Professor Butter Beard’s Vintage Seed Catalogs
W. Atlee Burpee & Co., “Burpee’s Seed Catalog,” 1901.
The season of Seed Catalogs has arrived! I liken them to receiving a sunlit beam of hope that we will finally emerge from the long grey and white winter. They are the botanical equivalent of a dream book – a grower’s wish list – much like the Sears Wish Book that I devoured every October as a youngster dreaming of Santa’s gifts to come. I remember the stack of them, ready at hand, on my Grandmother McClellan’s desk at the “big house” on Mogadore Road. Every summer my grandparents’ garden would evolve into a magical space where I was sent to gather strawberries, string beans, corn, carrots….. and parsnips! My very clever Gramma Mac tricked me into loving the oddly shaped pale roots by convincing me they were a special breed of white carrots which would make my ginger curls even curlier.
The business of selling seeds exploded in the late 1800’s. These emerging seed companies relied heavily on advertising, particularly in the form of mail order catalogs. To attract buyers, both the catalogs and the seed packets were decorated with images of hand-drawn and painted mouth-watering illustrations of vegetables, flowers and the imaginary creatures that would make them grow. They were designed in rich bold colors and humor to inspire collecting, trading and scrapbooking. The Smithsonian Museum even mounted an exhibition in 2017 titled “Cultivating America’s Gardens,” showcasing the beautiful designs, stories and humor found in these vintage treasures.
By the 1890’s, it was “Burpees” that became a household name across America and the largest seed company in the world. Established in 1876, Philadelphia-based W. Atlee Burpee and Company published much anticipated “annuals” that both illustrated and described its many flowers, vegetables, fruits and bulbs. Originally a prolific hen breeder, W. Atlee Burpee gradually realized that hens were a one-time purchase whereas gardeners would need to continually buy seeds, so he shifted his focus and began what became the Burpee empire. By the time his son David inherited the company in 1915, Burpee was mailing over a million illustrated catalogs a year and receiving 10,000 orders a day at its Philadelphia headquarters. I am sure that the parsnips that I enjoyed, pulled fresh from the earth, were specifically chosen by my grandparents from one of those annual Burpee dream books.
The ingredients for these muffins were inspired by the harvests from my grandparents’ garden. Although, instead of using fresh strawberries, I have chosen to use the dried versions that I purchased during last fall’s farmer’s market. Hydrated in a ginger simple syrup, the berries have an intensified flavor and texture that doesn’t water down and turn to mush when baked. The grated parsnips add a sweet earthy flavor much like when baking carrots into a cake or muffin. Look Gramma – I made a white carrot muffin, and yes, my hair is even curlier!
Parsnip, Ginger and Strawberry Muffins
12 muffins
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup white sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp raspberry powder (easy to find online – I use Modernist Pantry)
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
½ cup buttermilk
4 Tbsp of the syrup created by hydrating the dried strawberries
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 cup of freshly grated parsnip (usually one medium parsnip)
1 cup dried strawberries, hydrated overnight in one cup of ginger simple syrup (recipe below)
Additional sugar to sprinkle tops of muffins before baking
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2) Strain the hydrated strawberries and reserve the liquid. Slice the hydrated berries in half.
3) Grate the parsnip and fold into the hydrated berries.
4) Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups (or make your own with 4” squares of parchment paper)
5) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, ginger and the raspberry powder
6) In another medium bowl, whisk first the eggs, then whisk in the oil, buttermilk, 4 Tbsp of the reserved strawberry/ginger syrup
7) Fold in the dry until fully incorporated and then fold in the strawberries and parsnip.
8) Divide the batter between the muffin cups and sprinkle tops with sugar
9) Place the muffins in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 375 degrees
10) Bake 25 minutes, or until the tops are set and slightly golden
11) Let cool in the tin for ten minutes and then remove them and cool on a wire rack for five minutes more.
Ginger Simple Syrup: Bring 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white granulated sugar to a simmer. Slice a two-inch piece of fresh ginger cut into ¼” coins and add to the syrup. Let simmer five minutes, strain and chill.
