Yesterday, I woke up at 4am thinking about potato candy. This is the 2nd time I’ve been thinking about potato candy. <Apparently, I’m not the only one. See poohgranma here> The last time was over the Thanksgiving holiday. And where do I get potato candy? My great aunt A. She made the best—the first time I ever had it. It was just the right amount of sweetness, not overpowering. I’ve only had it a few times since. Unfortunately, aunt A passed away a few years ago. I’ll have to try to figure out the recipe on my own. It was a recipe for left-over mashed potatoes—from what I remember, you mix mashed potatoes with powdered sugar, roll it flat, and spread peanut butter on it. There may be more ingredients than that. Then, you roll it up like a jelly roll and slice it like pinwheels. I tried to figure out the craving. Was it protein? Was it potassium? Some combination? Missing my Aunt A? Probably that too.
At some point, I remember that I saw it at Cracker Barrel. So, I looked them up online to find they didn’t open until 6am, but I was so tired by that time that I needed a nap. I had a bowl of cereal and felt better, but by lunch time, I figured that chicken livers may make me feel better with the iron. So, I got the okra and ‘greens’. The person on the phone when I placed my order said, “What kind of greens? We have green beans and turnip greens.” I held my tongue. We’re too close to the Mason-Dixon line. I simply said, ‘uh, turnip greens.’
I went to pick up my order and scavenged for potato candy. I picked up pecan divinity, something else that Aunt A made. It has a similar taste to potato candy, but the texture (and of course, ingredients) is different. There was a young woman and guy ‘working’ at the cash registers. I got the attention of the guy, “Do you have any potato candy?” He looked at me and said, “Candy?” Meanwhile, I obviously have a roll of pecan divinity in my hand. I calmly said, “Potato candy.” He started laughing, “WHAT?!?” The thought crossed my mind that he could use an attitude adjustment, but I was just too tired to dole one out. “You make it with mashed potatoes, and it’s covered with peanut butter. I’ve seen it at Cracker Barrel before.” He’s laughing. Again, too close to the Mason Dixon line and wrong generation. I can see that he has not benefitted from elders in the depression era. The woman more calmly said, “We don’t have anything like that.” So, I guess I’m going to have to attempt it on my own. Unfortunately, my cooking mo-jo has been way off lately (e.g., corn bread, peanut brittle, dumplin’s). Mom offered to bring some, but that will be a few weeks.
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