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SUGAR CURE FOR MEAT I was born on the Chambers family farm in central Pennsylvania, the early part of this century (1900’s). The farm was deeded to my ancestor, Robert Chambers in 1769 from the Penns. Preservation of food occupied much of our time. Butchering and curing of meat each fall when the weather turned cold was always an interesting and exciting event. Sugar Cure for pork hams, shoulders, bacon and beef or deer hams for 100 pounds of raw meat: 3 pints salt, 2 oz. black pepper, 2 oz. saltpeter, 1/2 lb. brown sugar, 2 tablespoons or 1 oz (?), 2 cupfuls - 1 lb. Dissolve saltpeter in a little warm water, then mix all together. Rub half of the cure on the meat and let lay for 5 days. Rub the meat again with the other half of the mixture. Let lay for five more days before hanging in the smokehouse to smoke. The hogs bladder was cleaned, then filled with sausage, one coat of the sugar cure, was rubbed on and then it too was smoked. Sugar cured smoked meat would keep indefinitely. While curing, we laid the meat on benches in our summerhouse where it was cool. NOTE— Be careful not to use too much saltpeter as that makes the meat hard and dry. Some folks omit the saltpeter altogether. Four or five times during the next three weeks, Dad would build a smoke fire in the smokehouse. He liked to use sassafras or apple wood fires covered with sawdust, which gave a heavy dense smoke. CORN AND ITS USES Before Europeans arrived on this continent, Indians raised corn for a staple part of their diet. The early settlers found corn to be a healthy, nourishing food. It was easy to keep for winter food. Field corn was ground into cornmeal, then baked into corn bread or boiled into cornmeal mush. It was also fed to the farm animals. In early September, we would go through the cornfield and pick a number of mature ears, then shell the kernels off the cobs. The next day we took a sack of corn to the White Springs gristmill. The miller kept half of the corn to pay for the grinding. That night we had fresh cornbread for supper. The portion of any kind of grain the miller kept to pay for the grinding, he ground into meal or wheat flour and then sold those products in the stores in our valley. Pop Corn— We popped our crop. Some of the popper corn was dyed red. We would sew red and white popcorn kernels on a long string to decorate our Christmas tree. Broom Corn— When my mother needed brooms, we planted a row of broomcorn when we planted the corn in April. Broomcorn has small ears and small kernels, but the tassels are 18 or more inches long. The tassels are used for the bristles in a broom. When the corn was harvested, we cut off the tassels and tied them into bundles with twine. We then took the bundles to Mr. Green Shively who made brooms. Mr. Shively had a foot pedal sewing machine to sew the brooms. He also found and milled the handles. Mr. Shively kept half of our crop of tassels for his pay, our half of the tassels made enough brooms to last 5 years. We saved enough broomcorn kernels for future planting. OUR OLD SUMMERHOUSE On the north side of our Pennsylvania farm home was a “Dog Run” (Breeze way) enclosed on the east and west ends. On the north side of that was our summerhouse. It was one story about 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. In the northwest corner was a big firebox which held two large kettles. In February, Dad would bring in his harness, heat harness oil, and grease all the harness, replace broken buckles and straps. During the hot summer months, Mother cooked on a two-burner kerosene stove. This avoided cooking on wood burning stove in the kitchen and overheating the house, except on Friday's when she baked bread, pies, and cakes. Our hand-powered washing machine was used in the summerhouse. In the winter Mother hung ropes on the walls to hang and dry her laundry. In October we boiled apple butter in the summerhouse. First we placed two 50 gallon barrels in the wagon box, then filled the box to the brim with “Ben Davis” apples and drove to a water powered cider press on Penns Creek. We went home with about 100 gallons of sweet cider. Half of the cider was used for apple butter, the other half was made into vinegar. “Ben Davis” apples were real juicy and produced excellent cider. They weren't good keepers so we did not save any for winter use. Most of our neighbors boiled their apple butter out in the open, but we boiled ours in the summerhouse. In October or November we butchered hogs and a beef. The meat was processed in the summerhouse. We trimmed the hams and shoulders, made headcheese, sausage and scrapple. The Pennsylvania Dutch call scrapp1e “Paunhaus.” A breakfast of “Paunhaus” and homemade apple butter just can't be beat. On rainy days, my sister and I played in the old summerhouse and let our childish thoughts run wild. (Printed in 1996 in REMEMBRANCE.) APPLEBUTTER by James Randall Chambers After our cider was processed, we would prepare to make apple butter. First, we would have a snitzing party. We invited neighbors to our house one evening to cut and core the apples into snitz. The Pennsylvania Dutch term “Snitz” means to cut into small pieces like one would for a pie. A snitzing party was a fun time. The scuddlebutt of the area was roundly discussed. Some games were played and the hostess would provide donuts and sweet cider to drink. At 3:00 AM the next morning a fire was started in the summerhouse firebox. Copper lined kettles were places over the fire and the kettles were filled with cider and snitz. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and some sugar were added. Each family had their own idea of what spices to use. Most of our neighbors boiled their app1ebutter in the open. The boiling took about 12 hours and the butter had to be constantly stirred. A big paddle with a 12-foot handle was used to stir. The long handle was necessary so that the “stirrer” would be away from the hot fire. Most families liked their apple butter moist and easy to spread on bread. Some families boiled their butter longer and it became so dry it had to be cut with a knife. After boiling the apple butter was placed in one or two gallon earthen crocks. When the crocks had cooled over night, hot lard was poured over the butter to seal them. We boiled enough to last a year. The Pennsylvania Dutch LOTWARICK means apple butter. © Copyright 2010 by Mifflinburg Telegraph Weekly Newspaper Top of Page |
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