Monticello Live

With Christmas being celebrated this week, I have a rather poignant Christmas memory to share from the late 1930′s.
As you know, America was in the midst of the Great Depression and “cash money” was difficult to be found in those times. In this particular story our storyteller was a student in the 7th grade. At that time, and even in those circumstances, there were Christmas parties scheduled at school and the students “drew names” so each child would receive a gift.
Our young friend was the oldest son in a family of eight children so he missed school when any work could be found to help supplement the family income. Often he was paid in foodstuffs or other perishable goods.
However one day he ran an errand for a neighbor and was rewarded with a dime. Ten cents was a lot of money to the lad and he was thrilled. Now he could get a present for the school party. He went to the local store to find a gift before going home that day.
In one of the display cases was a new, shiny pocket knife. It was small and nickel plated, but to the lad, it was beautiful. Oh, how he wanted that knife!
Then he remembered the present for the school party and knew how his dime would be spent. The boy reasoned that there could be no finer gift for his school mate. He handed over his dime and proudly carried the little knife home in a paper sack.
The next day was the last school day before Christmas so he proudly carried the bag containing the little knife to school.
At the party the other boy opened his gift and was thrilled with the shiny knife.
Then it was our young friend’s turn to open his gift! Imagine his dismay when his gift was revealed to be a big apple! A big apple with a big, big bite out of it! How crushing!
The story gets sadder because that was the last year our friend went to school. Family circumstances compelled him to quit school and help support his family.
Many years later the young boy, now a grown man, came to the realization that someone else had probably desired that apple as bad as our friend wanted the little knife – but it still hurt a little.
Thankfully similar incidences and circumstances eventually led to the abandonment of the practice of “drawing names” in schools!
Now on to brighter things! After last week I found an old, old cookbook with a recipe for taffy like many remembered from childhood. This recipe sounds so simple and easy, but be warned: I would think it might be messy. Since it is so close to Christmas though, you might want to be bold and give it a try.

Sorghum Molasses Taffy
Combine in pan:
2 cups sorghum molasses
1 tablespoon vinegar

Cook until hard ball stage, stirring constantly to prevent burning. When done, stir in 1 teaspoon soda and stir briskly until mixture looks light and foamy. (Here flavorings, such as vanilla or peppermint, could be added, but I doubt needed.) Pour into buttered pan and let set until it is cool enough to be handled. Butter hands and pull one half of the taffy at a time until it hardens and loses its stickiness. Pull out to desired length and, when cool, break into bite sized pieces and wrap in waxed paper.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Now I have a Christmas cake recipe to share that is over 100 years old. It originated with the O’Neill family of Corinth and Biscuit Ridge in Bradley County.
Bill White of Monticello and the Valley community graciously included it in our museum cookbook a few years ago. I’ll share it here with Bill’s blessing.
Grandma Glennon’s Christmas Jam Cake
2 cups sugar 1 cup buttermilk
1 cup butter 1 cup blackberry jam
3 eggs 1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon soda 1 cup nuts
3 cups flour 1 cup coconut
1 tablespoon allspice

Mix sugar and butter well. Add eggs, one at a time. Add jam and buttermilk. Add flour, soda and allspice. Add raisins, nuts and coconut. Bake at 350 degrees in three 9-inch cake pans until done. Cool. (Bill says his grandmother baked her cake in iron skillets.)

Icing:
1 lb. brown sugar 1 large can Pet milk (evaporated milk)
1 cup butter

Mix well and cook until soft ball in water. Add 1 pound marshmallows, 1 cup nuts, 1 cup raisins and 1 cup coconut.

Bill says Grandma used to bake it around Thanksgiving and wrap it airtight and store it in a cool place until Christmas. It makes a large cake.
I’m just not sure I could wait until Christmas!

The museum will be closed this weekend, December 26-28. We want to thank you for your patronage and support in 2008. We hope you and yours have a Happy New Year!!

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 at 11:25 pm and is filed under Memories from the Museum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.