted pork was added. Swamp cabbage (Ipomoea aquatica) was being harvested from the many swamps in the south and it was a popular ingredient for stews. Many recipes of civil war era foods were lost to time while others (like this one) are hard to make since there were vague details about the quantities needed to prepare the dish.

Pemmican
Pemmican is a nutritious, preserved food created by the women of Native American tribes. The term Pemmican is derived from pimii, the Cree-Chippewa word for fat. Pemmican consists of a mixture of cooked, dried and shredded buffalo meat, or fish, which is combined with melted fat. The pemmican was tightly packed into a bag made of buffalo skin and used as a convenient type of long lasting food.

Although not as common as the other Civil War era foods, pemmican was also available for the soldiers and there were many debates regarding the taste of this food. Since the quality of the meat used for making pemmican was doubtable as it was rumored to be made of rotten old dried beef and the refuse of soap factory soldier often joke about their pemmican lots. They were feeding it to rats and if the rats lived, they would become confident enough to consume pemmican.

These recipes all sure sound interesting. Some might not sound very appetizing based on their ingredients, but in times of scarcity, it can prove to be a very delicious meal. Are you trying any of these Civil War era recipes today?

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