This week on Hydrating Through History, we are looking at Grape Moo from the 1981 Niagara Grape & Wine Festival Specialty Cookbook. This festival began in 1952 to celebrates the region’s grape and wine heritage. As the festival continued to grow and attract more visitors, this cookbook was made for those who wanted more knowledge on ways to enjoy grapes and wine.
Hydrating Through History: Rhubarb Juice (1983)
This week on Hydrating Through History, we are looking at a rhubarb juice recipe from a 1983 cookbook by the Mack Alumni Association of graduate nurses. The Mack Training School for Nurses, founded in 1874, played a key role in nursing education. Although the Alumni Association disbanded in 2024, their contributions to the community continue to impact St. Catharines today.
Hydrating Through History: Grape Juice (1897)
This week on Hydrating Through History, we are looking at an 1897 recipe for Grape Juice from Southcott’s Almanac and Cookbook. Written by a local businessman, Harry Southcott, the cookbook combines advertising for his drugstore with domestic hints, recipes, and astrological charts.
Hydrating Through History: Bettie’s Banana Punch (2000)
This week on Hydrating Through History, we’re looking at Bettie’s Banana Punch from Chorus Niagara’s 2000 fundraising cookbook. More than a recipe collection, the cookbook is a historical record of local food traditions, showing how community recipes bring neighbours together, support shared goals, and promote the choir’s role in Niagara’s arts scene.
Hydrating Through History: Switchel (1916)
In August 1916, the St. Catharines Standard featured a recipe for switchel, a refreshing summer drink popular among farmhands in New England. The recipe combines ginger, sugar, and vinegar, often enjoyed with rum. Today, switchel is revisited with modernized ingredients for contemporary enjoyment, highlighting its historical significance.
Welcome to Hydrating Through History!
Welcome to Hydrating Through History, our summer mini-series all about cooling off with recipes from the past!
Museum Chat Live! E1005 – Food, Glorious Food Blog Series Wrap-up
On this episode of Museum Chat Live! we’re chatting local food history and baking as we wrap up our (now beloved) Food, Glorious Food Blog Series. The series was a chance for Abbey Stansfield (public programmer) and Kathleen Powell (curator) to explore local food history by baking through historic recipes in our collection. This bake-off was a way to explore food history in a first-hand way and draw attention to our temporary exhibit of the same name, on display at the Museum through the autumn of this year. Listen in for a chat about food history, writing a blog series together, challenges in baking historic recipes, the things we learned, and most importantly: our favourite desserts!
Food, Glorious Food! Part 8: Peach Pie Ontario
Throughout the series, Curator Kathleen Powell and Public Programmer Abbey Stansfield (both the expert bakers here at the Museum), have been exploring Victorian-era recipes and local food history to help us all appreciate the importance of food and its history in our daily lives.
Please enjoy the final installation of the series, Part 7: Peach Pie, baked by Abbey Stansfield.
Thank you to Abbey and Kathleen for an engaging and tasty blog series. And a big thank you to all of our readers for their support, participation, and sharing food memories with us!
Food, Glorious Food! Part 6: Wartime Cake
In this edition of Food, Glorious Food, we’re back with another sweet treat: Wartime Cake, written and baked by Curator Kathleen Powell.
Food, Glorious Food! Part 4: Pink Velvet
In this edition of Food, Glorious Food, we discover the strange world of Jello in the 1920s with a post written by our curator Kathleen Powell.
Food, Glorious Food! Part 3: Lemon Tartlet
Things are about to become a whole lot sweeter with Part 3: the Lemon Tartlet, written and baked by Public Programmer Abbey Stansfield.
Food, Glorious Food! Part 1: Almond Macaroons
Welcome to the Food, Glorious Food blog series. This new, limited series is a companion blog series to the Museum’s […]
Museum at Home: Let’s Make Shortbread!
A couple of weeks ago, Museum at Home had you making butter. What a better way to use that homemade butter than to make cookies!!