Jocelyn Raymond discovered that information about local 19th century daily life was scattered.

Once she had collated the material she gathered, Mrs. Raymond decided to publish it in book form. The result, entitled `Saturday's Children -- A Journey from Darkness into Light, Bermuda 1850' is expected be in local bookstores in March.

A graduate of the Bermuda High School for Girls, McMaster, Toronto and Dalhouse universities, and a former professor at Mount St. Vincent University, Mrs. Raymond has authored two previous books, one on the history of psychology in Canada.

She is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Motyer, and the widow of Mr. Richard Raymond. She has two children, and makes her home in both Canada and Bermuda.

The following article, using information from one chapter of Mrs. Raymond's forthcoming book, gives fascinating insight into mid-19th century culinary habits and tastes.

By the year 1850 revolutionary changes in kitchen equipment were beginning to occur. Brick ovens were giving way to the more technically advanced American wood-burning stove, and ice boxes were also being sold.

More sophisticated utensils such as toasting forks, jelly molds, meat safes, table cloths, Dutch ovens, a variety of special kettles, and dish covers could either be bought in stores or purchased from people leaving the Island.

Used for entertainment, dining rooms in homes of the well-to-do were often quite luxuriously furnished and contained such items as cut glass, cutlery, finger bowls, decanters, claret jugs, cruets, candlesticks, chandeliers, and damask table cloths -- purchased from people leaving the Island.

"In fact, damask (so-called because the fabric originally came from Damascus) tablecloths were highly prized,'' Mrs. Raymond said. "People would try to keep them as pure and clean as possible. Taking care of the cloth was a big thing.

"It would be washed in strong soap, stiffly starched with arrowroot starch, and put into the sunshine to bleach. Sometimes lye was used as a bleach. Then the cloth would be ironed with flat irons which were kept hot on a nearby fire.'' Auctions were another source of extraordinary and luxury items, including fine china, tea ware, blue ware, breakfast, dessert and tea sets. China ranged from elegant stoneware and expensive export porcelain to the less expensive earthenware, and enamelled dinner and breakfast services.

Ivory was used in the making of cutlery, which was available in much-prized sterling silver (local and foreign made), as well as sterling plate and Britannia metal -- a cheaper metal with a bright surface but not very hard wearing.

There were also metal and iron tea and tablespoons.

"Although forks and knives were available, the teaspoon was the basic eating utensil,'' Mrs. Raymond said.

Lighting came either from whale oil lamps or homemade tallow candles, which were cheaper. Imported candles were available for those who could afford them.

"Homemade candles were very messy,'' Mrs. Raymond said. "They smoked and spluttered and burned down very fast. You could buy candles from the store which burned quite cleanly but they were expensive.'' People ate their main meal at noon, and in the homes of the well-off food took little note of the prevailing climate. Thus it was possible to sit down to a steaming bowl of turtle soup in mid-summer.

Everyday meals consisted of whatever was available in shops or in season, and there was very little variety because of storage problems. People ate what they had on hand until it was finished.

"Nothing was wasted. It was a case of feast or famine,'' Mrs. Raymond said.

Out of season vegetables tended to be those which kept best: turnip, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots and to some extent beets. The more delicate ones were seasonal.

The seasonal growing of vegetables tended to be viewed as women's work, as was the raising of chickens and the gathering of eggs.

"Women often derived their pocket money from selling eggs,'' Mrs. Raymond noted.

A commercial bakery opened in 1835 but was not a financial success, so women also earned pocket money by baking bread, cakes, pies and tarts to order.

Tea was served with meals and was very thick due to its heavy sugar content -- which also explains why the sugar basins of the day were so large).

"Tea was very expensive, and supplies were guarded. When it was served it was a big part of the meal because it was so filled with sugar that there was a lot of (empty) nourishment in it.

"A lot of people couldn't afford tea. It was five shillings a pound whereas coffee was ninepence a pound,'' Mrs. Raymond explained.

Staple foods were imported quite freely although there was no reliable supply.

Salt fish arrived from Newfoundland; sugar, molasses, coffee, spices and rum came from the West Indies; while the US supplied pickled pork, corn beef, lard, corn meal, flour and various pulses.

"Luxuries, such as turkeys and geese packed in ice, elegant cheeses and Westphalian ham were also available -- but at a price,'' Mrs. Raymond said.

"That was the difference between earlier in the century, when commodities were catch as catch can.'' Alcohol included wine, beer, port, brandy and rum. Most liquor stores combined these items with the sale of largely luxury items such as Yorkshire hams and English cheeses.

Soft drinks were sold at drug stores, the Apothecary's Hall, and the Medical Hall. They included sasparilla, raspberry, ginger, strawberry, lemon, lemonade and soda water.

Homemade drinks included ginger beer, and a fermented beverage made from cedar berries, which was traditionally served around Guy Fawkes Day.

Depending on the size of the family, a goat or cow was kept for milk.

Well-to-do folk living by the sea kept live fish in ponds until they were ready to eat them. Fishing boats also sold fish, though this was not always a reliable source.

Local turtles were available, even if in short supply. Whale meat was a source of nourishment for the poor. Whales were captured for their oil, with the flesh usually discarded.

"Poor families made the very best of it, and were very ingenious at cooking tasty dishes,'' Mrs. Raymond noted.

Ice also started to become available by mid-century. Imported, it was sold to householders on a subscription basis.

Due to the lack of refrigeration, livestock was kept alive until the moment it was needed. Once slaughtered, what was beyond the family's immediate needs was shared with friends or neighbours, for the same reason.

Lard from the pigs was made into soap and candles. Butteries were used to keep everything from dairy products to salted meat, grains and home brews cool and fresh.

By 1850, manners and eating habits had also changed. "Earlier in the century, at dinner parties everything would be put on the table at once, and what you sat next to was what you ate,'' Mrs. Raymond explained. "If the roast pork was put in front of you, you would carve some choice tidbits and pass them to your neighbour as a mark of respect, but you ate the greater portion yourself.

"By 1850, people were sitting down and keeping their plates to themselves.

They didn't sample from other people's plates.'' Unless it was a special evening, people generally went to bed quite early after dinner. Given the transportation of the day -- foot, horseback, or horse and carriage -- guests from distant parts of the island were accommodated overnight by their hosts.

Boarding houses also served as restaurants, where travellers could obtain quite luxurious meals.

By mid-century, a lot of fairly modern cleaning materials began replacing the traditional materials and remedies gathered from local hedgerows and fields.

"You could buy a whole variety of brushes and mops for cleaning things, which was a little bit of a surprise,'' Mrs. Raymond said. "People had traditionally used dock leaves for cleaning the dishes, for example.'' Because they were imported, such items were expensive. Availability was subject to shipping schedules.

Toothbrushes and commercial tooth powder for cleaning the teeth after dinner were also introduced at this time.

Because there was no indoor plumbing, all water had to be dipped from tanks for washing clothes, doing dishes, and bathing.

There were many problems keeping predators at bay -- everything from ants to cockroaches, rats, mice and flies. In some rooms, such as the dining room, oiled cloth -- fabric impregnated with oil -- was beginning to be used on floors to keep ants away.

Kitchen tables were scrubbed with strong homemade soap, floors swept and covered with sand because it was easy on the feet and useful for getting rid of spills more easily.

A FAR CRY. . . -- Mrs. Jocelyn Raymond, author of a forthcoming book about mid-19th century life in Bermuda, stands in the modern kitchen of her Bermuda home -- a world removed from the kitchens of 144 years ago.