Going back to the posts about the things we were dosed with as children.
I found this illustration below in the book "The Wartime Kitchen and Garden" by Jennifer Davies which is a book published by the BBC in 1993 to go with a TV series of the same name.
This is exactly how I remember the government issued bottles of Cod Liver Oil and Concentrated Orange Juice. Even though I wasn't born until 1955 - ten years after the war ended, these must have still been available for children. Rationing had only just finished, the NHS had started and the health of children was still important. I liked my third of a pint of milk at primary school too.
This photo is also from the book
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| Girls milling rose hips in a machine specially invented for the purpose. September 1943 |
I was looking through this book while tracking down a recipe for a frugal wartime Christmas Cake. (I can't remember why) I knew I'd seen one somewhere and went through all my wartime home-front books before finding it .
It's a recipe using carrot but no eggs......which might be a plan after the way bird-flu is threatening the poultry industry this year.......... and also not a lot of fruit, so possibly a bit plain.
As it's cheap to make I'll try it out before Christmas and share the recipe if it turns out OK. Not sure if it keeps well, although as we're not rationed a tot of brandy would help that, I'm sure there's some left from previous years Christmas cake making.
My usual Christmas cake recipe is a Mary Berry recipe from the days before she was a British Icon. The full recipe uses 1½ pounds of various fruits and 3 eggs and is very rich and delicious. If the wartime one is too dry I'll do a half size recipe later this year. (It's on the Recipe page - Victorian Christmas Cake).
Last year I made a cake from Delia Smith's Christmas book called Light Glaze Christmas Cake which had all sorts of multi-coloured fruits - and it was even more expensive and no better than my usual, so I'll not be bothering with that again. I'd bought all the fruit from The Grape Tree - whose fruit is always good quality but now way more expensive than elsewhere. Watching the spending this year so it's back to value brand sultanas and checking out the cheapest marzipan.
Back Soon
Sue
I remember Cod Liver Oil, but not the other. Guess that is the difference living across the pond from you.
ReplyDeleteYes, if your war time recipe works I would love to see it.
God bless.
Looks like a really interesting book! I hope the Christmas cake ingredients aren't too expensive. I'd go with a tried-and-true recipe at least you know it will be delicious!
ReplyDeleteMy tried and tested is always good but heavy on the fruit
DeleteI remember the orange juice bottle but not the cold liver oil one, probably because taking it was so traumatic. The food was scanty and dull but, since I had not experienced anything better, it was bearable. As to scantiness, we were appalled in the post-1945 period when visitors from the USA left food uneaten on their plates. Roderick
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind Cod Liver oil - hope it did me good
DeleteMmmm, Christmas cake - with all the trimmings! Sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteLove the double rainbow in your header photo :)
I love Christmas cake after Christmas with apple and cheese
DeleteI remember my mother and I taking a bus to go and pick up my bottles of cod liver oil and orange juice !! And being told that the one egg a week we received was mine though we did have powdered eggs from our family in the US ..
ReplyDeleteNo recollection of powdered eggs at all but we lived near a farm all through my childhood and had eggs from them
DeleteI had the orange juice - but not the CLO.
ReplyDeleteI have always put a grated carrot in my Xmas cake. And cold tea instead of brandy (coming from a family of nonconformist teetotallers) I use a modified version of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook recipe. This year I am making a smaller cake, 6" tin, not 8" as I'm not expecting all the family to be with us.
I love your rainbow 🌈🌈
I'm going to give the wartime recipe a try to see what its like
DeleteI think a lot of us will be looking for our more frugal recipes this year Sue. x
ReplyDeleteNot sure what else I'll be making for Christmas this year , but i will do a spend on mixed nuts for the spiced nuts recipe - for me and the hampers!
DeleteI use Frugal Queens Christmas cake recipe and have done for a good few years as it doesn't have too many ingredients. I usually buy the pre soaked fruit from Lidl but haven't seen it this year so it will be value fruit and then someone gave us a small bottle of homemade white rum which smells very strong and no-one wants to try so that is what my fruit will be soaked in this year!
ReplyDeleteFancy there being such a thing as pre-soaked fruit - I had no idea!
DeleteOH has CLO every morning, with a teaspoon of milk. Y.U.K. on both counts!
ReplyDeleteAs we have some extra folk here for Christmas this year, and probably neighbours popping in I will make a Christmas Cake for once. I don't do iced ones though. I can always do a last-minute one using our old neighbour's recipe for a Cardiganshire Boiled Fruit and Pineapple Cake which is really moist and tasty. I remember seeing that Delia Smith dressed up Christmas Cake - sounds like it's all talk and no trousers, as the saying goes!
Cant imagine CLO and milk at the same time - think it would make me ill!
DeleteIt was disgusting! We were "army brats" so the American government made sure we were dosed with a number of gross concoctions in the belief that doing so would turn us into healthy future soldiers. I never saw a single adult taking the vile "disgust" that came in those dark brown bottles. Our mother used to tell us to hold our nose, tilt our head and swallow. I still gag just telling you about it. LOL!
DeleteI am a bit younger than you and I remember the concentrated orange - and how foul it tasted!
ReplyDeleteThe dogs always had a teaspoon of CLO each day on their breakfast, unless they could blag more out of me - they loved it and always wanted to lick the spoon to ensure nothing went to waste :-}
We had the orange with sugar and hot water - it was delicious - probably didn't help with our teeth
DeleteI love the fact that there are seemingly infinite variations of Christmas cake recipes out there! I made the Delia golden fruit one for my sons wedding , they didn't want icing so I decorated as per the book and it went down very well. However with the price of ingredients these days any form of home baking feels costly.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
I've been making the same one since the 90s - until last year
DeleteWhat about Viral I think that is how it was spelt. I was born in 1960 and that was from the clinic, as too marmite and Ribena. So remember those, and then when my folks moved to South Africa in 1968 we could not get them anymore
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Viral. My sister drank too much Ribena and rotted her teeth! I've never liked it
DeleteMy husband's Aunt Gladys made Christmas Pudding when we spent the holidays in the UK. She steamed it for days. I remember it well. It was very rich and one very small piece was perfect. The fruit, nuts and alcohol combined nicely just like your Christmas Cake. Are the two very similar?
ReplyDeleteI always enjoyed the cod liver, and mum would dose me with cid liver oil and malt and to draw out a cold two anadin and whiskey in milk. I am still here I think!!!
ReplyDeleteThe thought of cod liver oil makes me gag! Orange juice, not so much.
ReplyDeleteI remember getting a bottle of orange juice just like that for Simon when he was a baby and that was in 1981. Gosh Manchester was behind the times in some things!!
ReplyDeleteI HATED school milk, warm in summer and icy cold in winter ... and I always got told off for blowing bubbles through my straw.