Apple Muffins

July 9, 2020

During the covid-19 crisis, I, like many others around the world, am learning to cook and bake.

Through my research as a Canadian history student on sugar rationing during the Second World War, I have had the opportunity to view a few victory cookbooks. Victory cookbooks were made specifically during wartime and have been written with the war effort in mind. These cookbooks contain recipes altered to fit the requirements of rationing and conservation. Many of these cookbooks included helpful hints creating an efficient kitchen and optimizing nutrition in rationed meals. Marked with grease spots, remnants of flour dust and personally adapted with handwritten notes, commentary and additional recipes, these cookbooks were well loved by their previous owners. While my studies did not call for me to test out these recipes, I was nevertheless curious about how they would taste and how they compared to current day recipes. So before the covid crisis began, I began to discuss the possibility of testing them out and sharing the results with whoever was interested in taking this journey with me. It was during the pandemic, though, that the idea really began to take shape and my culinary journey began. I began documenting this project online, at www.recipes4victory.com.

I wanted to share with you the very first ration recipe I tried because it has found a special place in my heart and I’ve returned to it as a personal favourite. These apple muffins are an excellent example of successful adaption. Apples were plentiful in Canada during both world wars and their sweetness made them an excellent substitute for sugar. This recipe is simple, efficient, and effective, and is the perfect example of ingenuity.

It seems particularly relevant during this time of crisis. Canadians (and the whole world for that matter) are once again asked to disrupt their normal routines, not for a distant far off war, but for the invisible threat of a pandemic. Hoarding and profiteering behaviour has resulted from the fear of shortages and enforced isolation. The Canadian public has been asked to practice volunteer rationing and cooperate with social isolation measures with the general threat that more government intervention will be enacted if they do not adhere to guidelines. Corporations have stepped in to police this behaviour as well, enforcing company policies limiting quantities of commonly hoarded items such as toilet paper, hand soap, sanitizing cleaners, and baking supplies. Social distancing line markers and viral face shields have been adopted in essential service stores to ensure that everyone is guided to do their part and keep all citizens safe and healthy.

I think we have a lot to learn from the women who served the home front during the Second World War. These “housoldiers” contributed to the national war effort through adaptation and resilience through the war’s many challenges. Many of these women had loved ones serving overseas and did not know whether they would ever see them again, yet they persevered and pushed onward toward the future, despite not knowing what lay ahead for them or their families. They prepared for the worst, but hoped for the best.

I am so glad I turned to these women’s ration recipes during this time of uncertainty and complexity. Not only have I learned new skills in the kitchen, but I have learned adapt to a changing reality, to keep focused on the task at hand and not get hung up on the future, to conserve and make do with what I already have (because who wants to go shopping during the pandemic if they don’t have to). These lessons will stay with me for the rest of my life.

4 tbsps. shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar (for the batter)
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 cups flour
3 1/2 tsps. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tbsps. sugar (for the spice mix)
1 cup chopped apple

Cream shortening and sugar, add egg. Sift flour and baking powder and add, alternating with milk. Add 1 cup apple. Mix salt, spices and sugar (2 tablespoons) together, add one half to batter, and the other half to the top of the batter after it has been placed in the muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Brandi Adams is a Canadian history student studying rationing and consumer history during the Second World War at the University of Regina.