Citrus and Nuts - Muhahahahaha

Ah, foolish Advent Mortals, you shall now suffer because Kramp-Beans is now in control, muhahahahaha.

Okay, seriously, tis Advent and almost Christmas Eve (checks time, Oh Holy Night it IS Christmas Eve, no, it's Christmas Eve Eve, whew...) and so it's time to bring past memories of various Christmas Pasts of which I remember.

First I speak to all of the entitled peoples out there who think things are soooo bad these days.  No. No they are not.  And this is why.  In ancient days until about the 70s or 80s (that would be 1970s to 1980s) very popular stocking stuffers used to be things like oranges, kumquats, nuts in the shell.  Why?  Because there used to be this thing called seasonal foods that were only available seasonally.  Like citrus and nuts-in-the-shell.  Oh, if you were filthy rich you could have those all year long, but for most people those things were very seasonal, like not available from one's local or non-local groceries when out-of-season, unless one's grocer was very Tony and expensive and you could afford in pre 1990's money a $2.00 per orange.  Not saying that orange juice wasn't available, as oranges for juice could be kept in special warehouses and pulped and the juice frozen or concentrated, but fresh orange juice out of season?  That started in the late 70s to early 80s for us normal-class citizens.

Now, what is totally cool about citrus in the stocking (as long as you made sure that none were left for next year, ewwwwww, and yes, I found out the hard (or would that be the soft) way...) is that citrus is a tradition going back to medieval times in Europe.  Filthy rich Medieval Europe, and just Rich Renaissance Europe, and middle-upper-class till the Industrial Revolution, and then middle class to about WWI and then lower middle to upper lower class in post WWII era.  Which means that orange that Grandma dropped in my stocking has roots all the way down her family line to back to Norman pre-Invasion (1066) times.  

Kids these days freak when they can't get fresh avocados for their avocado toast.

One year, for the local SCA group's 12th Night celebration, Mrs. Andrew and I did the cooking and setup for the event.  And we decorated the hall of the local Episcopal church's hall (a wood paneled building that was shipped from Germany in the late 1800s and sadly destroyed by some arsonist punk a few years after the event) with holly and ivy (not poison ivy, fortunately) and pine boughs (cedar, from one of the local abandoned limestone quarries) and mistletoe (no Baldars were harmed during harvesting, though I did use my rattan 'spear' to pop the bundles out of trees.)  A special treat, or we thought so, was we had stopped off at Harvey's Groves on US1 south of Cocoa on the way home from Christmas with the families and gotten several bags of 2nds oranges (not perfect) and also had 4 bags (these were paper bags, not those new-fangled plastic ones) of tangerines off the neighbor's overly productive tree.)  So bowls of oranges and tangerines were our presents to our members.

And, in the glorious way that the SCA ignores real medieval stuff, that gift went over like a lead balloon full of frozen farts.  I mean, citrus, free citrus, glorious citrus, oranges and tangerines, a veritable king's ransom of citrus and maybe 2 - 3 people got it?  

I still like oranges at Christmastide.  As to kumquats?  Grew up eating kumquats at Christmas, thanks to my dad of which kumquats were a tradition. Mrs. Andrew loves those, but nobody in this benighted town has kumquats, and hasn't had for years.  And, of course, kumquats fell out of favor by me for a long while, but now that I can't get any, the hankering has begun.

Kumquats, about the size of the first joint of a normal man's thumb, or slightly bigger.
You eat the whole thing, skin, seeds and all (not the green leafy part)
Yum.
And makes good marmalade, too.

Mesum wants sum kumquats.  May have to just get a tree and grow one on my back porch.

On the other hand, the apartment complex behind me has a key-lime tree that nobody in the complex ever touches.  So all summer long I harvested as many as I could, and juiced them and froze them, getting 2.5 gallons of lime cubes for to use on Fajita Sundays and on chicken when I have alfredo.  Next year we're getting both a small chest freezer and a fruit picker so I can freeze at least 5-6 gallon bags of lime-cubes.  Yumm. 

Am I nuts?  Well, yes, and that's the next topic.  Nuts.  Tree-nuts or True-nuts as they call them these days.  In the shell.  Walnuts and pecans and brazil-nuts and hazelnuts.  Again, gotten along with citrus in one's stocking back in the day.  Along with some chocolates and candy-canes.  Whooot!  Real treasures.  Fresh nuts in the shell!  Yum.

Why nuts?  Well, hearken back to days of old when Old Man Winter was a rather miserable time.  Nuts were a good source of fats and carbs and retained nutrients, all essential to survive cold miserable winters.  Which hearkens back to medieval times, where nutting was a privilege granted your peasant and serf class by your local lord class.  Nuts, like citrus, became more accessible as the years went by, but even till WWII, nuts were a rather rich item unless grown locally.  Pecans in the South, walnuts in the north, the reason why pecan pie is a southern thing and walnut items are a northern thing.  And you got fresh nuts at harvest time (Fall) and spent the winter shelling and shucking them for use in cooking and eating (and one of the reasons for making fruit cakes a year in advance, you use this winter to prepare for next winter, hey, fruitcake is a privilege item.  Fruit, nuts, booze, in a long-term food storage item.  Good fruitcake is a Godsend to people who aren't able to get fresh fruit all year long.)

Nowadays?  Are you nuts?  Ew, icky nuts that have to be shelled, wah, too much work, available year-long, romance of the nuts gone.  Damn you, global economy that makes expensive things so inexpensive and available!

Seriously, I think a lot about this type of stuff when I go into the local supermarket.  Fruit, nuts, vegetables, available year-long at relatively reasonable prices (though things are cheaper when in season, out of season is still accessible to all except the seriously money-impaired (not rich, poor, or in between, one can be money-impaired and still have a huge income, or have little income but be very frugal so available excess money for frivolities like watermelon in winter can be a thing.)

I think about growing up in the 60s and 70s and how seasonal the food crops were. (Even turkeys, those were available usually only in late November and December, not year round.)

And the post-war years?  Especially in non-America that was still recovering from the Wars?  Food deserts.

Even pre-WWII, the Depression years, the Roaring 20s, The Gilded Age/Edwardian/late Victorian Eras, food was seasonal and regional for the most part.  Farther back you go, the more rare anything is out of season and out of region.

Something to think about in these 'fallen times' that we can still get citrus and nuts any time we want, almost everywhere we want.

So, Merry Christmastide.  Citrus and Nuts for all!  Everyone is a lord and lady in these modern times!

And a little music, too.  Have some Sting for the holidays.

Gabriel's Message performed by Sting.
No, I wasn't kidding.  Christmas Sting.

The angel Gabriel from Heaven came,
His wings as drifted snow,
His eyes as flame, 'All hail, said he,
'Thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

'For known a blessed Mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,
'To me be as it pleaseth God, she said,
'My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name.
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say:
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

"Gabriel's Message" or "The angel Gabriel from heaven came" is a Basque Christmas folk carol about the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary by the archangel Gabriel that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ the Son of God. (from wiki page on the song.)  It's also a very haunting song.