Oregon Trail Pioneers Ate Some Strange Things On Their Six Month Treck Across The US: A Recipe

Today we're traveling back in time to the Oregon Trail's 1830s to see what the pioneers were eating as they traveled! Pioneers in covered wagons covered 2000 miles on the Overland Trail before railroads connected the west, and this distance could be accomplished in about 6 months at an average speed of 3-5 miles per hour. I swear I'd never complain about anything again after reading an account from a mother's diary that says, "I gave birth to my 7th child today in our covered wagon just before breakfast."

PioneersPhoto byRichelleg/canva

It's vital to keep in mind that many Native American lives and lands were lost as a result of westward expansion.

Today we're going to look at the things these nomadic pioneers ate on a typical day and what the chuck wagon was loaded with that kept them alive on such a long, life-threatening journey.

A Day Along the Oregon Trail

Breakfast: Breakfast was prepared over an open fire by the pioneers, who used dried dung, known as buffalo chips, as fuel. I remind myself that at least I don't have to cook three meals a day over burning buffalo dung when I start to feel sorry for myself. Biscuits and bacon were staples. There were strange alternatives for oatmeal, corn bread, beans, and johnny cakes.

Breakfast cookingPhoto byRichelleg

Midday lunch: To allow themselves to rest, several pioneers prepared this meal in advance for breakfast. They traded jerky for dried fruit and hardtack with Native American tribes when fresh food was scarce or bad weather prevented them from cooking. Boiling the water eliminated bacteria, and coffee and tea gave you extra energy. If they had time, they'd make pemmican and hardtack.

Supper: Pioneers hunted duck, bison, turkey, and prairie hens to augment the food supply that came from wagons. They collected local fruits and veggies and went fishing. A pie baked with dried apples for dessert. There's a recipe for this at the end of this article.

What foods did the chuck wagon pack?

To feed families on their six-month trek, hundreds of pounds of wheat, fat, bacon, beans, salt, and dried fruit were packed. Gallons and gallons of water were stored, but following freshwater sources was paramount. Foods were preserved with salted, smoked, and dried ingredients. Not until the 1850s and 1860s were canned goods reliably safe and widely available. There were few stock up points (stores, if you will) except from trading with fellow travelers or Native Americans. Bread, butter, jam, eggs, and milk were all quite expensive! Around Independence Rock, Wyoming, pioneers collected buckets of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), which they used for cleaning and baking.

Chuck wagon emptyPhoto byRichelleg/canva

The adults needed a lot of calories to sustain themselves as they walked the trail in order to prevent the wagon from being too heavy. Butter, coffee, carbohydrate-rich meals, and bacon all gave pioneer diets energy. Some traveled with cows in tow in order to get milk. They soon discovered that the movement of the wagons would churn butter for them if they placed cream at the back of the wagon! They used the butter for recipes like dry apple pies and filtered the buttermilk to drink.

Quotes like "spit in my ears and tell me lies, but give me no dried apple pies" show up in real journals quite a few times. Were they that bad? From what I can see, after being rehydrated with boiling water, they were drained, mixed with sugar, and put within a pie crust to bake over hot coals in a Dutch oven. And dried apple pie was born!

Photo byRichelleg

As you might imagine, the only recipes available on the route were those that had been passed down via families or perhaps those found in one or two cookbooks. The food available to pioneer cooks was limited to what they could hunt or gather. Nutrients and vitamin C from dried fruit help ward against scurvy. A boring diet of bread, potatoes, beans, and bacon would probably be enhanced by an apple pie.

Dried Apple Pie Recipe

• Two and a half sticks of diced, cold unsalted butter
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of icy water (add a small amount at a time).
• Three cups of all-purpose flour (plus additional for rolling)

Filling

• One pound of dehydrated apples, not apple chips
• 4 cups of boiling water.
• One cup of sugar
• One teaspoon of optional cinnamon

Wagon is moving!Photo byRichelleg/canva

Directions

• To make the dough, cut the cold butter into cubes and use your fingers to break it up into pieces that are little bigger than a pea while combining it with the flour and salt.
• Work the cold water in small increments until a rough dough forms.
• Transfer the dough onto a surface dusted with flour. Work the butter into the mixture by kneading it. Roll out the dough after dusting with flour. Split the dough into two, one bigger than the other. The larger will be the bottom, the smaller will be the top of the pie.
• Rehydrate the dried apples with boiling water to make the filling. Give it five minutes to stand. Make sure to thoroughly drain the apples.
• Combine the apples, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl.

Dried apple pie in a dutch ovenPhoto byRichelleg

• Using the bigger dough as the basis, lay it in a Dutch oven or pie plate, add the apple mixture, and then top with the smaller dough portion. Trim any excess dough and crimp the edges together.
• Bake for one hour, or until golden brown, at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The Dutch oven's lid should never be placed inside a real oven. Place the Dutch oven directly on the coals if cooking over an open flame. Place more hot coals on top of the lid while it's closed. If in a real oven, cover the edges of the pie with foil strips, leave uncoverd.
• It should look golden brown when done, like a "real" pie

Dried apple pie in a dutch ovenPhoto byRichelleg

Citations:

Carlson, R. E. (2023d, May 24). 19 Pioneer Recipes That Survived The Oregon Trail. Homesteading Simple Self Sufficient Off-The-Grid | Homesteading.com. https://homesteading.com/pioneer-recipes/

Oregon Trail Foods: On The Journey. (n.d.). Oregon Trail Foods: On the Journey. https://www.jobcarrmuseum.org/blog/oregon-trail-foods-on-the-journey