Search - Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Times

IYou could read this book in an evening, but it will stay with you for a lot longer. It seems like a cookbook, but it is really one of those 'inspirational' books and much more. The author, who lost her job in the recent (on-going?) recession, uses her new free time to review (and cook) some recipes handed down to her from her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, etc., and to reflect on the hard times that they endured in their lives. This process helps her put her own situation into perspective, and it will help the reader do so also. Read this book when you are feeling 'poor me' and it will perk you up!

Growing up my mother used to occasionally make “Gravy Bread� which is comprised of day old bread scraps, bacon fat, flour, and water. While the ingredients sound terrible, the dish itself is quite tasty. This Depression era recipe was handed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my mother to me. Many families have similar hardship recipes that have been passed down for generations.

When Suzan Colón, author of Cherries in Winter, is let go from her six figure publishing job she decides to “put up soup.� According to Colón “to put up soup� means to do “whatever will sustain you through rough going until things get better.� The phrase also literally means to make soup. When Colón decides to “put up soup� she reaches for her Nana’s Depression era recipe file of cheap and hearty fare such as: Chicken Pie a la Mississippi; German Potato Salad; Aunt Nettie’s Clam Chowder; Quick Apple Cake; Butter Cookies; and Beef Stew with Yeast Dumplings.

Colón discovers that her Nana’s recipes fill more than just literal hunger, but also nourish the spirit. As Colón reflects,

"The recipes Nana wrote and saved offer more than directions for making comfort food that sustained my family for four generations. They’re artifacts from times good and bad – not vague references, but proof that we’ve been through worse than this and have come out okay. And right now, that’s something I need to know."

Each chapter begins with a recipe that Colón deftly weaves into a poignant lesson for weathering life’s storms. Particularly touching is the chapter, “Fine Vases, Cherries in Winter, and Other Lifesaving Devices� in which Colón explains that poverty of the soul is far more crippling than a zero bank account balance. As Colón muses, the little extra spent when there isn’t any extra is important because it reminds “us not to become miserly in spirit. We may be broke, but we’re not poor.�

Cherries in Winter is a literary hot bowl of chowder for a weary reader’s soul.


Publisher: Doubleday (November 3, 2009), 224 pages
Advance Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.