At Florida Raised, we’re proud of the rich heritage of cow herding and cattle production in our state. Our grass-fed meat products are sources exclusively from local ranchers, who we have built relationships with as a local meat processor, for decades.
As we were building our business and unique brand, our mission was to provide Florida residents with the highest quality beef products, while also supporting our local economy. Grass-fed cattle production takes more time, and it is more expensive to produce per pound than other methods that are less environmentally friendly. An important reason to support our local Florida cattle industry, is that we all want to keep that agricultural heritage alive and well in our state.
Culturally, our team at Florida Raised also wants to be part of preserving the stories and history of the Cracker Cowboys, who built the cattle industry in our state for over 300 years. We hope you enjoy some of the stories we’re sharing on our blog, and that they help you better understand our local cattle industry, their contribution to land conservation, and how important the industry is to millions of Florida residents who are employed directly, or indirectly through cattle production and distribution.
Keeping the stories and history of the Florida Cracker Cowboys alive means something important to our team at Florida Raised. And we’d like to share some facts about their daily life, and the kind of foods they ate to tackle the difficult (and often dangerous) job of cattle wrangling.
No Fresh Steaks for the Cracker Cowboys!
If you are thinking that the Cracker Cowboys dined on thick juicy fresh steaks every evening, you’d be wrong. You see, life in the saddle and driving cattle across millions of acres of pastureland, meant that their food had to travel with them. And there were no Yeti coolers to tote along their food, or ways to preserve the meat in between the camps that they would establish while supervising their herds.
Usually the only fresh beef they tasted, was when they headed home (which wasn’t that often, particularly in the early 1500’s to 1800s). And even then, beef was expensive to produce and also to purchase, and so it was not often eaten.
Cracker Cowboys ate a lot of salted beef. It was prepared much the way beef jerky is sold today, but it was very dry and brittle to reduce bacteria, and it was over salted. Of course, Florida Cracker Cowboys could get a little tired of that dried protein source, and it was not uncommon for them to take advantage of all the wetland resources, including fish, deer, birds and ducks, and even turtles. Possums, rattlesnakes and armadillo were also ‘fair game’ for dinner.
Since butter wouldn’t keep on the trail either, Cracker Cowboys used something called Tallow, which was hardened pieces of animal fat. This could be stored in their saddle bag with the few cooking utensils that they would bring on the trail. Once you added a piece of Tallow to the frying pan over an open fire, it would rapidly melt, and then you would have a delicious flavored oil to cook fish in. Grunts and catfish were also popular meals (even for breakfast).
The Tallow was produced from mutton fat (sheep) and was fairly cheap to produce. It also added some really delicious lamb flavoring to anything they cooked, including soups, vegetables and of course, baked beans. The added triglycerides of the Tallow gave the cowboys additional health benefits and helped them enhance the flavor of anything they cooked around the campfire. Which was good, because there wasn’t a lot of room in those saddle bags for fancy spices!
Cracker Cowboy Breakfast: Coffee and Cornbread
It may be hard to believe, but the traditional coffee we drink today was a little hard to come by, in the early days of the Cracker Cowboy. Coffee beans were imported, and that meant they were pretty experience. But they still needed something hot to drink on the trail, and so Florida’s Cracker Cowboys innovated something entirely genius.
Corn was cheap and thanks to the Seminole Tribe and other native influences, sweet corn and field corn (or cow corn) was a bumper crop in Florida. And since it was a local high-volume crop, it was affordable for Cracker Cowboy’s and they used it in a number of ways, for fast and tasty meals while they were away from home and herding.
Cornbread could be quickly made in a cast-iron skillet and was perfect with soup or beans. If the Cracker’s were fortunate to have real coffee, they had to put it in a burlap bag and grind it or crush it with rocks, before making their brew. However, many of the Cracker Cowboy’s created their own coffee from blackened corn, which was much more affordable. They also ground up dried corn to make grits, or a thick porridge of corn that could be heated up with a little water, for a warm meal.
Breakfast was the biggest meal of the day for Florida Cracker Cowboys, and lunch was typically fast and easy, by repurposing leftovers from their morning meal. Not only did this save money and on the cost of supplies, but it also saved time. And the hot Florida sun would also help keep the covered pots of food warm. A second full camp meal would be cooked for dinner, at the end of a long work day.
An Authentic Cracker Cowboy Recipe You Can Try at Home
It’s called Swamp Cabbage, and even though the name doesn’t elicit delicious thoughts of something you’d want to eat, this heritage recipe from Florida is one you might want to try with your family.
Swamp Cabbage refers to the Heart of Palm, which could be easily harvested virtually anywhere on acres of wet and pasturelands in Florida. It is almost like a stew that incorporates three slices of bacon, and a few simple spices to create something that is pretty tasty.
Check out this recipe for “Swamp Cabbage” on the Food Network, and take a trip back through history to eat one of the mostly common foods prepared by the Florida Cracker Cowboys!
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