CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- If you like to read cookbooks, an entertaining outing awaits you in the Culture Center on the Capitol grounds.

The library and archives of West Virginia Division of Culture and History has a section of about 80 historic state cookbooks on its shelves. The cookbooks date from 1829 to modern cookbooks from West Virginia authors such as Lucy Bennett Smoot of Madison, who chronicled her cooking experiences from the Depression through the 1960s.

A fragile 1863 copy of "Confederate Receipt Book" features recipes and tips for making do during the lean war years. Antique cookbooks often refer to recipes as "receipts," a term that might be unfamiliar to modern cooks, but Merriam-Webster Dictionary still lists "recipe" as the first definition for "receipt."

Older cookbooks usually contained household tips as well as recipes for remedies like cough syrup and foods for invalids. "West Virginia's Treasured Recipes" produced by the extension Homemakers Council includes a sore throat remedy that used lard, turpentine, kerosene and Vick's salve. It was applied to the throat, not ingested, but still. Turpentine and kerosene?

A mouse must have nibbled the corner of "Old Timey Recipes," which was printed in 1920. Recipes for homebrew and moonshine appear under the heading "Whiskey and Beer." Find hog jowl and turnip greens and persimmon pudding in other sections.

The tome "Mackenzie's Five Thousand Receipts," published in 1829, is a comprehensive guide to running a household and to feeding its occupants. Chapter heads include Agriculture, Bleaching, Diseases, Farriery, Gardening, Metallurgy, Pickles & Preserves, Watercolors and Perfumery.

For acceptance into the archives, cookbooks should be written by a West Virginian or be about West Virginia. Most copies have been donated, often from family collections. The Confederate cookbook bears an inscription in spidery handwriting saying, "My Father's when in Dixie," presumably referring to the owner's southern residence.

Anyone can peruse the cookbooks in Archives and History, located in the West Virginia Culture Center on the Capitol grounds. They're shelved in the stacks, but a librarian will retrieve them as requested. Look through the card catalog or online for specific titles or under general subject headings.

Women's groups printed a flurry of local cookbooks in the early 1900s as a way to raise money for churches, charities and organizations. The women who submitted the recipes are usually credited, but they were identified by their husband's names. Sally Smith would be "Mrs. Harold Smith."

Most contain advertisements from local businesses that offer a window into home lives of the era and divert the reader from the recipes.

"I've dated a book produced by the Baptist Temple as 1907 or 1908. It didn't list a date, but I based it on an advertisement in it for wallpaper," said librarian Susan Scouras. "An advertisement for wallpaper says, 'Our 1908 line is now ready.' "

She's not sure if it was given to all brides who were married at the Kanawha County Courthouse, but "Brides Cookbook" appears to have been given out by the County Clerk's office. Printed in 1934 by Rose City Press, the comprehensive cookbook has an advertisement from Charleston Broom Manufacturers, still in business today.

The book contains both practical and gourmet recipes for tomato aspic, hasenpfeffer, "Tipsy Parson" dessert and Charlotte Russe as well as tips for cleaning marble and silver.

"The Wesleyan College Clubs Cook Book" also catered toward more refined palettes and entertaining styles with lots of recipes for oysters. Knox Gelatin clearly sponsored the publication -- its tagline ran across the top of every page -- but many local businesses placed advertisements.

"Many older cookbooks have advertisements for druggists because they sold spices and extracts," Scouras said. "They compounded them and would have their own vanilla extract." An advertisement for Roth Drug Co. on Washington Street listed 2 ounces of pure vanilla extract for 25 cents.

The advertisements also give clues to the clothing styles, appliances, tools and services available to women of the era. Mrs. S.A. Motley of Charleston Street offered "up-to-date millinery," one of seven millinery advertisers in an early 1900s Charleston cookbook. "Your husband's dinner will be more satisfactory to him if he follows it with a good cigar," reads an ad by Harry A. Hawkins of No. 4 Arcade.

Eskew, Smith & Cannon, still in business today on Smith Street, advertised "Everything for the Kitchen" in its line of refrigerators and freezers and NuWay Cleaners, also still in business, recommended itself "To all Economical Housewives who want the Best."

"You can see what women were supposed to be. They were queens of cleanliness and paragons of virtue," Scouras said

Recipes in old newspapers diverted archive employees when they were reviewing microfilm of newspapers produced in each county during World War I and II. They were looking for names of fallen soldiers to add to the memorial on the Capitol grounds when the original was damaged. Wartime food tips caught their eyes.

The recipes mostly featured tips to deal with rationed foods, especially meat. During the war years, the better cuts of meat were processed and sent overseas for the soldiers. On the home front, cooks looked for creative uses for less desirable organ meats.

The food editor for the Beckley News-Herald at the time ran recipes for liver pancakes, beef tongue with cherry sauce, brains scrambled with eggs and veal hearts and noodles. Liver loaf recipes abounded. Scouras shuddered when she recalled a recipe for liver meatballs suspended in gelatin.

Inconsistent, archaic measurement systems in older recipes can thwart a modern cook. One book offered translations. A "slow oven" is 300-325 degrees. A "very hot" oven is 450 to 500 degrees. Butter measurements were listed as a "filbert nut" (1 teaspoon), a "butternut" (1 desert teaspoon) and a "hen's egg" (2 ounces).

"These are books and recipes that you're not going to be able to find elsewhere," said Scouras. "We keep things that are considered ephemeral by others. We're looking at the past, but thinking of the future and what people might research."

Archives and History Library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday with a later closing on Thursdays at 8 p.m. Call 304-558-0230 or visit wvculture.org or West-Virginia-Archives-and-History on Facebook.

Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.

Chow-Chow

3                quarts green tomatoes

12              cucumbers

3                red peppers

1                head cabbage or cauliflower

1                pint small onions

3/4             cup salt

1                cup brown sugar

1 1/2          quarts vinegar

4                tablespoons mustard seed

1 1/2          tablespoons whole allspice

1 1/2          tablespoons pepper berries

2                tablespoon whole cloves

CUT vegetables into small pieces. Cover with salt and let stand for 24 hours. Drain.

HEAT sugar, vinegar and spices to boiling point. Add vegetables and cook until soft.

PACK in sterilized jars and seal.

Source: Mildred Zinn of Tucker County in "West Virginia Treasured Recipes"

Scrapple

2 1/2          cups yellow cornmeal

6 1/4          cups water

1                tablespoon brown sugar

2                teaspoons salt

1/2             pound cooked pork or sausage

BLEND cornmeal in 2 cups water. Boil remaining 4 1/4 cups water. Add blended cornmeal mixture, sugar, salt and pork/sausage to water. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

POUR mixture into well-greased mold or pan. Allow to set up.

SLICE and brown on both sides in a skillet over medium to low heat.

SERVE with maple syrup

Source: Mrs. Ben Teter of Upshur County in "West Virginia Treasured Recipes"

Baked Hominy Grits

1                quart milk

1/2             cup butter

1/3             cup butter, melted

1                cup hominy grits

1                teaspoon salt

1/2             teaspoon pepper

1                cup grated gruyere cheese

1/3             cup parmesan cheese

BRING milk to a slow boil. Add 1/2 cup butter and salt and stir in grits. Cook until mixture looks like cooked farina cereal.

REMOVE from heat. Beat hard with mixer for 5 minutes, or until grits take on creamy appearance.

POUR into loaf pan to cool. Cut into rectangular pieces.

PILE squares into a buttered casserole. Pour 1/3 butter over squares and sprinkle with cheeses.

BAKE in 400 degree oven 30 to 35 minutes.

Source: Mrs. D.M. Gould of Logan in "West Virginia Centennial Cook Book"

U.S. Senate Bean Soup

3                quarts water

2                cups white beans, dry

1                ham bone with little meat remaining

1/4             cup mashed potatoes

3                onions, chopped

1                celery, small bunch

1                clove garlic, minced

1/4             cup parsley, chopped

SOAK beans overnight in water. Add ham bone and simmer two hours.

ADD remaining ingredients and simmer one hour. Remove bone and chop any meat. Add meat to soup before serving.

Dilly Casserole Bread

1                package active dry yeast

1/4             cup warm water

1                cup creamed cottage cheese, heated to lukewarm

2                tablespoons sugar

1                tablespoon instant minced onion

1                tablespoon butter

2                teaspoons dill seed

1                teaspoon salt

1/4             teaspoon baking soda

1                egg, unbeaten

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

SOFTEN yeast in warm water. In mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, sugar, onion, butter, dill seed, salt, baking soda, egg and softened yeast. 

ADD flour gradually to form stiff dough, beating well after each addition. Use mixer on low speed for first addition of flour, then beat by hand for remaining additions.

COVER and let dough rise in warm place (85 to 90 degrees) until light and doubled in size, about 1 hour.

STIR down dough. Turn into well-greased 8-inch round casserole dish.

BAKE at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

REMOVE from oven, brush with soften butter and sprinkle with salt.

Source: "Breakfast at Sunrise"