10,000 useful household recipes

I have been enthralled by something I stumbled on completely by accident. Henley’s Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes And Processes was published in 1916 and contains “ten thousand selected household and workshop formulas, recipes, processes and money-saving methods for the practical use of manufacturers, mechanics, housekeepers and home workers.”

I haven’t gone through all of the recipes and formulas yet, but I did scroll through the list. Some of them look completely beyond me. I just have no use for dental cements, for example.

But some of the things sound amazing and I’d love to give them a try:

Ginger Beer and Ginger Ale

How to Refinish a Gas Fixture

Chewing Gum Manufacture

Make Your Own Worchestershire Sauce

And, are five Substitutes For Coffee enough? (Henley warns to watch out for too much chicory in your coffee, too: “the continual use of roasted chicory, or highly chicorized coffee, seldom fails to weaken the powers of digestion and derange the bowels.”)

I’m seriously considering making some of the beverages or the confections that are in the book. I will keep you posted!