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Hey everybody. Welcome to Retell Seller, an ephemera podcast where I uncover forgotten stories and the ephemera people leave behind. I’m Angie a reseller of 10 years, and I’ll share one of those snippets with you. Let’s see what today’s find has to say.
I purchased a 1952 Purdue Yearbook back in 2023 from an estate sale and it was in the basement on some handmade wooden shelves, and there wasn’t much left to pick from as I usually go on the last day of sales. I see a black yearbook with red and white lettering called DEBRIS and I thought “What a strange name.”
I picked it up and was shocked at its 5 ½ lb weight and started rifling through it and I decided to get it. I listed this on a few platforms and I tried high prices, low prices, sale prices and it wasn’t moving. Eventually I realized I should look up and see if any notable people attended Purdue in 1952.
And I thought, “Why didn’t I think about that before?” And to my surprise there WAS someone notable and her name was Ruth Siems, the creator of Stove Top Stuffing.
Today’s snippet is called, Stove Top Pioneer. It was printed in the Evansville newspaper, dated May 29th, 1991. Here’s how it goes:
“In 1971, Evansville Native Ruth Siems came up with an idea that took stuffing out of the oven and put it on the range.
The home economist developed Stove Top Stuffing a top product of General Foods corp. with more than a billion boxes sold. Miss Siems, who now lives in Newburgh was awarded a government patent for her creation.
The creation of Stove Top Stuffing in General Foods’ plant in White Plains, New York, was the high point of her 33 ½ year career with the company, she said. She retired in 1987 at age 55.
“I know for a fact that if it hadn’t been for Ruth Siems, there wouldn’t be Stove Top Stuffing.” she said. “My patent created a whole new food business.”
Evansville_Courier_and_Press_1991 – Found on Newspapers.com (subscription)
“Stove Top Stuffing certainly has been a successful product,” said Nan Redmond, a corporate affairs director for Kraft General Foods. The product line has been expanded to include several flavors and a microwave version.
Microwave directions have been offered on regular Stove Top Stuffing boxes for some time. The microwave version, which includes a microwave-safe pan for cooking the stuffing, has been on the market for several months.
“It has allowed cooks to prepare stuffing without also preparing a turkey or a chicken. It’s very convenient.” she said.
The idea for an instant stuffing came from the marketing department. It was up to the research and development staff to create the product. The test kitchens, the chefs and all the workers in research and development were given a shot at developing the new stuffing. “I felt kind of lucky that mine was the idea they chose.” said Miss Siems
Today, she said Food companies hire food technologists for their research and development staffs. Home economists are relegated to the kitchen to test what the technologists have developed. “That’s backwards. Home economists belong in the development.” she said.
Miss Siems worked for almost four years in product research and development at the Ingleheart Brothers plant of General Foods in Evansville. She worked on quality control for angel food cake mixes and did research on the Swan’s Down brand of cake mixes and on flours.
Development of Stove Top Stuffing took about two years, she said. Other food companies had been working on similar products, but the Stove Top brand clearly was the best, she said.
After the product was developed, the major problem was finding suppliers to provide the bread for the stuffing. We had to have a yeast raised bread for the flavor and texture. General foods wasn’t in the bread business, so we had to find the right supplier. Her patent was based on a certain size of breadcrumb that makes the re-hydration or addition of water work, she said.
Today companies apparently can’t afford to test products as thoroughly as they once did, said Miss Siems. “Every little change demanded consumer testing.” she said.
She and her crew often traveled to other cities to test product tolerance. Some consumers never followed directions, she said, and it was her job to see if the product held up either 10% over or under the directions.
Over the years she’s seen the food business follow and create trends. Consumers, however, often resist trying new products. “I remember when people were a little suspicious of packaged products such as cake mixes,” she said. “My boss fought microwave cooking all his life, but I cook most of my meals in the microwave except when I have company”
A graduate of Purdue University, Miss Siems became a home economist because she liked to cook, sew, and make crafts. She’s been in Newburgh since November, when she moved from the East into the historical Cutteridge-Curtis home. She is the daughter of the late Werner and Ruth Siems. Her father was principal of Redeemer Lutheran School.
“Everyone always had me pegged as a creative person,” she said. “I’ve always liked to put things together.”
And does she still like Stove Top stuffing? “Oh, yes, I eat it quite frequently. There are always a few boxes in my kitchen.”
Well, it seems Miss Siems was always in the business of consistency: How do you take something people are used to making “from scratch” at home and make it work the same way, every single time, same consistency, same taste out of a package?
She wasn’t famous, she wasn’t a TV chef. She was just a smart Midwestern kid who as she said, “liked to put things together.”
The product was tested in the early 70s and rolled out nationally not long after, under the name Stove Top and it was a hit. It didn’t need to be served on Thanksgiving with a turkey. It could’ve been served with a roast on a Tuesday.
In 1975, the U.S. patent for the “instant stuffing mix” was officially granted and Ruth’s name is listed with a couple of other co-creators.
Anne L MacDonald, who wrote Feminine Ingenuity wrote about Siems, saying “she still felt that her employers kept her at least one grade level below male peers with similar education, experience and intelligence — a situation that she felt was ‘par for most women at the Tech Center.’”
Anne also talks about how Ruth along with her product manager, thought Ruth had not been adequately recognized and while they did choose Ruth’s recipe from a large pool, the company’s vice president ended up giving credit to a chef who had submitted a recipe yet was not chosen.
For Ruth’s efforts in creating Stove Top Stuffing, she received a plaque and a $125 bonus.
And when Philip Morris bought the company, they retired everyone over 50 and Ruth ended up refusing the retirement package
When the billionth package was made in 1984, the company had t-shirts made to celebrate the milestone and no one apparently thought to send one to Miss Siems. Her brother-in-law said she had a good sense of humor as when she saw the back of the t-shirt which said, “Stuff It.” She said, “Those are my sentiments exactly.”
Ruth never did marry and stayed connected with family and her church community. Family and friends described her as modest, quietly creative, and generous. Someone who liked to help people, support church and missionary work, and just live her life.
She always had a love for antiques and old technology – things like spinning wheels and looms. She restored them and brought them back to working condition. There’s something kind of perfect about that. The woman who helped create this ultra-modern convenience food also spent her time rescuing tools from a much slower time, more hands-on way of life.
Ruth died of a heart attack at the age of 74 in Indiana.
After she died, in Santa Claus, Indiana, they created a theme park called Holiday World. They opened a Thanksgiving-themed family coaster called “Good Gravy!” and in some of the coverage, they reference Indiana’s Thanksgiving food legacy including Stove Top and Ruth’s invention.
Now, my connection to Stove Top Stuffing, is that …I have a pretty difficult time saying it apparently which I’ve learned throughout this entire episode and you may have noticed in a few spots.
I haven’t eaten Stove Top Stuffing in years but, I definitely remember the flavor and the texture. I’m more of a turkey leg, mashed potatoes and gravy kinda gal.
Learning a little bit about Ruth though really made me think of how many people, integral to the things that we use or eat everyday we will never know.
What did this story say to you? Did it speak to your childhood or was there a time in which you were recognized or not recognized for something? I’d love to know.
Thank you for joining me. As I shared a snippet of the past, I’d love to know if it connected with you in some way. Did it spark a memory or make you see something differently? If so, consider sharing it. Be sure to check out the show notes for additional info, links and ways to connect. It’s not nostalgia, it’s human.
Until next time, may you find something worth holding onto.
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