The Flavor of Jackson’s Mill: Favorites of West Virginia 4-H’ers, Extension Homemakers and Friends 1984
I received this book in a large random lot, very cheaply from an estate sale last year. While I love grist mills and the cookbooks that come from them, this one is from a place that I don’t know really needed support–the ‘Boyhood Home of Thomas J “Stonewall” Jackson’. Did they need to raise money in 1984 to give the reader “a fuller understanding of Jackson’s Mill and a greater appreciation of why it’s such a special place to so many people” as Dan Tabler, Camp Director says in his introduction? Were there no other mills they could restore and invite people to that were not the home of a general officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War? It apparently stopped being a mill in 1892, became a 4-H Camp in the 1920s, and continues as a historic site.
The book has a history of the mill and many photographs. This history makes the claim that while Jackson joined the Confederacy, he did not support slavery (it does not mention that he was a slaveowner himself). I’m not going to get into the history of the man but I do feel like the world is lousy with old grist mills and maybe we need to pick and chose which ones we want to turn into parks and campgrounds.
In the book was a clipping about the book which has some details about the site.
There are a lot of recipes in the book and a lot of quippy quotes “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” and the contributors are all credited with their location. Some contributors have their connection to the site included–largely wives of staff and staff members themselves. There are no headnotes or tips and I think some recipes needed them–Kate Robertson (Monroe)’s Frozen Cucumbers begs for some details.
There are some regional-feeling recipes including a few that call for hickory nuts, an ingredient I do not see often.
There is a quick and easy section that includes everything from salad dressings to Jennifer Mann (Berekley)’s Speedy Little Devils which involved cake mix, marshmallow creme, and peanut butter.
The is a “Quantity” section which is unusual and all the recipes yield a lot of food! Some are from food service members of staff but others are from contributors who had recipes yielding vast servings at their disposal. Jane Brown (Boone)’s recipe for Dishpan Cookies yields 120 servings!