Convenience Foods 1910 Style

With my love of When Calls the Heart comes a fascination of this time in our nation’s food history. Did you ever wonder when some of the convenience foods we eat today were introduced?

Some new processed foods began to be introduced, such as:

• Aunt Jemima syrup
• Hellmann’s mayonnaise
• Oreo cookies
• Crisco
• Marshmallow Fluff
• Nathan’s hot dogs

In 1906, Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company (W.K. Kellogg Company) was founded by Will Keith Kellogg. Their first product was breakfast cereal, namely corn flakes.

In 1910, Ward Baking Company of Chicago, Illinois, opened the first automatic bread factory. The bread, from start to finish, was untouched by human hands, until it was placed in the wrapping machine.

Just prior to 1910, several canned and convenience foods were introduced, such as:

1909 (or 1912) Nabisco debuts the Oreo cookie.
1900 Wesson Oil, Hershey bars, Hills Bros coffee
1901 Cliquot Club Ginger Ale, White Rose Ceylon Tea, NECCO Wafers (candy)
1902 Barnum’s Animal Crackers, Presto self-rising cake flour, Salada Tea, Karo Corn Syrup, NECCO Conversation Hearts
1903 Canned tuna
1904 Banana Splits, Swans Down Cake Flour, Campbell’s Pork & Beans, French’s Cream Salad Mustard, Dr. Pepper
1905 Heinz Baked Beans, Hebrew National frankfurters, Royal Crown Cola, Ovomaltine (renamed Ovaltine)
1906 Planters Nuts, Hot dogs (name, not the actual food), Post Toasties, A-1 Sauce, hot fudge sundaes, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
1907 LeSeur peas, Hershey Kisses, Canada Dry Pale Dry Ginger Ale
1908 Tea bags, French Dip sandwich, Hershey bars with almonds
1909 Melitta drip coffeemaker, Idaho Spud Bar (candy)

Are there any foods on this list that surprise you?

I wonder how travel and such affected places like Hope Valley (note town name change this season from Coal Valley). Being removed from bigger cities must have made the availability of these new foods somewhat limited. It certainly would have been a change to leave Hamilton, Elizabeth’s hometown where, from what we see, is a thriving city to move to the tiny town of Hope Valley. Can you imagine the huge change in her life? Beyond meeting new people, and learning the town, she gave up many conveniences and such. While we can romanticize this move, it must have been hard on those who made it.

Want to make some foods from the show? Here are three recipes for you to try! (Chicken Fried Steak, Buttermilk Biscuits, and Chicken Pot Pie)

 

*Disclosure- I was compensated for this post, but my love for When Calls the Heart is real, and all mine! *