 |
|||
|
StateOfTheOzarks.net™ is an affiliate of Lucky13Studios at JoshuaHeston.com
Copy and/or use of any portion of this site for commercial reasons without written consent is expressly prohibited. © Joshua Heston 2007-08 |
|||
 |
Natural Heritage |  |
||||
|
History, Culture & Craftsmanship
• Ozark Cooking |
||||||
| Ozark Cooking Index • Cushaw Custard • Making Fruitcake • Dried Fruit • Vegetable Fixin's Culture Index • Agriculture • Book Learning • Cooking • Craftsmanship • Faith in the Hills • History • Music • People of the Hills • Storytelling • Tourism |
|||
(from How They Lived In The Ozarks by Chick Allen)
Chick Allen, fourth generation in the Ozarks — of Indian blood — was born in a log cabin on the James River. This is the story of the way the early Indians and white settlers lived — and how they prepared their food without refrigeration. [The book also includes] some Hillbilly recipes.
(HOW TO DRY PEACHES)
Freestone peaches were used. They were cut in halves (not peeled) — they were the early peaches. They were laid out in the sun on a clean, white cloth, with the inside of the peach turned up to the sun.
They were left until thoroughly dried (the peaches had to be brough in every night or before a rain). [Once dried] they were stored in a dry, warm place for the winter.
When ready to prepare for the table, boiling water was poured over them. The skins were then slipped off.
This is the time peach butter was made.
Freestone peaches did not have to be cooked long and, when mushy, they were sweetened with sorghum and put in a wax-sealer jar, then sealed with wax.
Cling peaches were used more for canned peaches and pickled peaches. A pickled peach was peeled and the seed left in, then put into jars and sealed like peach butter.
(HOW TO DRY APPLES)
All apples were peeled. They were cored and sliced in about eight pieces, then placed in the sun on a clean, white cloth until thoroughly dried.
Usually the peaches and apples were put on the roof of a shed to dry. They were then put in a white cloth sack to be put out in the sun occasionally to keep dry; then stored in a warm, dry place.
Then it was time to make apples butter. The fresh apples were peeled and sliced and cooked to a pulp, then sweetened with sorghum and flavored with cinnamon and canned like peach butter.
(BERRIES)
Huckleberries and blackberries grow in the Ozarks wild. They were canned and made into delicious pies and jam. The juice could be made into jelly.
The early berries were dewberries and were mostly used for pies and canning. The stone jars made in the Ozarks area were used until the first glass jars were made in 1858. They also used wax sealers until they made lids later.
| These stories were first written and published by Chick Allen in 1975. Pictured below, Allen is remembered as an Ozark historian and "root digger," a founding member of the Baldknobber Music Show, and, perhaps most importantly, as a deeply respected and loved father and grandfather. It is with great appreciation to John Fullerton — Chick Allen's great grandson and Branson historian — that this excerpt is published. |
|||
 |
|||
Before the frost, the pumpkins were gathered. They were cut in one-inch rings and hung over a stick in a dry place. Many folks hung the pumpkin rings over the fireplace to dry in the late fall.
When they were thoroughly dry, they were put in clean cloth sacks and stored in a dry, warm place.
Pumpkin butter was made like peach and apple butter — sweetened with sorghum and flavored with allspice, then canned in wax sealing jars.
* Many regional dialects originally pronounced pumpkin as punkin.
(MOCCASIN PIE)
Cook dried peaches or apples until tender. Sweeten with sorghum and spice to taste. Make a pie crust (round) and fill with the fruit on half of the crust, then fold over the other half and pinch around the edge.
These pies were fried in a big iron skillet until brown. Use just enough grease to keep them from sticking. Turn once.
(SULPHUR APPLES)
Apples were peeled and cut in quarters, then cut to make eight pieces [per apple] and put in a mesh basket. This basket was put over a stick in a big, 50-gallon barrel with a pan of hot coals with sulphur (1 tablespoon) sprinkled on the coals.
Immediately cover the top of the barrel with a rug or something to hold the msoke for about three hours.
Then take the basket of apples out and put them in a stone jar. The sulphur taste lasts for about six weeks. Then they are ready to use.
Tie a clean, white cloth over the jar. A juice will form in the fruit. The apples will stay moist all winter. They can be eaten as they are, or used in cooking.