For my fellow homesteading enthusiasts, I’m starting a new weekly feature on the blog called Traditional Homestead Quick Tips.

These will be short and sweet posts where I will share with you a homestead tip that I’ve learned along the way, whether it be from my own experience or from the experience of the wise homesteaders before us.

Either way, I hope you find them useful and a way for you to quickly pick up on something new today.

Today’s quick tip comes from “The Home Queen Cookbook”, circa 1893. I’ve already expressed my love for this tattered treasure of a book in my “Know Your Worth” post for my fellow homemakers. As I was reading through, I came upon the following instructions for making bouillon:

We commonly use tomato paste to darken our brown broth/stock, but

the traditional method for darkening broth, stock, gravy, and bouillon was to use burnt sugar.

Just a little bit will do, depending on how large of a batch you are making.

Here’s how:

Burnt Sugar Recipe

– 1/2 cup brown sugar

– 1 Tbs. water

– 1/2 cup boiling water

Heat sugar and 1 Tablespoon water over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Slowly add your boiling water, stirring as you go, and heat continuously until you’ve achieved a syrup-like consistency. Use immediately or seal in jar for future use.

To use:

Stir in the burnt sugar one teaspoonful at a time until desired darkness is achieved.

Thanks for checkout this week’s Traditional Homestead Quick Tip!

Shared at:

Homestead Barn Hop #181

The Art of Home-Making Mondays #23

HomeAcre Hop #93