Blackberry Dumplings & Island Cooking

Ocracoke islanders have long savored wild blackberries. The most traditional island recipe for blackberries calls for baking them in balls of pie crust dough, then smothering them in egg sauce. Here is Mable Gaskins' egg sauce recipe from the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department's cookbook, Hoi Toiders:

3 eggs at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon extract (or sometimes 1 tablespoon of vanilla, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and a little nutmeg)

Separate eggs. Beat the whites until stiff. Add sugar, a little at a time and beat well. Add egg yolks and lemon extract. Pour sauce over dumplings. Ready to eat! Yum, yum, delicious!

To read more about traditional Ocracoke Island cooking (including blackberry dumplings and much more) see David Cecelski's interview with island native, Maude Ballance (born 1932), "Listening to History," in NCPedia.org.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is Capt. Rob Temple's poem, "A Pirate's Christmas." You can read it hear: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news122116.htm