An American Homestead

Persimmon Pudding

(Persimmon has to be one of the finest tasting fruits you can be blessed to eat. Providing of course they are ripe.)

About 2 cups of persimmon pulp

About a cup of sugar

1 ¾ cup buttermilk

A spoonful of butter

Some cinnamon to taste

 About 1 to 1 ½ cups of flour

3 eggs

Add egg yolks to the pulp and mix. Add sugar and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix. Add buttermilk and mix. Beat egg whites til stiff and mix into pudding. Put in a greased casserole dish and bake about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Leftovers must be kept cool or it will mold easily.

Pot Licker Dumplins

We had these with pinto beans a lot.

Cook up a pot of turnip greens or mustard greens with hamhocks in them. Mix about a cup of cornmeal and some chopped onions. Put in some black pepper. Take a little liquid from the greens to mix in the cornmeal and make a stiff dough like Hoe Cakes. You can add an egg if you have one. Use your hands and form small circle shapes balls of these, mash down flat to about ½ to ¾ of and inch. Put them on top of the pot of greens and cover it. Just let it cook til the dumplins are done.

Hoe Cakes

(Corn Bread Fritters, Corn Dodgers)

My Papaw told me his Daddy used to cook these Hoe Cakes on a hoe over a small fire in the fields for lunch. He said they cooked them on the hoe.

Cornmeal (about 4 cups)

Hot water

Bacon drippings if you have them

Put enough hot water in the cornmeal to make a stiff dough. Add the bacon drippings. Shape by hand into pones. Cook on a griddle or iron skillet. Turn once to cook on both sides.  If there’s any left over, you can eat on them for days with soups, chili and beans.