Serve Up A Big Slice Of Tradition

I have to chuckle as I read accounts of the first Thanksgiving. Apparently the pilgrims feasted on meat, poultry, fish and a few vegetables - green beans, corn and squash. Little has changed in 374 years. I wonder if kids back then complained “Ah, Mom, not beans again!”

I suppose not. As history tells us, the pilgrims gave thanks - not so much for the food, but for their lives and for the friendships they found with the Native Americans. The sharing of food was a gesture of gratitude.

Today, we will again give thanks for our many blessings, hopefully surrounded by family and friends. Our tables will be dressed in fall attire and delicious food - sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberries and, staying with the tradition of the first Thanksgiving, squash, corn and beans.

You may think that the first bean was a shell, kidney or lima bean. Not so. The string bean is the oldest. It was introduced during the last part of the 15th century and has “graced” our tables ever since.

I shouldn’t really be negative about the green bean. After all, it seemed like they were the only green vegetable our kids could force down without throwing up. And they have come a long way since their first appearance.

Today’s beans are stringless, tender and crisp. And they aren’t just green - they may be yellow wax or purple (turning green, however, when cooked). It’s just that green beans are always served. At least on Thanksgiving Day, they can be dressed up with dried onions and mushroom soup.

The corn served at our tables will probably be sweet or super-sweet corn - a far cry from what our ancestors chomped into. At the time of the first Thanksgiving, Native Americans were probably cultivating and harvesting flint (field) corn. This multicolored or Indian corn, once dried, had kernels that were so hard, it was impossible to grind them by hand. This fact still holds true today. Anyone who decorates with Indian corn will find that not even the mice care to nibble on these petrified marbles.

Squash, like corn, is also a native North American vegetable. Remains have been unearthed in New Mexico dating to 4000 B.C. I doubt, though, that pilgrims ate it with brown sugar and butter.

Do we serve yams or sweet potatoes? We serve sweet potatoes, and why only on Thanksgiving is beyond me. They are delicious. Yam is a word that is often used incorrectly to describe a very moist, pale, fine-textured sweet potato. The true yam (Dioscorea) is grown for its ornamental vines. At times, its tubers are harvested as edible crops. Rarely are they grown in the United States.

And then there are Brussels sprouts (named after Brussels, Belgium). I am not sure why they are served, since only about one person in 10 eats them. Perhaps it’s because Brussels sprouts are at their best in the late fall after a frost. When purchasing sprouts, get them frozen rather than fresh. Frozen sprouts are a little tastier. This is coming from the one out of 10 who likes sprouts.

Cranberries are an odd lot. They grow on flat, matted vines in bogs. The roots seek out mucky wet soil. Shoots that grow straight up off the vines produce blossoms and the red berries we so dearly enjoy with the turkey.

Whatever food graces our tables, may we be truly grateful for what we have. From our home to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. xxxx

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review