State

November 21, 1936 THE STATE Page Seven Persimmon Pudding MAINY people have never lienrd of il. nor liasve I hoy lienrd of such oilier IN'orfli Caro¬ linian spoci.illios as soupporiioii£ pie or "Toni Thumb." Miss lden tells .von nbonl (hem. K«; SUSAN DEK CLOSE beside a filling station in till* hoarl of the oily of Raleigh an old persimmon tree lias been dropping its juicy orange fruit, with its purple, hazy film, on the sidewalk these autumn days. II ow il came there I don't know, just a block from State Capital Square, bill one lias to walk carefully to keep from slipping where the fruit is mas lied on the concrete. The persimmon tree belongs in the woods where the ’possums can play among its branches, and take refuge there from the «logs who come hunting these cold frosty nights. The fruit is not good until touched by Jack Frost. The sight of the tree brought hack to my mind an old-time fall delicacy of our family — the persimmon pud¬ ding. The dish is not generally known hut is common throughout Eastern North Carolina. It is even sold on the curb markets of some towns by Поте Demonstration Club women. It may Is- put in the oven and steamed after it has been cooked, though it is lietter fresh from the stove. Louise Beebe Wilder, well-known garden writer, in the November issue of House and Garden says she has never heard of any use for the persim¬ mon, except to eat it raw. The recipe came down to us from my great-grandmother. The old house with its stone lower floor, which was originally a mill, well over a hundred years old, ami with its deeply recessed windows and low ceilings, looks ns if such a recipe might well have come from there. Just as there must l»e pumpkin or mince pics at Thanksgiving and fruit enke at Christmas, the persimmon pud¬ ding was something of a tradition in our family and no fall of the year was complete without it. 1 think some¬ times that the custom and family tradi¬ tion made it more delightful than it really is. Miss Wilder in her article says that the persimmon must have been one of the first fruits to feast the hungry set¬ tlers, since it is frequent through the woods from Bhodc Island southward. But she says that she never knew of any of the fruit being made use of ex¬ cept u meal for the casual wayfarer, children, ami opossums. Ли early traveler to Virginia, how¬ ever, Miss Wilder says, wrote home about the |HTsimiimii and said that he had seen the |>eoplc of this new coun¬ try put them in their baked puddings. She has searched through many old cook books, however, she writes but lias found no us*- of the persimmon in early Colonial cookery. 1 can see my mother oven now mash¬ ing the fruit through a collander to get out the stones and skins. Then she took two cups of the pulp, beat into it two eggs and inixnl in one cup of milk, a pint of flour, one cup of sugar and butter the size of an egg. Stirred well the mixture was poured into a biscuit pan that had lieen thoroughly greased, so that the grease came up well on the sides of the pudding to make the edges hake crusty and brown. For an hour it would hake with fre¬ quent peeps into the oven to sec if it were getting on just right. There are some who add grated sweet petal*» or bread crumbs and grated cocoanut to their puddings. Another use for the persimmon is liersiinmoii Ikit. tit accompaniment for the Thanksgiving dinner. In connection with her laek of in¬ formation about persimmon pudding, I cannot help hut wonder whether Miss Wilder ever has heard of scuppernong pic. If her education has been neg¬ lected in this respect, however, she is not by herself. Scuppernong pie is a distinctly North Carolina dish and is a tradi¬ tional fall favorite in some families. It must he admitted, however, that one sees it seldom upon the average table. The grapes arc popped from the hulls and the pulp put on to boil un¬ til the seed can l»e strained out of the pulp. Then, with the addition of sugar and a toaspoonful of flour for thickening, the pulp is cooked down sufficiently and spread on baked pie shells. Topped with whipped cream il is a Tar 11*ч*1 dessert fit to set before the President, particularly if a glass of amber scuppernong wine, with its delicious flavor, goes with it. I imagine, also, that Miss Wilder would also stare rather vacantly if someone were to ask her whether sin- liked Tom Thumb. "I never heard of a Tom Thumb until I came to North Carolina,” I heard a woman, who is a specialist in foods, say recently. Thy© are many others like her. A Tom Thumb is sausage stuffed in (lie skin of a large intestine <>f the hog. It is boiled and sliced and has a grand flavor. Fall and winter months bring to North Carolina tables many other dishes which might lie termed exclu¬ sively North Carolinian. At any rate, il can Ih- said that they arc* exclusively Southern. Sometimes I think that our Soul hern dishes have lost some of their charm with the passing of the old fire¬ place cookery. At Jugtown Cabin in Moore Coun¬ ty. where ilieir pottery plant is located, the Busbecs like to make use of their lug open fireplace for cooking during the winter months. This despite the fact that they have the country con¬ venience of an oil stove. Many pots and pans and griddle irons have been collected in the big Jugtown kitchen for tin-place cooking. A rabbit stew, highly seasoned with bell peppers, sage, parsley, onions, hay and other appetiz¬ ing herbs, cooked in a big iron pot over the coals, was very welcome to me one cold November day. There were also sweet potatoes roasted in another pot on the coals on the hearth, and altogether ii was one of the most delightful meals I ever enjoyed. There arc. after all. many things of the past whose worth we have sacri¬ ficed for the modern conveniences of today.