Fresh cherries from the farm stand, Mom’s oatmeal-raisin cookies. But it’s Concord grapes I remember most.
We lived up on a hill overlooking Lake Erie, miles from town and school. Winters were tough, summers fantastic and fall gave us Concord grapes from the neighbor’s vineyard. For newbies, one sucks the pulp out of the skin, spits out the seeds and swallows the rest. Last year we brought my in-laws to Chautauqua County and they got to see a mechanical grape harvester (when I lived there the harvesters were migrants and farm kids) and eat grapes off the vine. Thanks to Jim Deakin for the tour of his farm in Portland NY.
We also had peaches and plums, and we picked blueberries and had wild strawberries on our property. This is so important to me because the growing season was so short near Buffalo NY that we had not a moment to waste. What a wonderful childhood!
Cooking with Dee 