Applesauce report and a float trip down memory lane
The applesauce/blackberry/zucchini combo is good! I can't taste even a hint of the zucchini so I'm going to add more next time. I may cut back on the blackberries a bit though, not because it doesn't taste good but because I'd like it to taste a bit more like apples. The blackberries are surprisingly flavorful considering they're domestic and not wild. I may thaw the blackberries and press them through a sieve first next. Normally, like in blackberry preserves, I prefer seeds because I think it improves the taste and texture, but it's a little startling in the middle of applesauce.
The taste of the blackberries really takes me back to my childhood. My family would go camping for 2 weeks at Cave Springs on the Current River in southern Missouri, now part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. When I was a kid it was just the Current River and not nearly as heavily used as it is now. Back before most of the middle part of the river was seized by Imminent Domain to create the national park areas, 2 of my father's uncles (Ozro and Carter) owned farms on the river. Carter and his wife Olive were happy to sell and move away, but Ozro was the oldest and had the 100 year old farmhouse and homestead. Gone now.
Every summer my family would camp right on the edge of Cave Springs. In the photo, right about where the photographer would be standing, to his/her left would have been our camping spot. I don't know how many summers we camped there but it was quite a few. Back then, maybe only half a dozen canoeists would come down the river each day. There's probably several dozen each day now in summer and early fall. Check out the river traffic in the video below.
Here's someone's vacation video with a little more detail. What you can't tell from the video is that the whole river, even in the height of summer, is quite cold because it's spring fed up and down its length. That water that the people in the entrance of the cave are jumping in is absolutely freezing. There's a rock ledge on either side of the cave mouth. In the center there's a channel about 25 feet deep. The water is (or at least was) so crystal clear that it looks like you could reach down and touch the white sandy bottom.
This is where my dad grew up. He and his cousins used to dive for the coins that tourists would throw into the water. Quite a few miles up river is Aker's Ferry. It's where most float trips put in and used to be owned by family, but not for many years. I went on a float trip from Aker's Ferry when I was at college and met one of my boyfriend's on that trip.
It's been literally decades since I was last there and doing a little research just now I've found that the land that the cave sits on is privately owned now and there's no access to the cave except by water. Such a shame. But I shudder to think how trashed the land would be now if there were general access.
Oh yeah - blackberries! (I got lost on the trip *G*) The woods around there used to be lousy with mild blackberry patches. I hated to pick blackberries so the parents and bro would do the picking and then I would do the cooking. I still have the sense memory of the taste and smell of stewed wild blackberries with fry bread.
Now, there are all sorts of recipes for fry bread but the one my grandmother taught me is basically biscuit dough (flour, baking powder, salt, lard or shortening and water). Then it's just pinched off golf ball sized portions, patted flat and fried. Absolutely, decadently and 'taste of country' delicious! Especially with hot, stewed blackberries.
Hmmm. I had practically a no-carb stir fry for a late lunch, maybe for a late snack I'll have some fry bread and stew up the rest of those blackberries. Yum! Sounds like a plan!
The taste of the blackberries really takes me back to my childhood. My family would go camping for 2 weeks at Cave Springs on the Current River in southern Missouri, now part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. When I was a kid it was just the Current River and not nearly as heavily used as it is now. Back before most of the middle part of the river was seized by Imminent Domain to create the national park areas, 2 of my father's uncles (Ozro and Carter) owned farms on the river. Carter and his wife Olive were happy to sell and move away, but Ozro was the oldest and had the 100 year old farmhouse and homestead. Gone now.
Every summer my family would camp right on the edge of Cave Springs. In the photo, right about where the photographer would be standing, to his/her left would have been our camping spot. I don't know how many summers we camped there but it was quite a few. Back then, maybe only half a dozen canoeists would come down the river each day. There's probably several dozen each day now in summer and early fall. Check out the river traffic in the video below.
Here's someone's vacation video with a little more detail. What you can't tell from the video is that the whole river, even in the height of summer, is quite cold because it's spring fed up and down its length. That water that the people in the entrance of the cave are jumping in is absolutely freezing. There's a rock ledge on either side of the cave mouth. In the center there's a channel about 25 feet deep. The water is (or at least was) so crystal clear that it looks like you could reach down and touch the white sandy bottom.
This is where my dad grew up. He and his cousins used to dive for the coins that tourists would throw into the water. Quite a few miles up river is Aker's Ferry. It's where most float trips put in and used to be owned by family, but not for many years. I went on a float trip from Aker's Ferry when I was at college and met one of my boyfriend's on that trip.
It's been literally decades since I was last there and doing a little research just now I've found that the land that the cave sits on is privately owned now and there's no access to the cave except by water. Such a shame. But I shudder to think how trashed the land would be now if there were general access.
Oh yeah - blackberries! (I got lost on the trip *G*) The woods around there used to be lousy with mild blackberry patches. I hated to pick blackberries so the parents and bro would do the picking and then I would do the cooking. I still have the sense memory of the taste and smell of stewed wild blackberries with fry bread.
Now, there are all sorts of recipes for fry bread but the one my grandmother taught me is basically biscuit dough (flour, baking powder, salt, lard or shortening and water). Then it's just pinched off golf ball sized portions, patted flat and fried. Absolutely, decadently and 'taste of country' delicious! Especially with hot, stewed blackberries.
Hmmm. I had practically a no-carb stir fry for a late lunch, maybe for a late snack I'll have some fry bread and stew up the rest of those blackberries. Yum! Sounds like a plan!