Tweet
As I get older, I realize that traditions around Christmas are, and have been, very special to me. I grew up here in Central Kansas in a community that had a lot of first generation Americans, my mother and father included. My ancestors came from the Volga region in Russia, and were primarily German Lutherans.
Along with them came very special foods for the celebration of Christmas time, and as we get closer to that time of year, I find myself yearning for some of that fare.
I lost my mom in July of '19 at the ripe old age of 95. My grandmother,(her mother), came from Russia at age 6 in 1905. Many of the 'old world' traditions of Christmas were celebrated, especially the recipes for this time of year, and were passed down from Grandma to my mom and her sisters.
In the fall of each year, my dad and uncles would travel 2 counties south of where we lived to bring home 2 truckloads of Black Diamond watermelons. The watermelons were scooped out, and the meat cooked in an outside cooker until it was syrup. The syrup was canned in quart jars, and then used to make 'Watermelon bread'...a concoction of a sweet pastry dough upon which the watermelon syrup was spread, and then sprinkled with a topping of butter, flour and sugar...no calories whatsoever! This treat was made once a year for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
Some of the watermelon rinds were peeled, and then canned...pickled like a bread and butter pickle would be put up, and also pickled using a cinnamon brine...once again, these were only brought out at Christmas to be put on the buffet table for Christmas Eve after church services.
One of the other treats for us kids were the 'Pfeffernusse' cookies...German Spice Cookies that were made once a year at this time...I still can smell them baking and taste them as I write this!
We had a traditional turkey for our Thanksgiving celebration, but for Christmas, we had a ham that was from one of the hogs we butchered only a couple of weeks before Christmas each December. The other special food was a traditional chicken noodle soup with what we called 'butterballs'...butter mixed with Allspice, egg, and dried bread similar to what was used in stuffing. The smaller than ping pong sized balls were put in the soup and made a special treat to 'ordinary' chicken soup.
The last special food we had were called 'Kase' noodle...Russian cheese pockets. A dough was made like you were making traditional egg noodles, but instead of cutting the noodles, you would roll out the dough flat. A filling made from cottage cheese, chives and onions were put into the dough. It was folded up into a pocket, then boiled until the dough was done. They were then placed in a baking pan with heavy cream, and bread crumbs cooked in butter were spread over the top. They were then baked for about 20 minutes in the oven...simply heavenly!
Just doing some remembering! Would love to hear some of your holiday food traditions!
Along with them came very special foods for the celebration of Christmas time, and as we get closer to that time of year, I find myself yearning for some of that fare.
I lost my mom in July of '19 at the ripe old age of 95. My grandmother,(her mother), came from Russia at age 6 in 1905. Many of the 'old world' traditions of Christmas were celebrated, especially the recipes for this time of year, and were passed down from Grandma to my mom and her sisters.
In the fall of each year, my dad and uncles would travel 2 counties south of where we lived to bring home 2 truckloads of Black Diamond watermelons. The watermelons were scooped out, and the meat cooked in an outside cooker until it was syrup. The syrup was canned in quart jars, and then used to make 'Watermelon bread'...a concoction of a sweet pastry dough upon which the watermelon syrup was spread, and then sprinkled with a topping of butter, flour and sugar...no calories whatsoever! This treat was made once a year for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
Some of the watermelon rinds were peeled, and then canned...pickled like a bread and butter pickle would be put up, and also pickled using a cinnamon brine...once again, these were only brought out at Christmas to be put on the buffet table for Christmas Eve after church services.
One of the other treats for us kids were the 'Pfeffernusse' cookies...German Spice Cookies that were made once a year at this time...I still can smell them baking and taste them as I write this!
We had a traditional turkey for our Thanksgiving celebration, but for Christmas, we had a ham that was from one of the hogs we butchered only a couple of weeks before Christmas each December. The other special food was a traditional chicken noodle soup with what we called 'butterballs'...butter mixed with Allspice, egg, and dried bread similar to what was used in stuffing. The smaller than ping pong sized balls were put in the soup and made a special treat to 'ordinary' chicken soup.
The last special food we had were called 'Kase' noodle...Russian cheese pockets. A dough was made like you were making traditional egg noodles, but instead of cutting the noodles, you would roll out the dough flat. A filling made from cottage cheese, chives and onions were put into the dough. It was folded up into a pocket, then boiled until the dough was done. They were then placed in a baking pan with heavy cream, and bread crumbs cooked in butter were spread over the top. They were then baked for about 20 minutes in the oven...simply heavenly!
Just doing some remembering! Would love to hear some of your holiday food traditions!
Comment