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My neighbor's grandmother showed me her 'lost' sour cherry jam recipe from her village in Poland.
I was helping Mrs. Kowalski with her garden last summer, and she invited me in for lemonade. She saw my jar of store bought jam on the counter and just shook her head. She went to this old wooden box and pulled out a handwritten card, all in Polish. She said her babcia made this jam every July with the cherries from their tree back home, a place called Zakopane. The trick was using the cherry pits, tied in a cloth bag and boiled with the fruit, for a subtle almond flavor. She said no one in her family writes it down anymore, they all just buy it. It made me wonder, is a recipe truly 'lost' when the last person who remembers it is still alive, or only when no one is left to make it? Has anyone else had a moment like that, where you realized you were maybe the last person being taught something?
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alice_anderson3521d ago
Ever read about those language speakers who are the last of their kind? Feels like a recipe is the same, it's gone when the knowledge stops moving to someone new. That moment she showed you was her passing it on, so maybe it's found again.
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