Pies from Country-Cupboard Fruits

Grandmother had her snow cup-board—a well-chosen cache of foods to meet emergencies. Like awakening on a winter morning to find the roads had vanished in the night’s blizzard!

Among the choice contents of her kitchen warehouse were dried fruits— raisins, prunes and apricots, to name a few. With sugar and flour in bins and plenty of home-rendered lard on hand, she had the makings for unforgettable winter pies. Her family rejoiced at her cleverness in outwitting the swirling snow.

Farm life changes and, nowadays, with highways and country roads cleared of snow promptly and freezers filled with many good things to eat, even severe storms rarely are much of a problem. But the habit of keeping generous supplies of dried (as well as canned) fruits hasn’t changed. There’s a good reason why—farm people like the wonderful pies made with dried fruit. They’re really tasty!