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CLIP NOTES By Jody Morgan The tantalizing aroma of spices and herbs enhances anticipation of forthcoming Thanksgiving fare. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was concerned when she penned Oldtown Folks (1869) that her contemporaries had lost touch with the arduous, yet enthusiastically accomplished tasks that characterized early 19th century preparations. The fictitious village of Oldtown is based on Natick, Massachusetts, her husband Calvin Ellis Stowe’s hometown. I suspect she draws upon memories from her own childhood spent in Litchfield, Connecticut, in her chapter devoted exclusively to Thanksgiving.

“In those days there were none of the thousand ameliorations of the labor of housekeeping which have since arisen, -- no ground and prepared spices and sweet herbs; everything came into our hands in the rough, and in bulk, and the reducing of it into a state for use was deemed one of the appropriate labors of childhood. The very salt that we used in cooking was rock-salt, which we were required to wash and dry and pound and sift, before it became fit for use.”

Recipes were closely guarded secrets shared in whispered tones too low for Stowe’s protagonist, Horace Holyoke, to hear. No doubt the culinary comment spoken loudly enough for the eavesdropper to report was seasoned with a large measure of Yankee humor. “I still remember the solemn shake of the head with which my Aunt Lois conveyed to Miss Mehitable Rossiter the critical properties of mace, in relation to its powers of producing in corn fritters a suggestive resemblance to oysters.”

The sister spice to nutmeg, mace is the aril, or seed covering, of the flavorful kernel within the fruit of the tropical evergreen tree, Myristica fragrans. The aril tends to mold soon after the fruit ripens, so it must be dried immediately. Although mace figures in numerous entries in Mary Randolph’s The Virginia Housewife, first released in 1824, including sauces for fish and fowl and desserts, more recent cookbooks rarely call for mace.

Consulting Craig Claiborne’s Cooking with Herbs and Spices, originally published in 1963, I learned mace compliments both cherries and chocolate and is also used in pickles and preserves. However, I found the introduction to his nutmeg recipes more intriguing. In her excellent book titled Herbal Delights, Mrs. C. F. Leyel notes, “The silver graters our grandmothers wore on their chatelaines’ were used to make nutmeg tea, which supposedly has restorative powers.” Leyel was born in 1880 and founded the Society of Herbalists in 1927, now the Herb Society in England.

Elaborate silver nutmeg graters became fashionable in 17th century England and are highly collectible. On January 22, 2021, Sotheby’s sold at auction a c. 1810-1820 nutmeg grater crafted by Peter Bentzon of St. Croix and Philadelphia for $40,320. In Elizabethan England, nutmeg was touted as the only reliable remedy for the plague and grated into alcoholic beverages by wealthy individuals to spice their drinks. At that time, “A small bag of nutmeg would have bought you a house complete with servants,” claims the website IndianChiefTravel. com in “Nutmeg in Grenada.”

In 1511, Portuguese mariners arrived in the Banda Islands in the East Indian Ocean, native home of nutmeg trees. Run, a tiny volcanic island two miles long and a half mile wide was so covered with nutmeg groves that sailors claimed they could catch the fragrance ten miles out to sea. The ensuing quest of European nations to monopolize the spice trade, documented by Giles Milton in Nathaniel’s Nutmeg, describes ships and lives lost, cargoes pirated and native people expelled from their island homes.

The 1677 Treaty of Breda is complex, but it did result in the English gaining ownership of Manhattan and all of New Netherland in exchange for Dutch retention of Run and control of major trade routes. In 1810, an English sneak attack brought Run under British rule. In 1817, claiming Napoleon might use the spiceries in a campaign against India, the British departed. Milton writes: “Before they left, the English uprooted hundreds of nutmeg seedlings along with several tons of the unique soil and transplanted them to Ceylon, Pinang, Bencoolen, and Singapore. Within a few decades, these thriving new plantations were far outstripping the production on the Bandas.”

The exact date when nutmeg trees were introduced successfully to the Caribbean Island of Grenada is disputed. Some historians believe it was as early as 1782. Others as late as 1843. In any case, by the early 19th century, folks in Stowe’s New England villages and Randolph’s Southern home found nutmeg and mace readily affordable.

The Danville Alamo Garden Club would like to invite you to their monthly meetings where they will share their knowledge and love of gardening. Monthly meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month and are currently presented via Zoom. The meetings feature an inspiring and educational guest speaker and program. Please visit www.DAGC.us to find detailed information about the monthly program and activities. To contact the Membership VP, click on “About DAGC” then “About Membership.” The group looks forward to meeting you!

You are invited to visit meetings and to become a part of the Walnut Creek Garden Club! You’ll find friendly members with varying interests, including: • Creating and improving gardens with new plants and techniques • Supporting garden education in local schools • Supporting local environmental charities with community grants • Learning about the fun of arranging flowers • Volunteering to help local gardens, fundraisers, and plant sales

The group meets the second Monday of each month at 9:30AM, September through June, at The Gardens at Heather Farm, 1540 Marchbanks Dr., Walnut Creek.

The group welcomes the vaccinated public to their next meeting to be held November 8th. Jill Appenzeller will provide a presentation on the benefits of the cutting garden and will include tips on growing and arranging blooms from your own garden. Jill is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Royal Horticultural Society, and the Diablo Women’s Garden Club.

If you are interested in joining the Club or for more information, please visit www.walnutcreekgardenclub.org. Service continued from front page

where unhoused families lived under highway overpasses during bitterly cold winters, their children circled around small fires for warmth.

As it had recently been growing colder at night, Yuli was struck with the idea of knitting hats for the unsheltered to help them stay warm. She began to look for organizations that served people without shelter. Someone told her about White Pony Express, and that was the beginning of a true adventure of love. The star boxes (right), hand-made Yuli learned that every winter, White Pony Express, a nonprofit founded by Dr. Carol by Yuli Chen, will be filled with stars (left) on which is written the name of an item needed by an individual Weyland Conner and headquartered in Pleasant or family experiencing challenges Hill, has a Cold Weather Clothing Program, this season. which distributes warm clothes and emergency supplies to agencies throughout Contra Costa County that serve unsheltered residents. She also learned of White Pony Express’s food rescue program, which has delivered over 15 million meals to the county’s most vulnerable residents.

Excited to hear about this organization and warmly welcomed by their team, Yuli began to knit hats with the immense collection of yarn she had inherited from her daughter.

Yuli’s idea was to make each knitted hat well-constructed, durable, and unique. “It takes six hours to knit one hat,” Yuli explains. “When I start on a hat, I try to complete it by the end of the day. My initial goal was to knit six hats each week.” So far, Yuli has made 150 hats for WPE; this is the equivalent of knitting one hat every day for five months straight!

To some, this may sound like work, but to Yuli, it is a delight. “I experience great joy in making these hats. Even though I don’t see the recipients, I imagine how they might enjoy wearing the hats. That gives me great pleasure.”

After working on her hats for over a year, she developed arthritis and had to See Service continued on page 23

Dr. Hyland has been in private practice since 2000. She received a DDS degree from Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas. Following dental school, she pursued a hospital-based General Practice Residency at the Veteran’s Medical Center in West Los Angeles for two years. Realizing this was not the end of her formal education, she completed a successful three-year post-graduate surgical residency in periodontics. Dr. Hyland’s experience and professional skills excel in every aspect of dentistry from general cosmetic procedures to complex surgical cases. She has placed thousands of successful dental implants and is highly trained in all phases of gum disease therapy, tissue and bone grafting procedures, and wisdom teeth extraction.

Dr. Hyland understands the desire to provide the very best care for the entire family. As a resident of Alamo, she strives to meet community needs by providing unparalleled services for those seeking the finest complete dental care in one location. In her spare time, Dr. Hyland enjoys spending time with her husband Terry, two sets of twin boys, and their three rescue dogs adopted from ARF.

Dr. Kiranjot Dyal graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Thereafter, she attended Western University of Health Sciences, College of Dental Medicine to earn her degree in Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) and further extended her studies by completing a general practice residency at UCLA- Harbor Medical Center, where she earned the “Resident of the Year” accolade. Dr. Dyal’s passion for growth in her dental skills shows as she continues educating herself through various classes and up to date courses.

Dr. Dyal’s goal as a dental provider is to provide compassionate care for her patients and make them feel as stress-free as possible in the dental chair. She believes that knowledge is power and understanding what treatment is needed, why it's necessary, and how it can be prevented in the future is extremely important in bettering the overall oral health of her patients and the general public. Dr. Dyal strives to build a trusting and genuine relationship with her patients and their family and friends to create a comfortable dental home for the community she treats.