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An Estate Sale Treasure

I went to an estate sale last weekend and picked up a jewel. There high on a kitchen shelf was an old beat up box of recipes. A lifetime collection of food memories, mine for a buck.

I haven’t been to an estate sale in ages—I generally don’t like them as they are crowded and filled with people who have this maniacal “IT MUST BE MINE” look in their eyes. It’s like essential core human behavior-- survival of the fittest--comes out when two people are reaching for the same item at one of these things. I saw a middle aged man practically get in a shoving match with an older woman over a piece of depression glass. It is like those shows that I would see on TV when I was a kid, where women would go crazy at a lingerie sale at Filene’s Basement.

Also quite frankly, I find estate sales to be a bit sad. Someone’s (and usually you can tell it is an elderly lady's) life is spread out before us, pulled out of closets, drawers and cupboards, and all with price tags. 70+ years of collecting quilts, and sheet music, and Hummel figurines have come to an end, her possessions scattered to the winds. I didn’t plan at stopping at this one, we were on our way home from a Saturday coffee morning and something just made me stop. (I’m fortunate to be blessed with a hubby who doesn’t mind these whims of mine.)

Once we wiggled our way inside, I headed straight for the kitchen. That is where I can usually find something, like some old kitchen gadget with a Bakelite handle or a good mixing bowl. This day, I was rewarded with the stated recipe box. When I got home and started going through it, I felt a bit like an archeologist, sifting through the food life of the 20th century.

The cards were old and faded, and many of them dated to the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. There were at least three different hands writing these cards, all of them displaying lovely penmanship in the days before ballpoint pens. However, some of the cards had been typed on a good old fashioned typewriter, with strikeouts evident. No delete or backspace button here. The recipes were arranged with pre-printed dividers, and interesting ones too, like donuts, frostings, jellies, and biscuits.

While there was a mix of salads, main courses and breads, by far the most recipes were for pickles. In fact, once I went through them, I figure out that HALF of the recipe cards were for various types--sweet pickles, dill pickles, beet pickles, corn relish, green tomato relish, picallilli, India chutney, mustard pickles…. most everything you could imagine. This makes sense because in the basement of the estate sale home were cupboards filled with Mason and jelly and jam jars. This woman was a serious canner.

So while it was sad that no one in this woman’s family either wanted these recipes (or sadder yet, they weren’t around to take them), I hope she knows that they went to a good home. I will truly appreciate and take care of them. And I want to share with you. So instead of retyping this recipe for mustard pickles, I wanted you to see the charming original. It should be clear enough to follow.

(However, I wonder what the question mark means when she says “Very crisp and delicious?)

Tell us about your family recipes. Did you manage to grab Grandma’s before the estate sale pickers (like me) came though?

Lisa Parsley is a Janesville native writes about food and cooking for Gazettextra.com. Lisa is a community blogger and is not a part of The Gazette staff. Her opinion is not necessarily that of the The Gazette staff or management.