Walnut Pickles and Watermelon Cake

Book excerpt: For those who remember their grandma's incomparable chicken and dumplings or long for the aroma of freshly baked bread and sumptuous bubbling stew, the recipes assembled by Larry and Priscilla Massie from vintage Michigan cookbooks provide a sampling of the state's rich culinary heritage. Walnut Pickles and Watermelon Cake contains instructions for preparing a variety of foods, from snacks and relishes to meats, vegetables, breads, and desserts. There are recipes for intriguing creations such as pear honey, potato candy, and spruce beer and for concoctions with delightful names like bubble and squeak, sailor's duff, and painted ladies. The Massies also include recipes that acknowledge the influences of the various ethnic groups that peopled the state and added colorful specialties to Michigan's menu. Long after the memory of the "old country" had faded, Cornish pasties, Dutch wine soup and hutspot, and Scottish haggis continued to make Michigan eating a unique experience. Larry and Priscilla Massie are a husband and wife team specializing in Michigan history. Larry's publications include From Frontier Folk to Factory Smoke, Voyages into Michigan's Past, and Warm Friends and Wooden Shoes. The Massies live in the Allegan State Forest in a century-old school house filled with their thirty-thousand volume research library and their collection of historic artifacts from Michigan's past.