My grandmother, Granny, became something of a minor celebrity in Fredrick County, Virginia, in the very early nineteen thirties because of biscuits. My grandfather had accepted a job managing an apple orchard in the area, (he managed orchards up and down the Shenandoah Valley for nearly forty years) so the family (including my mother) had to relocate. Many of the people were of German stock and their foodways reflected that heritage. Down to their bread. Light bread was all they baked and ate, all kinds of light bread. My mother would reflect on the different kinds of bread she remembered there, as a child. But they didn't know biscuits. Had never eaten biscuits, in fact. Until, for a reason forgotten, Granny found herself cooking supper for the owner and his wife and another couple or two. She was from central Virginia, and biscuits were required at every meal, so of course she made biscuits. Well, they loved her biscuits. They ate all of her biscuits. They talked about her biscuits and so did everyone else in the neighborhood. She was even called upon to show other wives how to make biscuits. My Granny was a quiet, unassuming woman, who never took credit for the things she did. But, according to my mother, Granny was always proud of making biscuits in Frederick County.

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