If you still haven't made it to Amish Country, get a taste of their culture year-round by ordering some of their pantry staples like sauerkraut, various honeys, homemade jams, and sourdough starters. The Amish use many canned goods, which they often prepare themselves to get through the winter, such as yummy canned peaches and several fermented goods that can help your digestive system. With some creativity, you can combine many of these popular Amish staples into your own unique dishes.
According to the Hoptown Chronicle, the North American Amish population doubles nearly every 20 years, and many non-Amish people buy wood-based items such as furniture from them due to craftsmanship and solid construction. However, you can now add food products to the list even if you don't live near typical Amish communes like Lancaster, PA. Get ready to slather some Amish butter and fruit preserves on sourdough.
What Is the Story Behind Common Pantry Staples In Amish Foods?
The Amish diet is rooted in self-sufficiency, preservation, and their Swiss German heritage, designed to feed a large family without reliance on electricity. Canning, fermentation, proteins, dairy, as well as fun foods like peanut butter spread (which is mixed with marshmallow creme) are the norm.
Therefore, an Amish kitchen typically boasts simple, unique kitchen staples that tickle the sweet tooth, fill the belly, and help digest things better. Forget table sugar when you can indulge in molasses and thick, floral raw honey.
Give your morning toast and biscuits a kick with homemade apple butter cooked down for hours, various jams and preserves, and a melted fresh Amish butter.
Kick back on a chilly day with a hot bowl of Amish Chicken soup made from fresh bone broth or nibble on pickled pork hocks. Those pigs also supply lard, which is a traditional fat the Amish use in cooking.
Do You Enjoy Fermented Foods?
If so, you have something in common with the Amish, whose traditional foods include several nutrient-dense fermented staples. After months of careful curing, an Amish cupboard often contains:
- Sauerkraut
- Pickled cucumbers, beets, and a mixture called "chow chow"
- Fermented vegetables like radish, carrots, and garlic
- Cured meats
Thanks to fermentation crocks, which are clay vessels with water-sealed lids, placed in cool cellars for as much as five years or longer, the Amish have many nutrient-dense foods containing healthy probiotics, which seem to contribute to their overall health, in addition to their active lifestyles.
What Makes Amish Butter So Good?
Amish butter has been given the gold medal in butter standards due to its high butterfat content of about 84 to 85% compared to 80% found in standard commercial butter, according to Taste of Home. It's also minimally processed as it's simply cultured or produced from sweet cream and salt without any artificial additives or preservatives. Plus, the typical Amish slow production method helps develop a richer and cleaner flavor.
How Can I Create Some Authentic Amish Recipes?
Start cruising some of the shops in the nearest Amish town, or get Amish made food online from Harvest Array. Easily order delights such as Caramel Pecan Apple Butter, Pure Mountain Honey, and Canned Peach Halves.
From there, you can mix your Amish pantry items with your own cultural ingredients to make fusion dishes that are healthy, hearty, and versatile. Amish butter and apple butter can make any bread taste better. Amish salsa, which contains kettle-cooked green peppers, garlic, sugar, onions, and tomatoes on tacos or meat for a sweet-spicy kick. The natural fruit preserves can become the foundation for a savory meat glaze.
Try your hand at making Whoopie pies, which consist of two cake-like cookies and a creamy center.
What Techniques Do Amish Use?
The Amish have maintained their canning techniques, which include using a water bath or high-pressure canning for low-acidic foods.
Other common techniques include:
- Slow cooking
- Root Cellaring and Drying
- Fermentation
- Curing
- Smoking
- Pickling
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Most Popular Amish Food?
If you want to try the Amish's most iconic dish, get a spoonful of Shoofly pie, a sweet and sticky treat made from molasses and crumpled topping. As a kid, you may have had another one of their staples, Whoopie pies, which consist of two soft, chocolate cake-like cookies filled with white icing.
What Is the Obesity Rate for the Amish?
When you review Amish foods, there are lots of hearty dishes that include plenty of meat, high fat, calories, and potatoes. However, thanks to their lifestyle, they have an extremely high energy expenditure that quickly burns this food off. As a result, they have only 4% obesity rate, according to World Life Expectancy.
Why Is Amish Food Different?
What makes Amish food special is its freshness. Like their woodworking skills, Amish food shows off their craftsmanship from farming to cooking to baking. Amish people often have their own gardens, so growing fresh food is a part of the community, including maintaining animals for meat. They spend a lot of time creating their pantry staples by preserving, canning, and passing down the skill through generations.
How Do the Amish Refrigerate Their Food?
Not using electricity doesn't stop the Amish from having cold food when needed. They have ice houses, which are insulated structures that store winter-harvested ice. As a result, they can maintain ice for over a year, and some even function as walk-in coolers to keep food frozen or cool.
They also have traditional cabinets lined with metal or wood where ice blocks are placed to keep food, such as dairy products, fresh. Some Amish may use propane and gas-powered refrigerators and freezers in lieu of connecting to the public electric grid.
Enjoy Heritage-rich Foods from the Amish
There's nothing like having a stocked food pantry, and you can now add traditional Amish pantry staples too, which come in a variety of flavors to suit a sweet and savory taste bud. Whether you need an excuse to visit the Amish in Pennsylvania or Ohio or order some items with a few clicks online, you have many choices, such as butters, honeys, and sauerkraut, or try your own Whoopie pie recipe.
If this article made you hungry and encouraged you to try your own hand at canning, review our website for more food-based blogs.
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