How well I remember my mother making Lemon Crackers with the ammonia melting in a tin cup on the back of the stove! Mother’s recipe was lost, but the memory of those delicious crackers did not fade. I was unsuccessful in trying to find a recipe until a relative in my native West Virginia sent one. It was not very specific and, among other things, called for 2 1/2 cents worth of ammonia. How much was that three generations ago?
I asked the Home Economics Department of the State University to modernize the recipe for me, but these experts could give me no help. Years later, in a recipe contest, one of the entries was for Lemon Crackers! Here’s the way it goes:
“Mix together one cup lard, two cups sugar, two eggs, two cups sweet milk, one teaspoon oil of lemon, one-half ounce carbonate ammonia, pulverized and dissolved in a little warm water. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough. Knead well, roll very thin, cut into squares, prick with a fork and bake quickly in a hot oven. Let cool before serving. This makes about five pounds of crackers.”
Salt was not mentioned in either recipe. Guess they just took that for granted.
Mrs. Paul Murdoch
Lincoln, Nebraska
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then CAPPER’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
