I’ve been reading Edward Eager’s Half Magic to my daughters. The fantasy novel was written in the ‘60s but set sometime in the 1920s (when its young protagonists aren’t traveling through time, that is). Within a few pages of each other, two culinary curiosities are mentioned: “Parched corn” and “a double hot fudge dope.”
Parched corn is an old Native American snack made by cooking (in oil) and seasoning (with brown sugar or spices) dried corn so that it’s chewy.
“A double hot fudge dope,” on the other hand, is a double scoop of ice cream in a cup with sauce, but none of the trimmings which would make it a sundae.
Unsuspectingly, I’ve been eating double hot fudge dopes for years. It’s my standard order at Ashley’s Ice Cream on York Street: “…and can you just put a little hot fudge on it?”
“Parched corn” reminds me of Caramel Corner, where Claire’s is and where Johnny’s Pipe Center preceded it and considering that Frank & Claire first hired me and promised me work remodeling their store, then fired me and posted a Yale Daily News article, where they claimed the previous management – meaning me, I figured – sold dope out of the store. Pipes & papers, yes, continuing and updating the heritage of Johnny’s. Then, they took advantage generations of young dope smokers to make folk think they ran a health food restaurant. They did lose numerous workers to we at Down To Earth, a real vegetarian restaurant. I can’t wait for the day that they or someone starts selling dope out of that store!