Time to Make Slaw

  When we were kids, Mom regularly made homemade slaw. I'd always anticipate it when she got an antique Munising bowl down from the cupboard. Wrapped in paper towels and stored inside the bowl was my Aunt Belle's antique slaw chopper.

 The bowl is very slightly oval (about 12" x 11"). Munising bowl come from Munising, Michigan which is located in the Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior. They're from a factory that closed in  the 1950's. They are considered both "vintage" and "collectible".

 My grandparents often took Uncle George and Aunt Belle to Bear Lake, Michigan and I have to believe this bowl was bought on one of those trips. [Note: George Hinkle was the original owner of our cottage).

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 The slaw chopper is heavy steel. It appears the handle is actually cast. It is about six inches long (the angle of the photo makes it appear longer). One source says it was made in the 1880's and calls it a "cast iron and steel bell-shaped cabbage/food chopper". That would have been about the time my aunt was married.

 Anyway when I was at Kroger the other day I bought a small head of cabbage so that I could make vegetable soup. I had made it a week or two ago and Tom said "this would be good with cabbage". So my latest stock contained lots of cabbage.

The original soup sans cabbage

So today I had about three-quarters of a head of cabbage and knew I wanted to make slaw. I decided to make two kinds: vinegar-based and creamy. I loved both that Mom made so I chopped the cabbage with Aunt Belle's antique equipment while Tom prepared a couple of small onions. Then I added celery and carrots.

Vinegar-based slaw

Marzetti's Slaw Dressing-based

 It turns out that Tom prefers his slaw chopped coarse and left somewhat dry. I prefer mine fine and "wet". I think both turned out wonderfully, though. I'll have plenty of slaw to eat the next few days.

I especially love knowing I was using the equipment that Mom used for so many years (Aunt Belle died in 1962)  and that my aunt first used about 140 years ago. There's a loving connection there that makes the food taste that much better.