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Miso Soup Traditions

Washing Laundry with Ashes and Climbing Cherry Trees in the Good Old Days …

Domestic Life in the Colonies in the 17th Century

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Miso Soup Traditions

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

I recently posted a recipe for miso soup that Ayako Egawa from Japan helped me with.  When she saw the photo of the bowls and spoons I used to serve it with, she made this comment: "It is interesting you use a spoon for Miso soup, because we use chopsticks for it. And we usually put it in a deep bowl. But of course it is all right! It looks yummy!"

Ayako said (regarding the photo above): "This is my Miso soup bowl. Most Miso soup bowls have beautiful pictures and they have covers."

I said to Ayako:  "That’s interesting that you eat miso soup with chopsticks. Do you drink the broth at the end? Here, in restaurants, we use big, deep spoons to eat it."

Ayako replied: "We drink the broth at the end by putting our mouths on the bowl.  In Japan, it’s not against good manners to do that, especially when eating Japanese food such as Miso soup, Udon or Soba.  We drink western soup with spoons.  In some restaurants, Miso soup may taste better than ours at home.  But the important point is that each family has its own tastes.  Generally people in northern areas prefer red miso and ones in western areas, especially Kyoto areas prefer white miso. But it depends on each family. It’s interesting"

Thanks for sharing that with us Ayako!  Very interesting!

Mama Lisa

Hat tip:  Thanks also to Linda Austin of Cherry Blossom Memories for sharing her Miso traditions too.  Linda’s Mom is from Japan.  She wrote, "My mom insists on using red miso, someday I’ll try white."

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Posted in Cooking, Countries & Cultures, Cuisine, Customs, Domestic Life, Japan, Japanese, Japanese Cuisine, Languages, Miso Soup, Recipes of the World, Soup, USA | 4 Comments »

Washing Laundry with Ashes and Climbing Cherry Trees in the Good Old Days …

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Guest blogger Monique Palomares from France works with me on Mama Lisa’s World en français. Here’s what Monique wrote…

Your blog entry about life in the 17th century reminded me about something my mother would tell us long ago. They seldom used to wash bed sheets and linens in France in the cold weather. That’s why they needed plenty of sheets and towels and napkins, because they would change them regularly, but they wouldn’t wash them until the weather was fine enough to allow the laundry to dry outside.

They would keep the ashes from the fireplace then they would put the sheets in large wooden tubs and they would put finely sieved ashes on top then they would slowly pour hot water on it, over and over again, until the water going out from the bottom of the tub was hot. Then they would rinse the laundry in the nearest stream or river and hang it on strings or wires or spread it on hedges depending on the area.

I’m pretty sure my mother saw it done – maybe it was during WWII when soap wasn’t available. They couldn’t make soap with animal fat, because in the plains they only grew grapes in the vineyards and had a few fruit trees (just like today). So there wasn’t much to eat. They were very happy when they could catch a wild rabbit. At the end of the Spring, when wild edible herbs could be dug up and the fruit on the trees would ripen, my father’s mother would say about her children, “they’re saved for this year”.

People would grow some vegetables in their gardens, but they didn’t have enough land to grow them for large families. Though they wouldn’t go and steal vegetables from other people’s property. But children would go and eat cherries from other people’s cherry trees. My friends and I did it too, it was a “youth thing” then and people wouldn’t call the police. Some would even say, “You know where my cherry tree is, the cherries are ripe but be careful not to break the branches.” Children can climb higher in the trees than adults can even with a ladder, so it’s better that they eat them: because what can’t be picked is left for the birds – though birds must get a living as well! People would grow one or two cherry trees on the side of a vineyard, and those weren’t in a cherry tree orchard for the cherries to be picked and sold. What we wouldn’t do is go eat someone’s peaches, because not a lot of them grow on each tree.

About doing the laundry with ashes, I asked my mom today, and she explained that only “the whites” were washed this way. The way she saw it done was this: the laundry was first let to soak in hot water with soda crystals, then it was hand-washed with soap. Then they would take a large tub that they would line with an old bed sheet and they would pile up the white laundry in layers in the tub. Then they would cover it all with another old sheet and would fold over the corners and rims of the lining sheet on top of everything. They would spread ashes and pour hot water very slowly over it. The water getting out from the bottom of the tub was collected and reheated then poured on top of the laundry again and again, until it would come out hot from the bottom of the tub. Then they would open the whole bunch and would go to rinse it. Not everybody would do it but she said that when she got married (in 1950) some people would still do it.

About the cherry trees: I remember two old single brothers (what I considered “old” then was what is now around my current age…) who didn’t like our eating their cherries. Of course we would prefer to go and eat their cherries because it was more fun; they would yell, “I saw you!” from afar, and we’d have enough time to climb down the tree and run away through the vineyards.

Thanks Monique for sharing that with us! -Lisa

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, Customs, Domestic Life, France, Laundry, Mama Lisa | 1 Comment »

Domestic Life in the Colonies in the 17th Century

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

I love reading about day-to-day life in the olden days! It’s fascinating how it was so different from the modern world.

Project Gutenberg just posted a book to read online or download called Domestic Life in Virginia in the 17th Century. Presumably, it would be similar throughout the North American colonies at that point in time.

Here’s a part I found to be interesting about how they cooked and washed clothes (they didn’t do laundry too often – so they wore a lot of perfume!)…

In the summer months, much of the cooking was done out-of-doors in huge pots slung from a tripod. The food for the servants went into a single pot, and their fare in “pap” was eaten in the open also, when the weather permitted. In the winter and during the cooler months, cooking was done on the hearth of an ample fireplace which customarily took up the greater part of the end of a room. If the family was of modest means, the kitchen area was the heart of the house. Here, in winter, was warmth, food and companionship. As the planter acquired numerous servants and preparation of food became an all-day matter, every day, the kitchen with its companion room, the buttery, was divorced from the house. Under this arrangement, the mistress of the household merely directed the preparation of food, the care of the dairy products, the salting of the meat, and the rendering of the lard.

Before the fire on the great hearth, meat on joints and fowl were trussed on spits, and to some small boy fell the task of keeping the spit turning. A drip-pan placed beneath caught the juices. Bakestones, griddles and clay ovens were at hand to stand on the hot embers, and later, ovens were built into the fireplaces. From cranes, simple at first and later with convenient arrangements for tipping, hung the pots for boiling. Bellows were at hand to enliven dying embers. On a rough table stood the brass mortar and iron pestle for mixing, the flesh-hook for handling meats, brass skimmer, rolling-pin, and other handy cooking utensils. Besides, in an adjoining space, there were pans, butter-pots, tubs and trays for the milk and milk products.

Water, which had to be drawn by hand from wells, except for an occasional windmill, was not a plentiful commodity. Therefore, the washing of clothes was not the semi-weekly operation carried on today with labor-saving devices. For the most part, it was carried on out-of-doors in clear weather, either at a nearby stream, or in the huge pots or tubs possessed by every family. Soap was brought into the Colony, and also was compounded from the animal fats available and the soap-ashes, which were plentiful. After soaking, the clothes were laid on boards and the grime driven out with “beetles” or paddles; then, the garments were hung up or laid out to dry or bleach in the sun. The few housewives, who owned napkin-presses, had the table-linen carefully folded, and placed, when damp, in the press in a pile. The board, screwed down firmly, eliminated the wrinkles, and the linen in some hours was smooth and ready for use. Also, various smoothing-irons and goffering (crimping)-irons, heated on the hearth were applied to garments. In all, however, laundering was a laborious process. Perfume, therefore, was a popular item in milady’s toilet.

Pictures Courtesy of the artist, Sydney R. Jones from Old English Household Life by Jekyll and Jones, published by B. T. Batsford, Ltd., London.

UPDATE: Come read more about Washing Laundry with Ashes and Climbing Cherry Trees in the Good Old Days!

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Posted in Cooking, Countries & Cultures, Customs, Food & Nutrition, Mama Lisa, People, USA | No Comments »

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