History In the Kitchen - WWII

Maple Sugar Graham Cracker

  I've started teaching a homeschool co-op class featuring wartime rationing called History in the Kitchen - WWII, and I thought it would be fun to write about what we're learning about in class. I've got 20 students spread across 2 classes, and it's been really fun!

Class 1 - I introduced what rationing was and why it was important during the war. We also talked about how American rationing differed from any other country's rationing and why.

We made Banana Boats and Maple Sugar Graham Crackers, both of which I've written about on here before. Both recipes got a thumbs up from all the kids (except for one who wasn't a fan of maple to begin with, but he did try it, so I was proud of him!)

Class 2 - We talked about Ration stamps, books, and tokens and I brought in some originals for them to pass around. We talked about how complicated it was to keep track of ration values and how they went about paying for food along with rationing.

We made a recipe I'd never made before - Applelicious! It was from my 1930s Magic! cookbook that features Eagle Brand Sweetened Condense Milk. It was a good opportunity to talk about how earlier cookbooks were used during the war too and how sweetened condensed milk added dairy nutrition to the diet. The recipe consists of alternating layers of vanilla wafers with thinly sliced apples with watered down sweetened milk poured over the top, covered and baked. We didn't have enough time to bake it until the apples were soft, but even so, everyone enjoyed it and gave it a big thumbs up! Success! I forgot to take pictures of the Applelicious, but I could easily make it again.

This Friday, I've got another our third class, which I'll post about later and hopefully remember to take pictures of what we make!

Here is the recipe for Appleicious though:

from the Magic! Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk recipe book, 1930s