Recipe and Receipt History

Take a little walk down memory lane into Grandma's Kitchen and remember all those wonderful comfort foods from your youth. Grandma cooked with a little of this and a little of that, making it difficult to capture those recipes on paper. If you have any old recipes, but can't seem to duplicate the end result, perhaps this info will help or at least interest you.

Recipe and Receipt History

In days of old, recipes were seldom written. Methods were handed down from generation to generation, changing with necessity and ingredient availibility over the years. The word recipe comes from the Latin imperative of recipere, meaning to take or receive and récipé from the Middle French. Receipt, from the same Latin root, developed from a borrowing of Anglo-French and Continental Old French, and is found in English as far back as 1392.

Early Americans used the term receipt, no doubt from their British roots. Receipt is still often used as a synonym for recipe outside the United States. Both recipe and receipt were originally terms for a doctor's prescription for medicine, often abbreviated to the upper case R with a slash through the right descending base leg, or Rx. Both recipe and receipt are terms meaning a formula or set of directions.

Grandma's Recipe for a Loving Family

4 cups of love
2 cups of loyalty
3 cups of forgiveness
1 cup of friendship
5 tablespoons of hope
2 tablespoons of tenderness
4 quarts of faith
1 barrel of laughter

Take love and loyalty, mix it thoroughly with faith. Blend it with tenderness, kindness and understanding. Add friendship and hope. Sprinkle abundantly with laughter. Bake it in sunshine. Serve daily with generous helpings. Serves one entire home forever. --Anonymous

More About Heirloom Recipe Conversions and Substitutions

• Old Recipe Measurements
• Recipe and Receipt History
• Cans to Cups Conversion Chart
• Heirloom Weights and Measures Conversion Chart
• Recipe Calculator Converter

Cookbooks

•	Grandma's Wartime Kitchen
•	Granny's Recipes, Remedies, and Helpful Hints
•	Grandma's Favorites: Over 350 Best-Loved Recipes
•	Recipes from Granny's Kitchen
•	More Cookbooks