Page 40 - a-columbia-county-boys-recollections-and-memories-of-columbia-county-florida-(2012)-lenvil-h-dicks

A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

MA AND BLA CKBERR Y WINE

When I was a boy, during the time of the year when blackberries were ripe, mama would send me out to
pick two or three buckets full of blackberries, and she would pour these blackberries into a clean lard
can, cover them up completely with a large amount of sugar and then pour a small amount of water over
the berries and the sugar, and tightly pull a flannel cloth over the top of the lard can, and fasten it down
with clothes pins all around the edges. Before the mixture turned to complete blackberry wine, there was
some other steps that she undertook in order to make the wine turned out good, but I do not remember
all the things that she did.

All I know is that when it was finished we had about a half a lard can full of the best blackberry wine
you ever want to taste. The grocery stores today sell blackberry wine that is close to what she made,
specifically Manichevitz, and Mogen David. I am not much of a wine drinker, particularly of the wines
that a lot of people drink with their meals, but I still like a good snort of good ole blackberry wine, and
each time I take a little glass of wine from the grocery store, I am reminded of the years back when
mama and I made our own blackberry wine.

Daddy of course was a Baptist preacher, and although he knew what we were doing, he wanted us to
remain very quiet about it, because there were some in the community that would have criticized a
preacher whose wife was making wine.

What the heck! The Bible tells us that Christ made it, and so why shouldn’t Pearl Dicks?

www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: B423BA50-F22B-4D87-A44C-403308C92982