Martha Washington had a large household as did most women
in early America. It was not unusual to have twelve or
fourteen children, grandparents and maiden aunts as well as
a guest or two at the table. Her rich black cake calls for
twenty eggs, two pounds of butter and two pounds of sugar and
a quart of cream.

The recipe that fascinates me most is the Syllabub From Under
The Cow.
1 quart of cream
1 cup of white wine
2 Tablespoons rose water
1 sprig of rosemary
6 Tablespoons sugar
l whole nutmeg
Rind of half a lemon
salt

Then the mixture is taken to a cow and warm milk directly
from the cow makes it froth. Can't you just see the servant
running to find a cow. It boggles my mind to think that
these syllabubs were set aside until the milk curdles. I
don't think you would have to wait long because the wine
would surely curdle the milk almost instantly.

Ladies were restricted to syrup of violets or some other
innocous drink but men frequently had a couple of mint juleps
at breakfast, a bracer at mid morning and a couple of
toddys with lunch and a stiffener in the middle of the
afternoon and wine with dinner.

This is of course for the Virginia elite. The slaves and
the bound girls and bound men just worked and waited on
the fortunate. There were fourteen slaves in the household.
It sounds outrageous but it was in another time. Martha
worked hard making medicines, possets, perfume, syrups from
every imaginable fruit and preserves from the same. When
you factor in sewing, laundry, candle making etc that the
slaves were able to do, it sounds pretty labor intensive
to me.

Three cheers for all of our labor saving devices and
super markets!
everything imaginable