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Natural Heritage |  |
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History, Culture & Craftsmanship |
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| 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 |
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by Joshua Heston
It's not every fruitcake baker who can boast of thankyou notes — some handwritten — from the likes of Gerald Ford, Margaret Thatcher or Colin Powell.
That is, however, exactly what the folks over at College of the Ozarks can do.
College of the Ozarks is a work school dedicated to providing students with free tuition, in exchange for weekly work on campus.
They take a lot of pride in their products, whether from the on-campus dairy, the working grist mill, or the fruitcake and jelly kitchen.
There are over 90 "workstations" on campus.
It is, after all, part of the College's tradition — a tradition of hard work born out of past struggles.
At the height of the Great Depression, faculty and students alike were looking for ways to make money for the school.
A new home economics teacher, Annabelle McMaster, with the help of students, began cooking fruitcakes one December day.
The kitchen happened to be right under the office of then-school president, R.M. Good.
Good, following the smell of baking cake, inquired, saying, "If you will make me six of those fruitcakes, I will mail them out to people interested in The School. And if we get some money back, I will buy your department its first electric stove."
They got $1,125 from the first six fruitcakes!
Today, the fruitcakes are still made with the same recipe. Baked 28 at a time in some decidedly modern ovens, they are sold in one-, two-, and three-pound sizes.
The farthest they have shipped has been to Australia and Japan.
And they sell 25,000 each year.
It's just another step in allowing students to graduate debt-free, says Elizabeth Andrews of the college.
And the personally written thankyou note from Gerald Ford still hangs on the kitchen wall.
| Credits — Many thanks to the faculty and staff of the College of the Ozarks for their support, most notably Elizabeth Andrews of public relations and Annette Sain of the Ralph Foster Museum. State of the Ozarks salutes this unique school for exemplifying modern-day Ozark heritage. Suggested reading — Miracle of the Ozarks by Jerry C. Davis. ______ To learn more, be sure to check out these StateoftheOzarks articles related to the College of the Ozarks: • Edwards Mill, A Tradition • Makin' Fruitcake • The Ralph Foster Museum |
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August 9, 2008