A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Wednesday 27 April 2016

More on Food Packaging.

A Firkin.


In the 18th century bottles, jars & cloth bags were popular items for containing a variety of foods, spices & drinks. Bottles in particular have been found at many historical sites, & it is known that they were reused for containing a variety of liquids. 
It seems that commercial sales of foods stuffs was in bulk form, suggesting that the retail purchaser would supply their own containers for the amount they wished to purchase, but also money was offered by some businesses for bottles, suggesting that some retailers offered these bottles to customers.
Some of the author's items for repackaging food & drink products.

Below is a record of commercial 18th century food & drink containers. This information is from a PDF, the link to which I have supplied. This PDF contains much more information, including containers from the 19th century, & images of original containers.

Food & Drink Packaging.
Olive oil sold in flasks and jars is an example of this product/package link.
mustard in quarter-pound bottles, pickles in quart bottles, olive oil by the jar or chest.
Kegs were used for dried goods such as split peas, barley, crackers, oatmeal, raisins, and rice; for butter, lard, or paint oils; for pickled meats and other pickles; sometimes for alcohol and sometimes for other packaging:
Hogs Lard in small kegs from 20 to 28 lbs. each (QG 26 May 1785:Richard Dalton).
Barley in 50 and 25 lb cags (New-York Mercury [NYM] 26 Jan. 1761:John Alexander and Company).
Best Nantz Brandy in 8 and 4 Gallon Kegs (NYM 3 Aug. 1761 :Dirck Brinckerhoff).
Choice French Brandy in Kegs of 5 and 6 Gallons, at five Shillings Halifax per Gallon (QG 20 Dec. 1770:John Lees). Linseed oyl in 10 gallon cags (NYM 12 Jan. 1761:Isaac Man).
 7 Kegs Mustard in 1-4 lb. bottles (Montreal Herald [MH] 22 Jan. 1820:Macnider, Aird, & Whyte).
Chocolate by the Box or Dozen (NYM 1 June 1761:John Morton). A few boxes fresh Durham flour mustard, (NSG&WC 30 June 1789:s. Hart).
 lb. bottles A very fresh, excellent Kind of Poland Starch and Hair Powder in Boxes of Cwt. each in Pound papers (NSG&WC 24 May 1785:David Fergusson).
fine Genoa Vermacelli, at 1s. a Pound, or 14s. a Box, containing seventeen Pounds (DA 14 Dec. 1739:Joseph Carbon).
Lemmons by the Box, Hundred or Dozen (Boston Gazette & Country Journal [BG&CJ] 14 March 1774:Joseph Hall).
bohea tea by the box, dozen or single pound (NYM 23 June 1755:Matheus Sleght).
Bags held dry products such as bottle corks, biscuit, flour, coffee, and sometimes ginger, pepper, snuff, and cocoa nuts.
Cheshire Cheese by the Basket or Single Cheese (NSG&WC 14 June 1785:Edward Oxnard).
Gloucester Cheese by the Basket or smaller quantity (NSG&WC 23 Feb. 1779:Andrew Thomson).
bohea and congo teas, pound, half and quarter pound tin cannisters (NYM 4 Oct. 1762:Richard Curson).
He has likewise a parcel of fine green tea, in pound canisters, at 14s. a canister (NYM 29 Dec. 1766:Edward Agar).
Portable soup, of the best Sorts, made separately from Beef, Veal, Mutton, and Chicken, is sold at 4s. a Dozen in Tin Boxes, which is about equal to 8s. a Pound, excepting the Chicken. Also an inferior Sort made into square Cakes from Beef, is sold by Weight at 5s. a Pound, very handy for Sauces as well as Soups. . . . This Commodity has been made, ever since the late Rebellion, by Mrs. Bennet (whose Name was then Du Bois) and it was at that Time, and ever since, greatly valued by Gentlemen in the Army (DA 11 Sept. 1762:Portable Soup.
Naples soap, at 5s a pot, Containing eight ounces (DA 31 Jan. 1740:Joseph Carbn). A Fine parcel of New Honey, of this year’s collecting in glazed Pots, leather’d on the Top, and in Pots from 15 lb. to 35 lb. and to be sold as follows: Single Pots at Fourpence Halfpenny per Pound, and at Forty Shillings per Hundred; and some Allowance to those who take a larger Quantity (DA 17 Sept. 1762:To be Sold at the Windmill . . . ). Potted Venison in small Pots at Six-pence per Pot (DA 29 July 1760:To be Sold, Fine true Grass fed Venison . . . ).
Lately landed a curious Parcel of Bloom Sun Raisins, much finer than any in the Jars, in small Boxes about 12 Ib. each, to be sold by the Importer . . . at 7s. a Pound. No less Quantity than a Box (DA 4 Jan. 1762: Lately landed.
Twenty Jars of very fine Lucca Oil, each Jar containing about thirty Gallons, one Jar in each lot (DA 21 NOV. 1739:To be soid by Auction.
 Fine Lucca Sallad Oil, neat as imported, in whole Jars, Half-jars, and Quarter-Jars (DA 23 May 1740:To be Sold . . . ).


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