You know that summer is on the horizon when the parishioners at St. John the Divine in Copper Cliff prepare for the annual strawberry social.
There will be coffee or tea but more importantly, there will be handmade strawberry shortcake, crafted from homemade biscuits that have been made fresh by St. John’s parishioners for the past 100 years.
Saturday, June 8 is the date of the social and the parishioners have been busy organizing the event.
Joanne Stamp has been shopping in the lead-up. Crossing off all the ingredients listed on the recipe card including cartons of 35-per-cent cream, vats of fresh and frozen strawberries and flour when it’s on sale.
The recipe used is still the same one that has been followed over the years, but there have been a few tweaks due to inflation and changing times.
“Perhaps it is due to climate change, but back in the day the strawberries used were picked from the farm and then cleaned by our team in June. Nowadays, the strawberries just aren’t ready this early,” said Lesley Flowers.
Years ago, with the price of butter creeping up, the switch to margarine was made, but the cooks claim it actually improved the recipe.
The ovens have changed over from gas-fired to electric, which has also adapted the recipe a little.
“Now we do 13 minutes in the General Electric and then switch them out to the Moffat oven for another 15 minutes,” said David Stamp.
The biggest difference is the labour that goes into making each biscuit just right, said Joanne Stamp.
“When I came on board to make the dough, I noticed it was being rolled,” Joanne said. “I said they needed love and needed patting. Since then, we put more love into it.”
These biscuits are worth writing home about. They aren’t small. Before hitting the oven, they are as thick as a hamburger bun.
Looking back on the history of how it all began, Joanne said the St. John’s strawberry social began with 16-year-old Dorothy Martin, whose now 85-year-old twins, Noreen and Doreen Martin, are well known around Copper Cliff.
And June made sense with the strawberry picking season underway and nice weather back in the 1920s.
“It made sense to host a social event of this kind, especially because church was and continues to be a place to be social,” Elizabeth Wilson said.
Mixing is Phase 1. Kneading is Phase 2. Cutting each mold begins Phase 3. Everything done by the organizers is done in a factory line setting with everyone knowing their respective role for the most part.
The workers heed the warning that the official baking day is a bit of a white out.
“Our other organizer Kim Lecompte comes in the day before and prepares work stations and baggies with everything we need, but when you add tons of flour to the mix, you have a bit of a snowstorm in here,” Flowers said.
All agree that nothing compares to a homemade strawberry shortcake.
The strawberry social coincides with the Copper Cliff CAN yard sale in recent years. That means the social event takes place on a Saturday. Though, it wasn’t that way 100 years ago.
“The social used to take place on a Wednesday. Local school children would place orders and my daughter, who worked at INCO back in the day, would place about 40 orders that I would deliver at the gate of the nickel refinery,” she said.
About 350 shortcakes will be prepared for the big event, which gets underway at 8 a.m. June 8 with the yardsale and vendors and 10 a.m. for the sweet and sticky strawberry social.
While the volunteers are getting older, none fear that keeping the tradition alive will pose a problem with grandchildren and great grandchildren helping on the factory line now and for the years to come.
St. John the Divine Anglican Church is located at 34 Godfrey Drive in Copper Cliff.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.