Chapter XXI: Recipes for the Sick

Flaxseed Lemonade

2 tablespoons whole flaxseed
1 qt. boiling water
¹⁄₄ cup lemon juice
¹⁄₂ cup sugar
A little grated lemon rind

Pick over and wash the flaxseed in a strainer, put it into a cooker-pail and add the boiling water. When it boils put it into a cooker for from two to two and one-half hours. Strain it and add the sugar and lemon.

Farina Gruel

1 tablespoon farina
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon cold water
1 cup milk
1 egg
³⁄₄ teaspoons salt

Mix the farina and cold water, add them to the boiling, salted water and when boiling set it in the cooker, over boiling water, for one and one-half hours. Then scald the milk in a double boiler and add it and the beaten egg to the cooked farina. The egg may be omitted, in which case only one cup of water should be used.

Imperial Granum

1 tablespoon Imperial Granum
1 tablespoon cold water
¹⁄₂ cup boiling water
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ cup milk

Mix the Imperial Granum with the cold water, add it to the boiling water. Add the salt and milk and cook it in a small cooker-pail or pan over the fire until it boils, stirring occasionally. Then put it into a pail of water and set it in a cooker for one hour or more. If preferred, more milk may be added.

Cracker Gruel

1 tablespoon plain cracker crumbs
1 cup milk
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt

Scald the milk in a small double cooker-pail, with boiling water in the under pail. Add the cracker, and put it into a cooker for one hour or more. Add the salt just before serving. It is often convenient to keep such gruels hot for use in the night, being improved rather than harmed by the long cooking. Care must then be taken that they are hot, not merely warm. Milk is considered scalding hot when a thick skin forms on the top and bubbles appear next the pan, or when it registers 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Oatmeal Gruel

¹⁄₂ cup rolled oats
3 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
Milk to taste

Put the oatmeal, salt and water into a cooker-pan, boil it five minutes and set it in a cooker for eight or ten hours over a cooker-pail of boiling water. Rub it through a strainer, dilute it with hot milk and pour it again through a strainer.

Barley Flour Gruel

1 cup water
3 tablespoons barley flour
3 tablespoons cold water
¹⁄₂ cup milk
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt

Mix the barley and cold water to a paste, add the boiling water and salt, bring it to a boil and cook it over boiling water for one hour or more in a cooker. Strain it, dilute it with the milk and heat it over hot water.

Indian Gruel

2 tablespoons meal
1 tablespoon flour
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold water
3 cups boiling water
Milk or cream

Mix the flour and meal, add the cold water and add this mixture to the boiling, salted water. Boil it and let it cook over boiling water in a cooker for ten hours; strain it, add the milk or cream, heat it over hot water and serve it. Or less water may be used for the long cooking and more milk or cream be added before serving.

Arrowroot Gruel

1 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons Bermuda arrowroot
1 tablespoon cold water
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt

Mix the arrowroot and cold water, add them to the boiling, salted water, let the mixture boil and cook it over boiling water in a cooker for one hour or more.

Pasteurized Milk

There is a certain degree of heat which, if maintained for a sufficient period of time, will destroy disease germs and certain other harmful germs which tend to spoil milk, while at the same time it is not high enough to cause the delicate flavour of raw milk to disappear. Bringing milk to this exact condition is called “pasteurizing” it. Into feeding bottles put the amount of milk that is to be used at one time. Plug them with sterilized (baked) cotton. Stand them on a rack in a cooker-pail, surrounded, to the depth of the milk, with warm water. Gradually raise the temperature till the milk in the bottles registers 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover the pail, and set it in a cooker for from twenty minutes to half an hour or more. Remove the bottles, cool quickly and keep the milk in a cold place, but not freezing, till needed. Do not remove the milk from the bottles if it is used for feeding infants. If used for adults do not remove it until it is to be used. Pasteurized milk will keep for a long time without souring, but is dangerous unless continuously kept very cold. Milk to be kept hot in a cooker for use in the night, should be put in while scalding hot, not merely pasteurized, since “any device for keeping milk [merely] warm should never be used.”[3]

[3] “Bacteria in Milk,” by L. A. Rogers. Yearbook of the Department of
Agriculture, 1907, p. 194.

Rice and Milk

¹⁄₄ cup rice
1¹⁄₄ cups milk
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt

Bring the ingredients to a boil in a cooker-pan, set it over boiling water and put it into a cooker for one hour or more.

Peptonized Beef Broth

¹⁄₄ lb. lean beef
1 cup water
¹⁄₄ tube Fairchild’s peptogenic powder

Remove all fat from the meat, chop it fine and heat it with the water until it boils, stirring it constantly. Drain off the liquid and grind the meat to a paste with a mortar and pestle. Put it, with the liquid and Fairchild’s powder, or its equivalent, into a sterilized glass can, close it and shake all together vigorously till it is well mixed. Stand the jar with the cover laid on it, but not fastened securely, on a low rack in a cooker-pail of warm water. Place it over moderate heat until the water is 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover it and put it into a cooker for three hours. Warm the cooker-nest, previously, with a pail of boiling water set into it for half an hour. Take out the broth, put it into a saucepan and quickly bring it to a boil. If it is for a very sick patient it should be strained. Keep it cold unless it is used immediately. Add one-fourth teaspoonful of salt before serving it.

Peptonized Milk

¹⁄₂ pt. fresh milk
¹⁄₄ cup water
¹⁄₂ tube Fairchild’s peptogenic powder

Put the powder with the water, which has been boiled and cooled, into a sterilized pint glass can, and shake them until the powder is dissolved. Add the milk and shake it slightly again. Put the can into a cooker-pail of warm water and heat it over a moderate fire until the water is 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Set it into a previously warmed cooker for from ten to thirty minutes. If it remains too long it will develop an unpleasant flavour. When done, remove it to a saucepan and bring it quickly to a boil. Keep it in a cold place if it is not used immediately.

Apple Water

1 large sour apple
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup boiling water

Wash the apple thoroughly; cut it into pieces, removing the core but not the skin. Bring it to a boil in the water; cook it over boiling water in a cooker for two hours or more. Strain it through a wire strainer and add the sugar. Serve it cold.

Barley Water

3 tablespoons barley
2 cups cold water
Salt
Lemon juice
Sugar

Pick over the barley and soak it over night or for several hours. Bring it to a boil and put it into a cooker for eight hours. Strain it, add salt, sugar and lemon juice to taste. Serve it hot.