Family Heirloom

An old 2 lb. Folgers Coffee can came to my husband recently.  His cousin had saved it for him for over twenty years.  He was a "long lost" cousin to her, but she saved this important family heirloom for him, just in case.

My husband’s mother stored her recipes in this 2 lb. Folgers Coffee can.  He remembers it sitting next to the stove when he was a boy.  The can disappeared with the rest of his mother’s things when she died. But yesterday this treasure was returned to him by a cousin who had been keeping it, not knowing where to find him to return it.

On a shelf, in a cupboard, in kitchens everywhere, you will find a box, a book or a bowl, a can, an envelope or a folder of recipes.  I don’t mean Cookbook recipes.  I mean those specially chosen gems written on yellowed  notebook paper, clipped from magazines, jotted down on the backs of envelopes, tiny squares of blue paper, sheets of notebook paper.

Recipes are the common ground linking us to the past.  My husband's mom’s recipes are not only bringing his mom back into his life, but memories of their life together.  The smells, the tastes, the sounds of baking bread, of mixing cookie dough, or of cleaning fish.  Recipes are more than lists of ingredients and instructions. They are our history.