Here we have a recipe from H. Lamb, whomever she may be. As I mentioned recently, I found a packet of recipes in a curio shop and they have been a great source of material for me! I don’t know who H. Lamb was, but her muffins sound good. Perhaps some of you who are familiar with some of the older ingredients and methods can decipher the part about the milk.
Orange Muffins (H. Lamb)
Cream 2T shortening & 1 c sugar. Squeeze orange. Put rind thru grinder with 1 cup raisins. Add juice & mix to batter.
Add alt. 1 cup sw. milk ( w 1 t soda ~ sour) with 2 t b. powd. 2 c flour (sifted) & 1 t salt.
Bake 400 F – 25 min (large) 15 min small – makes 18
Gram's Recipe Box 
I think the sw means sweet milk to which you add the baking soda (stir it well) so that the milk actually turns sour. You would then alternate the milk mixture with the flour mixture.
I’ve seen recipes like this in some of my Mom’s collection, some of which are well over 100 years old.
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Thanks Judy! I thought it would be something like that, but I don’t have much experience with sour milk – I tend to pour it out, ha ha.
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My thought was that if you use sweet milk you skip the part in the parentheses. The sour milk and baking soda is an option if you have no sweet milk in the house or if you want to use the sour milk – remember your ancestors wasted very little and would not throw sour milk away if it could be used.
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Sweet milk is just regular milk.. GrammaA is correct!!:)
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The sweet milk w(ith) 1 tsp soda ~sour, is how you used to clabber milk or make buttermilk.
Both of my grandmothers and my mother would have a pitcher of milk (sweet or whole milk) sitting on the counter clabbering for pancakes, cakes, biscuits. I remember this well and I still use this method because I don’t buy buttermilk.
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Same here. I’ve bought buttermilk maybe twice in my life, because I always have vinegar on hand (one tablespoon to a cup of milk, more or less) with which to make sour milk. However, I also keep plain yogurt on hand all the time, which is almost always a perfect swap for buttermilk and/or sour milk.
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I guess I will have to invest in some plain yogurt. I have read a few different place about the yogurt, but sometimes old habits just take over. Thanks Kathy for the information.
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