Happy (almost) July! July is when things REALLY start to heat up-- both in the daily weather forecast and in Home Gardener's Cookbook (Marjorie Page Blanchard, 1974).You could fit the February chapter into the July chapter three times and still have room to spare. The July section showcases recipes for all of mid-summer's heavy hitters: cherries and berries, green beans, tomatoes, and of course, zucchini.
I'll start with the green bean recipe just because I like the title. I wasn't sure what "snibbled" meant, but it's a fun word.
So I tried to look it up and... I still don't know what "snibbled" means. There's a recipe for Snibbled Beans on the Mount Vernon website, but that one has a sweet-n-sour egg sauce over green beans, onion, and bacon. I also saw some references to "snippled beans," but they're pickled. So maybe Blanchard just heard the term somewhere and made up her own version?
I picked the tomato recipe because I thought the title didn't do it any favors.
"Deviled Tomatoes" probably sounds fine to people who like things like deviled eggs, but adding "wet"? I don't know.... Makes it sound like something went wrong in the deviling process and the cook feels compelled to warn the diners that this batch is a little off, so they'll need extra napkins.
At least the name of the Zucchini Sauce for Pasta is pretty straightforward.
It sounds pretty bland, but it would help use up the bumper crop of zucchini, and it's probably fine as long as you keep the pepper and Parmesan on the table so diners can add as much extra as they need to make it taste like something.
We will end with a dessert-- once again chosen for its name. This one sounds cute!
I am all for referring to hand pies as "bumpers." Plus, it's fun that you can use bumpers to help use up a bumper crop of cherries!
Okay, it's too nice a day to spend it all marveling at old recipe names... It's only (almost) July once a year, so I'm going out to enjoy it.
I guess that wet deviled tomatoes is better than runny deviled tomatoes. Or maybe just eat the tomatoes as they are or make them into a simple sauce? I got tired of reading all the steps after a while. She must have had kids to wash the dishes. I'm also glad that we have microwaves now, so we can heat up 1/4 cup of liquid without getting the miniature saucepan out. Our July is coming in with heat advisories, so I'm making lots of ice.
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