Winter food stuffs in the olden days.

[BMax]

@MandaJo

Wild game (rabbits and squirrels) both start multiplying pretty quickly when spring starts. So that would also help supplement.

You are also, however, extraordinarily busy, with spring planting, repairing infrastructure from damage that come from winter and spring floods, animal births: people doing that sort of physical labor need calories more than they need flavors.

Remember, too, that “winter” in Alabama and “Winter” in Vermont are very different things: it never gets as cold or as frozen in the south, but it also means your can’t have a root cellar that’s cold and dry.

Good point on the damp of the south. Spring also comes earlier in the south, and so do the first fruits of early summer. I suppose you’d have to slaughter a hog in the early spring.

[Triskadecamus]

Jams, and jellies were preserved in crocks, with wax, or tallow sealing the top. Such abundance as crabapples, grapes, berries of many sorts, peaches, pears, were available and became very important winter sources of vitamin C, and carbohydrates.

Also native fruits such as the Persimmon were harvested quite late, and buried in sawdust, or hay, ripening slowly, reaching full ripeness in December, and even January. Many fruits were dried, including apples. crabapples, and various others. Wild fruits began to be available in May, in some localities, as far north as Virginia. (The Mayapple, or Custard Apple is an example which can still be harvested in Virginia, and Maryland in most woodland areas.)

Tris