[Sca-cooks] OOP: Spiced Fruits

[Sue Clemenger]

I think I've seen them in the "pickles" section at the supermarket, but I
really couldn't say how recently.  Could be last fall, could be a decade
ago! <shrugs> Every once in a while, they show up as a garnish in the more
home-style/family-style restaurants, especially in the autumn.
I don't remember much variety in purchased greens when I was a kid, either.
We grew some different stuff in the garden, though (my mom was a bit
creative), and my parents had grown up with a slightly different food
background than our neighbors--Mom and Dad were east coast/Connecticut, and
the neighbors were right out of Prairie Home Companion.
--Maire


----- Original Message -----
From: <lilinah at earthlink.net>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 6:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] OOP: Spiced Fruits


> maire wrote:
> >I've never seen spiced, dried fruits here in Montana.  Closest I've seen
is
> >prunes or dried cranberries with a citrus "essence" added.
>
> These weren't dried fruits, but canned fruits, i guess they'd be called.
>
> >Are you talking
> >about canned fruits? Haven't actually seen those, either, other than
those
> >apple rings, which I actually can't stand.  ;o)
>
> I figure if i make the apple rings myself, they'll be better than the
> artificially dyed ones they (used to) sell. Those i can make a couple
> days before the dinner.
>
> We had a crab apple tree when i was a kid, before we sold the back
> yard, and i loved eating them. As far as i can recall, they never
> made me sick. I will assume that crab apples or lady apples will show
> up in the fall in the magical Berkeley Bowl.
>
> Surfing the web for recipes (since i have almost no modern American
> cookbooks), i keep seeing all three - spiced peaches, whole spiced
> crab apples, and red spiced apple "rings" - described as "Southern".
> Now, me, i was a kid in Northeastern Illinois - a few blocks from
> Lake Michigan - so i was (and am) far from Southern. And these were
> all commercial products, from back before massive cross-country (and
> cross-hemisphere) shipments of fresh produce.
>
> I didn't see anything other than iceberg and romaine lettuce until i
> moved to California (we always had iceberg with homemade Thousand
> Island dressing (mayo and Heinz Chili Sauce) or bottled French's red
> dressing... before corn syrup became a common ingredient in salad
> dressings) - where i was astonished to see more than two kinds of
> plums in the summer.
>
> So, anyway, you're in Montana and they still have the red apple rings
> in bottles. I guess we're just too cutting edge here in CALIF.