Before Coffee, what was brewed? Probably, they just ground up whatever roots were in the forest, because the bean of coffee couldn’t have come into common use until later.
But then that was the time that you would only get groceries at the produce stand, in some sort of farmers market part of the town or village, or brought to you by an Amish horse and buggy rig.
In my little community of Dover Delaware, in the 50’s, there was an Amish man who drove through our neighborhood once or twice per week, selling fruits, vegetables, fresh eggs and a selection of sausages. My favorite was called scrapple.
Almost all foods bought in most places then were still organic, they were maybe just inventing pesticides, but it was fresh, and ripe, picked that way. And you only got what had come into season. Certain times of year, you would buy and eat, until you got sick, fresh corn on the cob. Tomatoes, beets, carrots, you name it. The special treat seemed to be tomatoes. Because you couldn’t let them hang out at the store very long. There was so much for such a short time and then nothing for another year.
But things were seasonal. Strawberries, fruits, vegetables, only when they were in season locally. Trucking long distances with produce, grown year round in some part of the country, or world, was still not yet in practice. Taken into context, what a major change this is to our kids, and they don’t even have a clue!
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