It was blackberry season...
Living off the land means being very aware of the seasons and what is ripe or ready at which time of year. The hills of central Arkansas were ideal for wild berries to grow, and they would be picked to eat fresh in season, or canned as preserves or jellies to eat during the winter. Of the many thousands of meals that Ruth has cooked in her life, the very first one happened because of blackberries, as she remembers below.
''A typical day for my mom, Floy, and me in the late summer was to pick blackberries, as we had to harvest anything that was edible. One day, when I was about 10 years old, we had spent the morning picking berries. It was getting near lunch time, when Mom saw another bunch of blackberry bushes up the hill. She wanted to go pick them, and said that I should go back to the house and cook lunch for my dad and brothers who were working in the field and would be ready for lunch soon.
I had helped my mother cook many times but never done it by myself before! With six hard-working and very hungry brothers, plus my dad, it was a big job. I made biscuits using the recipe that is in this cookbook, and milk gravy. The guys ate it all up, so I guess I passed the test!!
In the early spring, once the winter supply of stove wood had run out, we really had to cook from "scratch." I would have to scratch up pieces of wood, corn cobs or whatever would burn before I could bake biscuits and fix the rest of the meal. So meal planning had to take into account how long you needed to build a fire and get the stove hot."
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Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups plain flour
½ tsp baking soda
2 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp hog lard (or shortening)
1 tsp salt
¾ cup butter milk
(Note: You can make your own buttermilk by adding lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk. Add 1 tbsp of juice or vinegar for every 1 cup of milk. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes before using. Add to recipe as indicated.)
"Mix all together, lard and buttermilk first. Add dry ingredients, stirring quickly. Roll out on a floured board, knead a little to smooth and flatten to about ¾”. Cut with a small top glass (if cookie cutters were invented then, we couldn’t afford one) that has been dipped into flour to keep from sticking to the dough. Continue doing this as needed while cutting. After cutting, pick up the dough trimmings and knead by hand to form more biscuits. They’re good too and we didn’t waste anything! Place in a greased pan, smear a little grease on top. Bake in the old range wood stove oven. (In a pinch, a modern oven will do. Set temp to 350 degrees and bake for about 15 minutes or until brown.)"
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