.for those who savor the look and flavors of yesterday's kitchen.
August 2008
VISIT TIAS.com
·
CONTACT!
Having problems viewing this newsletter? Perhaps you see little red 'x's instead of pictures? If so, click here to read the newsletter online!
Automatic unsubscribe link at bottom of page. Just click on it to be removed from this mailing list. If you can't get the unsub link to work, type "remove" in the subject line and send this entire newsletter back to us.
Read all of our newsletters on the Web at or we can send you a copy via RSS. See: http://www.tias.com/other/aboutRss.html.
1. Welcome! Mama's Kitchen is a free newsletter about kitchen collectibles. This newsletter is designed to be entertaining and educational, but also a dialogue among those who have a fondness for kitchen items of all kinds. I hope you'll join us for a few memories, giggles, laughs and some useful information about kitchen collectibles. I am not an expert in any field, but I have been buying and selling kitchen items for over 9 years and loving them for a lifetime. Remember collecting anything should be fun. This is especially true when you can use your collection on a daily basis. Please let me know if there is a particular item you would like featured in upcoming issues.
Aluminum cooking utensils were one of the product categories the new company was most interested in. Despite their unique appeal they met with great resistance. Compared to the traditional cast iron and porcelain enamelware utensils, they were more expensive. Unaccustomed to utensils of such unusually light weight, women were inclined to regard them with distrust and suspicion. However, the company persevered and in 1903 the trade name Wear-Ever was adopted. Aluminum would have a future as bright and shiny as the metal itself. It would take half a century to accomplish, but by the 1950s new technologies would make aluminum the most popular household metal for utensils and cookware.
Other companies were being developed during this time. The Mirro aluminum company was started in 1895 under the name of the Aluminum Manufacturing Company which eventually became the Aluminum Goods Manufacturing Company. They started mass producing aluminum cookware in 1913. The brand name, Mirro, appeared nationally in 1917 in cookware advertisements. By 1924 there were at least forty manufacturers of stamped and cast aluminum cookware. Names that are immediately recognized today are Regal Ware, West Bend, Club and Northland.
In the mid-century it was not unusual for almost every houseware in the kitchen to be made of aluminum. We had aluminum utensils, glasses, cups, coffeepots, cookware, pressure cookers, salt and pepper shakers, spice sets, canisters and grease cans. From the plain silver look, it progressed to imprinted decorations and finally colorful anodized aluminum. Today we're seeing a growing popularity among collectors to reclaim this treasured metal. Not only for a decorative purpose but to use in kitchens today. The most troubling aspect is finding it in good condition. Aluminum housewares were literally used to death and then thrown away.
Cut three medium sized cucumbers in half lengthwise, pare and scoop out inside saving the pulp. Salt shells lightly and place close together in a buttered pan. Mix the pulp with 1 cup chopped tomato, 1 small onion minced, 1 ½ cups minced cooked chicken, 1 tablespoon tomato catsup, 1 teaspoon salt, Ό teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon sugar, and paprika to your taste. In a pan melt 1 tablespoon butter and add 1 tablespoon of flour, stirring until smooth. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Add to pulp mixture and fill cucumber shells. Bake in a moderate oven (350 Degrees) for 20 to 25 minutes. Cover with browned butter crumbs.
"The Prudence Penny Regional Cookbook," Edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Consolidated Book Publishers, 1949.
If you have a favorite recipe to share, please send it to mamas@tias.com and we'll pass it along.
4. What is it? Aluminum Shot Glass
This is an aluminum shot glass that was made for the souvenir market. During the late 1950s and early 1960s the aluminum manufacturing market was targeted to every kind of household product. Regular shot and drinking glasses were produced but there was also money to be made in the souvenir market.
The plastics industry also quickly honed in on this market especially for salt and pepper shakers and glasses of all kind. I remember them being sold in roadside motels and cabins along Route 66. You also saw a lot of them in Dime stores and at Carnivals. This one is for Medora, North Dakota. I don't think there is a book value on it and it would sell for about $5.00 to $10.00 depending on condition.
I'm hoping you can help me find some cups to a set that I have inherited from my mom. She got the dishes in the late 40's, early 50's when she would attend a movie show. The manufacturer is Cronin and the description is Colonial People in Center, with Gold Trim.
Judy says you can find it at Replacements Limited .com. Just look for pattern #C012.
Do you have an odd piece of kitchenalia that you'd care to share or ask others to help you identify? Just e-mail a picture and your thoughts to mamas@tias.com and we'll post it and any responses here.
Kitchen Cannisters and Jars The first is a Wearever aluminum cup which most people buy to use. They hold about one cup. You would often find them in the well house or hanging by the pump in the backyard or in the kitchen if you were lucky. They are still sought after and a lot of my customers tell me they want them to use. You hardly ever find them in mint condition. Aluminum got used a lot and it dinged easily. As far as I know there is no book value on any of these items I'm featuring, but they are all very popular because people still want to use or collect them. The cup sells for about $ $5.00-$10.00 depending on the condition. The second shown is a baby cup. It is very popular with collectors. They sometimes just had the word, Baby, but more often there was also some kind of theme such as animals or the circus. This one just has the word and it sells for $6.00-$10.00 depending on condition. I've seen themed ones marked as high as $20.00 in some parts of the country.
The third is a dipper which is marked Priscillaware. I don't know what company produced it. I've seen other ones marked Mirro but they had wood handles. Most are not marked at all. People love them for decorations or even to use at cabins. They market for $8.00-15.00. The last shown is a child's dipper. Aluminum dishes, pots, pans and utensils made for children were a big item in the toy market. I had sets myself. They are not as easy to find and it's a big collector's item. These dippers are priced from $8.00-$15.00 depending on condition.
6. Mama's Kitchen Stories
Summer always makes me think of endless days, catching lightning bugs, and listening to the crickets as I fell asleep. It also meant my Mama had more time to spend with us. It wasn't that she was any less busy, but more inclined to do things for herself. She didn't have to cook great big meals because the heat in the kitchen would have been unbearable. We didn't have air conditioning.
We ate a lot of easy meals that she could whip up in no time at all like bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches with potato salad. Summer meant fresh vegetables from the garden and there was nothing better that biting into a tomato you took right off the plant. We would sit in the kitchen snapping beans or husking corn and it was one of the times she would let her mind wander to when she was a young girl. She would tell me what it was like to go to a one room school, stories of my Great Grandmother, Corrine, who spoke in French but cursed in English because that way it didn't count, and what it was like to grow up in the log cabin my Grandfather built.
Some days she would pack up sandwiches and we would go to Black River, find a gravel bar, and spend the day fishing, swimming, and catching crawdads. The work that didn't get done, she would do late at night after we were fast asleep. She would take us berry picking where we would make ourselves sick eating blackberries and then she would make the most delicious cobbler and jelly.
During the evening hours we would walk down the road to visit my Grandparents or Aunts and Uncles. The thing I remember the best is her head sticking out of the kitchen door yelling for my brothers and me to come home. We never wandered far but it was understood that we had better come when she called. As I remember my Mama, I realize I never see her in any other room but the kitchen. It was the place she was the most comfortable. The funny thing is that I never see her just sitting but always busy with something or someone. She made everything look effortless although I know it wasn't. I'm 60 years old but sometimes in the early evening at dusk I'll sit on my deck and watch the lightning bugs flicker, listen to the crickets, and still hear my mother calling me home.
Do you have a kitchen memory to share. Please send it to Mama at mamas@tias.com
7. Kitchen Tips
Have you ever wanted one baked potato and hated to heat the oven. A coffee can with an old jar lid inside for the potato to rest on is a great answer. Just put it on top of the stove at the lowest flame possible and in 20 minutes, you'll have a perfect baked potato.
Jane from Nevada wrote:
To get rid of sweater knots, just use fine sandpaper and sand away. It will get rid of the knots and the sweater will look like new.
Have you got a great kitchen tip or question, please send it along to mamas@tias.com
8. What's New at Mama's Treasures
Joining my mailing list at Mama's Treasures makes you eligible for promotional coupons and advance notice of sales. Over 800 items have recently been reduced 15%-40%. I've just returned from a buying trip and will be listing lots of new items over the next couple of months. New items coming to Mama's Treasures include: Wesson Oil Mayonnaise Beater Jars, Lattice Pie Cutters, Federal, Anchor and Hazel Atlas Drinking Glasses, Decorative Japan and Bavaria Plates, Becoware Enamel Refrigerator Dish, Federal Nut Grinders and Choppers, Fire King Modern Tulip and Red Dot Splash Bowls, Mirro Cookie Presses, Texasware, Hazel Atlas Jelly Jars, Pyrex Double Boilers, Bakelite Utensils, Mendets on Original Card, Pyrex Bowls and Cassseroles, Anchor Green Stripe Barrel Salt and Pepper Shakers, Fruit Plates, Foley Forks, Vintage Christmas Elves, Japan Christmas Houses and Nativity Figures, Calumet Cake Pans, Aluminum Dippers, Springerle Dough Board, Swanky Swigs, Vintage Cookbooks, Aluminum Egg Alarm, Milk Bottles, Needle Books, Aluminum Molds, Bisquick Recipe Box, Red and Green Knob Cutters, Lustroware Salt and Pepper NIP, Primitive Wood Spoons, Pyrex Flameware Teapots, Vintage Cameras, and so much more!!!!! Drop by and visit me at www.tias.com/stores/mamas. I love to chat, answer questions and I always consider reasonable offers.
Drop by and visit me at www.tias.com/stores/mamas I love to chat, answer questions and I always consider reasonable offers.
9. Helpful Resources
To subscribe to From Mama's Kitchen, click here
To subscribe to other TIAS newsletters: http://tias.com/subscribe
Thank you for reading!
Thanks for reading! Feel free to forward this to a friend.
