Cream of Wheat grease jar

My mom kept her grease in a Maxwell House coffee can next to the stove. ALL grease went into it, not just Bacon Grease. I never saw her reuse it for anything. I seem to remember her telling me that the Milk man would give her a free gallon of milk every time it was full, and he would sell it to a soap factory. true or not, IDK.
I keep my Bacon Grease in a thick Rubbermaid container in the fridge. I don't cook much bacon anymore, but I save the grease when I do , to make Sausage Gravy, to put on biscuits.

 

Now I feel left out, my mother nor my grandmother ever had a grease jar.
They didn't save the grease, I guess.
But I have sold them and have a blue and white Vitrock one in my collection.
When I first started selling, I didn't know what they were for. But I learned.


We also never had Tupperware. We used saran wrap and tin foil to cover leftovers.

 

That's not how bacon grease was used - the room temperature bacon fat was just spooned out of the container. It wasn't kept hygienically refrigerated (in our hose, anyway) .

I assume CofW licensed this character/image (not the earler black character) to a manufacturer and possible was part of a "line," like the set above. There may have been a "transitional face" of canister sets made - I have no idea.

I'm not a connoisseur of kitchen kitsch, but I do know I'm always bumping in obscure facts - and non-facts presented as facts in descriptions.

Without a sales brochure or catalog, we'll never know.

It doesn't mean there aren't avid grease can collectors out there who have been waiting a lifetime for this CofW item thingy to complete their own line.

 

Neither did we, but we did have those bowl covers that looked like shower caps.

 

It is not only the white v. black matter. The CoW chef is not particularly fat, either. The ceramic pieces don't look anything like the hot cereal icon to me.

 

I'm ok with not knowing - I just trudged this over that dang Waverly /Eames tray!

 

Wow, ya'll had quite the conversation going! Precisely why I posted here before listing! Thank you for all the input!

 

Honestly, I didn't look this one up, for that reason (I'll update that thread when I have a little more time, but it's remarkable how similar the situations are).

l have no clue who this white guy is!

But then I thought:


Ask these guys at vintage cookie jars and shakers to 'splain themselves - they're the ones identifying these as CofW and asking $650 for them.

I hope you do, @wildrose - and let us know if you do

 

At the end of the day, this was a really fun thread - LOVED walking down grease can alley!

And, for anyone interested or wondering:

Was the Cream of Wheat Chef a Real Person? - December 2004
Here's your answer, maybe



A cultural icon may lie in an unmarked grave in Leslie. He is Frank White, a chef who claimed to sell Cream of Wheat to generations of Americans. White's story, like his grave, would be forgotten if not for the Mid Michigan Genealogical Society and family researcher Jesse Lasorda of Lansing. Cataloguing Leslie's Woodlawn Cemetery, the society found records of an unmarked "colored" grave. Lasorda was asked to learn more about the man buried there, Frank White.

Lasorda found proof White was born about 1867 in Barbados, came to the United States in 1875 and became a naturalized citizen in 1890. When he died February 15, 1938, White was described by the Leslie Local-Republican as a "famous chef" who "posed for an advertisement of a well-known breakfast food." Through his research, Lasorda became convinced White was the model for "Rastus," the smiling Cream of Wheat chef. "He was on the Cream of Wheat box from 1901 to 1925," Lasorda said.

If so, it is impossible to prove. Cream of Wheat company history says the chef was a real person photographed about 1900 while working in a Chicago restaurant. His image was the basis for future versions of Rastus, but no one bothered to record his name.

White was a well-traveled chef about the right age for the photo. He claimed to be the Cream of Wheat model and neighbors believed him.

Even if they had the same face, White and Rastus were different people. Rastus was sometimes used to sell cereal in ways racially offensive by today's standards. White's life was richer than a stereotype. He worked in cities, on trains and on steam ships. Married twice, White had no children. His first wife was said to be the second black woman to graduate from the University of Michigan. He settled in Leslie, her hometown, in the early 1920s. "After the (First) World War, he ran the Holly House in Mason and became noted in the vicinity for his "Maryland chicken," White's obituary said. "He seemed quite content to settle down to a peaceful life during the last days. He made many friends in Leslie and enjoyed caring for his chickens and pigs and working in his garden." White left an estate worth $400, Lasorda said.

"My No. 1 objective at this time is to do what I can to get this man a headstone," Lasorda said. "I am hoping someone will start a fund. Everyone should have a headstone." It seems the least we can do for an icon.

Article written by Brad Flory
Originally published September 9, 2004
Jackson Citizen Patriot 2004
All rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission.

 

So he was White after all.

 

I just can't help but love you, @Bronwen

 

Exactly.
Can't remember exactly what kind of tin we kept our grease in. Do know it was not glass or porcelain. If you poured hot grease into a glass or porcelain container, you would be likely to break it.

As for it being refrigerated - nope. Neither was the ketchup or mustard. Just in the cupboard.