Amish Date Pudding

Date pudding, served with caramel sauce and whipped cream

During the holiday season, every culture has traditions that are cherished and celebrated. Mennonite and Amish culture is no different, particularly in foods. Here in Ohio, no holiday meal (Christmas or Thanksgiving) would be complete without serving date pudding.

No, it’s not a pudding that you’d find in sealed plastic cups at the grocery store! It’s actually a very moist cake, flavored with dates, nuts and lots of sugar. And while we can’t say exactly when or why the date pudding tradition started, it’s certainly a fine way to celebrate Christmas or any important occasion.

There is no right or wrong way to make date pudding. Recipes are handed down through the generations and each family thinks their version is the best! Date pudding may be baked Up-side Down (or right side up), with bananas, without bananas, with caramel sauce and so on. My own Grandma Miller served date pudding cake broken into pieces and mixed thoroughly with fresh whipped cream (made from milk from the cows gave that morning), placed in a large deep dessert bowl and topped with bananas.

I’ve personally made date pudding several ways, but here is the recipe that I’ve used the most. It’s actually the recipe Der Dutchman Restaurant uses to make the date pudding they’ve served for 40 years.

Amish Date Pudding

1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup chopped dates (buy them already chopped or use a food processor to chop whole dates)
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts

Pour boiling water over dates and soda. Let set until cool. Add date mixture to the rest of the ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Test the cake with a toothpick – if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Cut into squares and top with whipped cream, walnuts and bananas.

Peach Pie Season in Amish Country

Dutchman Fresh Peach Pie

Nothing tastes like summer like fresh peaches! Beginning mid to late July, they are in season here in Ohio. Families all across Amish country will buy them by the bushel and either can or freeze them.

Whether you can them or eat them fresh, you’ll want to start out with quality fruit. Here are a few tips for buying peaches.

Selecting your fruit

When shopping for peaches, be very picky. You’ll want to make sure the fruit is soft but not bruised. While bruised peaches spoil quickly, peaches that are hard will never ripen correctly and are not as tasty. To save yourself both grief and work, be sure to select free-stone varieties – “cling” peaches do not lift off the stone easily and will be harder to slice. Red Haven is the variety of choice but there are many good options for eating and “putting away.”

If you plan to can or freeze your peaches, try to ask for varieties that do not turn brown when sliced. Although the peaches may taste OK, they won’t retain the beautiful yellow color they had when fresh. If you’re not sure what kind of peaches you have, just coat your sliced peaches with an acid, such as lemon juice or orange juice. The acid helps the peaches look fresh and yellow until you eat them next winter.

It’s fine to store peaches in your refrigerator, but be sure to store them side-by-side. Stacking peaches will cause them to bruise and get mushy. Before eating fresh peaches, remove them from the refrigerator to warm up. Peaches at room temperature seem to have better taste than those straight out of the frig.

If you do happen to buy some peaches that aren’t ripe (a ripe peach should be soft but not mushy), just lay them out in one layer on your kitchen counter. They’ll ripen up naturally in a day or so.

Where to buy peaches

In Walnut Creek, Hillcrest Orchard is one place that raises their own peaches (50 acres of peach and apple trees) and they pick them only when they are ripe. Peaches will be available there by August 1.

Another option is at our local livestock auctions, such as Farmerstown (Tuesday), Mount Hope (Wednesday) or Kidron (Thursday). You’ll find multiple vendors there with peach varieties such as Harvestor, Contender, Red Haven and the later varieties of “white” peaches. If you are in the market for large lots of fruit, check out the Farmer’s Produce Auction in Mount Hope on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

In Plain City, just west of Columbus, you’ll be able to find peaches at Yutzy’s Farm Market. They’ll be selling the varieties Contender, Red Glow and later Red Haven. All three are good for freezing and canning and are free-stone varieties.

Peach Pie

Fresh peach pie, as the name states, is made with fresh uncooked peaches. At our Der Dutchman and Dutch Valley restaurants, pie bakers peel and slice the peaches, then cover with a homemade peachy-orange glaze. Although we can’t give you our recipe (it’s got a secret ingredient), it’s made with peach-flavored jello as its base. It’s the job of one baker to peel the peaches for all our pies – it takes nearly all day. The pies are made by filling a pre-baked pie shell and topped with whipped cream.

On the other hand, if you’d like to bake your peaches into a pie, here’s a simple Peach Cream Pie recipe that comes from our original and old-fashioned 1973 Der Dutchman Cookbook –

Peach Cream Pie
From Mrs. Ben Miller

1 cup white sugar
1 cup cream
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Approximately 3 – 4  fresh peaches, depending on the size

Fill an unbaked pie crust with peeled fresh peaches. Mix the sugar, cream and cornstarch and pour mixture over the peaches in the pie shell. Bake like a custard pie.

Editor’s note: Instructions for baking a custard pie are as follows: Bake for 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until until nicely browned on top.

What in the world is Rhubarb?

Ahh…rhubarb. It’s one of the first crops of the spring. A sure sign that spring really has arrived, it starts sending up its first green shoots as soon as the ground begins to warm, usually in April in our neck of the woods.

Rhubarb often has beautiful red stalks

Don’t know what rhubarb is? Well, you’re not alone. Here in Ohio’s Amish Country, most people are quite familiar with the plant. Most people with a garden will have a clump of rhubarb somewhere on the property. The wide triangular leaves of this rhizome are poisonous, but the stalks have a unique tart taste that makes wonderful pies, cakes, jams. salads and many other tasty recipes.

Rhubarb is said to be a very “old” plant, meaning that documented knowledge of the plant goes back as far as 2,700 years in China. The roots were said to have medicinal value and were a prized commodity. In his travels, Marco Polo became acquainted with rhubarb and soon the roots of Chinese rhubarb were traded in Italy. Interest in the plant began to spread throughout Europe. Seeds or rootstock were brought to America with the early pioneer farmer. Cultivation and use of the stalks as a food grew as sugar became more readily available as a sweetener.

How to grow Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a cool season crop and is well-suited for Canada and the northern United States. Winter time temperatures must be below 40 degrees to break its dormancy period. Harvesting can begin as soon as the stalks are between a half inch or an inch in width. The more you harvest, the more the plant will yield.

It likes well-drained slightly acidic soils with an abundance of organic matter. The recommended fertilizer is well-aged manure. Since no herbicides can be used, weeds can be a problem and should be addressed by diligent hand-weeding and hoeing. Rhubarb is relatively pest and disease-free.

Our own rhubarb patch was started from the seeds of a neighbor’s plant. Rhubarb will grow a rather unsightly seed head which many people cut off before it reaches maturity. Leaving the heads on the plant also seem to strain the vigor and decrease the yield. Alternately, roots can be dug and transplanted to start a patch.

A word of caution: If you go looking for rhubarb, don’t confuse it with the weeds that grow along the road sides. This is Burdock, a weed that is considered toxic! It looks similar but is not what you are looking for. You can tell by the leaves – rhubarb has smooth leaves and burdock leaves have woolly undersides. It will grow into an annoying perennial weed that spreads quickly and produces cockle burrs that will attach themselves to your clothes, your hair and your dog. Don’t let this get going in your garden.

Recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Our crumb-topped rhubarb pies from Der Dutchman and Dutch Valley Restaurants

Here’s the best part! At our Der Dutchman and Dutch Valley restaurants, we make rhubarb-cream cheese cookies, coffee cake and the most popular of all, rhubarb crumb pies. Rhubarb has many delicious uses but because of its strong tart flavor, it requires large amounts of sugar. Often, bakers will mix in strawberries to lessen the tartness. Below is a Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie recipe from our 40th Anniversary Cookbook contributed by on of our salad cooks, Clara I. Miller.

1 pint fresh strawberries
2 cups sliced fresh rhubarb
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind or 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Make (or buy) enough pie crust for a double crust pie:
1 layer to line your pie shell, 9 inches in diameter
1 layer to form your top pie crust (or make a topping of crumbs with butter, brown sugar and flour)

Combine the sugars, flour and lemon; Add the fresh fruit and toss together. Add the mixture to your unbaked pie shell and cover with the second the top crust. Pinch together the edges and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. Enjoy warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream!

Exploring the German Culture Museum in Walnut Creek

The Old German Culture Museum still stands in Walnut Creek.

Holmes County, home to the world’s largest Amish community, has its share of attractions and shopping. But as of last May, another venue reopened in the village of Walnut Creek. The German Culture Museum has been open in the town since the early 1980′s with a collection of historical items pertaining to the arrival of the Amish in the area, Amish origins in Europe, as well as local traditions and lore.

Housed in a small house where President William McKinley once slept, the original German Culture Museum was a the brainchild of several of Walnut Creek township’s history fanatics, particularly the Schlabach Family, Wayne Hostetler and Roscoe Miller. With the blessings of the Mennonite Information Center (known for the Behalt cyclorama), the team started assembling collections of items that belonged to the early pioneers of Walnut Creek, as well as photos, books, and other antiques. Stanley Kaufman, a former art professor living in Berlin, expertly arranged each room of the little house to describe different aspects of life in the township from the early 1800′s to the present day. Guided tours were available during the weekend.

As years passed, the Museum directors saw that the little blue building would never be large enough to house all of the collection. There was no place to display a surrey, wagons or the numerous local furniture pieces that were housed in two dark damp storage facilities. The old building was neither climate-controlled, weather-tight or handicap accessible – all problematic issues. When land was donated by the Schlabach Family for a community building, the idea began to circulate to relocate the German Culture Museum.

In May of 2007, work began on a brand new Walnut Creek Community building to house a branch of the Holmes County library, a community meeting room and the new home of the German Culture Museum. Entirely paid for by a community fund drive, the building was completed and work began on moving the extensive and fragile collection from the old museum to its new basement home across the street. It took quite some time and a lot of grunt work to clean, build displays and arrange the antiques, but the museum reopened in the summer of 2010.

Larry Miller, local resident, as "Der Weiss". Der Weiss means "The White One" in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.

Rooms have been built to feature the old Kitchen, Bedroom (complete with rope bed and straw tick mattress), Dining Room, Textiles and Tool Collection. In addition, you will be able to see a small replica of a European Hiding Place where Mennonites hid from persecutors during the Reformation and the completely restored and Rockefeller Surrey. A museum feature is a replica of the cabin built by first settler in Walnut Creek, Jonas Stutzman who was known as “Der Weiss.” On a visit, you may even experience a conversation with the old fellow in the form of a Der Weiss reenactor.

Oh, by the way, Ohio’s newest covered bridge over the Walnut Creek has been named Stutzman Crossing in honor of Jonas. To find out why Jonas was called “Der Weiss,” view an interview with “Der Weiss” at the Grand Opening of the bridge last November.

At the new museum location, you’ll be now be able to tour at your own pace, but feel free to ask questions of the museum attendants. Expect to spend an hour there (or more if you are really a history buff), and take your time to view all the fascinating variety of items on display. You won’t need to be a local or a member of the older generation to enjoy the experience – all ages and school groups will find this to be a step back into time.

As of spring 2011, the museum plans to be open on Saturdays, with possible additional days throughout the week. Since the museum is staffed entirely by volunteers, entrance fees are on a donation basis – a great idea for families on a budget. To inquire about hours or book special tours, please call 330-893-2510

If you’re looking for an economical and educational activity, the  German Culture Museum should be a planned stop on your trip to Walnut Creek or Amish country. The museum is located on Olde Pump Street, just around the corner from the well-known Der Dutchman Restaurant in the basement of the brand-new library building. It is handicap-accessible and parking is free.

Purple Martins: a Sign of Spring

After a long winter’s nap, the days get longer, the sun shines a bit warmer and the earth begins to awaken. Along with the tulips and crocuses, another sign of spring are the birds returning from their winter feeding grounds. Robins, red-winged blackbirds and buzzards are among the early arrivals, but April 1 marks the expected arrival of the farmer’s friend, the purple martin.

Purple Martin

In their purplish-black plumage, martins are among the most desired birds in Amish country. Have you ever wondered about those huge white “bird condos” often seen near a barn or pond? While they are charming and scenic, they aren’t just for looks. They are specially designed to attract the notoriously picky purple martins

Martins are known as the tamest of wild birds and have adapted to make their homes among humans. They are the only bird to completely depend on humans for housing.

Purple Martins are the largest species of swallow in North America. They spend their winters in Brazil then migrate to their summer grounds in spring. The time of arrival depends on weather – they can starve if the temperatures are too cool. Beginning in January, martins return to Florida and the Gulf Coast and they move northward as the temperatures warm.

Because they feed only on flying insects, martins are a valuable friend to the farmer or any resident of the country. Entertaining to watch, they dive and catch food in mid-air, including flies, midges, Japanese beetles, mayflies, moths and other bothersome insects. They feed mainly during daylight hours, and so are not predators of mosquitoes, which come out mainly at night.

Attracting a colony of martins is a difficult task. It’s all about location, location, location! According to the Purple Martin Conservation Association, their houses must be placed in an open locations between 30 and 120 feet from human housing or farm buildings. Trees taller than their housing should be far away – between 40 and 60 feet from the birdhouse. Housing must be 10 to 20 feet high with no wires attached or other vegetation in the vicinity. And, they are attracted to white or light colored houses.

Purple Martin houses on an Amish Farm

Once a colony of martins has been established, they will return to the same houses year after year as long as predators and competing birds are controlled. Most houses are built on a telescoping post, so  the nests of more aggressive competitors, such as English sparrows and starlings, can be removed.

And while all this takes work and maintenance, there is no more “green”  or natural way of insect control than with birds such as martins or barn swallows.

The next time you are visiting Ohio’s Amish country, be on the lookout for the big white birdhouses, home to the purple martin!

Pork & Sauerkraut for a prosperous new year

Every culture has its traditions for health and wealth for a New Year. Here in Ohio’s Amish country,  the tradition is to eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. As my dad always said, if you want to have “money in your pocket” for the next year, you have to eat sauerkraut.

Why pork and sauerkraut?

True to our Swiss and German heritage, the pork custom is based on the notion that fattened pigs symbolized wealth, progress and forward-thinking. For example, when searching for food, pigs will root in the ground, pushing their snouts forward. Therefore, a pig is always pushing forward in the future. It’s also difficult for a hog to look backwards, unlike a chicken or turkey which scratches backward when foraging. It’s said that a Pennsylvania Dutchman would never eat chicken on New Year’s Day.

Sauerkraut, a long-standing tradition in Germany, is believed to bring blessings and wealth also. Those seated at a New Year’s feast would wish each other goodness and as much money as the number of shreds of cabbage in the pot of sauerkraut.

Homemade Sauerkraut

Translated from the German as “sour herb” or “sour cabbage”, sauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage that has undergone fermentation by lactic acid bacteria. The lactic acid lends the distinct sour taste to the cabbage. There is no vinegar in sauerkraut, though it can be used with fresh cabbage to make coleslaw. Easy to grow and easy to preserve, the humble cabbage is high in Vitamin C and lactobacilli (healthy probiotic bacteria). It is said to be good for digestion and provides a nutritious meal to combat diseases such as scurvy.

Years ago, almost everyone in Amish country was a farmer and had a big garden to grow cabbage and other produce. Before grocery stores and processed food, people had to work hard to grow, preserve and store food for the lean winter months. Everybody made sauerkraut, including my Grandma. Although I was too young to ever participate, my aunt filled recently fill me in on her kraut-making technique.

First, she harvested and washed the fresh cabbage, removing any brown leaves.  The next step was to cut the cabbage and shred it into fine pieces. She saved the hard crisp center of the cabbage as a snack for the children.

Next she placed the shredded cabbage in a freshly-scrubbed 10 gallon ceramic crock (ceramic or glass is important – metal won’t work), mixed in salt and let the cabbage set until it wilted slightly. The wilting of the cabbage indicated that fermentation was beginning. The next step was the cleaning a large round piece of slate, cut to exactly fit the diameter of the big crock. The slate was fitted into the crock on top of the cabbage. She then pressed the slate down on the cabbage to compact it and remove as much air as possible. A large heavy field stone was placed on top of the slate to weigh it down keep pressure on the cabbage.

It was important that the crock remain in a cool dry place for the rest of the fermentation. Grandma placed her sauerkraut crocks in the central part of the old farmhouse basement, away from the drafts of the coal-furnace, so that the temperature would remain constant and cool. Depending on the temperature, the sauerkraut was ready to eat in about 6 weeks. A longer ferment would yield a more acidic or sour taste to the kraut. The sauerkraut was served with homemade sausage from the home-raised pork that my Grandpa would butcher by himself each winter.

Ohio Swiss Festival in Sugarcreek – Cheese, Fritters and Parades

Swiss Cheese is a big part of the Festival

For those of us living in the Sugarcreek area and the eastern part of Holmes County, it’s that time of year again – Swiss Festival time! It’s always scheduled to start the last week in September. Most of the natives have Swiss ancestry so it’s a celebration of the Swiss culture of the area that made Sugarcreek the “Little Switzerland of Ohio. It’s also the unofficial kick-off to the the fall season in Ohio’s Amish Country.

Our Swiss background

When western Tuscarawas county was first settled in the early 1800′s, many of those first settlers were of German and Swiss descent. Most of those immigrants were expert farmers bringing their knowledge to the American frontier. As the forests were tamed by those farmers, the lush pasture lands and deep rich soils of the Ohio valley produced excellent fodder for dairy cattle.

Thus evolved the Swiss cheese houses that have made the area famous. In the early days, there was an abundance of milk, but little way to sell those products. Roads at that time were little more than two rough (or muddy) wagon ruts through pristine forest. Soon the skilled cheesemaking families began to emmigrate from Switzerland to the Sugarcreek area because of the ample supply of milk. Small cheesehouses popped up everywhere – close enough for local farmers to haul their filled milk cans by wagon to the local cheesemaker.

Dairying has come a long way since those days (although there are still Amish farmers who still sell their milk in old-fashioned cans), and the cheesehouses have consolidated into efficient cheese factories producing tons of cheese every year. Each has their own special recipe, and the Swiss names like Guggisberg, Steiner, and Dauwalder still dominate the local cheese industry.

The Swiss Village and Tom Miller

Tom Miller Mural at Der Dutchman in Walnut Creek

Inspired by the houses on a trip to Switzerland, local sign painter, house painter and self-taught artist, Tom Miller painted a Swiss mural on a building he owned in Sugarcreek. After that, many businesses came to his door step with requests for similar murals.

The local families took considerable pride in their heritage and eventually businesses in Sugarcreek began an effort to model their downtown after the Swiss villages in the “Old Country”. Swiss architecture became commonplace with it’s chalet-style construction and decoration. With the addition of Tom’s murals, the movers and shakers of the early 1950′s began a push for a celebration of everything Swiss. The Swiss Festival was born in 1953, one of the longest running festivals in the state of Ohio.

By the way, if you plan to go “mural hunting”, you can still see many of Tom’s works at the businesses of Sugarcreek and Holmes county. They are still visible at the Sugarlane IGA, Huntington Bank, Dutch Valley Restaurant, Beachy’s Chalet, McDonalds (one inside, one by the drive-through) Sugarcreek Lumber and the former Goshen Dairy building. In Holmes County, you can see three murals at Der Dutchman Restaurant.

Food at the  Swiss Festival

First on the list to do is eat the FOOD! Of course, you have to take home a few pounds of the nation’s finest Swiss cheese. From fried Swiss cheese to wine-tasting, there really is something for everyone here. In the spirit of the community, a host of local churches and organizations have fundraisers and spend hours of time preparing their signature meals – Trail bologna sandwiches (topped with Swiss cheese, of course), creamed chicken, soups, barbequed chicken, a fish fry, etc.

One of the premier dishes at the Swiss Festival are the apple fritters from the First Mennonite Church. Every year, they sell thousands of warm, freshly-fried apple fritters, generously topped with powdered sugar. Volunteers work day and night coring and peeling 15 to 20 bushels of Macintosh apples. Their fluffy homemade batter is a tightly-held secret recipe, and with good reason.  The results are absolutely heavenly. Be patient, the lines can be long, but it is well worth the wait!

Steinstossen – “Stein” = Stone, “Tossen” = throwing

The Festival holds the record as the longest running competition for Swiss “stone throwing”. Contestants in the Men’s division of the Steinstossen hurl a huge stone weighing 138 pounds during two-hour periods beginning at 3:00 on Saturday and Sunday. The Women’s stone weighs 75 lbs. Contestants begin on a 20-foot runway, hurling the rock into a 4-inch-deep (100 mm) sand pit. The winners at each session win prizes.

Music and Parades

Learn to Polka! Grammy-nominated acts like Del Sinchak and other popular polka bands like Hank Haller are perennial acts. Contemporary groups usually play on Saturday evenings. Opportunities to try yodeling (it’s harder than you think) may arise. Look for a traditional Swiss alphorn or two.

The Kiddie Parade is on Friday afternoon and might be the cutest parade you can imagine. Parents and grandparents go all out to creatively dress their Little Swiss Misses and Misters in the traditional red, white and black Swiss colors. Bragging rights are on the line since prizes are awarded! On carefully decorated mini floats and wagons, they march down Main Street, often with equally costumed pets. The pets may be less than pleased, but everyone else loves it.

The big attraction on Saturday afternoon is the Grande Parade, featuring antique cars, local bands, horse hitches, floats. The Swiss Festival Queen and Court lead the way, as well as royalty from festivals all over the state. On occasion, there may be a celebrity or two in the parade. Main Street and the famous brink-lined Maple Street fill up quickly – locals will claim their viewing spots the night before.

How do Amish beat the heat?

Whew! It’s been one of those summers here in Ohio – one week it’s hot and humid, the next week it’s just more hot and humid. Seriously, it seems like it’s been hot since the snow melted last spring.

We’ve been running the fans non-stop in my old 1840′s farmhouse in Walnut Creek, but have you ever wondered what do Amish do to stay cool in this weather? And how do they keep their foods cold? The solutions are mostly just plain, simple common sense.

Amish build houses to stay cooler

Because Amish don’t choose to accept the luxury of electricity, traditional air-conditioning is simply not an option. One way to keep the house cool is to build their homes with basements that are built into the bank of the hill, at least as much as possible. The soil around the basement is cooler than the air temperature and helps insulate the basement, keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

In old farmhouses particularly, Amish will “move into the basement” during the summer. They even equip the basements with kitchens so they don’t even need to cook upstairs. The extra kitchen also comes in handy when they host church and hold weddings where they need to feed many people. The floors are concrete, both for easy cleaning and because they feel cool on bare feet!

Rising early

Amish are notorious early risers. It’s nothing for them to rise at 4 or 5am to begin the day’s work – laundry, weeding the garden, canning, and farm chores. In this way, they get their tough, more physical chores done before the day’s heat moves in.

Amish often assume that everyone gets up at their hour. When I was young, we regularly got phone calls at 6am for my dad about some farming job, asking “Iss da Chim dat?” (Is Jim there?) It’s amusing now, but I didn’t think it was funny back then. It didn’t matter to Dad – he was up by 5:30 anyway.

Cooling milk in the spring house

A few of the old farmsteads still have spring houses on their farms. Years ago, it was quite important to build a farmstead near a spring, not just for available drinking water, but for cooling your farm products, such as milk.

Amish milk cans, ready for pick-up

A trough was built, usually from concrete, with a pipe coming in from the spring and and outlet to drain off the water when the trough got full. In this way, the spring circulated fresh, clear and cool water constantly. The new milk was put in capped milk cans and then placed in the trough to stay cool until it was collected by the milk hauler. Some Amish farmers still use milk cans for their milk. On occasion, you’ll see them placed near the road, ready for the hauler to pick up.

Many Amish have switched to milk bulk tanks now, which run off a diesel generator. The milk is kept fresh in exactly the same way as any dairy and they avoid the back-breaking labor of loading milk cans twice a day.

Natural gas appliances

Many Amish have hook-ups to natural gas and all but the most conservative orders use gas refrigerators to chill foods. These refrigerators function just like the electric models and is  hooked up to natural gas just like a gas stove. Many local stores carry this type of appliance, the most famous being Lehmans Hardware in Kidron.

Gas freezers are also available but seem to be a little less common – probably because of the high energy requirements. If they don’t have a big gas freezer at home, Amish will often ask an “English” neighbor (someone with a car and electricity), to host their electric freezer in an outbuilding or garage. My neighbors had a big chest freezer in our old milking parlor for years, making regular trips every day to retrieve frozen food for a meal.

Old-fashioned Ice boxes

You might think that iceboxes went away a long time ago, but there are still some Amish who use them. According to an expert at the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin, Swartzentruber Amish still cut ice from ponds in the winter to place in their ice boxes. Rather than the old-fashioned wood boxes, they may use an old non-working freezer and use the ice blocks to keep it cold.

To cut ice, they make a pilot hole with a drill bit, then put a cross-cut saw in the pilot hole and saw the ice into blocks. Ice blocks can be bought a private ice houses in the area for those who don’t have ponds. They store the ice in a dark insulated icehouse and cover it with sawdust.

The BEST way to keep cool – Homemade Ice Cream!

A hand-cranked ice cream freezer

This is by far the best way to beat the heat. In Holmes County, making a batch of ice cream is an event whether you are Amish or not. Get the family, friends and neighbors together and make any excuse to enjoy a bowl of cold, creamy goodness.

The traditional way to make ice cream is to use old-timey freezer – basically a wooden bucket, a steel container and lid to hold the mix and a hand crank (or electric motor) to spin the container. “Dashers” inside the steel container spin with the crank to keep the mix from freezing solid. A couple bags of crushed ice plus some salt, and you are in business!

You really can’t beat a good homemade ice cream made with plenty of cream and vanilla! This is my personal recipe for homemade ice cream in a 6 quart mixer:

1 gallon (approximately) whole milk
1 cup white sugar
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cups heavy cream
6 eggs
8 oz. vanilla instant pudding
1 Tablespoon of Watkins Double Strength vanilla

It is recommended that you cook the eggs for safety: In medium saucepan, beat together eggs, 1/2 gallon milk, and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon with a thin film and reaches at least 160 degrees F.

Cool egg mixture and stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into the steel container and add remaining whole milk until the level is approximately three inches from the top. The mix will expand, so you need to leave extra room. Insert dashers and place in the bucket. It takes about two bags of ice to line the bucket and you’ll need to keep layering the salt with ice to lower the temperature of the ice. Crank until the mix has solidified but is still creamy.

The Lowly Dandelion in Dandelion Gravy!

The common dandelion

The lowly dandelion reminds us both of our childhood days (remember blowing the fluffy seeds away) and of the unwelcome weed in our lawns. Many of us spend quite a bit of time trying to get rid of the hardy little flowers. Yet, for a brief time in the spring, you might want to sample them in a salad or in the Amish country specialty, dandelion gravy.

Dandelions for your health

The Common dandelion is an introduced plant in North America. In the mid-1600s, European settlers brought the common dandelion (scientific name, Taraxacum officinale) to eastern America and cultivated it in their gardens for food and medicine. Since then it has spread across the continent as a weed.

The plant spread widely because of its adaptability to various climates, but also because they clone themselves. Dandelions don’t need to cross-pollination to set seeds – they develop seeds completely on their own, which explains why they seem to multiply in your yard overnight.

If you can’t beat ‘em, eat ‘em!

While we won’t vouch for the accuracy of these statements, our thrifty Amish and Mennonite ancestors did accept their nutritional value in a pioneer diet.

According to the website essortment.com,

· A cup of raw dandelion greens has the same calcium as ½ of a glass of milk. It also has 14,000 i.u. of Vitamin A, plus 19 milligrams of thiamin, 26 mg. of riboflavin and 35 mg. of ascorbic acid, your body changes it into vitamin C. That’s more than most multi-vitamins.

· Some herbalists say the milky substance from the stem treats warts. Apply once a day for up to 5 days. Hey, it may not work, but the bugs will love you. But, be careful. It can cause an allergic rash in some people.

· The Chinese use dandelion root for relieving Tonsillitis. They slowly cook one ounce of the root, chopped, in two cups of water until only half of the liquid remains. After it cools, they sip this syrup, sometimes sweetening it with juice.

· The French grow Dandelions to eat much like we grow lettuce in our gardens.

According to MotherEarth News:

Dandelions have long been used as a liver tonic and diuretic. In addition, the roots contain inulin and levulin, starchlike substances that may help balance blood sugar, as well as bitter taraxacin, which stimulates digestion. Dandelion roots can be harvested during any frost-free period of the year and eaten raw, steamed, or even dried, roasted and ground into a coffee substitute. The flowers are best known for their use in dandelion wine, but they also can be added to a salad, made into jellies or dipped in batter to make dandelion fritters.

How to harvest

Dandelion greens

Always harvest dandelions from a yard that is free of chemical herbicides, fertilizers  and other lawn sprays.  Pick the leaves as soon as they appear.  In fact, the earlier the better, for the younger the leaves, the less likely they are to taste overly sharp. If your dandelions grow too large, the only alternative is the lawnmower.

Fresh-picked dandelion greens are frail; they wilt quickly and should be cleaned in very cold water and dried thoroughly (a salad spinner comes in very handy here). Place the clean, dry greens on paper towels in a plastic bag or bowl, and keep them covered and chilled until you’re ready to use them.

Dandelion Gravy

Dandelion gravy is a truly unique recipe in Amish country and there are several ways to prepare it. In some recipes, it’s really more about the gravy and less about the dandelions.

At Der Dutchman Restaurant in Walnut Creek, Ohio, dandelion gravy is served as an occasional lunch special and only made in spring when the dandelion greens are the most tender. Courtesy of Verna Yoder and Mary Raber, longtime cooks at Der Dutchman, here’s a general recipe for preparing the gravy:

1. Make a gravy by browning butter then adding flour and milk. Stir until smooth.
2. To this mixture, add chopped hardboiled eggs, chopped bacon, salt and vinegar to taste. If you prefer, you may leave out the vinegar.
3. Last, add fresh clean dandelion greens and stir until just wilted.
4. Serve over boiled potatoes (mashed slightly with a fork) or mashed potatoes.

Life in Amish Country: Garage Sales and Auctions

When I was a server at Der Dutchman Restaurant, we were often asked, “What do people in Amish  country do for entertainment?” It’s true that the nearest mall and movie theater is at least twelve miles away, at least from where I live in Walnut Creek. And really, you won’t see lots of Amish people at the mall anyway. But, just like anyone else, we like to go shopping…with a twist.

One activity that is immensely popular in Amish country is going to auctions, garage sales and flea markets. We just love to sort through other people’s “treasures” and see if there’s anything we can use. To the eye of the beholder, it might be a pile of junk, but it’s just in our genes to be thrifty and either get something for nothing, or make something out of nothing.

One man’s (or woman’s) junk is another man’s treasure

When you travel through Amish country in the spring, it’s common to see Garage Sale signs posted along the road. The Amish and Mennonite community is wild for Garage Sales. Often, you’ll see a particular bunch of neighbors or maybe a town get together and plan to have garage sales on one weekend, so the crowds can visit them all. Extended families will get together to do a family sale. The month of May is prime-time for garage sales.

In the spring, our local free newspaper “The Bargain Hunter” is chock full of Garage Sale ads that will fill at least one whole page of the paper. Usually, the ad will specify whether it’s an Amish sale. This is important if you’re shopping for clothes, although what you’ll find is anyone’s guess. Like a garage sale in any other place, you can find clothes (Amish or otherwise), tools, dishes, antiques, videos, equipment and sometimes even vehicles. And get there early. Folks here get up with the chickens to get their pick of the best deals.

Looking to populate your gardens or flower beds? Often in the spring you’ll see “Perennial Sales”. Amish and Mennonite women love to fill their flower beds with perennial flowers that will come up every year. Perennials need to be divided to bloom properly, so they’ll sell their extras for a dollar or two. It’s a great way to get plantings if you’re just getting started and for a fraction of what you’ll pay at a greenhouse.

Auctions of all kinds

Amish in our area in love with auctions because it’s another way to find good used items. They’ll sell nearly anything at auction – livestock, horses, vehicles, farms, houses, antiques and household goods. We have an abundant supply of auctioneers here, so there’s an auction going on somewhere almost all the time. There area a couple auction houses in Holmes County with regular auctions on Monday and Thursday nights. You’ll be able to find a schedule and sale bill in any of our local newspapers, including “The Bargain Hunter“, Dover “Times Reporter”, Sugarcreek “Budget” and Wooster “Daily Record”.

You’ll need a valid ID like a driver’s license to obtain a buyer’s number. If you have the winning auction bid, you’ll need your buyer’s number to identify you. It’s good practice to keep track of what you buy on the back side of the buyer’s card. Even auctioneers make mistakes on occasion. One more piece of advice at auctions – some of us tend to talk with our hands. Be careful you don’t accidentally bid on some useless widget or perhaps a very expensive antique piece. As they say, once the gavel falls, the item is sold!

Flea Markets and Antiques

A traditional flea market is usually a variety of vendors who deal in “junque” (antiques + junk). Nearly every Amish livestock auction in the area has a flea market. Expect to find tools, glassware, dishes, knives, books, watches and so on. They are open during the spring, summer and fall months at Farmerstown on Tuesdays, Mount Hope on Wednesdays and Kidron on Thursdays and on Saturdays. Besides “junque,” you’ll find fresh fruit and vegetable vendors selling whatever happens to be in season.