Author Phyllis Connor is as modest and genuine as her book, Old Timey Recipes, an unassuming paperback holding 64 pages of recipes printed in her hand with pen drawings and a few words of introduction.
The regional recipes for corn pone, chocolate potato cake, apple butter, dandelion greens and even moonshine are as old timey as old timey comes.
The book grew from Connor’s interest in mountain life. She and her husband were running a mountainside craft shop in Bluefield, WV. “I really thought these recipes should be preserved,” Conner says. “You’ve heard of folk music…Well, I thought, this is like ‘folk food.’ Why not write it down so it won’t be lost?”
The 1969 first edition was put together in a folksy way: Connor hand-copied 50 recipes she collected from women she met. Many of the recipes had never been written down before. Selection was easy; she tasted the food herself at church picnics and family gatherings. She also tested all the recipes, except the moonshine.
Conner had intended the books for friends, but customers at the craft shop saw her work, and she “sold all 25 without having the sense to keep one.”
Along with the sequel, A Taste of the Past Recipes, Mountain Memories Books is honored to keep these two classic cookbooks in print for a new generation. Both books feature recipes from the Virginias, Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and are authentic old family favorites handed down for ages.
