QUIZ: Ridiculous and random recipes and recommendations

A quiz with a difference! Questions are based on historic household and health advice given in some of our excellent (if rather dated!) homecraft health and cookery books. CAUTION: none of these recipes are recommended for use and some are certainly not safe!

One recommendation for giving up smoking for those who ‘lacked the willpower’ in Secret Recipes, compiled by ‘An Incapacitated Returned Soldier’ estimated as published in the 1920s was to gargle 36 grains of silver nitrate in ¾ of a pint of water, being careful not to swallow any. True or False?

A: True

B: False

In Quillan Rodnee’s 1937 text, Homecraft, Novel Recipes and Household Hints for every home, in the ‘Boudoir Secrets section, what ingredients are listed for fixing cracked nails?

A: Glycerine, Camphor, Boric Acid, Lanoline and White Vaseline.

B: White wax, Olive oil, salt, powdered resin, powdered Alum and a drop of perfume.

C: Salicylic acid, Boric Acid, Vaseline, Oil of Bergamot and Oil of Cinnamon.

D: Menthol Crystals and Methylated Spirits.

In the 1937 Cookery Book of the New Zealand Women’s Institutes, in the section titled ‘What to do with a Lemon’ which of the following is NOT given as a use for a lemon.

A: As a part of a healing ointment for cracked hands.

B: Removing tarter from teeth.

C: Curing a headache by rubbing the parts affected with a lemon.

D: Prevent hair falling out and treating dandruff by rubbing lemon pulp on the scalp.

The 1932 text, Cookery, Health and Helpful Hints for Home-Makers, from the Women’s Division N.Z. Farmers Union (Invercargill Branch) outlines a number of basic household tips and tricks, but which of these was NOT a tip for hair care?

A: For Grey Hair; 1 dessertspoon salt, 4 dessertspoons good brandy. Put in bottle and shake well for five minutes. Must not be shaken again. Rub well into roots twice a week.

B: For Thin Hair; 2 teaspoons Robin Starch Powder, 2 teaspoons Vaseline, 9 drops Eucalyptus. Mix in a clean saucer with a clean knife.

C: For Dandruff; Equal parts of olive oil and kerosene, and massage it into scalp with tips of fingers.

D: Fixing Lotion for hair; Whip up egg white till light and fluffy and add slowly 1 teacup of boiling water in which two teaspoons of sugar have been dissolved.

Among older cookbooks, a common section included the instructions for making food specifically for invalids. Which of these is not an invalid’s meal?

A: Beef Tea.

B: Linseed Tea.

C: Cucumber Jam.

D: Steamed Chop.

In Quillan Rodnee’s 1937 text, Homecraft, Novel Recipes and Household Hints for every home, which of the following options is not a real recipe for food.

A: Cheese Gingerbread.

B: Neptune Souffle.

C: Bachelors Bread.

D: Continental Ham.

Wart Removal instructions were regularly included in older recipe books, which of the following is not a recommended home remedy for the removal of warts.

A: Wash the wart in a strong solution of soda, afterwards paint with vinegar.

B: Dissolve Epsom Salts in as little hot water as possible and apply frequently until cured.

C: Apply a salted lemon juice to the wart before bed and immediately after rising each day.

D: Give warts a good soaking with fresh pigs blood.

In G.M. Smith’s Medical advice from a Backblock Hospital, published in 1942, Smith outlines a number of different medical problems in Hokianga and his recommendations for prevention or treatment, but which of the following is not among the advice he gives for the husband of a sick woman?

A: Don’t keep asking her how to cook things.

B: Give her the bed to herself.

C: Keep the kids off of her.

D: Ensure she remains hydrated.

The following is a recipe again from Secret Recipe, for a treatment for flatulence: Epsom salts ½ oz, Milk of Sulphur ½ oz, Powdered Rhubarb ¼ oz, Carbonate of Magnesia ½ oz, Chloric Ether 1 drachm, Sal Volatile ½ oz, Compound Tincture of Rhubarb 1 oz, Tincture of ginger ¼ oz, and Peppermint Water 8 ozs. Mix, Dose: One Tablespoon. Take three times daily before food.

A: Milk of Sulphur

B: Carbonate of Magnesia.

C: Chloric Ether.

D: Compound Tincture of Rhubarb.

Which of these ailments was NOT listed in Harold Turbott’s 1946 publication Radio Talks on Health.

A: Middle Age Unfitness.

B: Vincent’s Angina.

C: Delerium Tremens.

D: Pink Disease.

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Books featured in this quiz

These titles are reference copies and part of the ANZC collection at Tūranga.

Cookery, Health and Helpful Hints for Home-Makers, from the Women’s Division N.Z. Farmers Union (Invercargill Branch) (1932)
Radio Talks on Health (1946)
Quillan Rodnee's Homecraft (194?)
Secret Recipes (192?)
Cookery Book of the N. Z. Women’s Institutes (1937)
Medical advice from a Backblock Hospital (1942)

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