Here’s a rare booklet from 1926-1927, Del-Nut Desserts. [Reddit link] Arthur E. Edwards was owner of A. E. Edwards Co. from 1926 to 1934. His main product was Del-Nut Dessert, and it was advertised only in Buffalo and Rochester NY. I found no proof of national distribution. As Edwards developed a market for Del-Nut, 1929 arrived, the Great Depression. He lowered the price of the product. He advertised less. Finally in Oct 1934 he auctioned off all manufacturing including a dry kiln, mixer, packing machine, and 100 cases of finished product. The paper trail suggest that it was the Depression that made him liquidate.
The Depression was a pivotal time when the Domestic Science movement morphed into promoting processed foods and families often preferring them, perhaps because of intense advertising made possible by smaller food companies being bought by larger firms to share marketing and distribution. Dell-Nut wasn’t one of the companies to be purchased by one of the big conglomerates. Domestic Science had been a near radical women’s movement beginning in the late 1800s, and coincided with mass manufacturing of food instead of producing foods at home. “One of the travesties of the period is that all of those home economists did not look to America’s immigrant communities for inspiration.” — Jane Ziegelman, A Square Meal on Fresh Air. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/15/489991111/creamed-canned-and-frozen-how-the-great-depression-changed-u-s-diets
Why was the dessert called Del-Nut? It was made from arrowroot, and contained no nuts, and what does Del- mean? It reminds me of the launch of the 1st “OREO” cookie called “Hydrox.” Then Johnny-come-lately Oreo, with a more fun name, captured the market.
In my online travels for this brochure I found another library that has a special collections for cooking booklets, Fales Library in NYC — the same library that inherited Gourmet Magazine’s library (read Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl) Other libraries with cooking booklet collections are in this list.
