10/30/07

Dearest compatriots, 

Last week when I was in Indiana, Mom and I spent a night at our favorite cabin in the woods.  As luck would have it, the persimmon tree at the edge of the woods overlooking the cornfield was at its peak of ripeness the exact day of our visit.  Peacefully, all day long, it dropped small squishy persimmons onto the roughly-mowed drive, and every couple hours Mom and I (in competition with the squirrels) would comb through the weedy ruts of the road and gather up 8 or 12 newly fallen fruit.  A day of foraging bagged us about 40 persimmons (the size of robust cherry tomatoes).  When we got home to Bloomington we made (after a ridiculous amount of mashing and straining) a scrumptious persimmon pudding.  

Persimmon Pudding is a Hoosier classic, buttery and spicy and thick like a crustless pumpkin pie, with a wonderful, autumnal, molasses-y color.  We found the recipe in an old spiral-bound cookbook put together by members of the Unitarian-Universalist church in about 1981, the kind where everyone in the community contributes a favorite recipe or two, sometimes with gossipy or historical side notes.   Flipping through it, I was reminded that those community cookbooks are great because:

A)  you get the recipes for everybody’s signature potluck dish or family favorite; and

B)  you are reminded of people you like.

So!  This brings me to my great idea!  Don’t you think?  Yes, it’s time to partake of the grand old recipe-swapping tradition: all you people I like should send me your favorite persimmon pudding recipe! 

You don’t have a persimmon pudding recipe?  Oh.  Well, what about sending me one or two or three of your favorite other kind of recipes?  The ones you return to every year, the ones you always take to the potluck, the ones your friends and relations clamor for?  And I will collect them all in one spot and share them with everyone.   Some day I might actually print them off to make a genuine cookbook, but for now I thought we could start with a wiki.  (If you aren’t familiar with wikis, they are basically simple, collaborative web pages.) 

Are you in?  Yes?  Okay, here’s what you do: 

•  Think of a favorite recipe you’d like to share.  Any kind of recipe.  Any number of recipes.  The only  guideline is they have to be personal favorites that you yourself have cooked or eaten. 
•  Include basic recipe info (name of dish, ingredients & directions).  
•  Include your name and (if you want) any recipe history or context you’d care to share.  

A) Send it to me electronically (in an email or as an attachment) and I will add it to the wiki ; or

B) Add it to the wiki yourself. 

There's no deadline - that's one of the beauties of a wiki as opposed to a print publication. 

The wiki address is: www.debfood.pbwiki.com.

Send me any questions, and when you get around to it, maybe send over a recipe or two!

cheers,

Deborah