[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]poke berry bitters[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Now, back when I was a boy, I recollect that my grandma made up a batch of poke berry bitters for her arthuritis. In the old days some folks made poke berry bitters and there was some who made poke berry wine.†He said. “There’s a big difference but grandma always told us younguns that the bitters was best for the rhematis.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Now there is three things about makin’ the bitters that’s important and don’t you forget ‘em. The poke berries are bound to be picked when they are reddish purple like, before they has been touched by frost. The bitters must be made in a rock crock or jar and a body must never add no water while it is in the makin’.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]First thing you pick your poke berries when they turn the reddish purple color before frost has touched them. That’s when they are ripe and fullest with juice. Then you get a stone crock ‘cause it won’t do to make up your bitters in a metal tub or even glass.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]when you get your poke berries, you mash ‘em up. Don’t never wash them, just mash ‘em up like they come out of the field. If you wash ‘em, there might be some water left on ‘em and you want to be sartin the inside of the crock is plum dry ‘cause grandma always said there’s to be narry a drap of water when makin’ the bitters.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]a body can make up any size batch a body wants, but grandma always made hers like I’m a tellin’ you. She would mash up two measured gallons of poke berries, then she’d layer them.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]She’d put a layer of berries and a layer of sugar, a layer of berries and a layer of sugar until she had ‘em up to within a gallon of the top of the crock. Then she would set it in the corner nearest the hearth fire for it to ferment.â€[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The story is about a drink made from the mountain Poke Berry and old Jud had asked the obvious question in makin’—Why did she only fill the crock to within a gallon of the top when making the bitters?[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Why son, so it wouldn’t spill over. When them poke berries got to workin’ they would bubble up and that space gave ‘em room to work in,†he answered. “the workin’ would take eight, maybe ten days, dependin’ on the weather, whether it was hot or cold.â€[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Then she would take ‘em when they finished workin’ and pour them in a flour sack.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Fer every gallon of juice she would get, she added a pound of sugar[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]. She would put a lid on the crock with a hole in it and run a tube from the crock into a jug of water. Then she would seal the top air tight with beeswax.†[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Some folks would cover th[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]e[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] crock with a bag of sand but grandma said her way was best. The juice in the[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]crock was still workin.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Yes sir, when the bubbles stopped comin’ in the water through that tube sealed in the crock with beeswax, Grandma knew that the poke berry bitters was ready. She would st[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]r[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]ain it into jugs or jars and stopper ‘em good and tight.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]For her [/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]arthritis[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] and [/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]rheumatism[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif], she would take a tablespoon full after every meal. As long as she did, she never had a mite of trouble with the pains in her j[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]o[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]ints, and folks fro[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]m[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] all around the settlement would come to get her bitters for their aches and pains.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]She would warn them though, ‘never take more than a tablespoon at a time, it might pisen a body ‘stead of curin’ ‘em’.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Now, back when I was a boy, I recollect that my grandma made up a batch of poke berry bitters for her arthuritis. In the old days some folks made poke berry bitters and there was some who made poke berry wine.†He said. “There’s a big difference but grandma always told us younguns that the bitters was best for the rhematis.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Now there is three things about makin’ the bitters that’s important and don’t you forget ‘em. The poke berries are bound to be picked when they are reddish purple like, before they has been touched by frost. The bitters must be made in a rock crock or jar and a body must never add no water while it is in the makin’.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]First thing you pick your poke berries when they turn the reddish purple color before frost has touched them. That’s when they are ripe and fullest with juice. Then you get a stone crock ‘cause it won’t do to make up your bitters in a metal tub or even glass.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]when you get your poke berries, you mash ‘em up. Don’t never wash them, just mash ‘em up like they come out of the field. If you wash ‘em, there might be some water left on ‘em and you want to be sartin the inside of the crock is plum dry ‘cause grandma always said there’s to be narry a drap of water when makin’ the bitters.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]a body can make up any size batch a body wants, but grandma always made hers like I’m a tellin’ you. She would mash up two measured gallons of poke berries, then she’d layer them.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]She’d put a layer of berries and a layer of sugar, a layer of berries and a layer of sugar until she had ‘em up to within a gallon of the top of the crock. Then she would set it in the corner nearest the hearth fire for it to ferment.â€[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The story is about a drink made from the mountain Poke Berry and old Jud had asked the obvious question in makin’—Why did she only fill the crock to within a gallon of the top when making the bitters?[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Why son, so it wouldn’t spill over. When them poke berries got to workin’ they would bubble up and that space gave ‘em room to work in,†he answered. “the workin’ would take eight, maybe ten days, dependin’ on the weather, whether it was hot or cold.â€[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Then she would take ‘em when they finished workin’ and pour them in a flour sack.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Fer every gallon of juice she would get, she added a pound of sugar[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]. She would put a lid on the crock with a hole in it and run a tube from the crock into a jug of water. Then she would seal the top air tight with beeswax.†[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Some folks would cover th[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]e[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] crock with a bag of sand but grandma said her way was best. The juice in the[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]crock was still workin.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Yes sir, when the bubbles stopped comin’ in the water through that tube sealed in the crock with beeswax, Grandma knew that the poke berry bitters was ready. She would st[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]r[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]ain it into jugs or jars and stopper ‘em good and tight.â€[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]For her [/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]arthritis[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] and [/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]rheumatism[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif], she would take a tablespoon full after every meal. As long as she did, she never had a mite of trouble with the pains in her j[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]o[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]ints, and folks fro[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]m[/FONT][FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] all around the settlement would come to get her bitters for their aches and pains.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]She would warn them though, ‘never take more than a tablespoon at a time, it might pisen a body ‘stead of curin’ ‘em’.â€[/FONT]