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Medalta Potteries (1966) Ltd; CMC F-4210
Made in the town of Medicine Hat, Alberta hence its name Med-Alta
this little covered pot speaks volumes. It tells, first of all, about
the development and exploitation of clay deposits. It tells of a wholly
Canadian company, established in 1915 and lasting well into the 1950s,
despite incredible competition from English and American pottery which
was cheaper. Medalta Potteries also made many other useful kitchen
items like milk jugs, teapots, bowls, jars and baking dishes; Medalta
ware is now sought after by collectors.
The pot also tells of how we lived in those days by what the company
sold : teapots, pickling crocks, hot water "pigs" (for warming the sheets),
sugar bowl-and-creamer sets, and bean pots. What is it about bean pots?
In the early days of Canada, heating and cooking was often done over a
large central fireplace which sometimes had a "beehive" oven at the back.
Such an oven could also be built separately out of doors. One couldn't
just run down the street for bread or pies in those days, for it might
have been a day's walk to the nearest store; so a housewife would bake
those things herself.
First, she would light a roaring fire in the oven, getting it good and
hot. Next, she would rake out the embers. In the back of the oven, farthest
from the door, she would place the bean pot, filled with beans, water,
salt pork, and perhaps some molasses or brown sugar. The beans were at
the back because they needed to cook the longest. Then came the pies, with
a medium cooking time, and closest to the door was the bread. The door
was then closed.
When the bread was done, it was removed with a "bread peel", an instrument
much like today's commercial pizza paddle. If the bottom of the loaves were
burned, the burned bits were filed off with a large bread rasp and fed to
the stock.. Nothing was wasted. Later, the pies came out. And finally, after
many hours, out came the baked beans, still simmering in their pot.
Ceramic pots were so tough they could outlast a whole generation of baked
bean meals and still be passed down to the children for their family meals.
No wonder they were considered to be treasures.
Text: Phil Tilney
More examples of Bean Pots
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