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    Strawberry And Rhubarb Jam, Mrs. Olivia Harper Medders

    ByKara

    The header for Miss Olivia Harper’s 1899 marriage announcement read “Wedded to a Marylander.” Olivia’s mother, Mary C. Harper, and her father, storekeeper George W. Harper, were both born in Delaware. But 1880 and 1910 censuses show the Harpers living in Kent County – Maryland, not Delaware, so the announcement title is somewhat curious. Olivia Harper herself was born in 1876, in Maryland. But that’s no matter. Olivia, daughter of a shopkeeper, married William Medders, who would eventually become a merchant himself.

    His store became a famous local fixture for nearly 70 years.

  • Peanut Butter and Jelly Cheesecake, Delores Brown

    ByKara

    “For those gloomy days,” write Charles Britton in 1992, “when everything seems to be turning into dross, I have a note of encouragement to offer: We are living in the great age of cheesecake.”

    His column, which was syndicated in newspapers across the country, remarked on cheesecake’s 1980s rise to stardom, citing the two latest books on the subject, as well as “a popular Southern California restaurant chain called the Cheesecake Factory.” In that article, Britton shared six recipes for different cheesecake variations.

    Ten years earlier, Patricia Turner wrote in the Bridgewater Courier-News about two cheesecake cookbooks that were out at that time. Turner was somewhat less exhilarated about the possibility of cheesecake. Perhaps the golden age had not yet begun. Or perhaps it was the fact that Turner was on a diet and admitted to not having tried any of the recipes shared in her column.

    One of those recipes was for a Peanut Butter and Jelly Cheesecake – a different version than the recipe that I encountered in “Country Classics Vol. 2,” a 1980s cookbook put out by the Old Friendship United Methodist Church in West Post Office Maryland.

    This recipe’s contributor, Delores Brown, was too hard to pin down amongst the population of Worcester and nearby counties, despite the small size of the historic church she may have attended. All I know is that she shared this fun and slightly oddball cheesecake variation.

  • Pawpaw Pretzel Pie

    ByKara

    I decided to do one last pawpaw recipe before the season is over. After last week’s pawpaw cream pie, I wondered what it would be like to cross it with strawberry pretzel salad.

    When I approached the Two Boots Farm stand I felt a little bad. Colorful edible flowers sat alluringly displayed in plastic clamshells. Cartons of shisito peppers were laid out. Behind the pawpaw table, another table of offerings. When I reached out later, Elisa from Two Boots farm told me ” Yes, sometimes I think people oversee our flowers when they are hunting for the pawpaws (two very different customers really). But we do have a lot of social media followers that I suspect found us because of pawpaws but they started asking us for wedding flower quotes or joining our flower share. In September people flock to us for the pawpaws but if I look at the sales numbers cut flowers are still our best selling item this time of the year.”

    I ended up working with pectin to make a vegetarian recipe that could easily be made vegan. It could also be made with milk gelatin (minus cinnamon) for those who don’t want to deal with the pectin.

  • Pawpaw Cream Pie

    ByKara

    After going a few years without pawpaws, I just couldn’t take it anymore. This year, the fruit seemed to be more popular than ever, showing up in more recipes, photos, and food discussions. Despite the abundance of this fruit, some foragers debated sharing their locations while others begged for a hot tip.

    I’ve never had a hard time finding pawpaws, to be honest, but this frenzy intimidated me. Besides, I think that farmed cultivars just taste better.

    So I took an early morning bus ride to the Baltimore Farmers’ Market, where Two Boots Farm sells some of the only farmed pawpaws around.

    Although my “home market” is the one in Waverly, as soon as the weather starts changing, I find myself tempted by the downtown market under the JFX, where the echoes of voices and music blend with the overhead cars on the highway. When leafy salad greens give way to collards and cabbage, and corn to sweet potatoes and pumpkins, the Baltimore Farmers Market feels special. The summer crowds start to wane and its a little easier to navigate the loop.

    The smells of smoked meats and cinnamon doughnuts greet you as you browse.

    After acquiring my pawpaws, I waited in line for coffee. Already, the familiar scent of the pawpaw was wafting out of my bag, threatening to over-ripen as only tropical fruits can do.

    I think that a coconut layer cake with pawpaw filling would be pretty good, but that’s for another year. I made my trusty old pawpaw cream pie. Leaving nothing to chance, I stirred the custard with cornstarch, egg yolks and gelatin. Pawpaw seeds slid from my fingers as I tried my best to scrape the pulpy flesh into my pie crust. Although I didn’t have much fruit, the smell permeated my kitchen, and I knew that it would be more than enough to infuse my pie filling with it’s unique flavor.

    Now that I’ve become reacquainted with my old friend the pawpaw, I find myself wanting more. Another crisp Sunday morning downtown may be in order. Failing that, I might just recommit. I don’t think I should let another year go by without tasting the magical flesh of our largest native fruit.