Food – Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm

Making This Year’s Batch of Maple Syrup, Plus Pancakes!

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 01:42:00 +0000

When Tapping for Tree Sap, Timing is Everything

Hello Folks, Aunt Eunice here! I hope you are all doing well. The coldest harvest is now over and the ice house is full to the rafters with nice big blocks of ice. We should have plenty for our needs which is mostly for making homemade ice cream and for keeping the birch beer kegs cold. Now we are preparing for the sweetest job on the farm, maple sugaring. The farmer started tapping the maple trees about ten days ago and has been storing the sap for Maple Sugaring Day. Quiet Valley members are invited to attend and will get to sample buttermilk or buckwheat pancakes with our 2020 syrup on it. They can learn all about the process as it was done in the 19th century. It always amazes me that it takes 40 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of syrup! No wonder it is so pricey in the stores. If you keep cooking it past the syrup stage you can eventually get maple sugar. What a wonderfully tasting sweetener. My husband uses the syrup in place of corn syrup when making sticky buns. What a treat that is!! I learned a couple years ago that the first sap collected has the highest sugar content. Not sure how big a difference there is between the first and the last collected. I also found out that you can make syrup from the sap of other types of trees. Their sap doesn’t have the sugar content of the sugar maple so I imagine it takes more sap and more cooking down to get the sweetness I crave. This is the time of year this particular job has to be done as the sap is rising. Night temperatures need to be below freezing and daytime temperatures above forty. If you miss this window it will be a whole year until your next chance.

A Fine Maple Flavored Breakfast

Quiet Valley’s sap will be cooked down in large kettles over fires. The ladies volunteering will hard boil eggs in the sap and will also bake potatoes in Dutch ovens using hot coals from the fire. Along with the pancakes, it makes a pretty fine breakfast. If you are used to using the syrup you get from bottles shaped like a lady, take my advice and try the real thing. There are lots of recipes out there nowadays that use this special sweetener so be adventurous and try it in a dessert or a savory dish like butternut squash soup.

Ready for Spring

Though it may not seem like it, given the temperatures we’ve been having, Spring is just around the corner. Soon we will be cleaning up the detritus from winter, starting our vegetable gardens and mowing lawns. I think we are all looking forward to the longer hours of sunlight daylight savings will bring. Well, that’s all for now. Stay safe, take care and talk to you soon. Aunt Eunice

2021: New Programs, Skills Demos, Gardening Ideas

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 06:14:24 +0000

Hello Folks,

Aunt Eunice here. The first week of a new year is over and I can’t help but think of a year of possibilities stretching out before me in the remaining 51 weeks. They could be good, they could be mediocre or they could be not so good. Probably a mix. I am putting out wishes and prayers for good ones for all of us!

New Programs Adjusted for COVID Restrictions

In keeping with a year that may still restrict our events and programming due to COVID we have yet again developed safe additional activities for both children and adults. There is a nice series of heritage craft and 19th century life skills classes taking place once a month for ages 15 and up. For the younger set, there is the Heritage Homeschool Program where they can sign up to learn a variety of craft and farm-related skills. There is also the Cabin Fever Workshop in March with five different classes from which you can choose. Sign up early for any of these classes as they fill up fast. Check out our website for details and other options.

The Calendar of Events is updated with our major fundraisers and smaller summer events so feel free to plan a visit for a summer tour or to enjoy our entertaining and educational festivals. The farmers have already ordered their seeds and Gary, our retired farm manger, will start some in his greenhouse and have the plants ready to sell in May at our Farm Animal Frolic. He’ll have a nice variety of healthy, well grown seedlings. Last May I purchased four kinds of tomato plants which all performed beautifully. One of my favorites is the Golden Jubilee. Eating yellow tomatoes causes me fewer digestive issues as there is less acid in them than the orange or red tomatoes. Gary is teaching a class called Preparing for Spring Gardening on March 13 for interested folks. Spaces will fill up fast!

Planning a New Season of Fresh Veggies

It’s encouraging to think about Spring and growing vegetables, herbs or flowers. Finding new ways to use veggies and the herbs in recipes or planting flowers in new spots or as companion plants in the vegetable garden. If you don’t grow the plants for yourself, remember you can visit your local CSA or Farmers Market. There will always be a nice selection of produce there and it will be locally sourced! Better for us and for our community growers. The Charmant cabbage plants that I bought at the sale last year gave me delicious cabbage that was easy to raise. Charmant is an early variety that produces uniform, solid, medium-sized round heads with blue-green color, a tight internal structure and a short core. It has one of the best holding abilities of all early varieties. I usually buy Quiet Valley’s sauerkraut, but I used some of my cabbages to make my own. I freeze mine, but some folks prefer to can it.

Special New Years Foods

We enjoyed some on New Year’s Day as part of a traditional Pennsylvania German meal of pork and sauerkraut, which is believed to bring good fortune in the coming year. Eating pork of any style on New Year’s Day is said to inspire progress throughout the year to come. According to German legend, pork is eaten on New Year’s Day because pigs look forward when they root for food, rather than chickens and turkeys, which scratch backward. Many cultures have food superstitions about what to eat on New Year’s Day to bring prosperity in the new year. In the South it is Black Eyed Peas, Greens and Cornbread. Read more here.

That’s all for now, but thanks for checking in. Take care of yourselves and each other. I will be thinking of you. Aunt Eunice

We’ve Survived Hard Times, Heritage Skills More Relevant

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 16:06:00 +0000

Hello Folks,

Aunt Eunice here. I am praying everyone is doing well during these hard times we are currently going through. It can be scary, but I hope you are keeping your spirits up. Over the years, the population of Earth has survived many pandemics and mass illnesses such as Smallpox.

Rapid Response During 1947 NYC Outbreak

According to Wikipedia, the 1947 New York City smallpox outbreak occurred in March and was declared to have ended on April 24. The outbreak marked two milestones for America. First, it was the largest mass vaccination effort ever conducted for smallpox in America, and second, it marked the last outbreak of smallpox in America. Within three weeks of the discovery of the outbreak, the U.S. Public Health Service, in conjunction with New York City health officials, had procured vaccine supplies and inoculated over 6,350,000 adults and children. Of that number, 5,000,000 had been vaccinated within the first two weeks. The rapid response was credited with limiting the outbreak to 12 people, 10 of whom recovered, while 2 died. Hopefully our scientists can come up with a vaccine in the near future and we can be made safe from this latest, dangerous virus.

Home Sweet Home Cooking

My family and I have appreciated people’s efforts to help us all have a laugh through social media posts. I am gaining my Freshman Fifteen a bit late in life as I am less active right now and as I come from a family that loves to bake and cook I have no shortage of calories at my disposal. I guess this is good at a time when grocery shelves are a bit emptier than usual and a trip to the store requires serious thought due to risks involved. It is nice to be able to make things from scratch. We always have flour, shortening, sugar, etc. in bulk quantities with a household of 11 to feed. In two weeks, we have made everything from simple chocolate covered pretzels to Martha Stewart’s recipe for Grandma’s Chocolate Sugar Cookies, to homemade eclairs to last night’s cherry crumb pie. Dinners have consisted of items such as chicken piccata, beef stew, barbecued beef, some of the best fried chicken I have had since my Mom passed away, to a full roast turkey dinner and homemade turkey pot pie.

Timely Heritage Life Skills

I have to admit it is comforting to be able to provide as much as possible and do as much as possible for yourself especially in times like these. It makes us feel more confident and capable of weathering “stormy seas”. Quiet Valley has been pondering things like this and thought perhaps folks would like to learn about what I am calling “Heritage Life Skills Relevant for Today”. We are planning a number of workshops over the summer and into fall to help teach folks some useful skills. We are also developing videos so you can watch from home. Our first one on gardening came out last week. Find it on YouTube and subscribe to our channel. Learn about a variety of things like soap making, cooking, baking bread, how to raise chickens, and grow your own vegetables! As a non-profit educational corporation it is our mission to share the history and teach about life skills of rural Pennsylvania in the 19th century. We hope these workshops and video offerings will enrich your lives and offer you useful tools to help in both hard times and good ones, too.

That’s all for now and thanks for checking in. Be well and talk to you soon. Aunt Eunice

March Onward! Tapping Maple Trees, Fresh Eggs & Donuts

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 15:27:00 +0000

The Origins of Leap Year

Hello Folks, Aunt Eunice here. February 2020 is a leap year. According to Chiff.com – A leap year is any year with 366 days instead of the usual 365 days. Therefore, leap day in 2020 will fall on Saturday, February 29th. So…why the extra day? It was the ancient Egyptians who first figured out that the solar year and the calendar year didn’t always match up. That’s because it actually takes the Earth a little longer than a year to travel around the Sun – 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be exact. Therefore, as hours accumulated over the centuries, an extra day was occasionally added to the calendar, and over time the practice became more or less official. The Romans first designated February 29 as leap day, but a more precise formula (still in use today) was adopted in the 16th century when the Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the calculations to include a leap day in years only divisible by four – 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, etc.

New Lambs, Farm Fresh Eggs, Donuts

Besides being a Leap Year, February has been an interesting month at Quiet Valley. We had an early set of lambs, “Quentin” the Quiet Valley groundhog says it will be an early spring. Punxsutawney Phil agreed with him. The chickens are enjoying the sun and are providing us with plenty of eggs which doesn’t always happen this time of year, unless you provide them with an artificial light source. It is so nice to have fresh eggs! I never knew what a big difference there is between older ones and newly laid ones until I came to Quiet Valley. One morning I was working in the cellar kitchen and had a nice fire going in the hearth. I was waiting for the first school to arrive for their visit to an 1800s farm. I hadn’t had breakfast so I grabbed a couple of eggs, one green and one light brown, and fried them up in the spider. Not a real spider, of course, but a round cast iron frying pan that has several long legs supporting it. Hence the resemblance to a real arachnid. The eggs were delicious, simple fried eggs, so fresh, so good! The green egg was from an Araucana hen and the light brown from the Buff Orpington. They both tasted the same, just better because they were fresh. The Monday winter camp group learned how to make raised donuts using mashed potatoes in the dough. I was fortunate to get a sample. We also had our first staff winter training session. As part of that day I gave a lesson about medicinal herbs and their uses on the farm in the 19th century.

The Science & Technique of Maple Sugaring

There are eight days left in February, but signs of March marching toward us and onto our calendars are all around. One sign is the fact that the temperature is right for tapping the sugar maple trees! It needs to be about 40 degrees in the day and below freezing at night. According to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, understanding how maple sap is formed requires some knowledge about tree physiology. In the later summer and fall, maple trees virtually stop growing and begin storing excess starches throughout the sapwood, especially in cells called ray cells. This excess starch remains in storage as long as the wood remains colder than about 40 degrees F. Whenever wood temperatures reach around 40 degrees F, enzymes in the ray cells change the starches to sugars, largely sucrose. This sugar then passes into the tree sap. As the temperature increases to about 45 degrees F, the enzymes stop functioning and sugar is no longer produced. In March and April, the sugar changes back to starch—except during periods of flow. Rising temperature creates pressure inside trees, causing sap to flow. When a hole is bored into a tree, wood fibers that are water/sap carrying vessels are severed, allowing sap to drip out of the tree.

I love maple syrup on buttermilk pancakes. When my husband is baking homemade sticky buns, he makes a special batch for me where he substitutes maple syrup for the corn syrup. What a treat! It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. It requires lots of heat (firewood, your kitchen stove, an evaporator) to get the majority of the moisture out of the sap. If you drink the sap before boiling it, you will sense the flavor potential of what it will taste like after it boils down to syrup. If you boil it past the syrup point you could cook it all the way down to sugar. If you decide to tap your sugar maples and boil the sap down inside your home, you may wish to rethink the location. My friend did that once and all the wallpaper in her kitchen peeled off due to the release of so much moisture and warmth. Yikes!!

Preparation for Spring Activity

The second Sunday in March means a return of Daylight Savings Time. Part of the kitchen garden is being tilled so as March marches forward we can get early spring crops in by the end of the month. Our spring programs and field trips take place in March and spring cleaning will begin. By April will we be running on all cylinders!

Well, that’s all for now, folks. Thanks for checking in. Be talking to you soon. Aunt Eunice

November, A Time for Thanks & Reflection with Loved Ones

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:55:00 +0000

A Chance to Reflect on the Good Things

Hello, Folks, Aunt Eunice here. Halfway through November means Thanksgiving is on the horizon. As I make plans for the holiday, I can’t help but take some time to think back over the past year. I look at the good, the bad and the ugly and then focus on the good. Some years, as you all know, can be harder than we’d like it to be. Health, wealth, family, a home, a job are some things that top the list. Being in a comfortable place spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically is quite a blessing. Thanksgiving is of course a time we give thanks for these blessings.

Modern History of the Celebration

Thanksgiving has been a traditional holiday in the U.S. for a while now. Check here for a timeline. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. Since this date, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States. In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law establishing the day of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving Dishes While Growing Up

A good deal of my joy in Thanksgiving stems from the fact that so many family members and friends are all under one roof. There is also all the delicious and traditional foods. Our dinner’s food selections have changed since my childhood. Turkey and mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, baked sweet potatoes with oranges, oyster stuffing (a must for my father) and my mother’s homemade cranberry relish. Some years there might also be Gwaltney ham and always home baked biscuits and pies. As we children got old enough to demand some changes, my cousin Paula’s cheese-ball became a regular appetizer. It of course became known as the Paula Ball. My Aunt Nell began bringing a yummy jello salad that we christened Nello salad. Obvious choice! I asked my mother to make stuffing without those yucky oysters and I began making cornbread with pepper-jack cheese in it. We also introduced green bean casserole to the menu. Old or new, nothing could beat my mother’s pecan pie, a favorite of most! Perfectly gooey with a flaky crust made with lard and a nice layer of whole pecans on top. Probably 500 calories in one small slice. Oh, well.

How Food Preferences Changed in Recent Times

Nowadays, new food choices have been added and they have become standards. Mashed turnips in addition to mashed potatoes are served at our house as that is traditional for my daughter-in-law and her brother. We also make a sweet potato casserole using a recipe from the mother-in-law of my oldest daughter which has become everyone’s favorite. We have a turkey that is brined, though not everyone is a fan. Green bean casserole is still retaining its place on the table. Some adjustments have been made to accommodate a number of food allergies and other dietary issues. Four lactose intolerant, three organic only, two gluten free, one diabetic, and a grandson allergic to non-tree nuts! Sound like a song? Hmmm.

Seeing the Change & Embracing It

The new foods joining into the holiday dinner mimic the blending of new with old taking place in the family tree. Parents, aunts, uncles moving on to that great feast in Heaven, children getting married, grandchildren being born, things changing is sometimes the only thing that stays the same. At least my mother’s pecan pie is still present on the Thanksgiving sideboard!

As this special holiday arrives, even if you are struggling to find something for which to be thankful, know you are being wished the very best. Happy Thanksgiving, folks!!

Take care, Aunt Eunice

Pies Galore, Pottery of the Past, Heritage Craft Skills

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 16:27:00 +0000

Backyard Treasure Hunt

Hello Folks, Aunt Eunice here! In our neck of the woods and many other parts of the country, we are just coming out of a particularly nasty hot spell. High temperatures are not something for which anyone wants to hold a record! This week is starting off a little more reasonably. This is the time of year to head down to the swimming hole and cool off. If you don’t have a pond, walking in the creek can be a nice alternative. My grandchildren and I were in the creek a few weeks ago wading and splashing around. I told them to look for light colored stones in the creek bed because sometimes they are pieces of old pottery. It turned into a treasure hunt after the first piece we picked up was a lovely chunk of a white plate with little blue flowers on it. Our house was built in the 1860s and the stream is only about 100 feet behind it. These are remnants from the folks who started my farm. At this point we have a basket full of pottery and china shards. What fun! Remember to have someone with you if you are playing near or in the water.

Heritage Craft Day

With August on the horizon I am beginning to make plans for Quiet Valley’s Heritage Craft Day on August 10th. Various heritage craftspeople will be out to demonstrate their specialties, things such as spinning, weaving, paper crafts, hay fork making and more. This event offers a chance for visitors to try some crafts out for themselves. There is also an area for children to try out some crafts. I am also thinking ahead to the Pocono State Craft Festival which is August 24th and 25th. This is the time to come if you like shopping for fine art and craft pieces, watching demonstrations, listening to live music and enjoying open house tours of the historic buildings. There will also be an artisanal bread sale, one room school presentations and wagon rides. There will also be baked goods to buy. All funds raised support three fine non-profits, the Pocono Arts Council, the Pocono Chapter of PA Guild of Craftsmen and Quiet Valley.

Pie, Pie, Me Oh My!

I am planning what pies I will make for the bake sale. Cherry crumb pie and fresh peach pie with a lattice top crust always do well. Lemon sponge is old fashioned and yet still a favorite as is buttermilk pie. There is a saying “Easy as pie” which means something is simple to do. I am not sure folks today think making a pie is easy, but in the past all young ladies learned how to make a good pie and a tasty cake. Today, it should be a “piece of cake” to make a pie as you can buy a ready-made crust to speed things along. Making pie can be very satisfying and gifting people with a homemade one is a sure way to make a friend. Try our recipe below and you may become a pie making fanatic!

Buttermilk Pie

Recipes: Lemon/Basil Cake & Lavender Lemonade

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 03:36:00 +0000

Hello Folks,

Aunt Eunice here. After all the talk in the last two letters about relaxing this summer, I’m afraid to say on Saturday I was as busy as a one-armed paper hanger! Summer Garden Party was a lovely event though and we had lots of visitors. Guests enjoyed making garden inspired art, tasting delicious foods made with fresh herbs, touring the kitchen garden and trying herb breads at the bake oven. Below is a picture of the pot holder my 7 year old granddaughter made, her first real sewing project.

Recipes for the Summer

Part of the fun was trying new recipes out like the lemon/basil cake and lavender lemonade. I was happy to be the taste-tester. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it! Here is the Lavender Lemonade recipe for you to try. Here on the farm we make a virgin version. Up to you what version you want to make, just remember, don’t drink alcohol and then go out and try to drive the buggy home! The horse doesn’t always know the way!! Lavender Lemonade

Upcoming Events & Activities

If you missed the Summer Garden Party that’s a shame, but there are other activities and events coming up. This Saturday is Children’s Day and there will be all sorts of activities for young folk to try such as Laundry Day chores, crafts to make, and games to play. There is no additional charge for Children’s Day. On the Fourth of July we will have some extra activities to honor that special day like a History Bee and the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Stay tuned for more on that.

I find it hard to believe we are already talking about July! My, my, time does fly. Don’t wait too long to come out and see us. Summer is over in a flash and you deserve a chance to relax, explore the farm, have fun and learn something new. That’s all for now, folks.

Hope to see you soon. Take care. Aunt Eunice

Summer is for Picnics, Games, Gardening & Cookies

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 01:21:00 +0000

Hello Folks,

Aunt Eunice here. Well, our Frolic weekends were blessed with beautiful weather and we want to thank the community for coming out to support our farm museum. It was quite busy and there was plenty for guests to see and do. Now it’s time to look ahead.

The Great Outdoors

Spring season for school tours ends this week so that means summer can’t be far behind. While the summer season on a farm is plenty busy, folks in the past knew it was important to have some lazy days mixed in. There is some saying about “all work and no play makes Aunt Eunice a dull gal”! I prefer to be sharp as a tack. There are a number of old fashioned activities that are still relevant in this day and age. Picnics are fun and get you out of doors. People today spend far too much time indoors, unless you’re a street sweeper. A fine traditional job that keeps you fit. Your mailman in town gets outdoors quite a bit as well. Pack up a basket with some cold fried chicken (skinless and grilled for you who are health minded), some nice potato salad, fresh fruit and lemonade. Throw in some tin plates and cups along with cutlery and a pretty tablecloth and you are ready to go. Find a spot near a cool stream and take your fishing poles. Maybe you will catch a nice trout for supper. If nothing else, teach your children the basics of fishing. It’s a good lesson in patience.

Game On!

Old fashioned games can be a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I hear there are newfangled yard games today called Corn Toss, Can Jam, and Washers. I recommend horseshoes for the menfolk and croquet for the ladies and children. A scavenger hunt is a good way to involve everyone if you play with teams. A prize for the winners of a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies keeps things competitive.

Who Invented the Chocolate Chip Cookie?

Here’s some information from kitchenproject.com on the origins of chocolate chip cookies, which happens to be one of my favorite cookies. Like many great discoveries (and this is one of the greatest) it occurred by mistake.

Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chip cookies in 1930 at the Toll House Inn she and her husband Keneth ran near Whitman, Massachusetts. Like a bed and breakfast, she made food for her guests. One evening in 1937, she got the idea to make a chocolate butter cookie so she broke up one of the bars of semi-sweet chocolate that Andrew Nestle gave her. She thought that it would mix together with the dough & make all chocolate cookies . Needless to say, it didn’t. However the cookies came out decent so she served them. They of course were so good they had to be done again. She published the recipes in several newspapers and the recipe became very popular.

This gem of Ruth’s she named the Chocolate Crunch Cookie. She made a deal with Nestle allowing them to display the recipe on their chocolate bar only if they supplied her with free chocolate for her cookies at the Inn. Nestle tried to make it easy for people to make these cookies. They even included a small chopper in the package. Finally, in 1939, the Chocolate Morsels that we know today as chocolate chips were introduced.

The Chocolate Chip cookie is the most popular kind of cookie in America. Seven billion chocolate chip cookies are eaten annually. (I swear, Aunt Eunice only eats about a million!) The Toll House produces thirty-three thousand cookies each day. Some Vendors only sell chocolate chip cookies. Half of the cookies baked in American homes are chocolate chip.

Let the Living be Easy

Let’s make a pact to find time to relax, play and have fun this summer. Let Living Easy be our motto for a few months. Mow the lawn, wash the clothes and dishes, but try to simplify life from June through August. We all need time to regenerate and get back to nature. On that note, come visit Quiet Valley on our opening day of summer tours, Saturday June 15th. In addition to the historic tour, you can enjoy the Summer Garden Party at no additional cost. Learn about growing herbs and vegetables and different ways to use them, try some tasty samples, make some garden inspired artwork and just breathe in the fresh air. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

That’s all for now, folks. I hope to see you soon at the farm. Take care and take it easy.

Aunt Eunice

More on Maple Sugaring & Brief History of Pancakes

Deb D (Aunt Eunice) — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:08:00 +0000

Hello Folks, Aunt Eunice here!

At this point it looks like Maple Sugaring Day will be on Saturday March 16th as long as the weather cooperates. Fingers crossed. Quiet Valley members particularly enjoy this event even when it’s cold as you can gather near the fires that are burning beneath the kettles of maple sap. Sometimes you catch the faint smell of maple wafting up in the steam that is the water being boiled out of the sap. As you may know you have to boil down 40 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of syrup. If you keep cooking past the syrup stage you can get to the maple sugar point!

The wood stove will be manned by one of the staff or an experienced volunteer. They will be cooking up both buttermilk and buckwheat pancakes for members to eat with some of last year’s maple syrup. The last of the potatoes will be cooked in the coals and the first of the eggs from the chickens will be boiled in the sap. Demonstrations of tapping a tree and making a spile (which is like a wooden spigot) will take place throughout the day. If you’re not a Quiet Valley member, consider joining as this is a member only event. We would love to have you join in the fun.

Pancakes are a typical choice for an American breakfast and maple syrup is a very popular topping. I read somewhere that George Washington ate pancakes at breakfast that were literally drowning in maple syrup since he loved it so much. Sounds like my kind of fellow! There’s nothing like a hot, fluffy buttermilk pancake, slightly crisp on the edge, with butter melting over the top and real maple syrup rolling down the side to form a small lake on your plate. Mmmmm!

On the World Food History website they say “The first colonial settlers were taught by local Native Americans to make griddle cakes from Rhode Island Narragansett maize. These griddle cakes soon became a staple, known among the settlers as johnnycakes”. www.world-foodhistory.com/2011/07/history-of-pancakes.html

During the 1700s, the Dutch popularized the buckwheat cake. In the mid-1750s, the hoe cake became popular. There is a debate over why it was called hoe cake. Some say a pan that was called a hoe was used to cook them on and others claim they were actually baked on a large hoe. Either way they are tasty.

Today, pancakes are also called hotcakes or flapjacks. The usual ingredients are baking powder, flour, buttermilk and eggs. They are often covered with syrup of some kind before eating. Pancakes are not limited to America. There are versions in Europe, Africa, Asia and in a variety of countries. Wherever you go, there’s going to be a pancake of some kind.

Here is our farm recipe for buttermilk pancakes. Make up a batch and enjoy them with your favorite topping. You already know Aunt Eunice’s favorite!!

Hope to see you soon and thanks for checking in. Aunt Eunice

QUIET VALLEY’S BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

Sauerkraut: How We Prepare a Pennsylvania German Favorite

Kat M — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 00:10:00 +0000

Fermented foods play such a large role in human history and prehistory. Food manipulation and preservation has allowed us to survive throughout unending climate variations. While things that are old and moldy may not be everyone’s favorite treats, we are alive today because our ancestors figured this out. Fermentation is used to detoxify poisonous plants and make them edible. Fermentation is involved in the process of preserving food for a later date.

Making sauerkraut is surprisingly easy. In the garden at Quiet Valley, we grow numerous heads of cabbage which are usually gathered 10-20 heads at a time. We have two wonderful cabbage experts who prep those heads down into thin slices. Fun fact: did you know cabbage plants will regrow heads? If you slice them early, you will get miniature heads growing back in their place.

Once the cabbages are sliced thinly they are placed in a large stoneware crock where salt is added. The salt causes the cabbage to release water and keeps dangerous bacteria from growing. Although salt does encourage bacterial growth, it’s the kind that causes fermentation and not spoilage. The cabbage is then pounded down to the bottom of the crock and the salt water forms a protective seal over the top. This is allowed to ferment for at least a couple of weeks but some people may wait a couple of months.

Once it is ready, according to Gary Oiler (one of the founders of the museum and the resident sauerkraut expert) we scoop out the top and bag it up. Here at the museum, we freeze the sauerkraut for Christmas time. But it can just as easily be canned or eaten straight away. Traditionally, the Pennsylvania Germans would eat sauerkraut and pork as part of their New Year’s celebration because pigs root forward and it was believed to bring good luck.

The Quiet Valley Blog is written by Kat Muller as she explores the farm museum throughout the year. Follow along with Kat and learn about the farm!