Ice Cream Loving German Shepherd

My family had a long-standing Christmas/New Year tradition of having supper with our dear friends, Betty and Benny.  She was a superb cook, and they loved to entertain. Going to their house was a special treat. They kept a guest book, replacing it as the old one's filled up with the people they had entertained. It was fun to read the comments about the delicious food and congenial company.

They also observed their upbringing by praying before meals. At an earlier dinner party when several couples were present for a celebration, Benny returned thanks as usual. Everyone respectfully bowed their heads, expecting him to thank God for His many blessings.  Instead, to our surprise, he said, "Bless this bunch while we crunch our lunch."

Betty jerked her head up. "For shame, Benny!" 

He was unmoved by her scolding. "What? I asked God to bless us, didn't I?"

So, you can see he was fun loving and occasionally a little irreverent. He and my dad got along great. Amen.

At the holiday get-together in question, my mother took a freezer of homemade ice cream as her contribution to the feast. It had blizzarded a few days earlier. There were huge snow drifts at Benny's back door. 

Instead of asking Betty to find space in her deep freeze for the ice cream, Mom just shoved the container into the snow, knowing it wouldn't melt. A couple of hours after the meal everyone decided they might have room for dessert.  Mom and Betty slipped out the back door and discovered the lid was off.  Uh oh.

Benny's dog, a German Shepherd, had found the ice cream and hadn't waited until someone offered him a bite. He had nosed the lid off and lapped up the unexpected treat as deep in the container as his nose would reach. From there he licked as far as his tongue would stretch. In two hours he had eaten about half of it.

Wait. What if it wasn't the dog? Perhaps a wild animal smelled the ice cream. Maybe it had rabies, or, I don't know, rabies or something. No worries. The dog's tongue could reach way down inside an ice cream container, but it couldn't erase the telltale stickiness from its muzzle and brow. In fact, he wagged his tail and begged for more.

To this day, I have trouble reconciling what happened next with the character of these ladies. But really, how could two thrifty wives waste perfectly good homemade ice cream?

Making certain their unsuspecting husbands remained out of sight and hearing in the dining room, they wiped off tell-tale dog hair and scraped another half inch from the surface of the remaining concoction. That was washed down the drain. Although the dog had licked the inside of the container until it sparkled, they cleaned it with a damp washcloth. Whispered promises not to tell, smirks and sign language accompanied the covert operation.

Not a wink, sidelong glance or snigger indicated anything was amiss as they served dessert.

That was years ago. I was there. I saw it. My husband and I dipped our own ice cream last and made sure it came from the very bottom of the container.

My mom is capable of taking a secret to her grave. Apparently, so could Betty. Benny and my dad never learned that the dog got first dibs on the ice cream.

You shouldn't be surprised.  Rule 10: Mom has been practicing pranks for decades, even though she didn't plan this one. Maybe Betty had a few pranks under her belt as well.

White Mountain website 
Here is a cool link with directions and recipes for homemade ice cream.

Corn Cob Jelly

1976.     The American Bicentennial.     Patriotic Fervor.

Americans showed their patriotism by painting almost everything, including fire plugs, red, white and blue. The celebrations went on all year, peaked around the 4th of July and had waned by Thanksgiving.

At the Kansas State Fair, held annually in September at Hutchinson, an exhibit was set aside for pioneer themes. Statehood was achieved in 1861. I remember a lot of red, white and blue in quilts, art, cakes and even layered jars of jelly. Then I saw something I had never heard of:

CORN COB JELLY

� They're kidding, right?

Thank you, kind anonymous source for providing the ingredients with the display. I stood at the exhibit and jotted the recipe on the back of a book of checks.

Since we raised corn on our farm, harvest was at hand, I had plenty of jars, and the only other ingredients were sugar and pectin, I decided to try it.

In 1876 I expect folks burned corn cobs in the cook stove or heating stove. By 1976 they were nothing more than harvest residue. Between hauling truck loads of corn from the field to the elevator, I gathered nice looking ears, meaning they didn't have any bug damage, and hand shelled them. No scavenging harvested cobs off the ground for me.

This was the easiest, most fail-proof recipe I ever tried.
12 bright red cobs with the husks and corn kernels removed
6 pints water
*1 package powdered pectin  (Don't use liquid pectin.)
3 cups white, granulated sugar
**Red food coloring

Break the cobs into small pieces and boil for 40 minutes in a large kettle. I put an old plate over the top of the cobs to keep them in the water as they tend to float.  While the cobs are boiling, prepare your jars and lids. At the end of the 40 minutes, strain the water through cheesecloth and save 3 cups of liquid in a three-quart pan. You need one at least that big to allow for expansion while the jelly boils. Dispose of the cobs and remaining water.

WARNING:  Never turn your back on jelly. It will boil over. Stir continuously with a whisk.

Add the pectin to the retained liquid and bring to a roiling boil.
Add the sugar and boil two or three minutes until completely dissolved.
Remove from heat.
For esthetic reasons only, add a couple of drops of red food coloring and stir to incorporate.




This recipe foams. (It has air bubbles trapped in the upper surface.) Skim the foam off with a large spoon until you have clear jelly. Pour into half-pint jars and seal using recommended canning procedures.

Make some toast, spread the foamy jelly on it, and eat!









Corn Cob Jelly probably doesn't taste like anything you ever ate before. The flavor is hard to describe. I think it resembles pear jelly a little bit. It is not as good as grape or strawberry, but we think it tastes wonderful on fresh, homemade biscuits. The pioneers had a good idea.


As a gift, it is a great conversation starter.




*NOTE:  Powdered pectin has been around since the 1910's. Therefore the recipe is not the one used during the EARLY pioneer days. Other natural sources for making juice gel might have been used.
** If you want an all-natural product, omit the red food color. The finished jelly will be a mild amber color, depending on how dark the corn cobs were.