Heartland by Marcia Adams (1991, Hardcover)

HEARTLAND by Marcia Adams

The best of the Old and the New from Midwest Kitchens
ISBN: 0-517-57533-7

Having already become a big fan of Marcia Adams, her books and PBS TV series, I was eager to enjoy another great collection of heritage recipes from the American Midwest. What a great place to live (and eat). She did not disappoint me with this book at all. Once again, beautiful, thoughtful photographs are here, along with little anecdotes and poems.

The recipes are presented state-by-state, beginning alphabetically with Illinois, and through Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. Also included are Heartland basics, a Mail-order directory, Guide to restaurants, Bed and Breakfasts, and Inns, Museums and much more.

I found so very many great, new and old recipes, that choosing one to share with you here because a difficult decision. I selected a very country folk type of tea for you. The roots are most likely available in your local health or ethnic food store, unless you have a tree growing outside, like I did.

SASSAFRAS TEA~~ makes 8 to 10 servings

“ In the country, early spring used to be synonymous with fragrant pink sassafras tea, which was considered a tonic—it thinned the blood and took away the winter blahs. My grandfather had a grove of sassafras tress in the sheep meadow, and every spring, just as soon as the ground thawed, he would dig up some roots and bring them to the house, where they would be scrubbed clean, then soaked and dried. When I visited the farm, my grandmother would make the tea for me to drink and served it in her best green-flowered Haviland cups. Sweetened with sugar, the rose-colored tea tasted like root beer.

2 teaspoons dried sassafras shavings
8 cups boiling water
fresh lemon juice
sugar

Place the tea in a tea strainer, put the strainer in a large teapot, and pour the boiling water over it. Cover and steep 5 minutes or longer. It should be rose-colored, but the tea will become a deeper red as it steeps. Serve with lemon and sugar. It is also delicious iced.”

Yes, it did take me back to springtime in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. So many wonderful and healthful things grow in the country. Marcia Adams does another fine job evoking old memories, and making new ones. Be sure to add this to your cookbook collection.

This is the cookbook I give to new arrivals. Marcia Adams' recipes never fail, celebrate Midwest cooking, and show that cooks in the heartland never just "fried" food and poured gravy on top--we leave that to the Southerners. The state histories, recipe notes, and use of local foods was ahead of its time. My copy from the early 1990's has a broken binding, food stains, and the book magically opens to "Methodist Macaroni and Cheese"--the best on the planet.