Like most things in Frederick County, Fort Detrick was built on farmland. The military installation started as a small, privately owned airport established in 1929 and later named after World War I squadron flight surgeon Major Frederick L. Detrick. The site was used as an airfield up until the United States entered World War II. In 1943 it was rechristened Camp Detrick and made base of the newly-established U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.
Over the years the site expanded, eventually becoming the largest employer in Frederick County. Along with its expansion grew the rumors and stories, some true and some urban legends.
I grew up in Beltsville, Prince George’s County, near the the US Agricultural Research Center. I know all about how a gated site can serve as the nexus for intriguing lore for children and adults. Whether it was the legendary Goat Man, or the alleged sprawling lush marijuana fields hidden away on the Ag Center campus, the “Beltsville Farms” provided fodder for stories just as it provided salaries for friends’ parents.
My spouse similarly grew up in the shadow of Fort Detrick. He spent his summers in its swimming pool while his parents worked in laboratories. And at school, he heard tales of the menacing “Tower of Doom.”
A few weeks ago I came across a recipe for something called “Christmas Bell Salad.” The process entailed cooking canned pears in melted cinnamon candy until the pears were red and cinnamon-flavored, and then serving the pears with dyed-green cream-cheese piped at the top to make the pear look like a bell.
I don’t usually get a lot of kicks mocking mid-century food, but I was amused and intrigued. People often send me recipes that sound weird, gross or ill-advised, but this blog has expanded my ideas about food so much that I am rarely fazed. What is it about “Christmas Bell Salad” that got to me?
I guess it just goes to show you that there’s always room for growth. I don’t get my baking chocolate or nuts from the baking aisle, so why would it be weird to use candy for its red coloring and cinnamon flavoring? A little imitation cinnamon goes a long way, after all. I certainly don’t have a bottle on hand.
More recently I found a similar concept in the 1948 “Favorite Recipes” cookbook compiled by the Naomi Circle of the Woman’s Society of Christian Service at the Marvin Memorial Methodist Church in Silver Spring. “Kris Kringle Salad” features apples cooked in a cinnamon candy syrup and served with avocado on lettuce. No dyed cream cheese is involved. I thought this sounded a little more interesting and appealing.
In 1916, Still Pond Methodist Church on the Eastern Shore produced a church cookbook entitled “The Eastern Shore Cookbook of Maryland Recipes.” You can see that once again a community cookbook made sure to put the state’s culinary fame front and center.
And why not? Certainly the cuisine that was drawing tourists to Maryland’s luxurious hotel restaurants had bubbled up over time from humble regional kitchens.
So how did a “California” salad make its way into a book of Eastern Shore recipes? The recipe was contributed by Benjamin S. Haywood, a Methodist Reverend who visited the church at least once in his extensive travels.
Los Angeles Times, 1901
Born in Indiana in 1866, Haywood was living in Riverside, California by 1901. He traveled on missions to Puerto Rico and Mexico. According to a 1901 profile in the Los Angeles times, he used a novel approach to raise funds to hire a teacher for a school in Orizaba, Mexico. He contacted friends in the United States and encouraged them to quit smoking and to divert their savings to the school fund. A teacher was hired, and presumably Haywood’s friends gained some longevity.
I was drawn to this recipe because I love citrus salads in winter. Not only are many citrus fruits in-season at this time of year, but the vitamin C they contain gives me the illusion of enhanced immunity to whatever cold is going around at any given moment. Many of the greens and herbs that go well in these salads are also C-rich. I was unable to find a Bermuda onion, but red onion with navel orange and the tangy cooked dressing is a better match than you might think. A slice of avocado on top would be a nice addition.
This salad recipe got me thinking about ways that food culture was disseminated in an age before newspaper or internet recipes. Traveling clergy like Haywood could leave a lasting influence on the food shared among parishioners. With the publication of a cookbook, ideas could be spread further throughout the community and perhaps beyond – into the hands of readers who were looking for a taste of Maryland fare.
Recipe:
Oranges, Bermuda onions. Slice oranges and onions, placing one slice of onion between two of the oranges, in a sandwich form. Put this on lettuce leaves. Over all pour a cooked dressing.
Dressing:
Yolks of four eggs, beat very light, four tablespoons of sugar, one and one-half tablespoons of flour, one teaspoon of salt, one-half teaspoon of mustard, three-quarters cup of vinegar, one-quarter cup of water. Cook in a double boiler until thick and add one tablespoon of butter when taken from the fire. Mix with cream when used.
Recipes from “The Eastern Shore Cook Book of Maryland Recipes”, both contributed by B. S. Haywood
