Flavors hard to forget when mom’s cooking

By ALLISON ASKINS - aaskins@thestate.com

For one reader, the tart flavor of lemon evokes memories of Mom and her lovely lemon meringue pies.

“My taste buds for MaMa’s tart lemon meringue pie even surprised her,” writes Dale Holsenback of her mother, the late Willette Fox, whose affection for lemon meant that she added 6 to 8 tablespoons of lemon juice to her pie filling, which is made from scratch.

For another, it is a moist pineapple cake whose flavor a daughter can still recall.

“She passed away 20 years ago, so the details of when and how her cake was served aren’t sharp. What I most remember is how moist the cake was,” explains Nancy Ogburn of the pineapple cake her mother, the late Alma Gardner Porter, used to serve to family and house guests.

The lasagna and marinara sauce another mother makes for Christmas every year is a cherished food memory for her daughter.

“Without a doubt, my mother makes the best lasagna — she’s Italian, which is one reason, but she is a wizard at making lasagna! For over 40 years, her lasagna has been ‘center stage’ at our big family Christmas dinner,” writes Sybil Buckland of her mother, Marie Hill.

Such are the rewards to be reaped by mothers who share their love through the foods they prepare for their family and friends. Each appears this week in our collection of favorite mother recipes provided by readers.

Perhaps there’s one here you’ll begin to prepare for your children or, better yet, that they’ll prepare for you this Mother’s Day.

Reach Askins at (803) 771-8614.

RECIPE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Listed in alphabetical order by name of mother or grandmother:

Doris Bledsoe’s banana pudding, submitted by Debra Mims

Joyce Farmer’s macaroni, submitted by Nancy Poston

Sylvia Fisher’s noodle kugel, submitted by Suzi Fields

Willette Fox’s lemon meringue pie, submitted by Dale Holsenback

Leda Thibodeau Lovett’s praline cookies, submitted by Blanche Bryan

Ruby Nichols’ fruitcake, submitted by Bobbie Smith

Alma Gardner Porter’s pineapple cake, submitted by Nancy Ogburn

Marie Hill’s lasagna, submitted by Sybil Buckland

Authean Shealy’s ice box pie, submitted by Carolyn Smith

Debbie Snelgrove’s 1880 chocolate spice cake, submitted by Weita Coleman

Cordia Walker’s chocolate gravy, submitted by Jo Ann Merrifield

A PLACE TO KEEP THEM

If you have a treasured collection of recipes you would like to preserve, consider a product created by one of the daughter’s who submitted a recipe for our story this week.

Nancy Ogburn of Irmo has designed a recipe organizer that she designed in honor of her mother’s recipes after her mother died of colon cancer.

Ogburn found that recipes scribbled in her mother’s handwriting became all the more valuable to her after her mother’s death The scrapbook-type notebook allows others to make similar collections.

“I look at my book as a family heirloom that will be passed down for many generations,” she writes. For more information about her organizers, visit tomatopalms.com, or call (888) 781-6363.