Jim and I were both pleased when the publishers approved our idea of adding unique Appalachian vocabulary words related to cooking to the front of our cookbook Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food.
Here’s a peek at a few of them.
Fruit—Apples loom so large in importance as a foodstuff they are sometimes simply called fruit.
Glob—A considerable quantity. “She always added a glob of butter to her cobblers.”
Grabble—Gently digging out new potatoes without disturbing the entire hill.
Greasy beans—A particular type of green bean, so named because of its slick appearance.
Hickory chickens—Morel mushrooms.
Hint—An expression for a minute quantity. “What made that pot likker was just a hint of red pepper.”
Hoecake—Fried cornbread.
June apples—Any of a number of varieties of apples that ripen in mid-summer rather than autumn.
Kilt—Killed–primarily used to describe the result of pouring hot grease over fresh lettuce or other
greens as a dressing.
If you’d like to purchase our book you can see it here.
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a slightly damaged but new copy of Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food written by Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley. To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. Giveaway ends November 19, 2024. There will be two winners for this giveaway.
Winners
The winner of the the used book Butter Beans to Blackberries written by Ronni Lundy is Sandi Keaton-Wilson who said “I used to like to pour milk into my bowl of hand picked and and canned wild blackberries, when I was a child. I wasn’t a big fan of the dumplings and cobblers often made. That is certainly not true now. I would enjoy a dish of the hot blackberry cobbler with a dip of vanilla ice cream right about now.”
The winner of the used book Appalachian Values written by Loyal Jones is Randy who said “I am happy to say I not only grew up as a child but have lived my adult life (70years) being able to do the things you wrote about in your first sentence. I can not comprehend living in families that are always fussing and fighting among themselves. This never went on in mine or my wife’s families, this includes our extended families. Both of our families were always looking for a reason to have “get togethers.” Sometimes in my wife’s family there would around 40 of us together along with some invited neighbors and friends. I think one secret for being able to do this was because of our families being church going people and no alcohol was ever involved in any of our gatherings. I preach about the importance of spending ever minute you can with your families, for me nothing in my life except for my relationship with God is more important. I wrote yesterday about being with my two grandsons and son this past weekend, I would not trade this time spent with them for any amount of money, career, or anything else. I will get out of the pulpit with this, in the old days I think people were more content with having their necessities, nowadays that is no longer true, they are more interested in wanting better or more of their wants. Many of both mine and my wife’s family have passed on, my wife and daughter both died suddenly, they were both gone in the blink of an eye. Ask yourself just how important is your family to you? What are your priorities?”
The winner of the used book A Time For Every Purpose written by Barbara Taylor Woodall is Meg who said “We recently discovered the goodness that is home grown pork. What a difference!
This is the first year we have done it, but we plan to raise a few piglets every year now.
I’d love a copy of that book!
Prayers for all of you and all in our area as the cold comes on,
Meg”
The winner of the used book The Foxfire Book is Lynette Hicks who said “I grew up having wild game on the dinner table, but never had pickled corn until a few years ago. I absolutely love it!
It’s a treat to see Matt in the kitchen occasionally. He is a keeper!”
The winner of the used book Mommy Goose Rhymes from the Mountains written by Mike Norris is Debbie who said “How delightful! I would love to read this not only to my grandchildren but for myself as well. I try to keep a list of books you suggest and then see if our library can get them. Once I read it I make the decision on whether or not to purchase it. I have purchased many books you have recommended. One of my favorites is Alex Stewart Portrait of a Pioneer. You suggest so many wonderful books I would never know about otherwise. Thank you!”
Winners please send your mailing address to me at blindpigandtheacorn@gmail.com and I’ll get your book to you.
Last night’s video: Appalachian Granny Shares Story and Recreates Historic Needlework Piece.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
I use glob and hint myself. I learned about greasy beans from you and I’m sure I’ve heard kilt but never knew what it meant until now. Grabble is new to me and hickory chickens makes me giggle for some reason. I’ve never really encountered morel mushrooms so I’ll just have to trust that description.
Tipper, if my comment gets picked I want you to send my cookbook to Ashley B. Reading her comment on one of the other posts for the cookbook drawing really touched my heart! 🙂 ❤
I visited this weekend with some of my precious cousins for my birthday this past weekend. We had a wonderful time and I just love the way we talk! We are from the mountains of Blairsville and proud and thankful for it. Such beautiful country and such wonderful folks. I am blessed to be part of this Mountain Heritage and History. Our language is beautiful and I think it’s partly because of the love in our hearts for each other. I’m still grinning just thinking about what a happy birthday I had with them.
I’m familiar with, and use, the word “hint” (“I can taste a hint of lemon in those cookies.”). To me, “glob” means messy in a lumpy sort of way (“Don’t glob the paint on the wall.”). I always refer to lettuce prepared like you describe, as “wilted” lettuce. I love regional words and accents.
A June apple is NOT any mid summer apple. A June apple is a definite variety of apple that was plentiful when I was a kid. Still around but rare. There is on on John Smith Rd near the GA/NC border. It is a small apple with a distinct tart taste and makes great apple pie. Both my granpa’s had a June apple tree on the farm..
I am familiar with all but ‘Hickory Chickens’. We call morels ‘dry land fish’.
Congratulations to everyone and I’m grateful to have won the Rhymes book. So grateful for all you do and for the memories they stir.
Would you mind to sign my book? I talk about y’all all the time like I really know you, so you’re famous with my grandkids. You truly have a gift of making us all feel like family. God bless you and your family!
Continuing prayers for everyone!
Congratulations to all the winners!
I hope I win your cook book!
Joanna
Really enjoyed reading this post and the comments. Have a blessed day everyone!
I love love love Hoecakes!!!!!!!
Oh, what a treasure Granny shared with us!!!! That is a treasure for sure! I appreciate all you and your family share!
I would love a copy of Jim’s and your cookbook. It will be a treasure to hand down to my great granddaughter who loves to cook, she is 12. I have a kitchen aid mixer and have the pasta attachment for it, Aibrye started helping at age 3.
When she was 4, she came to visit and wanted to make noodles! I was having an off day, could not stand up for long, she said,”that’s ok Grammy, I know how!” I talked her through it and the child, start to finish, with absolute minimum help from me, made a dozen eggs into noodles!! She would treasure your cookbook as would I!
God bless you and yours, prayers always for all in hurricane areas, etc. praying for all of you and your YouTube and blind Pig and acorn!❤❤
Congratulations to the winners!
Oh, I love those Appalachian sayings! I’ve only heard maybe two of them, such as glob. So glad they’re in your cookbook.
You’re so sweet to do these giveaways, Tipper! Many blessings to you and your family!
Congratulations to all the winners. Come to think of it, we are all winners here because of Tipper!
Mention of your cookbook and cooking terms reminded me that you have sometimes mentioned saving apple peelings to make apple jelly. Is there a recipe for that in you cookbook? If not, I suggest you make a Celebrating Appalachia video describing the process.
I love dried apples. I peel, slice and dehydrate Envy variety apples every few days. I don’t do large batches because I use an air fryer convection oven with limited capacity. Can I save peelings until I get a mess (another common cooking term) then make jelly? If so, how? I hate to be wasteful.
Robert-thank you 🙂 Here’s a video on the apple peeling jelly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUz-wZilRa0&t=536s and yes you can save your peelings in the freezer till you get enough to make jelly 🙂
Tipper and BP readers, you guys make my day!!
I live with my daughter and we are known as the “Buttertons”. If it doesn’t have butter, it’s not worth eating. Lol
I love your cookbook and look forward to making all kinds of goodies when the colder weather sits in.
Blessings to all today and always in my prayers .
Tipper, please tell Granny hello and give her a huge hug and kiss from me.
Today, I wish I could talk to my mom and dad. Missing them a lot, however, I know their safe in heaven!
Thank you for all you do, along with your precious family.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS! ❤️ Tipper I look forward to your blog every morning. It is such a blessing!❤️
I read your blog every day and always learn something new! Thank you for such a wonderful blog! I would love to own your cookbook.
Loved all the words and love June apples!
Good morning everyone:) Congratulations to the winners ! So fun !
The video last night featuring the needlework pieces made by granny & her mom was precious 🙂
I read your blog every day and always learn something new! Thank you for such a wonderful blog!
Congratulations to all of the winners! Randy, I won Appalachian Values a couple of years ago and you will enjoy it, especially the pictures. Have a great day everyone!
A pinch, a handful, a dab along with the ones you listed were all used by Mom and Grandmothers alike as I grew up. I needed you in our kitchen yesterday. I found a bargain on strawberries and bought three flats of them. ($2 per flat of 8 quarts) We made one run of jelly, put a few in the freezer and made preserves/jam with the rest. If you had been here to make biscuits while the jam and jelly was still warm we might not have had more than 3 or 4 jars left for the Winter. I had some jelly on a muffin this morning.
Jackie-I would have loved to have been there too 🙂
Jackie, I would have liked to have been there too. I would have been more than happy to help with eating the biscuits. I would have hated to see you with any leftovers that you would have to put up. I love most flavors of about anything such as jams, jellies or ice cream as long as it is strawberry!
Me too Miss Tipper. Wanted to say, I have never heard of Morels being called Hickory Chickens. But I loved Morels while growing up. We always hunted them near creeks out in the woods, momma cleaned them up and did a dredge of seasoned flour and fried them up. Oh my. So darn good. Wish I had some now, but truly would rather have my momma here. Love to all and have a great weekend too. God bless y’all.
Many of the words/phrases you use I am very familiar with and use myself a lot. I was born and raised in a very small town (population less than 1000) in rural south Alabama. I just recently discovered you on YouTube. Now I watch every day. Thank you for sharing with us.
Grammaw Breedlove had a June apple that ripened in mid-June. She forbade us eating them before the 4th of July but they were falling off and the cows were eating them so why not us. Besides that she couldn’t see the tree from her house.
One side of the tree hang out over the road that crossed over through Hightower Gap. I can remember riding by on the school bus, hanging out the window and snagging ripe apples from that tree. Think about when school is out.
That huge apple tree was the only tree in the pasture so offered the only shade. In return for that respite from the sun the cows made their own “offerings” to the tree. That’s how, I surmise, that particular tree produced so early and so well.
Never heard morels referred to as Hickory Chickens. Another phrase to add to my vocab! Would love a copy of the cookbook!
David, I’ll bet hickory chickens would go good with Hoover chickens, the name given the gopher tortoise during the Depression era here in Florida and perhaps elswhere in its range. That species is now fully protected by law.
A lot of these I have heard and said. Language is so interesting. Would enjoy your cookbook!
I have lived all my life in Montgomery AL and use or at least have heard most of your Appalachian words. I think my ancestors migrated to south Alabama from the North and South Carolina regions so I’m sure the language came with them. I would love a copy of your cookbook!
My dad used the word “glob” in one of his written recipes, so that entry made me smile. 🙂
Hope reach of the winners enjoy their winnings. I expect they will each consider them special for several reasons. Rain here also today, the most we have had in a long time, since Helene actually. Now maybe my fall garden will be able to do something for about another month.
Definitely a soup day, and I’d give anything to be parked in front of my woodstove with a cup of coffee and good book. Alas, I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go . . . But, I’m thankful to have a job and I’m thankful for this blog that keeps me connected to all things Appalachian!
When I was newly married I lived beside a woman who was a wonderful cook. She was in her 70s at the time. (In the 60s) she had no written recipes, said they were in her head. She taught me to cook, by using some of those basic terms like a pinch of salt, or a potato the size of a hen egg, a big chunk of butter or just a dab of flavoring. The hoecake she made was a very large biscuit, maybe 8 inches across. . She said that when when they were out working the gardens or fields and wanted a bite to eat, they would break off a piece of that bread and eat it. So it became known as hoe cake. Hope y’all have a great day, as you always make my day start off on the right foot.
So, if a “Glob” is a considerable quantity, then what is a “Gob”?
Ed, I have read a good many books by Rick Bragg. In one book he has tried to write some of his mother’s recipes, (she did not measure anything) in one recipe she told him she used 3 globs or gobs, when he asked how much that was, she told him him when you pour something out of a jar it will make that glob sound, I pour three of those globs in it.
Gobs and globs are both a more than ample amount but are not synonymous. Globs generally refer to a semisolid state of a material such as butter, whipped cream, lard or even axle grease. The first thing that comes to mind when attempting to define “Gobs” is money. Somebody else’s money, I might add. Gobs also apply to a “gracious plenty” of anything including the aformentioned globs.
Globs are oft to drop from your spoon onto the floor and instantly become goms.
I’m very familiar with all words except hickory chickens. That’s a new one for me!
Randy- Two books you may like to read are The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and The Book Woman’s Daughter. The author is Kim Michele Richardson. Good reading!
Everyone have a great day!
Brenda, I have read these and they are well worth the read.
Those 2 books are awesome!
Congrats to all the winners!! I am familiar with all the vocab words except hickory chickens. I have never heard that. I use “glob” and “hint” a lot. I usually add a “glob” of butter to many things I cook or bake. I always add a pinch of sugar to my fried potatoes for just a “hint” of sweetness. Have a super day!!
Congratulations to all the winners. I have really enjoyed reading all the comments. This has been fun.
I have heard these words before and have used them too.
One of my favorite words is glob. Unfortunately, in my family anyone younger than me doesn’t use that word. “Proper” English is boring. Saying a “glob of butter” is much more fun than saying “a large amount of butter”.
I have heard all the words used in and around the Whitetop, Va area with the exception of hickory chicken. There are lots of morel mushrooms in the springtime but never heard them being called that.
My 88 year old church friend says “meal” as in “dip it in meal and fry.”
I say meal for cornmeal but I don’t dip it, I roll it. “Meal” refers to a coarse ground cereal grain, not necessarily from corn. Further grinding produces flour.
I agree with Randy, today is a good day for soup. I plan to make chicken cheese chowder. My favorite soup, make with chicken, potatoes carrots, celery and cheese. Served with cornbread made in my cast iron skillet.
Everyone stay warm today.
Many of these words are familiar!
Love your emphasis on family. That’s missing a lot these days.
I love what Randy said about his family and what family should be! But sadly that is not true for a lot of families today. When we get together with our families we always have a good time and good food to go with it!
Denise, my son and I are already making plans to be with some the ones left in my wife’s family on Thanksgiving. No one left in my family to be with, my only sister is in a rehab/ nursing home and looks like she will be there for the rest of her life. If the good Lord is willing, I will be going to see her Thanksgiving. Several years ago, Tipper asked a question about why we choose to live where we do, my answer was “time.” Being able to spend/have time and live close enough for these family “get togethers” was my reason for writing that. No amount of money or career was worth having time to spend all of these past years with both mine and my wife’s families. I will do my best to show my appreciation to the cook’s for their hard work, I especially hate to see them left over with any good cornbread dressing and giblet gravy!
Never heard “hickory chickens ” before that’s a new one for me. But I do love mushrooms!
Congrats to the winners! Loved all the words and have used many of them.
I have heard hi t and glob used in my time. The others are new to me.
Thanks for that list of words. We have your cookbook but I have never looked in the front pages. We have grown and dug potatoes all my life but I have never described digging new potatoes as “grabbling them out.”
We were just told to be careful.
I think I remember my grandma saying to use a “knob” of butter or shortening in a biscuit recipe, a little bit about the size of a drawer knob. She was not exactly known for being a good cook, but my cousin fondly remembers her “dab soup.” Grandma Flora B would save tiny bits of leftovers and when she had enough from “a dab of this and a dab of that”, she’d add a little bit more to make dab soup.
I enjoyed reading this about the “dab soup”. I grew up hearing “a dab of this and a dab of that”. I will have to start making “dab soup” : ) And I have a vague memory, now that I’ve read this, that my parents and some in my mother’s family talk about a “knob” of something.
“Knob” is a proper British word for an unmeasured amount of butter. They add a “knob” and sit it on the hob (cooktop).
Good morning Tipper
My name wasn’t on the winners list , soooooo
Here I am trying again
congratulations to all the winners thus far…Christmas has come early to your house 🙂 what a blessing you are Tipper…when I awake early as I have this morning, the thing I do first is read your blog-it was 4:30 this morning, sometimes it is much earlier than that–I live alone so for me reading your blog is somewhat like having a conversation and that in turn helps me feel not so alone…some mornings the blog makes me laugh some mornings I learn from it and some mornings it makes my heart smile but every morning it is a welcomed part of my day thank you
Congratulations to all of the winners! I am familiar with some of the words Tipper has mentioned. I am sure there will be many other words mentioned in today’s comments that I will know. I am very grateful to have won the book Appalachian Values. I came real close to buying it. Reading is one of the few things I still enjoy, now, I no longer enjoy many of the things I once enjoyed. I think I will have a lot in common with a lot of things wrote about in the book. I mention family in my comment to win the book, I have already been awake at 2 o’clock before dozing back off I prayed for my family to be kept safe today, along with my friends and other loved ones. Now out our age many of them are having health problems. I consider BP members to be online friends.
Soup day today! rain all day and a high temperature in the 40’s. Today will be a good day for reading.