KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
twice in all my life and they had been brought from the city, im- ported from abroad. But we had a number of fruits that you do not see in the United States. Some of them I cannot even describe. We made liquer from enormous cherries, called karsh , that were dark, sweet, and juicy. We made delicious schav (sorrel soup) from greens similar to spinach leaves. Some people cooked it with meat and served it hot, but we drank it cold. Another drink that enhanced the appetite was called salata . It was made from lettuce leaves, romaine or endive or some other variety, mixed with dill, garlic, spices, and lemon or vinegar. For certain special occasions, my mother hired a cook who prepared doughnuts and fancy pastries. Ducks and geese would be roasted and all kinds of delicacies prepared when we invited the principal of the Hebrew school and a teacher or two, a speaker or other visiting dignitary to the town, or my father’s business partner. We made wine at home, and the wine served at those dinners was usually homemade. I remember the light shining through the bottles on the window sills as the wine fermented. We also made vishniak , a liqueur from prunes and cherries. Every house had some store-bought vodka; its production was government controlled so this was something we could not make at home. The big tavern and liquor store in town was owned by a Jewish man, but because a Jew could not get a permit to run a liquor store, the formal owner, in whose name the permit was issued, was a Polish partner. The partner, who was inactive, was probably com- pensated in whiskey for allowing the use of his name on the permit. The Polish government had a strict monopoly, as well, on all other liquors, tobacco, matches, and sugar. A woman was once ar- rested in town for possession of saccharin. I thought saccharin was some kind of a poison; all I knew was the sinister name and that anyone who came near saccharin was risking arrest. Possession of saccharin was a serious crime because Poland was a major export- er of beet sugar, with which saccharin competed. Likewise, when liqueur
46
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online