Beaver Tail: During the fur trade boom in the 17th and 18th centuries in colonial America, beaver meat became very popular meat to eat, tail included. It was described as tasting “gamey.”
Oyster Ice Cream: Ice cream became a popular dessert by the end of the 18th century. However, it was challenging to prepare and keep without modern freezers, though many notable early Americans did. Thomas Jefferson and the Washingtons were among them and famously loved it. Some liked to experiment with different flavors, and a perfect example was oysters, which Dolley Madison supposedly favored. She churned up the “small, sweet” ones from the Potomac River into a unique dessert.
Chocolate Mixed with Ambergris: One of the most desired dishes was ambergris, or in other words: whale vomit! It was an expensive and elite additive people in the 18th century put in their dishes. In the 17th century, chocolate spread to North America and cooks experimented with it, finding the combination with ambergris to be pleasant.
Pork Scraps: They were a colonial American dish that consisted of scraps of pork cooked with cornmeal. As you can imagine, the chunks were typically parts of the pig that would be wasted, including feet, organs, and tails. Fun Fact: Amish communities still cook this dish, but it’s now called “Scrapple.
Clabber: This was actually less disgusting than it sounds. It was simply a form of yogurt made from curdled milk in an era before refrigeration, so it was also pretty strong and sour. To flavor it, people would typically add toppings like nutmeg, cinnamon, or pepper.
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The squirrels were hunted and shot with small caliber flintlock rifles (32 cal or smaller ) ie squirrel guns or muskets loaded with shot. Squirrels were competitors with pigs for the nuts and seeds in the forests. Hunting them today is still very popular!