Who remembers "old" things, like, apple butter, buttermilk, grandparents?!1

[UTUSN]

Am chawing on some apple butter spread on buttered whole grain bread as we speak. First time in multiple decades. Buttermilk, uh, well there's *diet* these days.

[elleng]

1. Chopped liver, and grandma's grinder,

like this:



Never had apple butter or buttermilk.

DAD and Aunt Marie made great pancakes, served only with REAL maple syrup!


THANKS for the memories!

[madinmaryland]

3. My parents (and grandparents) had one of those meat grinders...

My mom used it when we were young, but could basically get the same thing from the butcher without all the effort.

I think she used it for making hamloaf. Yeah, you can still get that in western PA.

[femmocrat]

15. My mom had one too. She used it to grind nuts for nut rolls.

We had the task of shelling the walnuts! She made the best nut rolls and kolache.

[grasswire]

24. I love ham loaf.

Ground ham and lean pork, dry mustard, some bread crumbs, molded into a loaf and basted with cider vinegar-brown sugar glaze while it bakes. Yummmmmmmm. I serve with au gratin potatoes and an apple-cranberry salad.

[grasswire]

23. my Aunt Dorothy's meat grinder is affixed to my desk.

It has been there for two years now. My desk is in the kitchen. I love to look at this grinder; it's a little fancier than the one pictured above. And children who visit LOVE to run stale bread through it.

[elleng]

25. Thanks for reminding me of my Aunt Dot,

who kept the family recipes, that were from Grandpa (who passed before I was old enough to remember him), and who fed the family, 4 boys including Dad, and Dot, after Grandma passed during the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918.

[grasswire]

26. hooray for the Dorothys!

This is interesting. My aunt Dorothy was sister to four boys too. During the pandemic of 1918, she was eleven years old and the family was homesteading on the Saskatchewan prairie. My grandmother cared for many sick neighbors during the illness, so I suppose that the cooking for them all fell to Dorothy.

She was an excellent cook, and an influence on me in that regard, despite the fact that my own mother was a professional baker and cook. Dorothy's dumplings were a hit of my childhood, as well as her dill pickles (which I still make) and her Christmas cookies (which I still make).

Kudos to all those who came through significant hardship and nourished families.

[elleng]

27. Hooray indeed!

Dot and Dad and the others were in NYC, and grandma died as a result of caring for those sickened with the influenza.

Must say I'm sad I didn't obtain any of the recipes, which Dad saw to it my (adopted) mother received and used, including a great cabbage soup.

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

2. I made fried chicken tonight

Brined in buttermilk for about 10 hours. Apple butter sounds so good. I made some several years ago and you've inspired me to do it again

[Le Taz Hot]

4. I make and can butters (among many other things). My Peach Butter

won First Prize at our local County Fair a couple of years ago. Used organic peaches (2nds) picked that day. It was SOOO good!

[madinmaryland]

5. Yes. My grandmother always had apple butter around for my grandfather.

It never really did anything for me, but my dad and his parents loved it.

[Downwinder]

6. My grandmother made cough medicine with

honey, lemon and Bourbon and couldn't understand why she had a headache the next morning.

When she got her first Social Security check, she thought it was a bill and sent them a check.

[jmowreader]

36. I gave a British guy that recipe when I was stationed in Berlin

He came back a week later and reported that it worked fine the way I told him to do it, but it worked MUCH better if you leave the honey and lemon out.

[Avalux]

7. I wish I had some apple butter!

I canned my own this year (Dad's recipe) - it's gone already! I don't know about you but I think the combo of apple butter and butter is heavenly.

ENJOY!!!

[Major Nikon]

8. I make my own buttermilk

You can make it by churning milk in a food processor to separate the butter from the buttermilk, or you can make cultured buttermilk by pitching milk with a culture and allowing it to ferment overnight which is my preferred method.

[HereSince1628]

21. Is there a difference between buttermilk and kefir?

Just wondering I think both are fermented milk.

[Major Nikon]

37. Different bacteria are used

Fermentation is pretty much the same. The place where I buy my cultures also sells ones that are used to make kefir. I do use the same cultures to make both buttermilk and sour cream. I just make a batch of buttermilk using the commercial culture, and then just use some of the buttermilk to make sour cream.

http://www.cheesemaking.com/cheeseculturesandmoldpowders.html

[Capt.Rocky300]

29. Oh, dude.....

please don't invite me over for any.



Nothing personal.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

9. I remember being young, once upon a time.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. I can still make butter, make bread and use a meat grinder like my grandmother did.

And learned to make my own tofu.
We still use the real old kerosene lamps when the power goes out, some of them from her house and some from Mr. Dixie's grandmother's.

I have made apple butter in the past few years, but prefer to use apples for pies.

[Kali]

11. my Grandmother loved buttermilk.

she liked to dunk cornbread in it (actually she dropped chunks of it in her glass and ate it with a spoon)

I buy it a lot for homemade ranch salad dressing, and baking but don't care to drink it plain.

[Laffy Kat]

12. How about that green mint jelly?

When I was little my mom would make toast with that green mint jelly you'd find in grocery stores. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Wonder if they still make it. The apple butter reminded me of the jelly.

[trof]

16. Still make mint jelly? They sure do.

A must have with lamb at our house.

[Danmel]

43. You can still get green mint jelly.

Last edited Tue Nov 24, 2015, 08:41 AM - Edit history (1)

Polaner makes it and there are English imports as well. We had it just the other night with lamb chops.

I use buttermilk in baking and in homemade cornmeal waffles.
I like Apple butter and also prune butter, known as lekjvar. It's used in a lot of Eastern European baked goods and Jewish hamantaschen, eaten on Purim.
It also like it stirred into plain Greek yogurt.

[greendog]

13. Braunschweiger on pumpernickel at my grandparents house. N/t

[trof]

17. You bet!

[ebayfool]

55. I'm pretty sure braunschweiger tastes like mouse pate based on my cats' reaction to it.

16 yrs old and never in all those has tried to snatch food ...til I shared a taste I was schmearing on crackers! We were locked in battle, rolling on the floor - I think he would claw my eyes out for the stuff!

Hence my mouse pate conclusion. Made the kitty a tiger!

[Kaleva]

14. kalamojakka-fish head soup

If you don't like the idea of using fish heads, here's a recipe that uses fish fillets:

"Pronounced Kala Moyaaka

1 gallon of water
3-4 lbs of any fiish filets
1 can of condensed milk
2 medium onions
6 celery pieces
4 med potatoes
season salt and pepper to taste

Simmer for 1-1.5 hrs stirring occasionally, turn off and let sit for approx 15 min.

Serve very warm to lightly hot, with crackers or fresh hot french bread and enjoy"

http://www.lakestatefishing.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=1101

[trof]

18. Oleo with the dye packet

During and after WWII oleomargarine was as white as Crisco and came with a bright orange dye packet. Mom creamed them together to make the 'butter' look kinda yellow.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. I remember those. They were around into the early '50s.

The whole thing came in a plastic envelope and the little round dye packet was attached on the inside.You'd squeeze the dye packet until it popped, then you'd smush the oleo around until the orange dye was all mixed in. Then it would go back into the fridge to chill. I remember my mom and dad tossing that envelope back and forth, and although I didn't see it happen I also remember them talking about tossing the package and somebody dropped it. Oops.

[Paper Roses]

44. I remember being in the grocery store w/ mom, my job was to queeze the bag.

It was a good way to keep me busy and from loading stuff in the cart that she would have to put back. I believe this was i the late 1940's.

[Snobblevitch]

49. I think that white oleo law was on the books in

Wisconsin until almost the 70s. (Strong dairy lobby.)

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Need to buy some buttermilk today for a parsnip pie recipe.

Actually never tried parsnips before -- I'm not THAT old.

And I still haven't tried rhubarb pie.

[malthaussen]

20. Remember old things? I am an old thing! n/t

[Xipe Totec]

22. It's the little things

One thinks that they were killed
by time and absence.
But their train bought
a round trip ticket.

It's the little things,
left from the time of roses,
in a corner, a piece of paper,
or in a drawer.

Like thieves they stalk you,
from behind a door.
they have you at their mercy
like fallen leaves.

Dragged by the wind, here and there,
smiling sadly at you,
making you cry when
nobody is watching.

[DebJ]

31. How beautiful, and true, and sad. n/t

[Xipe Totec]

39. Thank you. Joan Manuel Serrat is a human heritage treasure. nt

[Capt.Rocky300]

28. My grandmother loved buttermilk.......

the smell made me want to heave and the creepy residue in the glass did make me heave. Not a good memory. But it must be good for you, she lived to be 105.

[UTUSN]

33. You made me bust a gut laughing!1 One of those *acquired* taste things!1 n/t

[Capt.Rocky300]

34. Yeah, I understand...

it took me 2 shots before I acquired a taste for Wild Turkey.

[DebJ]

32. I have 12 jars of apple butter in my pantry.

Hubby has some every day on toast for breakfast. It's good, healthy, and safe for his kidneys.

And it's yummy! Hard to believe there are people who have never had any!

[tavernier]

35. HOT DAY... Nothing cooled you off

like COLD buttermilk. Went down a little sour, but when it hit your innards, you might as well be standing in the freezer.

Grannie would serve it with, of all things, beans and bacon gravy. Now that would guarantee, what in these days the expensive spas call, an "internal cleansing."

[grasswire]

40. was Grannie southern?

Never heard of beans and bacon gravy. I love this kind of info.

[tavernier]

42. Nope. Eastern Europe, right off the boat.

And it was always a pot of kidney beans, bacon and onion gravy, and icy cold buttermilk. And always in the summer. Why? Who knows. But it was delicious!

[cwydro]

50. My dad was from England.

He loved buttermilk.

I've never been able to bring myself to try it, but then, I don't like any kind of milk.

[tavernier]

51. I don't care for home brewed buttermilk,

but on a hot summer's day, creamy store bought hits the spot. It's like thin yogurt.

[Jim Beard]

56. I love home made gravey made in a cast iron skillet

with bacon or sausage drippings.

[Wolf Frankula]

38. Amona's serious cold remedy

A hooker of hot brandy. Home made macaroons. Perky pies.

Wolf

[OriginalGeek]

47. Do you fill the hooker

from the top or the bottom?

[applegrove]

41. My grandmother used to bake cookies that were

made with wheat bran and raisins. My friends hated them. I loved them, especially right out of the oven.

[noamnety]

45. I still love "butterjuice"

Our family's name for buttermilk mixed with an equal part of cranberry or grape juice. Most refreshing thing ever.

[OriginalGeek]

46. I have a jar of apple butter in the fridge right now.

although not for much longer - I tend to go through it pretty quick.

I can't remember there ever being a time my Grandma set a table without a stack of white bread and a bowl of apple butter (she'd never serve a condiment from a jar. It just isn't done) and a stick of real butter. I miss her.

But I'm going over Saturday to smoke a turkey with Grandpa for Thanksgiving! I'll bring the apple butter. He'll know why.

[cwydro]

48. I love apple butter.

Still buy it when I remember.

[Liberal Veteran]

52. Cracklin cornbread and buttermilk.

Good stuff.

[Snobblevitch]

53. I don't eat much jelly/jam, never really have.

But a couple years ago we were given a few jars of homemade apple butter. I liked it so much, I found a recipe and made a bignatched and using a hot water bath, I canned two dozen half-pint jars. It never set up, so we had 24 jars of real good applesauce. (I knew I should not have peeled the apples, but the recipe said I should.)

I have never consumed buttermilk as a beverage, but it is used in baking. I make a whole grain bran muffin that calls for buttermilk. I used to use buttermilk powder, but I can't find it in the grocery store anymore.

[Art_from_Ark]

54. Homemade gooseberry jam

My grandmother had a friend who had some gooseberry vines, and we went over there one day to pick some gooseberries for homemade jam. Nice and tart, not the overly sweetened stuff that I have found at roadside stands.

[DawgHouse]

57. I'm making a buttermilk pie for Thanksgiving!