Eatin Cracklins and Drinkin Sassafras Tea

DOWN THE HILL AND ACROSS THE ROAD 

Eat as close to the ground as possible. What I mean by that is eat food that is as near pure as possible. The food we ate while I was growing up was mostly that which we raised in the garden, on the land and picked in the wild. The meat we ate was mostly pork and chicken both of which can be preserved by what is called canning or curing. In those days we had no electricity, so, no freezing or refrigeration was possible. We shopped the land as well as the grocery store. There are a lot of edible stuff that grows on the top of the ground and also a lot that grows underground. Most of what we ate was grown in the garden. Some like, blackberries, gooseberries, elderberries, wild grapes (we called them opossum grapes), persimmons, black walnuts and hickory nuts all grew wild. It was a matter of finding where they were growing. So, there was a lot of food all around us.

One of the underground things was sassafras roots. Sassafras roots are not good to eat but one can make a great flavored tea by boiling the roots in water. Sassafras trees are not good for much else. The sassafras trees where I grew up didn’t grow very large however, I know there are large sassafras trees and that one of the uses for the lumber is making boat paddles. To enjoy the sassafras tea you must dig the roots out of the ground and dry them and clean them well, do not soak in water or the flavor will be diminished. Next thing cut the roots in small pieces and store in a dry place. Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop in as many pieces of roots as suites your taste. I could never drink sassafras tea without sugar in it. Sassafras tea was more of a novelty than an everyday drink. However, it was a great drink in the cold wintertime. I don’t know if iced sassafras tea would be good or not, never tried it that way.  According to science sassafras in any form is toxic to humans. So, maybe my days of drinking sassafras tea are a thing of the past. I don’t miss it that much, so I’m good.

Cracklins where do they come from? Cracklins are the byproduct of rendering lard from pork fat. We always butchered 4-6 hogs a year. Butchering was always done in the fall of the year usually after frost. We used every part of the hog, from head to toe. Hogs are by nature fat. The fat was an essential part of processing the hog. Mom cooked with lard. She fried with lard, she baked with lard. To have lard the fat of the hog must be cooked until the lard (grease) is released from the fat. To achieve this one must cut the fat into small pieces which is then heated to a very hot temperature for the lard to release from the fat. We had a large cast iron kettle that we used for this process. This kettle had three legs and was outside with each leg down in a piece of pipe that had been driven in the ground with about 12inches sticking above the ground. This elevated the bottom of the kettle off the ground so a fire could be built under the kettle.  What one has when all the lard is released from the fat the pieces of cracklin will float to the surface of the boiling lard. These can then be scooped off and put on a rack to drain. So, now you have two products instead of just one. You have lard for cooking and cracklins for eating. Cracklins are a lot like crisp bacon! Drain well, salt to taste, and eat away. Many times I have started off in mid-morning with a pocket full of cracklins that lasted right up till lunch time. Of course my pants leg was greasy from my pocket to my knee.

Oh by the way cracklins are not fried pork skins (rinds). Those you buy at the convenience store!