This is the first cold Sunday, which means if my Mama was alive it would be Pork Chops, Kraut & mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner. ( I used to call it sour crap~ which others will probably agree with...) The story of the making of the sauerkraut~ Dixie Crystals sugar bags were shaken out well, folded & stored throughout the year & as you will see a very important part to this process. Sometime in the Summer, we would ride up to Clayton, GA up to Highlands, NC to find the best mountain cabbage. Faithfully, Mama would get out at every vegetable stand or yard where cabbage was being sold & chose nice, firm green heads of cabbage. There was no air-conditioning in our car & with the heat of the day, that stinky cabbage smell seem to enter the very pores of our skin! Once home, cabbage was put in a box in the crawl space of the house, until Mama had time to work it up. Jars were washed & sterilized & the big, heavy metal grinder was attached to the kitchen table. There was a huge white Tupperware bowl & as the cabbage was shredded thats where it would fall. All the cabbages outer leaves were stripped & the stems cut & I would take them to our neighbor, Mr.Stowe, for his hogs. Jars would be packed with cabbage, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of both sugar & White House white vinegar & boiling water added to almost full. Then lids & rings were added & then randomly you would hear the pop of a sealed jar. Once the jars were sealed, they were put in the Dixie Crystals sugar bags & the tops of the bags twisted & put into a box. This box was carefully carried to the crawl space along with a broom. Then I got to go under the house, with the spiders & other creepy-crawlies & take the broom & push that box way up under the house. Then on that first cold Sunday, before Sunday School, we would go out, this time with a hoe & I would go back, what seemed like miles & pull or push that box where the side could be caught & brought up to the door of the crawl space. Then Mama would get a couple of quarts of that delicious sauerkraut & I would know that in a few hours.... when we walked in the door from church that succulent dinner would be ready. My plate would have tender pork chops with tiny pieces of kraut attached & a little mountain of potatoes with a mound of sauerkraut on top of the potatoes. My mouth is watering with the pleasure of this childhood memory.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 16:26:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015