Harvest Time and Harvest Pan

A friend and classmate posted a photo of a meal that he and his wife shared while on vacation. The plate was filled with crispy fish, French fries, and HUSH PUPPIES. Those crunchy, steaming corn meal balls are spiced and deep fried. The Hebrew people had the right idea with matzo, but forgot to add southern flavor and deep fry it in oil.

When I was stationed in Orlando, Florida as a Naval corpsman, I would occasionally go fishing with friends off Cape Canaveral in an 18 foot fishing boat. Even with 6 foot ground swells, I didn’t get seasick until they told me I had to sit. I became queasy sitting, but was okay while standing and fishing.

After several trips and freezers filled, a date was set for the fish fry. A chief petty officer would invite us to his home and set up an old round charcoal grill and place his huge harvest pan on it. His harvest pan was a skillet that covered the entire top of the grill. It took 3 cans of Crisco to fill it. Then the frying began. Wives and girlfriends made coleslaw and made the batter for the hush puppies. Chunks of fish and the cornmeal balls were dropped into the fat.

Plates were filled time after time with steaming pieces of golden brown fish, mounds of savory coleslaw, and of course the tasty, flavorful nuggets of hush puppies. All too soon, stomachs were filled. The feasting slowed to an occasional bite or two. With appetites slaked, we would sit and talk, wondering if we could maybe eat one more hush puppy or a sliver more fish. Satisfied sighs and an occasional belch answered that question and sealed it.

Harvest time is nearly at an end here in southwestern Pennsylvania. Fields that once were forests of bright green corn stalks are now barren. Only sharp stakes of stubble dot the empty fields. Fields were once golden lakes of wheat and barley are now only a carpet of browning stems. Occasionally I see a bright orange pumpkin, but for the most part farmers have their reaping done and stored into silos or barns.

Women have their canning finished. Some will still put up fruits and vegetables in glass jars, while others have frozen their garden’s harvest. Relishes are cooked from the left-over vegetables not completely ripe or not enough for another round of canning. Cold cellars fill with potatoes, carrots, and turnips. Cabbages have become sauerkraut; cucumbers pickles, a time for Thanksgiving approaches.