Tonight I saw an ad on TV for Jello and it triggered a memory.
The first time I remember Jello my sister and brother were in high school (I guess) and they sold Jello mix to make money for a school project. Mama bought some and we made it up (but having no refrigerator it wouldn't set up completely.) We ate it with relish anyway.
This was in the fall before the weather turned cold and I remember helping to cut sugar cane and hauling it to a site where the making of molasses would take place. (across the road from our house).
The sugar cane was crushed in a device whereby a mule was hitched to a pole and walked a around to grind the juice out. The juice was placed in a divided pan which was heated until the sugar cane juice was evaporated and thickened into molasses.
We children took cold biscuits with us and begged the man making molasses for a taste. What a taste (hot syrup and a biscuit) Later in the year it would be time to butcher the hogs. The treat then was ribs and backbones - sausage and liver mush and fatigue from the long days work of preparing the meat to cure.
The men boiled a big pot of water. Then they killed the hog - By the use of pulleys they hauled the pig up on a log tripod - dipped it in the boiling water - scraped off the hair. Then split it down the front to remove the intestines etc.
This was done on a very cool day so the meat would cool quickly.
It was cut into the appropriate pieces. Ham - shoulders - side meat (Bacon). Back bones - ribs - tenderloin or P. chops. All scrapes (pieces too small to cure were ground into sausage. Liver mush was made. Souse meal (head cheese) made. The treat the next day was ribs or backbones, baked slowly in the wood stove served with baked sweet potatoes.
All the above was done by hand. The meat was set to cure in salt bins and everybody prayed for a few days of very cold weather to prevent it from spoiling. No refrigerator was available. The sausage would keep for some weeks in the cold smokehouse and was a real treat with hot biscuit and grits for breakfast before leaving to catch the schoolbus by 6:45 for the 20 mile ride to Blackstock to school.
Posted by Beth McKeown at February 11, 1986 11:15 PM