Amongst my late mother's posessions. Inside the cover it say's "Happy Birthday Rita, I love you very much" January 1952. I would have been 3 1/2 months old. Has anyone else got a very old (whoops, perhapes not SO very old :-) recipe book?
pericles,
Oct 4, 11:43pm
I have the original Aunt Daisy
mallee,
Oct 4, 11:46pm
Gosh, how old is that then??? I'm showing my age, but I remember Mum listening to her on the radio, way before I started school. "Good Morning, Good morning.............
pericles,
Oct 4, 11:48pm
Can't check for you sorry, I am at work
mallee,
Oct 4, 11:51pm
Bummer, what a drag, poor you!
clare_mel,
Oct 5, 12:06am
I have a hand written recipe book which belonged to my great grandmother who died in her 80s in 1980.She started adding recipes to it after she was married, so would guess that it starts off in the 1920s?
lizab,
Oct 5, 12:29am
LOL mallee - fancy being given a recipe book at 3 1/2 months old!!!!
cookessentials,
Oct 5, 12:41am
Mum still has her old book that Dad bought her for her 21st Birthday with a message something along the lines of "looking forward to lots of tasty things to eat" Also have my MIL old book which has recipes that go back to her great grandmother. Pages are all starting to fall out, but it is treasured. I have my own which is in a lovely book and all hand written so that somewhere down the line, someone may treasure my old recipe book.
uli,
Oct 5, 6:06am
I have handwritten recipe books from my grand mothers from the 18hundreds.
lilyfield,
Oct 5, 8:37am
I have a 1935 fruit preserving booklet from Australia. What a treasure. Think I will list it- no longer used in this family
kuaka,
Oct 5, 8:50am
I've got an old Mrs Beeton's book, I thought it was late 1800s but have just checked and it's 1906 - some of the "latest household appliances" are delightful, including a vacuum cleaner which looks more like a tractor or steam engine.
lynja,
Oct 5, 6:34pm
this thread got me searching through my collection!! i think one of the oldest i have is the Highlander Economical Cookery Book, 1922, another old ones is the St Mary's home for Girls book 1936. SOMEWHERE i have an old Truth newspaper cookbook (shows how many books i have!) sadly a number of the old books dont have dates in them. i love coming across notes in these old books, and as i am someone who always puts notes etc in mine i hope one day someone will enjoy coming across my scribbles and enjoy them too.
rubyjane11,
Oct 5, 7:32pm
I have one of my great grandmothers recipe books which would be over 100 years old..
lulu239,
Oct 5, 7:47pm
I have a Gurney Cook Book from Canada dated 1930. The chapters start with "Just how to ....." A Radiation Gas Cook book is dated 1931 and a book of Scottish recipes is dated 1946. They are so interesting to go through. My mother used to read recipe books in bed.
juliewn,
Oct 5, 11:45pm
Lulu.. I've been known to read recipe books in bed too!
If anyone wants to start a handwritten recipe book that will pass on down through your family, I recommend these books:
Listing #: 321144237
They're leather bound with hand-made paper pages.. beautifully presented..
I purchased four some time ago - two red, two tan.. and am writing all the recipes in that my now-grown Kid's love from my cooking over the years.. 2 red for my Daughter, 2 tan for my Son.. and am including notes about when I first made them, what they were made for, etc.. from notes I've made beside the recipes.. which includes things for their birthday parties, Christmas's, pot-lucks and gatherings.. and the time I asked my Son, then age 9, to describe the yummiest slice or biscuit recipe he could think of.. and the Anzac biscuit type recipe that became a slice base, topped with chocolate icing and coconut, has become known as 'Christopher Square.' And when we found a 'Jennifer Square' recipe in an old church fundraising book, and it became Jenni's recipe.. coconut and vanilla slice base, raspberry jam spread over the top as it comes from the oven, then pink icing with coconut..
All the recipes fill just over a book each.. they can carry on with their own favourites over coming years in those second books..
It was my Son's idea.. 'hey Mum, can you write down all your recipes so I have them in a book..' so I began.. I'm writing the recipes in random order, as it feels like all hand-written recipe books suit that way best.. part of their character..and will put an index in alphabetical order in the back so they can look up what page the recipe is on. He saw what I've done so far when he was home from overseas in March - with tears in his eyes he said 'this is AWESOME Mum! - the best present you could give me!' - awwww.. :-)
Better get some more done.. he's back here on 29 October..
So.. you could all begin to create a family heirloom too.. so your recipes, and those from family and friends no longer here, will continue on, and be loved and enjoyed by generations to come.. and one day, someone else will say 'I love these old recipe books!'
juliewn,
Oct 5, 11:49pm
I agree with you re the notes.. somehow make the books personal and special..
I've got Truth books too that I've found over the years.. great tried and true recipes from people who sent the recipes into the then-newspaper.. there's one here, from 1943:
Listing #: 321404904
andrew499,
Oct 6, 1:57am
my moher has an 1898 edition of Mrs Beaton.some of the recipes and ideas in it are reallyfascinating. Cheers
levintofu,
Oct 6, 2:17am
Maud Ruby Basham MBE (30 August 1879 – 14 July 1963), usually known as Daisy Basham or professionally as Aunt Daisy, was a well-known New Zealand radio broadcaster from 1930 to 1963.
chrisynz,
Oct 6, 4:41am
i have a medical recipe book from about 1825
rainrain1,
Oct 6, 5:17am
A medical recipe book?Do give out a recipe for the common cold :-)
mallee,
Oct 6, 5:26am
Do you ladies....whoops that's not very PC is it? :-) :-) I will start again. Do any of you use these wonderful old recipes????
elliehen,
Oct 6, 5:40am
I had a 1906 New Zealand cookery book which had a cold remedy in it (I listed it on TM.)One of the ingredients was morphine!
mallee,
Oct 6, 5:47am
What say we pop down to the chemist for a gram or 3 :-) :-)
rainrain1,
Oct 6, 5:51am
Wheeeee lovely!!!
smileeah,
Oct 6, 7:02am
Thanks so much for the wonderful idea. I've got only boys but I do hope they grow up to love cooking as I do. One can live in hope. lol
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