The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady

Hill, Edwin G. In the Shadow of the Mountain: The Spirit of the CCC (1990).

Maher, Neil M. Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (2009).

Pasquill, Robert. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama, 1933–1942: A Great and Lasting Good (2008).





Recipes



If there were no other reason to live in the South, Southern cookin’ would be enough.

MICHAEL A. GRISSOM, SOUTHERN BY THE GRACE OF GOD



Fried Apples

Served over waffles or with buttermilk biscuits, sausage, and gravy, fried apples are a traditional Southern breakfast dish. But they may appear as a side dish, like a vegetable, for dinner or supper—and in fact are even listed as a vegetable in old cookbooks, where they are sometimes flavored with bacon or sausage drippings. Of course, fried apples aren’t fried at all—but simply braised over low heat, in a heavy skillet. Use firm, tart pie apples, such as Granny Smiths or Gravensteins.

1? cups apple cider plus ? cup 5 tart apples, peeled and sliced 2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

? teaspoon nutmeg

? teaspoon cloves

Pour 1? cups of apple cider into a skillet over medium heat. Add apple slices and cook until tender. Add butter and remove from heat. Mix together remaining ? cup apple cider, cornstarch, sugar, and spices in a small bowl. Pour over apples, return to low heat, and stir gently as the sauce thickens.



Jam Thumbprint Cookies

This traditional butter-cookie recipe appears in almost every cookbook after the Civil War, sometimes with pecans, sometimes without. (Pecans, of course, are a Southern favorite and are added to just about anything.) Children love to fill the “thumbprints” and drizzle the glaze—fun for grown-up cooks, too. Choose a single jam or several different jams and marmalades.

1 cup butter or margarine, softened ? cup sugar

? teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour ? cup finely chopped pecans ? cup jam


GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons water

1 teaspoons vanilla extract Combine butter or margarine, sugar, and vanilla extract in bowl. Beat until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl often. Add flour and chopped pecans. Beat until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, or until firm.

Heat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Make thumbprint indentation in center of each cookie, and fill with about ? teaspoon jam. Bake 14–18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to rack and cool completely. To glaze: Combine all glaze ingredients in bowl and stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies. Makes about 3 dozen.



Ophelia’s Recipe for Cake Flour During the Depression, specialty products like cake flour were expensive and were often not stocked in the smaller stores.

Measure out the amount of all-purpose flour called for by your recipe. For every 1 cup of flour remove 2 tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift 5–6 times before using. (If you don’t have a flour sifter, use a strainer. Fill it with flour, hold or place it over a bowl, and tap a knife against it.) Be sure to measure the flour one more time, after it’s been sifted and before you use it in the recipe.



The Diner’s Special Southern Corn Pudding Southern corn pudding is the savory, whole-kernel version of the sweeter Indian pudding made with cornmeal and molasses that was a Northeastern colonial staple. Corn pudding, also called Puddin’ Corn and Hoppy Glop, is traditionally made with fresh corn, but you can also use canned cream-style corn. Cooks developed their favorite variations, adding onions, garlic, cheese, tomatoes, and other vegetables.

2 cups fresh corn or 1 can cream-style corn 2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper

2 eggs