Tasting childhood

Musings on Musings on a Blackberry a Blackberry Dumplin... Dumplin...

By Yvonne Boyd

MARKETING & OUTREACH MANAGER

GROWING UP IN RURAL PENNSYLVANIA surrounded by dairy and Amish farms, the summers of my childhood were flooded with fresh fruits and vegetables. Roadside stands overflowed with cantaloupe, corn, tomatoes, string beans, cherries, and more. A family favorite, whether we picked them ourselves or purchased them from a farmer, were blackberries.

Why blackberries? Because my grandmother would make a little known dessert called blackberry dumplings. You may ask what are blackberry dumplings. They are a simple summer dessert of steamed dumplings in a blackberry sauce. (This is almost correct except for the "berry" part. Blackberries are not berries at all, but an aggregate fruit in the drupe or stone fruit family.) None the less, black "berries" are delicious and although most people would add a little whipped cream or ice cream to their dumplings, we just added milk.

I’ve never known anyone but my grandmother who made blackberry dumplings, so I decided to do some research on the origin of this particular recipe. What I found is blackberry dumplings are the Appalachian or Southern name for what is often called "blackberry lump" or "blackberry grunt." My grandmother was born in Glade Springs, Virginia, right in the middle of Appalachia and the recipe was handed down to her from her mother (my great grandmother), so it all suddenly made perfect sense. Blackberries grew wild on the farm in Virginia so it was an affordable and easy way to feed dessert to 11 children in the 1920’s and 30’s.

It's stone fruit season, so pick up some blackberries at the Coop today and give the blackberry dumplings a try. They are easy to make and you can find my grandmother's recipe on page 10. Oh, and just an FYI, they are excellent for breakfast also. Enjoy!