This week on Inside Appalachia, we go a-wassailing in Asheville, North Carolina. We also visit Kentucky’s Minnie Adkins. She’s had a long career as a folk artist, which began with a pocket knife. And, family recipes bring generations together. But what happens when you’ve got grandma’s potato candy recipe, and it doesn’t have exact measurements?
This week, we go a-wassailing in Asheville, North Carolina. It’s kind of like Christmas caroling, with a kick.
We also visit Kentucky’s Minnie Adkins. She’s had a long career as a folk artist, which began with a pocket knife.
And, family recipes bring generations together. But what happens when you’ve got grandma’s potato candy recipe, and it doesn’t have exact measurements?
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Wassailers gather on a porch in the Montford neighborhood of Asheville, North Carolina in December 2022. It was customary in England and Wales for wassailers to be offered food and drink in exchange for singing.
Credit: Rebecca Williams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
It’s the time of year when merrymakers roam the streets to sing and bring good cheer. In Asheville, North Carolina, one group of friends has taken up the English tradition of wassailing to connect to their roots.
Folkways Reporter Rebecca Williams has this story.
A Visit With A Matriarch Of Folk Art
Whittler Minnie Adkins.
Credit: Randy Yohe/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Minnie Adkins has elevated whittling to an art. In fact, some people have even described the 89-year-old Kentucky woodcarver as “the matriarch of Appalachian Folk Art.” But Adkins? She says she’s just a whittler.
Randy Yohe sat down with Adkins to talk with her about her craft.
Reverse Engineering Grandma’s Candy
Brenda Sandoval testing the consistency of the potato mixture.
Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Treasured family recipes get passed down, but not all of these old recipes used standard measurements. So how do you know you’re getting the mix right, especially if you’ve never tried it?
For Brenda Sandoval in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, an old family recipe involved some trial and error – and an assist from a cousin. Folkways Reporter Capri Cafaro has more.
Story Wars
Over the holidays, lots of people break out the party games. West Virginia native Harrison Reishman has developed a card game he’s hoping becomes a favorite at your next get-together. It’s called Story Wars, where players try to come up with the wildest, craziest story. Bill Lynch has more.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by The Sycomores, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Cappella Bell Choir and Bob Thompson. Special thanks to Roxy Todd for recording Jim Bartlett playing the pipe organ with an assortment of goats.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
On this West Virginia Morning, family recipes are a way for people to connect with their ancestors, but what do you do when the measurements for the recipe aren’t exact and you’ve never actually tried Grandma’s potato candy. Brenda Sandoval in Harper’s Ferry had to find out. Inside Appalachia’s Capri Cafaro has more.
On this West Virginia Morning, family recipes are a way for people to connect with their ancestors, but what do you do when the measurements for the recipe aren’t exact and you’ve never actually tried Grandma’s potato candy. Brenda Sandoval in Harper’s Ferry had to find out. Inside Appalachia’s Capri Cafaro has more.
Also, in this show, the Allegheny Front, based in Pittsburgh, is a public radio program that reports on environmental issues in the region. Here’s their latest story about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the East Palestine train wreck.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.
Our Assistant News Director Caroline MacGregor produced this show.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Lots of recipes get passed down and shared in Appalachia through handwritten note cards. Sometimes they’re stuffed in little tin boxes, others in loose leaf cookbooks. For the recipient of such a family heirloom, the recipes can be a way to connect with the past. But some of those old recipes don’t use exact measurements. So how do you know you’re getting it right? For Brenda Sandoval in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, it involved some trial and error, and a little help from a cousin.
This story originally aired in the March 26, 2023 episode of Inside Appalachia.
Lots of recipes get passed down and shared in Appalachia through handwritten note cards. Sometimes they’re stuffed in little tin boxes, others in loose leaf cookbooks. For the recipient of such a family heirloom, the recipes can be a way to connect with the past. But some of those old recipes don’t use exact measurements. So how do you know you’re getting it right? For Brenda Sandoval in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, it involved some trial and error, and a little help from a cousin.
A few years ago, Sandoval was gifted an old recipe book filled with family recipes, including her grandmother’s recipe for potato candy.
“It was [my grandmother’s] handwriting on a piece of paper, and it was P, period, candy. So the two P ingredients were the potato and the peanut butter…and the confectioner’s sugar, but she had a side note of things that she added, which were salt, milk and vanilla,” shared Sandoval.
Potato candy is a food icon across Appalachia. It became popular during the Great Depression because it was cheap and easy to make. This sugary sweet confection is usually comprised of just three inexpensive ingredients: peanut butter, powdered sugar and of course, potatoes. The candy looks like a reverse pumpkin log, with a brown swirl of peanut butter wrapped in the white pasty potato mix. When it is sliced, some people say the pieces look like pinwheels.
Sandoval testing the consistency of the potato mixture. Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Like many heirloom recipes, Sandoval’s family potato candy recipe did not use units like cups or teaspoons. Instead, her grandmother listed her additional ingredients as a dash of vanilla, a pinch of salt and four splashes of milk.
While Sandoval had never eaten her grandmother’s potato candy, she wanted to see if she could recreate the recipe. She was now on a mission to make her grandmother’s potato candy recipe taste like the real deal. And getting it right wasn’t easy.
Sandoval needed to convert her grandmother’s units of measurement into something she could understand and replicate. This took a lot of trial and error. At times, the process was frustrating. The potato candy kept missing the mark.
Sandoval was chasing a taste memory, and it kept evading her. Eventually she enlisted her cousin Valerie Bovee in the pursuit to get this family recipe right. Unlike Sandoval, Bovee actually tasted her grandmother’s potato candy. She remembers how it tasted when she ate it on Christmas Eve.
Sandoval and Bovee work together closely, with Bovee tasting each batch and Sandoval adjusting the ingredients based on Bovee’s feedback.
“As you’re testing it, you’re trying to match it to what grandma’s was. That’s the flavor you got to try to find…which is hard to explain exactly what that taste is, but it’s definitely that Grandma’s House Christmas Eve taste,” explains Bovee. “[Sandoval] trusts me that I know what it should taste like and when it is good.”
Sandoval with the splashes of milk and pinch of salt. Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Their collaboration worked. Sandoval’s determination and Bovee’s taste memory led to a breakthrough. Finally, Sandoval said that Bovee exclaimed, “This, this is right. Whatever you did, keep doing this.”
These days, Sandoval has mastered her family’s potato candy recipe. She had made it for a shop called True Treats in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia and now also sells the candy directly to the community. Yet, it is clear that potato candy is more than just a sweet treat to Sandoval. It’s about preserving tradition, and holding onto family memories.
Sandoval says making the candy can sometimes be an emotional experience for her as she reflects on her family while she’s going through the process, “I like to take my time and think about my grandmother or my ancestors as I’m baking it. And I think that’s coming from the heart.”
She also hopes people feel as nostalgic as she does when they eat her potato candy.
“I want people to taste it, remember it, think about your grandma or your aunt that’s no longer here that did it. Or maybe they are still here and you just don’t get to visit with them, but it’s something that would take them back,” Sandoval said.
Both Sandoval and her cousin Bovee are committed to keeping their family’s potato candy taste memory alive by continuing to pass the recipe and it’s intangible feeling down to future generations.
Bovee says now that she and her cousin have managed to perfect the candy, she wants to make sure she “gets the recipe down pat” to pass along to her children and grandchildren. “I just want us to be able to all get together, have good scenery memories, have fun making it together and enjoying it together.”
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This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council.
The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts and culture.
Family recipes are a way to connect generations, but what happens when you’ve got grandma’s recipe, and it doesn’t have exact measurements? We also talk with Ohio poet laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour about Appalachia, poems — and getting published. And we revisit a story about an attraction at the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers — and the man who put it there.
Family recipes are a way to connect generations, but what happens when you’ve got grandma’s recipe, and it doesn’t have exact measurements?
We also talk with Ohio poet laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour about Appalachia, poems — and getting published.
And we revisit a story about an attraction at the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers — and the man who put it there.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
A West Virginia Woman Reverse-Engineers Grandma’s Potato Candy
Old family recipes are shared and passed down through Appalachia. Sometimes, they come on fingerprint smudged, handwritten note cards stuffed in wooden boxes. Others show up in loose-leaf cookbooks. These family heirlooms can be a way to connect with the past. But not all of those hand-me-down recipes use exact measurements. So how do you know you’re getting it right?
For Brenda Sandoval in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, it involved some trial and error — and an assist from a cousin. Folkways Reporter Capri Cafaro has the story.
Brenda Sandoval rolling potato candy. Credit: Capri Cafaro/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Ohio’s Poet Laureate Celebrates Appalachia
Kari Gunter-Seymour is Ohio’s third poet laureate since the state created the position in 2016.
She’s an earnest cheerleader for Appalachian Ohio, which, as she points out, represents about a third of the state.
Gunter-Seymour is the author of several poetry collections. She’s the editor of “I Thought I heard a Cardinal Sing,” which showcases Appalachian writers in Ohio, as well as eight volumes of “Women Speak,” an anthology series featuring the work of women writers and artists from across Appalachia.
Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Gunter-Seymour about poetry, getting published, and the Appalachian part of Ohio.
When To Consider Assisted Living For Your Parents
One of the hardest parts of caring for aging parents is deciding when they need professional care. Whether that’s in-home services, assisted living, or something else. Families have to consider what’s best for their loved ones – and how to pay for it.
WVPB’s Eric Douglas spoke with Chris Braley, the owner of an assisted living and memory care facility in West Virginia.
There’s A Bus On A Rock In A River
Anna Sale. Credit: WNYC
If you listen to the popular podcast Death, Sex & Money, you know Anna Sale. Back in 2005, Anna was a reporter for West Virginia Public Broadcasting. She got curious about an old bus that sits on a rock at the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers, just past the town of Gauley Bridge. It’s not far from one of West Virginia’s best known roadside attractions, The Mystery Hole.
In 2005, Anna traveled by boat with former WVPB Video Producer Russ Barbour to meet the man behind the mystery. With warm weather and summer travel not that far away, we brought this story back.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by…Kaia Kater, Jeff Ellis, Erik Vincent, Eck Robertson, Chris Knight and Tyler Childers.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.
You can send us an email at InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
