Coffee and Rusks

I mentioned that uncle George often seemed to subsist on coffee and a rusk. Rusks were a staple at my grandmother’s house and indeed they were widely and commonly used in the Swedish community. Basically a small loaf of white bread was made, sliced and the slices were dried in the over (after having been given a light dusting of sugar — there may have been other treatment but only the sugar am I sure of). Thus after the drying in the oven they were crisp and hard throughout and perhaps slightly browned on the surface, but not like a piece of toast. They were eaten generally along with a cup of coffee and invariably the rusk was dunked in the coffee to make it easier to chew. I certainly ate my share of rusks in my day, although not until the point where I could have coffee. Actually when dunked in coffee they were quite tasty. In cross-section a rusk would be perhaps 2 inches by 4 inches and one-half to one-third inches thick.

Coffee was an important beverage in the Swedish community and at the time of my youth was always simply made by adding the requisite amount of coffee grounds to the water in the coffee pot and allowing it to simmer until the grounds settled. At church functions, such as Ladies Aid or Missionary meetings an egg would be added in the later part of the coffee-making process to aid in the settling of the grounds. Most people would add cream and many would add sugar (always one or two cubes of lump sugar, not a spoonful of granulated sugar). Sugar was not normally used at my grandmother’s or by my parents. Almost no one would drink “black” coffee.

My uncle Carl, not being a coffee drinker would dunk his rusks in the large class of water he invariable had with his meals. The picture in my mind I have of him doing this is incredibly clear.

When I was working on the threshing run, coffee was of course served at meals and I was told by the older men that the best way of cooling off during the sweaty work was to drink hot coffee. I could not really believe this but they claimed it to be true.

I have one amusing incident that I was told about involving coffee. I think it was my cousin Floyd who told me of it — he was always one for a funny story, whether true or not. It seems that one of the grocery stores in Gowrie on one occasion was providing free cups of coffee to its customers. The cost of a cup of coffee at the time was five cents. Old man Franzeen, a neighbor of my cousin Floyd, was offered a cup of coffee. Being well aware of the value of money, the old man said, “I’d rather have the nickel.”

On occasion my grandmother would make toast, but toast to her was a piece of bread that was crisp throughout, much like being a rusk except browner on the surface. Nothing like a piece of toast today that is crisp and brown on the outside but not crisp inside.