panado

Would anyone like a glass of panado?

During the Civil War, a Nurse and Hospital Administrator named Mary Ann (Mother) Bickerdyke dealt with the lack of supplies. “Her favorite post-operative offering was ‘panado’, a mush made up of whiskey, hot water and brown sugar into which she crumbled hardtack”. (“From Hardtack to Home Fries” by Barbara Haber).

I have never been offered “panado”.