Durand-Hedden offers taste of history at annual open hearth cooking demonstration

Deborah Peterson demonstrating open-hearth cooking in 2014.

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Each year, visitors look forward to gathering around Durand-Hedden’s 18th-century open hearth and experiencing how Maplewood residents of long ago cooked, ate and kept warm during long winter months. This year Durand-Hedden welcomes a new cook to its kitchen on Sunday, March 6, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Deborah Peterson has demonstrated 18th-century open-hearth cooking at a multitude of historic sites and reenactments, and at Durand-Hedden will be making Manchet bread and a chocolate tart baked in the beehive oven, as well as a boiled pudding and savory sausages cooked over the fire. Watch how it’s done, breath in the wonderful aromas in the historic house, and sample a few centuries-old treats. Children can try their hands at old-fashioned cooking chores like kneading dough, churning butter and spinning.

Durand-Hedden House is located in Grasmere Park at 523 Ridgewood Road in Maplewood. For more information or to arrange group tours call 973-763-7712 or visit durandhedden.org.