No, not the apocryphal cut-down cherry tree, but still-fragrant preserved cherries. The news that Archaeologists Unearth 35 Glass Bottles from the 18th Century at George Washington's Mount Vernon During Mansion Revitalization, Most Containing Perfectly Preserved Cherries and Berries made national headlines last week. It certainly is tantalizing to think we might learn from actual samples what preserves made at Mount Vernon in the 18th C tasted like and from DNA which variety of cherries were used.
A detail that struck me was that the whole cherries were bottled not only with their stems, but with a bit of the twigs they grew from. That's the sort of thing that can bog a story down in "research rapture" or give it just the touch of authenticity that makes a description or plot twist sing.
Martha Washington left a handwritten cookbook which has already enabled food historians to adapt her recipe for preserved cherries to the modern kitchen. Besides the fun of cooking and tasting such food from the past, culinary historians and writers of historical fiction have serious thoughts about historical recipes. And, of course, modern historians and the organization responsible for Mount Vernon today are paying close attention to the role of enslaved servants like William Lee at the far right of Edward Savage's portrait of the Washington family.
