Baking For Freedom

 The old saying "An Army marches on it's stomach is true,." It was especially true in George Wasington;s time when the Colonists were fighting for independence. Yet what did they eat exactly.?Luckily there is a strong and tasty connection to the past.

Regular contributor  and culinary historian Ramin Gaminsham wrote about this in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. There are a lot of reenactors for the country's 250th anniversary yet there are really no chefs nd cooks involve. However there is Justin Cherry of the Half Crown Bakeouse. Mr. Cherry even dresses like a baker of the time wit a smock and sticking along with buckled shoesHe normally bakes at Mount Vernon', George Washington;s home but he is in demand this year during the nation;s milestone birthday, He has already been at Monmout Vattlefield in New Jersey and Washington;s Crossing in Pennsylvania. His It actually started at the age of f eight wen he parent.s also reenactors, took her and his brother to sites, After working wit a chef he realized e could bake bread on a hearth.It was then baking a clay oven according to Saltzburgers a community of bakers near Savannah Georgia in the 1740s. He uses grains that bakers of the time used to recreate what the troops were given back then.

Mr. Cherry als owns the Half Crown bakery that goes to the reenactment sites. Wit I'm come his wife, eleven year old daughter and parents. They too all dress in Colonial outfits as they sell bread and sweets of the time.They also chat with customers about the 1700;s and baking . I addition to selling one pound loaves- the exact amount military men were given and such goods as salt pork butter - a kind of bacon, butter llocally made cheeses and salted fish. His gingerbread is formed with hand carved 18th Century reproduction molds and takes three(!!!) days to make. The loaves are fifteen dollars each His bakehouse is named for the price of bread in the mid 1700's which would be around three and a half dollars today.Mr. Cherry as a particular focus on one Colonial baker, Christopher Ludwick,a  German baker who opened a successful Philadelphia bakery and confectionery store. Lucwick managed scores of local bakers wo supplied Washington;s armies. according to Mr.C herry try were turning out hundreds of not thousands of loaves. One of Ludwicks bakers was African American Cyrus Busthill who later went on to be a successful brewer and baker.

Bread is the backbone of American cuisine. Mr. Cherry shows how important it was in keeping the troops well fed.His loaves are the link to that time