Rosina Gschwind
Photographed from the inside cover of her recipe book, 550 Rezepte von Frau Pfarrer Gschwind
Born Rosina Hofer, near Bern in Biglen, she trained as a teacher and taught in Steffisburg and Thun in the latter part of the 19th century. When her first husband died, she married Catholic priest, Paulin Gschwind.
She eventually became interested in household management and nutrition, lecturing on the latter. In 1888, she co-founded two schools of domestic management, in Buchs and Lenzburg, and became an examiner as well.
Another important feature of Rosina Gschwind’s education had been the proper care and pruning of fruit trees. She planted numerous trees in the the garden of their parish and later founded a women’s gardening school in Niederlenz bei Lenzburg.
In 1892, the first edition of her wonderful recipe book 550 Rezepte von Frau Pfarrer Gschwind was published. In it she lays out numerous recipes, plus methodology. The Christkatholische Kirche der Schweiz recently republished her book, and it was available to order (though now I think they are sold out and you can only find it second hand).
The reprint is great not only because the recipes are now in a readable font (as opposed to the traditional font found in many old cookbooks) and there are editorial notes, but because there are little slips of paper throughout the book—copies of some of Gschwind’s handwritten recipes and receipts (see photo above).
For me, her most memorable line is in her recipe for the Christmas classic, Zimtsterne, where she suggests beating the egg whites and sugar for a full hour.
That’s dedication.
More information on Rosina Gschwind can be found in the wonderful book Köchinnen und ihre Rezepte by Sabine Bolliger, which features Swiss lady cooks and domestic educators of yesteryear.
