Herbs and brick oven used in 19th-century cooking demonstration
HARMONY — The 19th century brick oven reconstructed behind Harmony Museum provided the heat to make “tomato pie” for an event Saturday morning, Aug. 29; but the herbs in the garden were the real secret to making pizza the Harmonist way.
Nancy Wilson, of the museum’s board of directors, said the museum this summer grew plants like garlic, oregano and most recently, flax, which were used by the original Harmonist settlers for cooking and as material to make other useful supplies. Flax could be peeled away to reveal hairlike follicles within, which Wilson said could be used to create handkerchiefs, tools and playthings; while gourds could be cut open and used as jugs to carry liquids with.
Wilson said although offering people the chance to make their own pizzas was the main draw of Saturday’s event, she hoped to share knowledge about the plants with visitors.
“Besides having the herbs, we also have the fruits and vegetables they (the Harmonists) used to survive,” Wilson said. “Just the fact that you can grow utensils and playthings in a garden I think is inspiring.”
Saturday was the first time Harmony Museum hosted an event dubbed “Father Rapp’s Tomato Pie,” which was what organizers called the recipe they were using to make the pizza.
Although some of the ingredients came from modern grocery stores — the flatbread would have been tough to make from scratch — the Harmonist oven provided a learning experience all its own.
Susan Franz, a volunteer with Harmony Museum, manned the pizza preparation station, where the ingredients were all laid out for anyone to use on their tomato pie. A few people came through the historic preservation organization Saturday to tour the garden and make a pizza. Franz said even though the oven has been at the Harmony Museum for decades, visitors don’t often get to see it in use, which the organizers wanted to capitalize on.
But sharing an oven with others was also the Harmonist way.
“A big oven like this would have been communal,” Franz said.
Franz said the volunteers for the museum started the fire early in the morning so the oven could get up to at least 400 degrees and optimal for baking pizza. After a person prepared their pizza with ingredients, it would only take about five minutes in the oven to be ready to eat.
Emerson Osiecki, 11, was visiting Harmony with his family and took the opportunity to make his own pie. It was the first time he used a brick oven, even though it was Franz who put the pizza in the oven and took it out.
“It’s good,” he said of the pizza.
The event also received attendance from other history-focused organizations, including Friends of the Old Stone House, which supports the historic structure outside Jennings Environmental Education Center in Brady Township.
Beverly Heasley, a member of Friends of the Old Stone House, made a tomato pie Saturday. She said the group is always open to collaborations with other history-based organizations.
Stan Malecki, a gristmill baker at McConnells Mill State Park, also visited the Harmony Museum on Saturday. He said he uses any opportunity he can to share resources with organizations that provide free programming.
“We like to share knowledge with the people here,” Malecki said.
A few other people took a tour of the gardens Saturday. The pizza-making event was scheduled to take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wilson said the museum is mainly based on sharing the culture of the time the Harmonists settled in the region, which was in 1804 and later. She said food is a good way to draw people in and demonstrate the differences between now and then.
“They used everything they had,” Wilson said.
