Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding

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I love tapioca and I love Victorian America. It’s natural that I’d seek information where the two intersect, thus Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding.

Instant tapioca pudding (from the red commercial box) was Mum’s favorite. I loved it too. In my adult years, I discovered a homemade recipe. The new recipe called for larger pearl tapioca. We fell in love with the “real” pudding. Delicious! Now my family loves tapioca pudding almost as much as that lady character in Fargo.

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Fargo, 1996 (courtesy of Wikipedia) Source

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Tapioca is Victorian?

You bet. First, tapioca was brought out of Brazil by Portuguese and Spanish explorers. This early export occurred in the early eighteenth century. Thus our immigrant ancestors knew all about tapioca in their Old Country (many nations). Most were familiar with this starch long before the Victorian Era.

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Victorians Favored Pudding

I’ve gathered too many Victorian pudding recipes to present them in one post. I’ll stick with just one kind of nineteenth century pudding in this post: tapioca.

This newspaper article is from Wyoming Democrat of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania on April 27, 1883. Title: Three Kinds of Pudding: Some Recipes That May be of Use to the Progressive Housekeeper. First, cottage pudding. Second, favorite pudding. Lastly, plain tapioca pudding.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Three Kinds of Pudding recipes published in Wyoming Democrat of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania on April 27, 1883. Part 1 of 2.

Three Kinds of Pudding, Part 1 of 2. Published in Wyoming Democrat of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. April 27, 1883.

Three Kinds of Pudding, Part 2 of 2. Published in Wyoming Democrat of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. April 27, 1883.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Photograph of a cassava plantation, the plant from which tapioca is produced. Image copyright @aekpn Pongsak Neerachapothisatha, Freepik, used with paid premium membership.

Cassava Plantation (the plant from which tapioca is produced). Image: Freepik.

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Tapioca for Sale

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Tapica Pudding is for sale in the 1897 Sears Catalog, No. 104. Image is of that historic listing.

Tapioca Pudding is for sale in the 1897 Sears Catalog, No. 104.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Image: photograph of Sago tapioca, as viewed from above. Large pearl white balls. Photograph copyright Freepik, used with paid subscription.

Sago tapioca, as viewed from above. Image: used per paid Premium Membership Agreement, Image copyright @aekpn, Pongsak Neerachapothisatha.

Many More 19th Century Recipes

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The following recipes are from vintage newspapers, era cook books, and mail-order circulars. All citations are listed in order, earliest to latest.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Image: Tapioca Cream Pudding recipe and instructions from North Carolina Gazette of Fayetteville, North Carolina on February 19, 1874.

Tapioca Cream recipe, North Carolina Gazette of Fayetteville, North Carolina on February 19, 1874.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioica Pudding. Three tapioca recipes (Tapioca Cream, tapioca pudding, and apple tapioca). Published in Our Home Favorite cook book, 1882.

Three tapioca recipes: tapioca cream, tapioca pudding, and apple tapioca, published in Our Home Favorite cook book, 1882.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. French Tapioca Custard Recipe from Our Home Favorites: The Young Women's Home Mission Circle of First Baptist Church, 1882.

French Tapioca Custard. Our Home Favorites: The Young Women’s Home Mission Circle of First Baptist Church. 1882.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Tapioca Pudding recipe published in The Inter Ocean of Chicago, Illinois on February 16, 1883.

Tapioca Pudding Recipe (with apples). Published in The Inter Ocean of Chicago, Illinois. February 16, 1883.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Recipe for Tapioca Pudding published in Colorado Cookbook, by The Young Ladies Mission Band of the Central Presbyterian Church, Denver, Colorado, Copyrighted June 7, 1883.

Tapioca Recipe. Colorado Cookbook, published by The Young Ladies Mission Band of the Central Presbyterian Church. Denver, Colorado. Copyrighted June 7, 1883.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Tapioca Cream Recipe. From Colorado Cookbook by The Young Ladies Mission Band of the Central Presbyterian Church of Denver, Colorado, June 1883.

Tapioca Cream. Colorado Cookbook, published by The Young Ladies Mission Band of the Central Presbyterian Church. Denver, Colorado. Copyrighted June 7, 1883.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Recipe published in Common Sense in the Household, 1884.

Tapioca Pudding recipe. Common Sense in the Household. 1884.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Apple and Tapioca Pudding recipe from Common Sense in the Household, 1884.

Apple and Tapioca Pudding. Common Sense in the Household. 1884.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Cream Tapioca Pudding Recipe from The Homemade Cook Book, 1885.

Cream Tapioca Pudding. The Homemade Cook Book, 1885.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Recipe from The Homemade Cook Book, 1885.

Tapioca Pudding (“Excellent for delicate children”). The Homemade Cook Book, 1885.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Recipe for Peach Tapioca published in The Record-Union of Sacramento, California. October 10, 1885.

Peach Tapioca Recipe. The Record-Union of Sacramento, California. October 10, 1885.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Recipe for Tapioca Cream Pudding published in Alabama Beacon of Greensboro, Alabama on June 21, 1887.

Tapioca Cream Pudding. Alabama Beacon of Greensboro, Alabama on June 21, 1887.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Recipe published in The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes, 1889.

Tapioca Pudding, in The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes. 1889.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Cream Tapioca Pudding Recipe published in The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes, 1889.

Cream Tapioca Pudding. The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes. 1889.

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Kristin Holt | Victorian Homemakers Present Tapioca Pudding. Three different recipes (including one Apple and Tapioca Pudding), published in Receipt Book; Improvement Society of the Second Reformed Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1890.

Three tapioca recipes: Tapioca Pudding No 1, Tapioca Pudding No. 2, and Apple and Tapioca Pudding. Published in Receipt Book; Improvement Society of the Second Reformed Church. New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1890.

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