.for those who savor the look and flavors of yesterday's kitchen.
December 2008
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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.
According to Brian Alexander, the author of "Spiffy Kitchen Collectibles," Krause Publications, 2003, "Vintage mold pans come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many were created to help celebrate holidays, birthdays or other events. The mold shape sometimes helps determine the event to be celebrated. Others had themes such as animals, flowers, shells, or rings. Most pans from the 1930s to 1960s came with colorful and graphically interesting labels or packaging. These materials usually provided information on product use and recipes. Today, it's unusual to find a mold pan with the original labeling but if you do expect to pay about 35% more. Mold pans with a figural shape or having the design of a well known licensed character also have a higher collector value."
I have always loved figural mold pans. I think it started with my grandmother's famous Jello Salad Mold which was given prominent placement on our Thanksgiving table. Every year she would amaze us with her concoctions of Jello, fruit cocktail, raisins, nuts and coconut. When I was very young I actually thought she put it together with a magic wand like the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. As I grew older and realized it wasn't quite magical, I tried to learn the skill of creating a beautiful mold myself. I use the word skill because it does take a certain skill to do it successfully, and I soon found out that I wasn't very good at it no matter how hard I tried. However, I was still an admirer of the pans. They were bright, shiny, interesting and just plain fun to look at.
As I grew older and had my own home, I loved them because they made decorating my kitchen so cheap. I could find them at thrift stores and garage sales, and there was no end to how many different kinds I could scavenge. In today's society, I know you don't see very many Jello molds on holiday tables, but the mold pan has not lost its usefulness. I'm a strong believer in recycling old things in different ways and with some imagination the mold pan can show up almost anywhere. Here are some hints for recycling these loved pieces of kitchenalia.
Grind or chop leftover turkey, the amount is up to you. Add cold, diced or mashed potatoes, leftover dressing, and such seasoning as chopped green pepper, a dash of curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, prepared mustard or catsup. Or for elegance add canned or chopped sautéed fresh mushrooms. (You can pretty much put in whatever you think will taste good.) Moisten well with leftover gravy or stock made from simmering the turkey bones. You can make a flour and butter paste and add turkey stock (if you've saved it) to make a smooth sauce for moistening too. Spread in a skillet and brown. Fold over like an omelet and serve proudly.
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? Wearever Aluminum Melon Mold
This is an aluminum mold made by the Wearever Aluminum Company in the 1950s. This shape mold dates back to the 1920s and when first made by the company had a bottom to it. I don't know when exactly the company dropped the bottom. This was a very popular mold for making gelatin desserts and Christmas puddings. The one shown here has the original box and was never used which does increase its value. The book value is $15-$18. Market value because of its rarity and condition would be $20-$25.00.
Food Fashion: Aluminum Molds
The first one shown is a West Bend Easy Out Ring Mold. Ring molds of gelatin, fruit cocktail, nuts and other sundries were a staple at any holiday or party dinner in the 1950s. This one was produced in the 1940s and 1950s. It has instructions for removing the gelatin salad from the mold imbedded in the metal. Book Value is $18.00-$20.00. Market value is about the same. The second is a set of small decorative copper colored molds made by Color Craft in Indianapolis, Indiana in the 1950s and1960s. These were meant to help you decorate your kitchen as well as serving a functional purpose. Book Value is $15.00-$18.00. Since they are on the original packaging, the market value would range from $20.00-$25.00.
The third is an aluminum loaf mold or baking pan from West Germany. This could be used for gelatin, cakes or breads. I don't know the exact age but it is older, has some wear from use and markets for $8.00-$12.00. The fourth is a small Christmas tree mold that could have been made by Mirro, Chilton, Wearever, or any number of companies in the 1950s. These small molds came in all sorts of shapes like hearts, bells, rings, melons, and card shapes just to name a few. They are fairly easy to find and market for about $1.00-$3.00.
6. Mama's Kitchen Stories
When I think of childhood Christmases, it is always connected to the smell of cedar, oranges, cloves, and cinnamon. My father would cut down a big cedar tree and we would decorate it with popcorn and construction paper garlands and the few ornaments we had. My brothers and I would finish it off with the tinsel so it was usually pretty messy looking. It didn't matter because we had a Noma star on top and to us it was magical. My mama would put out the nativity set and after we finished the tree we would all get in the car and go see the living Nativity set up at one of the funeral homes. There was a real cow and donkey that we could pet if they came to the fence. It still fills me with a feeling of reverence when I think about it. The anticipation of Santa Claus would build until we could hardly sit still or sleep. We would write letters to Santa addressed to the North Pole and make a special trip into town to mail them. We never doubted that he got them.
There was one year that I had a wish so precious I never told anyone about it, not even Santa. I longed for a Tiny Tears doll. I had never been a little girl to play with dolls. Having three brothers at the time, I was a tomboy and usually asked for new cowboy guns every Christmas. We never expected more than a couple of presents and to us that was a lot. My parents had to stretch what money they had to spare between the four of us. So I wasn't one to get my hopes up about a doll that was probably the most expensive toy around that year. Even at the age of four, I had figured out that only the rich kids in town would see Tiny Tears on Christmas morning.
A few days before Christmas my mama asked me what I wanted Santa Claus to bring me. I remember longing to tell her but couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth. She looked at me for a long time and then said, "Santa Claus will know what you want." Christmas morning came and there under the tree was Tiny Tears in her case with her outfit and bottle. She was wonderful. She cried and wet herself. Mama patiently showed me how to feed her and change her. I had never been happier in all of my four years. Tiny Tears was everything I had dreamed she would be even if you had to hold her upside down and shake her to make the tears. That was the day I knew Santa Claus was real and could see into my heart. It was also the day I realized that Santa Claus was someone who loved me and had looked into my eyes that day in the kitchen and seen my Christmas wish.
Do you have a kitchen memory to share. Please send it to Mama at mamas@tias.com
7. Kitchen Tips
To make hamburger patties use the closed end of a No. 2 ½ can to mash the patties flat and the use the open end to trim around the patties so they will be perfectly round.
Alyssa Wrote:
While I am frying things, I turn those throw away pie pans upside down over the other burners on the stove and it keeps them clean. It's easier to wash the pans than clean the grease off the burners.
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 700 items have recently been reduced 15%-40%. New items coming to Mama's Treasures include: Children's Aluminum and Plastic Dishes, Child's Corning Ware Plastic Cooking Set, Aluminum Coffeepots and Grease Cans, Texasware Mixing Bowls, Pincushions and Buttons, Owens Illinois Refrigerator Water Jar, Androck Fish tongs, Wearever Steak Platter NIB, Red and White Enamel Pans, Aluminum Turkey Lifter, Table Linens, ArtBeck Basters, Thanksgiving Postcards, Pink Ekco Meat Fork, Kitchen Utensil Lots, Rosette and Timbale Irons, Aluminum Sieves with Pestle, Wesson Oil Mayonnaise Beater Jars, Lattice Pie Cutters, Hazel Atlas Nut Grinders and Foley Choppers, Mirro Cookie Presses, Pyrex Double Boilers, Bakelite Utensils, Pyrex Bowls and Casseroles, Foley Forks, Vintage Christmas Elves, Christmas Houses and Nativity Figures, Springerle Dough Board and Rolling Pins, Swanky Swigs, Aprons, Vintage Cookbooks, 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
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