Wednesday, April 30, 2014

I'll admit...

I like Spam!  I know not everyone likes it; in fact I've read that some think it's nasty.  The ingredients say it's made from pork, with ham and chicken.  My biggest concern is the amount of sodium it contains.  But give me a day of working past lunch time, with nothing cooked, and a Spam sandwich hits the spot, of course with a serving of cold pork and beans.  Yuck! you say?

I guess my taste for these two things goes all the way back to when our family worked in the peach orchards and packing shed.  We had no electricity, therefore no refrigeration to keep anything cold.  Mama would get up very early, milk the cow, cook breakfast and then hurry to fix something for our lunch to take with us.  Sometimes she fried potatoes which were cold by noon, but they were so good; I still like cold fried potatoes.  The Spam and pork and beans were something that could be packed and opened at mealtime.  Back in those days, Spam didn't come in an aluminum can with a pop off lid, but rather a tin can that was opened with a little key which was attached to the bottom of the can.  There was a small tab on the upper side of the can and the key was used to wind around the can so the lid could be removed.  My cousin and I had quite a collection of those keys to play with.  If work in the packing shed ran into the night, my cousin and I were sent down the hill to the little country store to buy some bologna or some such sandwich meat.

I've thought a lot about the kinds of meat we had to eat back then.  There was always ham, sausage, bacon and tenderloin to eat in the winter, but by spring what was left was beginning to taste rancid.  Mama canned some of the fresh meat using her pressure cooker, so that must have been what carried us over until we could have chicken.  She always put eggs under setting hens, but it took several weeks before any of the chickens were large enough to eat.  Now we grow chickens in seven weeks that can weigh over seven pounds, but they have feed before them all the time; hillside chicks were only fed once a day and then had to scratch for whatever they could find. The pulley bone was always my favorite piece and I can remember how small it was. 

We never had beef, with the exception of an occasional hamburger in town.  Now and then we might have fish caught from the creek, but were always warned of the danger of getting bones in our throats.  If there was a special get-together of Mama's folks, she would buy a can of mackerel (fish) and make fried patties from it.

But you know, I don't ever remember going hungry.

Think about it,
Charlotte  

13 comments:

  1. Awe, I love this Charlotte. It brought back alot of memories for me. I remember eating Fried potatoes for lunch many a day. I like them for breakfast as well. Spam and Pork and Beans can't be beat. I eat a Spam sandwich every now and then. I love it baked in the oven as well. Thanks for sharing your sweet memories. Hugs, xo

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  2. I can remember my mom making us fried Spam sandwiches every once in a while. As for the pork and beans, I ate them as a kid and still eat them all the time now. I enjoyed reading about your memories, Charlotte. :)

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  3. I love cold pork and beans--eat them often. As for the Spam--my Mother put cloves on the side and a pineapple slice and baked it in the oven. I fixed it that way many times for my young family, It was a good cheap meal with some potatoes and veggies.

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  4. what memories! I remember those Spam keys also - we had Spam fried or cold sliced, it seems if we needed a bedtime snack there was always a spam sandwich cold if we wanted it. I haven't had it in years - I wonder if I would still like it.

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  5. It's been a long time since I had Spam. A spam sandwich and cold baked beans sounds like a neat picnic lunch.

    I like how one of the followers said her mother stuck the spam loaf with cloves and topped it with a pineapple slice, then baked it.

    Thanks for the memories ~ FlowerLady

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  6. You surely have a way of stirring up memories! Now, I must admit that the thing I liked best about Spam was the can and the little key. When I worked "in the peaches," I took a cheese sandwich.

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  7. We generally slaughtered one cow a year and almost always had deer meat or moose meat to eat. We didn't have much access to packaged foods as kids. Even though I am now married to a chef, some of the simple foods from my childhood are still my favorites and bring back such good memories.

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  8. I agree I like spam. I hadn't though of spam can keys in years. I always liked playing with them.
    To me Summer just isn't Summer without pork n beans. We eat them alot in the Summer time.
    There's nothing like good old fried potatoes and if you cook a pot of beans and a pone of cornbread then to me that's better than any fancy meal anywhere.
    It's amazing how quickly your chicks grow. 7 lbs in 7 weeks is awesome.

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  9. Memories, yes I remember years ago the Spam. Still like Pork and Beans with a hotdog :)

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  10. I like spam fried! I sure remember the little key.

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  11. I remember that little key! Lots of things were opened like that, back in the day.

    The main focus, 50 years ago, was in keeping bellies full, and not so much in top-quality nutrition. We've gotten to be the age that we are, so who's to say it was all that bad for us? At least we didn't get dosed up on high fructose corn syrup and MSG back then. And residue from plastics.

    My mom didn't buy spam very often, but we sure ate a lot of hotdogs and I think there are about the same ingredients in those. I like cold hotdogs dipped in catsup, no bread. Heh.

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  12. I have not had spam in a long time but we eat pork and beans from the can with a little hamburg, mustard, catsup and brown sugar mixed in. One of my husband's favorites! Nancy

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  13. I actually like Spam, also! And, do remember the "key". I've been reading a few of your posts, and your place reminds me so much of our family of farmers who live in W. Florida. I always used to love going to the farm. :)

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