Heirloom Recipes

Our granddaughter, who will be college bound next month, asked me to write out a recipe for a dessert that I’ve made for almost 50 years. It’s also the dessert one of our sons asks for when it’s his birthday.

After I wrote it out, I told her she may want to type it up and print it out. “No, Grandma,” she replied. “I’m going to keep it just like it is.”

Her answer reminded me of a request one of our daughters made of me. She wants me to write down, on index cards, the recipe for many of the dishes I made during the years our children were growing up and recipes my mother passed on to me. A good deal of the ones my mother gave me don’t exist in written form, and a few are ones I’ve developed.

Our daughter said she wanted the recipes in my handwriting so that when she was looking for a recipe from her youth, it would mean far more to her than if it was typed because of the memories attached to each one.

As I started on our daughter’s request, I thought about the handing down from parents to children not only of recipes but also traditions. Traditional things such as foods made during holidays, how homes were decorated throughout the year, gifts, especially handmade ones, and more.

I thought about people who left the country where they were born to make their homes elsewhere. About items they took with them that would always remind them of the life, the people they left behind, of their own history, of all the stories they’d heard throughout their lives.

And I wondered about the folks who homesteaded our own country. What went through their minds as they packed their belongings into covered wagons along with their hopes and dreams? Along their journey they often had to leave many of their possessions by the trailside. But what would have been even worse was having to endure the death of a child or spouse or parent. How heartbreaking that must have been. They had to possess a great deal of courage and determination to keep going on.

The next time you find yourself asking for a recipe to be written down, also ask for the story behind the recipe. You may be surprised at what you hear and learn.