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Food for Babies

A thin gruel made from Graham flour, lime water, and condensed milk for infants.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Food for Babies

one quart

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Make a thin gruel of Graham flour, thoroughly cooked and strained through a very fine sieve or cloth.

  2. Add one tablespoon of lime water to one quart of gruel and mix.

  3. Add condensed milk in the proportion of a teaspoonful to one quart while the child is quite young.

  4. Increase the condensed milk to a full tablespoonful as early as four months and afterwards as the child may require.

By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Graham flour (in the method)
Forms the thin gruel base that provides the bulk and nutrition of the feed.
Lime water
Adds a mildly alkaline element that is mixed into the finished gruel.
Condensed milk (in the method)
Adds sweetness and richness to the gruel, with the amount increased as the child grows.

The step that matters

Straining the gruel. Thorough cooking and straining through a very fine sieve or cloth break down the flour and remove coarse particles, so the gruel is smooth and easy for an infant to swallow.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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