The Seaforth News, 1956-10-25, Page 7Some Reflections
on Popcorn
11, , lr ,r'E;h l stint colored
cope ru ho -,o0 frenr the store the
et11ee' dee, ,ir,ci !t reviled. out to
he estelty Vivi. It conics all
mixed up g;cen and red and
bitee anti y Meta, in a glass bot-
tle ea you con ba attracted. and
the label saes, "Certified Pure
Food Coloring." This proves it's
fit tee eat. When the shell bursts
in popping, the inside of this
corn is just as white as any
other kind, but_ the colored
speaks from the certified pure
food can be seen us a definite
eupeptic factor, and the gro-
ceryman said it was moving
I 'sneerer to reflect 00 popeoru,
eebject of lone standing, and
1 em forced to admit great
seri b : htive•n mar'".
Popcorn, in my life, was
origir,alte something yule plant-
ed in the field farthest. from the
garden, because it would cross.
Cern was atwaj•s crossing. In
those dal s it- was prudent and
even necessary to keep your
own seed, because seedsmen
were net so• plentiful and no-
Where near so reliable as now.
SO y'ou didn't run any risk of
having popcorn on the sweet
corn cobs, ur even vice versa,
and if a neighbor plowed up a
strip nigh the fence, it was
well to filed oot what he plane
ned to plant.
We bed a little field of about
two acres away down in the
woods se a spot of rock -free
loam surrounded by boulders
and about every third year it
would grow us a patch of pope
corn without pollen beroining a
public issue. We grew- a -little
white popcorn which didn't ma-
ture too early, and some sea-
sons we'd scarcely get our seed
back. This was true, in those
days. of yellow corn, too
Grandfather said one year in
ten is all you could expect of
corn. Since then the seedsmen
have hybridized -and selected,
--- and the dory is different now.
But there was always enough
for at least a winter, and if we
ran snort we could always seed
some more nest year. Some
years we'd grow so much we
could sell some, and stili pack
away enough for four or five
years' home popping, writes
John Gould in The Chirstian
Science Monitor. -
All you did. to sell some, was
pack .the ears in a bag and take
them to the store, where the
storekeeper gave you credit on
your bill Today, a local store
won't buy anything Much from
"RATS" - Several of the "rats'' -
pieces of hair podding which
backed up hairdos in the '90s --
must nave been used to fashion
this extravagant coiffure, called
"Parc.dise". It was featured at
the International Congress of
Hairdressers, held this year in
Vienna, Austria,
a farmer, unless he deals with
the warehouse in a far city
my favorite teample is sweet
cider peeked in Buc•khcid, ship -
pod to Boston, and rc.tliippcd
back to Bickfield again where
customers at the chain store pay
four cents a gallon more than it
would cost them at the cider
press. Besides, popcorn would
have to be packaged, tinned or
bottled, whereas the old grocer
simply sold it loose, but on the
cob. I remember one who had a
huge globe -like bottle with a
plate across the top for a cover,
and he exhibited his popcorn in
il; but usually a plain wooden
box was good enough. You
bought popcorn expecting to
shell it off.
When the robs of popcorn
were twisted one way in
the mechanism a great
corrugated w li e e l made a
fine noise as it rubbed off
the kernels. The cobs and
the corn would all come out in
the same box, but you could
pick the cobs out all right. Any-
body who had one of these
could shell popcorn with it.
Otherwise you took two cobs in
your hands and rubbed 'then
together, shielding the action
with your palms so the kernels
wouldn't fly all over the kitch-
en. Two cobs were generally
more than enough for an even-
ing's popping. At times we used
to shell both yellow and pop-
corn with the bayonet from
Grarnpie's Civil War musket.
We'd stretch it across a box, sit
with a leg holding each end ,
down, and saw the cobs up and
down on the edge.
Shelling popcorn preceded
popping it each time. This was
because the ears were traced.
Instead of husking the ears at
harvest time, we'd merely peel
the husks back, and then braid
them together. This made a
strand of popcorn, and we'd tie
two strands together and loop
them over a wire between attic
rafters. The mice couldn't get
to the corn, Corn popped better
if it was cold, and in the win-
ter we'd go up attic and twist
off two ears and come down for
popping.
Our original popper, I've
heard tell, was a spider with a
cover on it. It was a little hard
to manage because of the legs,
but it worked. Then came a
sheet -iron popper with a long
handle, which was still m use
when I came along. The crane
was pulled ahead in the fire-
place, and a pothook hung on.
Then the handle of the popper
was put throught the pothook,
and you could agitate the pop-
per very handily. Later the
same popper was found to be
equally useful on top of a stove.
When Grandmother would hit
a high brood and say, "Now
if you sannups will behave
yourselves, after supper I'll
make cornbalis," we were in a
frenzy of expectation. We'd
shell the corn, pop the big
wooden bowl full, and be sure
to pick nut all the old maids.
(This meaning of old maid is
nut in the dictionary, for some
reason. Grandmother used to
tell of some poor wretch who
broke her plate on an old maid
in a cnr•rebali, which was a joke,
because cornballs and store
teeth are incompatible, It's like
e dog with a dab of taffy.) Then
the rich effluvia of old-fashion-
ed molasses would run riot in
the house, and while we stirred
the popcorn with long -handled
spoons Grandma would pour the
syrup most slowly over the
bowl, so every kernel would
get sticky. She'd butter her
hand and form the balls, and on
the big roast -chicken platter
they'd be put in the shed to
cool the longest hour. Then
she'd fret for a week because
all the doorknobs were sticky-.
A Lot at Steak: By finishing
a 4'i -lb. steak -and -kidney pie
in 17 min., 43 sec., Joe Steel. a
4'2 -year-old miner, won an eat-
ing contest at Bedlington, Nor-
thumberland.
CROSSWORD
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Answer elsewhere our this page.
POOR MAN'S AiR CONDITIONER — Cabby Pierre Alidiere ex-
plains to an attentive gendarme how he keeps his passengers
cool amid Paris' hot -rodding traffic. Twin propellers mounted
on edge of his cab's window du the trick. The breeze -or gale—
set up bt• the moving cab turns the outside propeller and, voila --
the inside one she turns. Simple, n'est-ce pas?
What follows would normally
belong in our cookery columns,
I suppose, But those of us who
recall, fondly and regretfully,
the days when farming wasn't
quite so streamlined and busf-
nesslike — and especially those
fortunate enough to have had
Amish neighbors — will under-
stand wiry it appears here. Ac-
cording to Kipling, the immortal
Homer swiped whatever he
throught desirable; and why
should I set myself up as better
than homer?
In spite of the seasons' vagar-
ies, this year, growing things
have followed their usual pat-
tern, and now the mushrooms
are inviting us to sally forth
With basket and sharp knife to
where they are rearing their sil-
very heads in Amos's wooded
lot.
Etnrnaline is always ready for
a foray, since she is inordinately
fond of "mushyroons." But on
this particular morning her girls
are tending a baby boy whose
young mother is helping her
husband tend their market stall
in town, and we linger to watch
Itis antic's,
Anna, who left school forever
this spring, having reached 10,
the age at which Amish girls are
considered to be sufficiently ed-
ucated and 14 -year-old Hilda
are delighted with their charge.
If a baby can be spoiled in one
day, he surely will be, for they
lavish attention on him. Anna
set him to gurgling and cooing
by singing a Dutch lullaby.
She is helping Anna to turn
out a batch of 'rottage cheese
with which Emmeline will make
cheesecake for Sunday's dinner.
Herein horse -and -buggy land,
the people are sticklers for a
st''ason for everything and ev-
erything in its season. They
never, for instance, serve soup
in hot weather. But on any crisp
morning bustling Dutch house-
wives greet you with: "Real
good soup weather it is today."
I have even heard the men say
it. - - -
Cheesecake, iu1wevcr, is: en-
joyed the year round. Erntna-
line has standiing orders for hers
each week at market, and there
would surely be a hue and cry
from her customers if it should
be decreed that cheesecake is a
seasonal dish, too.
The secret of her rake's deli.
rate smoothies, is in the soft
cure( cheese. Known as "baker's
c'heccO," it is the same kind
noted chefs use in their own ete-
gant cheesecakes, and so simple
to snake that one really enjoys
putting the el eam crocks to
work.
A kitchen 1hermmneter- is
needed for pasteurizing a gal-
lon 'of skint milk in a big double.
boiler at 1451r, lot' 30 minutes.
After that the milk should be
cooled to room temperature
(70"F,) and kept there for the
souring process, which is accon-
plished by the "addition of one-
fourth of a rennet tablet dissolv-
ed in a tablespoon of cold water,
and one-fourth cup of cultured'
buttermilk, the kind sold in any
dairy of grocery store, -
7'o make the cake hatter,
Emmeline mixes '2 cups of her
homemade cheese with ''i cup
sugar, za teaspoon lemon ex-
tract, and t4 teaspoon salt, thee
beats until smooth. Four egg
yolks are added and beaten
until well blended. Then she
mixes in 3 tablespoons flour and
the it cup of light cream and
beats again.
In a large bowl, she beats
until frothy, 4 egg whites, 114
teaspoon cream of tartar, ',a cup
sugar, and continues beating
until soft peaks form. Then she
pours the cheese batter over the
egg whites and folds it in gent-
ly; pours all into the crumb -
lined pan; sprinkles remaining
crumbs over the top; then bakes
the cake in -a 300°F. oven for I
full hour.
In an electric or gas oven,
one would now turn the heat
off and let the cake stand for
another hour in the oven. But
for Emmeline it means remov-
ing all unburned fuel from her
firebox. She does it cheerfully,
though, and warns, "Don't peek,
even, for the whole bake -wait
period,"
When the cake in all its state-
ly splendor is removed from the
oven, it is allowed to cool for
another five minutes before the
rim of the pan is removed. Then
one needs only to slice it to re-
veal its wonderfully smooth,
velvety texture.
Some like a. sour cream top-
ping for cheesecake, others hold
out for pineapple. But I have
heard Amos advise his custonw-
ers at market, "Try it - with a
good tart jam- once," and that
is what I like best. -
Does Etnmaline mind having
her cherished recipes revealed?
Does the sun mind sharing its
warmth? One is as probable as
the other.. She would love to
know that housewives all over
the country were baking cheese. -
cake "over her recipe." And be -
Mg a hospitable soul, she would
point out That this recipe serves
12 nicely.
She prepares her fresh mush-
rooms the epicurean way, fried
to a golden brown in lots of
butter, But Mushrooms Naturclle
are a treat, too. Wiped with a
damp cloth and cut into pieces,
they are simply shaken over the.
fire for a few minutes in a heat-
ed skillet which has been sprink-
BY KL:,v le BARCH AY
WARREN. K.A.. S.D.
Ten Laws For Life
(Temperance Lesson)
Exodus 20:1-17
Memory Selection: Thou shalt
have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:3.
It is well if we as children
memorized the ten command-
ments. They were given by God
through his servant Moses, near-
ly 3,800 years ago. But they still
form a satisfactory pattern for
living. It is true that most of the
Christian Church do not keep
the seventh day but rather the
first day of the week. There is
no express command for the
change but Jesus arose on the
first day and appeared to his
disciples, A week later he again
appeared. The Holy Spirit was
given at Pentecost on this day. It
came to be known as . the Lord's
Day. On this clay the disciples
came together to break bread in
remembrance of Him. (Acta 20:
7,)
But someone will ask. "What
havethe ten commandments to
do with temperance? Let's put
it this way. How does the drink-
ing of alcohol affect our obser-
vance of the commandments?
Almost daily the news throws
light on the connection. Drunk-
enness often prepares the way
for immorality. It doesn't take
much alcohol to loosen one's
proper restraint of the sex in-
stinct. For some, drunkenness
leads to a false sense of confi-
dence, paving the way for reck-
lessness and death on the high-
way. Drunkenness has never
helped anyone. It has destroyed
led with salt. With the addition
of ?a cup of water, they are
simmered uncovered until ten-
der. Then covered and with the
heat turned oft they draw their
own juice. A little garlic juice,
chopped chives, or onion brings
out the true mushroom flavor.
By Mabel Slack Shelton in The
Christian Science Monitor,
the happiness of many homes.
The late Dr. Guthrie, of Scot-
land, once said, "Whiskey is good
in its place. There is nothing in
this world like whiskey for pre-
serving a man when he is dead,
but it is erne' of the worst things
in the world for preserving a
man when he is living. If you
want to keep a dead man, put
him in whiskey; if you want to
kill a living man, put whiskey
irl him."
Deeds Picket tells of a young
woman in college who said, "Al-
cohol always seems to transport
me to a rosier world." Her room-
mate shot back, "Yes, but what
about the return trip?"
Health officials are alarmed
at the thousands who are be-
coming alcoholics. Well, yots
won't become an alcoholic if
you don't take the first drink:. If
you have taken the first one,
Jesus Christ can help you tib
never take another one.
YOUNG AT HEART
During a trial some years ago,
the judge asked a witness: "De
you have any brothers or sis-
ters?"
"No. my only sister died 150
years ago.""
The judge looked ineredulous,
"That's not possible."
"On the contrary," said the
witness. "At the age of 20 my
father married and had a daugh-
ter. She died in infancy. When
m' father was 72 he became a
widower, He married again.
Four years later I was born and
I am now 94"
Drive ttt','gth Care
Upsidedown to Prevent Pecking
1 Cl S.33A :- l 11
Vt{+:9213
•
"SLIENT" CALL TO DUTY — Alerted by a buzz from his tiny,
breast pocket-size receiver, this doctor at St. Thomas Hospital,
in London, England, lifts unit to his ear to learn why he's being
paged. Each doctor un the floor carries a receiver, which
operates on its own wavelength Controlled from an ultra short-
range broadcasting station, the new paging system supplements
the conventional loud speaker or tall -bell system of locating
staff members.
CENTENNIAL OBSERVANCE _. Philip Piecyk, 14, far left, casts unbelieving eyes at the first
bull moose reported in Connecticut in a century Game wardens remained unconvinced of
the sighting until shown this photograph, reproduced from a color slide taken by Philip's
father, Victor Piecyk, when the aninmai appeared in the pasture of the family's farm.