, 1888-09-12
3 The WAR.
Some of the Substitutes Used in the
South INSTEAD of Groceries.

EOHlO OI tne buDsIlIuUes C5eu " ths
South INSTEAD of Groceries.
We had pretty hard times in the south
during the war, to be sure; but no actual
suffering was experienced in that part of
Mississippi in which our family resided.
Necessity is the mother of invention"
you know, so we contrived to find sub
stitutes for almost every article we had
been in the habit of buying at the shops,
grocery and dry goods stores. Perhaps
you may be interested in knowing about
some of these substitutes, and the knowl-
edge may be of use some time.
For coffee, we tried many different
substitutes; first, okra seed, which, when
thoroughly dry, we parched to a golden
brown, then ground it, mixed it with the
white of ar egg, and boiled it just as you
do real coffee; this, when served with
sweet cream, we found to be delicious.
For sweet potato coffee, the potatoes
were peeled, cut in dice shaped pieces,
dried in the sun, then parched to a dark
brown, ground, and made the same as
the okra coffee. Hominy coffee we made
in this wise: the hominy was carefully
Drowned, cleared, and made just as you
do ordinary coffee. This really possesses
medicinal qualities. 1t cured mother of
dyspepsia, with which she had been
troubled for years. We also tried chin
capin nuts for coffee. They were gath
cred in the autumn, shelled, dried, and
parched, then ground, cleared, and made
In the usual way.
OF course it was impossible to get
green and black tea during the war, and
instead of these we used different kinds
of herbs, such as sage, mint, and balm,
also the leaves Of the sassafras tree; and
we found all of these made healthful and
pleasant beverages.
For flour, sugar, salt and soda we
were also obliged to find substitutes, with
which we managed very well. For flour
we substituted cornmeal dust. This we
obtained by placing a convenient guam
tity of cornmeal in a cloth of moderate
thickness, and then striking it against
the sides of some large vessel. The dust
thus procured made the most delicious
pound cake, wafiies, mullins and batter
cakes that 1 ever tasted.
For sugar we used sorghum molasses
and honey. The former was home
made, and is very nice when properly
prepared; the latter was found in vast
quantities, in a wild state, in the forests
surrounding our plantation, many hollow
trees containing gallons Of the rich
golden syrup. This was gathered, care
fully strained, and set away in vessels
covered only with thin cloth, in order
that it might candy, or turn to sugar;
and this sugar we used in coffee, in tea,
n in every way that common brown
sugar is used.
For soda we substituted corn cob ashes.
The cobs were burned in a large Dutch
oven; the ashes were put in jars, water
was then put on, and it was allowed to
stand until clear. The I've thus OBJ
tanned, used with sour milk, in the pro-
portion of one measure of the I've to two
of the milk, made our cakes and bread
as light as q feather.
There was no substitute for salt, Of
course; so we overhauled the smoke
house and cellar, securing all the rock
salt that could be found in the pork bar
rels and mackerel kits, and this we
washed, dried and pounded as fine as
possible. When this supply was ex-
hausted, we soaked the barrels and kits,
evaporated the water and thus obtained
some more. The dirt floor CT the smoke
house was also dug up to the depth Of a
foot or more, and this dirt was thor
oughly washed and the water placed in a
large, shallow trough and allowed to
~evaporate.
l know you think we were checkmated
when it came to finding substitutes for
medicines; but we found them as readily
as we did other things that we could not
buy. Fortunately we had very little
sickness in u vicinity, except of a
malarial type. Instead of quinine, the
old standard remedy for such disorders,
we used willow bark tea, made very
strong, and taken in doses of half a pint
three times a day. This tea seldom ever
failed to arrest fever and ague. We also
used n tea made from the leaves and
flowers of field or dog fennel, which was
excellent. For a liniment and counter
irritant we used a mixture of red pepper
and hogs lard, stewed together. This
was very ~efficacious for rheumatism.-
Southron Lady in Demorest's Monthly.