Journey Cakes { a 1775 vintage recipe }

A few weeks ago my friend, Kathy, at Old McCaskill's Farm gave me a bag of Rice Flour form Carolina Plantation Rice because she knew I would use it, make something with it and share the recipe. I guess she knows me pretty well! On the tag on the back of the rice flour was this recipe for Journey Cakes, a circa 1775 recipe from South Carolina. Well right then and there I just knew I had to make them.

What in the world is a Journey Cake?  Legend has it, these cakes would help sustain travelers while they journeyed for long distances, so if you're getting ready to go somewhere, make sure you pack a few of these along! Once I made them I saw this made perfect sense. They are light, nutritious and very portable because they are small. Nowadays they are largely used as a side dish to and grilled or roasted meat.

Carolina Plantation’s White Rice Flour is carefully ground to a fine consistency in our century-old stone-buhr grist mill. We use only our most aromatic rice for this flour to produce a smooth texture and unforgettable taste. Rice flour is a favorite ingredient for gluten-free baking. They also use this flour in our award winning fish fry. 

Carolina Plantation Rice comes to you from the only colonial plantation in the Carolinas to grow rice for commercial sale: Plumfield Plantation on the Great Pee Dee River. This special grain has an aroma and taste that you won't find in any normal grocery store variety. Once you've tasted it, you'll never go back to your current brand. 

Carolina Plantation reintroduced aromatic rice to South Carolina in 1996. With rice once again in her fields, Plumfield Plantation proudly serves a truly distinctive taste of the 18th century southern rice plantations. (source: Carolina Plantation Rice)

RECIPE
Ingredients
2 cups cold cooked Carolina Plantation rice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups milk
1 cup Carolina Plantation rice flour
1 1⁄2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tsp salt

Method
Preheat oven to 400. Stir together rice and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. The batter will be very thin.

Fill greased muffin tins 1/2-3/4 full with batter and bake 18-20 minutes or until brown around edges.

Rosemary-Garlic Journey Cakes: Add 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh or dried rosemary and 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic to batter - this is the option I baked. I also added some shredded cheddar cheese to a couple for variety.

Tomato, Parmesan, and Kalamata Olive Journey Cakes: Add 1 tomato, seeded and finely chopped; 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese; and 1/4 cup minced Kalamata olives to rice mixture.

You can watch a video here from America's Heartland on the Carolina Plantation Rice and catch a few more recipes!


Enjoy,
Mary

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