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Green and Gold Cookery Book, Another Adelaide Icon

In 1923, when Annie Sharman conceived the idea of a little recipe book to raise funds for her school community, she had no idea that it would still be in print 90 years later and sell more than half a million copies, not just in South Australia but all around the world.

Photo sent by Lorraine Clarbull. The Green and Gold Cookery Book has been handed down from mother to daughter for more than 3 generations

Photo sent by Lorraine Clarbull. The Green and Gold Cookery Book has been handed down from mother to daughter for more than 3 generations

Handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter, the Green and Gold Cookery Book has helped feed millions of Baby Boomers and their families with “tried and tested recipes, contributed by experienced housewives and cookery experts”.

The school was King’s College in Norwood (now Pembroke), and the year was 1923. Members of the school community were asked to contribute recipes, household and laundry hints, remedies and other miscellaneous information. In that first edition, advertising space was sold by Mesdames C. Morris and G. McRitchie to help defray the cost of publication, while Annie had the job of receiving, checking and sorting the recipes, most of which were accompanied by a small donation.

Almost 200 contributors had their recipes published in that first printing, their names and suburb recorded under their recipe, and in some cases the full address.

Photo from the Advertiser. Mum's bread and butter pudding. What else could you do with stale bread?

Photo from the Advertiser. Mum’s bread and butter pudding. What else could you do with stale bread?

In this age of master chefs and foodies, the ingredients and guidelines seem basic and plain. They are the sort of meals I remember as a child growing up in the 1950s and ’60s in a family with four children, living on a single income and making do with cheaper cuts of meat, home grown vegetables in season and homemade biscuits and cakes.

The cookery books that have been handed down through generations within a family generally include copious handwritten notes or extra recipes, some on sheets of writing pad, or scribbled in the notes section at the back of the book.

When I told my wife I was writing an article on the Green and Gold Cookery Book, she was quickly able to produce her mother’s copy, the 30th edition, published in 1953. Her mum also recorded extra ideas, including how to make tasty mince, tomato relish, apricot balls, a cheese cream dip and “never fail’’ scones.

Just looking at some of the recipes brings back some bad memories, such as ox tongue in jelly, stewed tripe and onions, boiled lettuce, boiled marrow or trombone, spinach, and for dessert, sago or blanc mange. Ugh, food from hell for a kid.

But there are some favourites too – Mum’s Irish stew, steak and kidney pie, rabbit pie, bread-and-butter pudding, rhubarb tart, cream puffs, nutties (biscuits) and all sorts of sponges and cakes.

Of course in that era, almost everybody grew large quantities of fruit, so there’s lots of advice on preserving, plus making jams, jellies and marmalades.

And who can forget mum’s toffees, usually made in little paper patty pans as a fundraiser for school or the school fete, her marshmallows, coconut ice or brandy snaps?

Photo from the Advertiser. And who can forget mum’s toffees, usually made in little paper patty pans as a fundraiser for school or the school fete.

Photo from the Advertiser. And who can forget mum’s toffees, usually made in little paper patty pans as a fundraiser for school or the school fete.

The Green and Gold Cookery Book holds a special place in the hearts and kitchens of many families, not just for the tried and trusted recipes but also for the memories it generates. Every year for 90 years, the tradition has continued. But for how much longer, I wonder?

It will inevitably follow the way of the wood stove or the frypan full of dripping.

But after nine decades, this little volume has proven itself as a more than useful symbol of a generation of housewives and their children who followed in the kitchen.

13 Responses to Green and Gold Cookery Book, Another Adelaide Icon

  1. Geoff December 6, 2014 at 9:30 pm #

    Close, but no cigar. Pembroke and the former King’s College are in Kensington Park, not Norwood. In fact, if the old school were across Shipsters Rd it would be in Kensington, not Norwood, which ends at Portrush Rd on its eastern boundary. Otherwise you’re correct: it’s a wonderful recipe book dating back to the school’s foundation in 1923.

  2. Helen Loveridge (nee Wingate July 1, 2015 at 3:07 pm #

    Having moved to NSW in 1966 somehow my Green & Gold Book became lost after a couple of moves within suburbs, still today though my husband asks when I cook something new “did I get that our of the Green & Gold Book?”

  3. Greg Stainer July 18, 2017 at 2:36 am #

    I use to cook the recipe called Indian devil and have forgotten it due to bad memory can u help me please. P.S. I need to get another copy of this amazing little gem.

    • June Miller November 4, 2017 at 1:10 pm #

      I have ‘Indian Devil’ in my copy. It was originally from D.Evans of Keyneton, and was in the ‘Entrees’ section..
      “One tablespoon of chutney, one tablespoonful of ketchup, one tablespoon of cold gravy, one tablespoon of butter 1½ teaspoonsful of salt, pepper or mustard to taste.
      Mix all well together and in it place thin slices of cooked meat. Stir gently until well heated and serve. Ketchup need not be used if preferred without”

  4. Dana Kempf September 6, 2017 at 1:18 pm #

    Question : I have a 26th edition hard cover of the Green and Gold Cookery Book but it doesn’t give the year it was printed. If the 30th edition was printed in 1953, what year was the 26th edition printed?

    • June Miller November 4, 2017 at 12:59 pm #

      I have the eighteenth edition, which I was told was 1944, so if that was true, they didn’t bring it out every year, yet some years more than once??? Perhaps my date should be 1941, in which case yours would probably be 1949?

  5. Rebecca Smith January 6, 2019 at 2:32 pm #

    Love this book and really want the 2 pudding recipes: Hasty and Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding. I tried googling them as I don’t have a copy of this book at the moment handy but the recipes were not the same that I remembered.

  6. Lyn Wintle December 19, 2020 at 1:52 pm #

    Hi l cant find my recipe books since we moved and l want the Broken Hill pudding recipe for boiled pudding please

    • Julie August 19, 2022 at 4:13 pm #

      Broken Hill Pudding

      Two cups full flour, one cup sugar, one cup currants, dates or figs, one large tablespoon butter, one desertspoonful carb. Soda dissolved in one cupful boiling water, a little essence of lemon and lemon peel. Mix all together and boil or steam in a basin for for 2 1/2 hours.

  7. Mrs. Dee Merritt July 7, 2022 at 10:21 pm #

    Dee. Merritt July 7th 2022 947 pm.
    I loaned my edition and never got it back. I was brought up in South Australia and who knows where my mums book is. I have been searching for a genuine Green and Gold cook book but so far they seem to be printed in China and do not have any of the old advertising pictures in them Hopefully I will find one soon.

  8. Vicki August 9, 2022 at 7:12 pm #

    Does anyone know what year the hard cover deluxe edition was printed.

    It is a black cloth cover.

    It has adverts for ice chests in it, so prior to electricity I suspect.

  9. Melissa December 6, 2022 at 5:28 pm #

    Hi.
    Can anyone please assist.
    Mum has misplaced her Green & Gold cookbook which has her Christmas pudding recipe in it.
    She bought a new book but that recipe is not in it.
    Her recipe does not have breadcrumbs or suet. It calls for rubbing the butter into the flour and soaking the fruit (raisins, sultanas a and dates) in brandy for weeks before.
    If you have this recipe it would be great if you could post it here or email.

    Thank you

  10. Helen December 10, 2023 at 5:52 am #

    I have my mum’s 31st edition soft cover with her notes not sure of the pub date. Its falling apart but a treasured memory. I purchased a newer one for my daughter who is now 50 but this one will
    go to her. I still use it for roly poly and other recipes. Born in South Australia and now
    live in the US. great history to find on this wonderful book.

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