Red Fruit Pudding.
Julie Mann of Eagle Spring Lakewent on a hunt for old family recipes and found plenty.
“Many of the old recipes were from both of my grandmothers, who were born in 1879 and 1898,” she wrote. “I found recipes written in German, with beautiful penmanship.
“I also have an old Settlement Cook book that was well used by my mother, who was born in 1912. (I am 75). The front cover is gone, so I don’t know the copyright date.
“The binding is in tatters. I know it was used a great deal, as many pages have notations and lots of splatters.”
She also found a cookbook called “Rector’s Carte Du Jour,” copyright 1933, with “many excellent recipes and again many stained pages, so it was used by my mother.”
Some of the recipes she found had names attached to them, but most did not have dates. “So it becomes a guessing game as to the date they were used or written,” Mann wrote. “I think most of the women started cooking at around 15 to 20 years of age.”
“This is a recipe that my mother made in spring and summer. It was delicious. I have never made it but will give it a try. This recipe is from ‘The Settlement Cook Book.’ ”
The fruit pudding was a special treat, she recalled. Her mother bought the currants at the farmers market.
Rothe Gruetze (also spelled rote grütze ) is a typical fruit dessert from northern Germany, Denmark and other Scandinavian countries. Recipes often include fruit juice and sometimes liqueur. It is traditionally served with whipped cream or a vanilla sauce.