Video Transcription: A Glimpse at Fruit Soup's Past and Present
Interviewer: Grace Murray
Interviewee: Marcy Kvittem
Date: October 26, 2015
Subject: Fruit Soup
You said you got the recipe or the dish from your mom?
Well I first learned about fruit soup from my mom because she made it a lot. Especially in the winter. It was, prunes were inexpensive at that time and so it was kind of a staple food. And she’d make a great big kettle of it and it would be sitting on the wood burning stove, just kind of simmering during the day. And we used it, maybe had a sandwich and soup for a meal. Or it could be used as a dessert. But that’s where I first learned about it, was from her.
So you would typically serve it in the winter… did you ever serve it for family gatherings?
Oh sure, yeah. It was for holiday. We had it as Christmas, of course. And if company, family came. But we had it more than just that.
Was it cheaper to make then than it is now?
Probably in comparison. (Laughs) I grew up during the Depression, so if anything was expensive, we didn’t have it. So I don’t know. I know that it could not have been very expensive. But she also put a lot of water, so it was thinner than I make it now, and that stretched it farther. It was called fruit soup because it was almost like a soup and some of us, my dad especially, liked to put cream on it.
So do you have any favorite memories about making it?
Well I didn’t make it… I never made it when I was home. It was after I was married and left home that I thought I ought to learn how to do it. And I know my mother didn’t use a recipe, she just made it. So, I looked in books and magazines and kind of concocted my own. And it wasn’t as large as hers; it was a smaller amount.
You’ve answered a fair amount of my questions already… So what makes the dish Scandinavian? Are there differences between how the Norwegians would make it and the Swedes?
Since I moved to a Norwegian community I find they do make it a little differently. I don’t know if it makes a difference so much. I use ingredients that I like to eat, but I do find the soups that they serve in the Norwegian churches here are a little different than I make it. They like pearl tapioca which I don’t like. And they often have grape juice in it, which is alright, but I don’t do that. So there’s probably a difference in the ingredients. And mother only used prunes and raisins. And I’ve elaborated that to apricots, which I liked, and after dried cranberries came into being, they’re really a good addition, and I changed from dark raisins to golden raisins ‘cause I thought they were more flavorful.
Did Myron ever request it? Did he have it at home?
Oh he knew it, too. And he liked it. I don’t know that he ever requested it. He didn’t think about it ‘til after I made it, then he ate. But his mother made it too, I’m sure. So he grew up with it, too.
Do you have any idea where your mom got it?
I don’t think she had a recipe. Maybe she made it like her mother did, I don’t know. And she just threw in the prunes and threw in the raisins and threw in the water. And then she put in some tapioca. She never measured it. And it depended on how much you wanted. If you wanted a big, big kettle, you made more. And so, the amounts were more on how much you wanted to end up with. And that was kind of true with mine. I cut it down somewhat so that it was a reasonable amount for our family and then I freeze some that we don’t use right away because it freezes very well.
You mentioned having it as a dessert or having it with sandwiches… was there anything in particular that you would serve it with?
Well at Christmas, it was just served with the Christmas dinner. That was just done. Other meals, I don’t think so, it just depended on what else we were eating. I don’t think she planned it around… and sometimes, it was just something very light and the soup, that became a meal. And here for ourselves now, we’re more apt to serve it as a desert than a part of the main meal, or along with the meal but kind of at the end of the meal. I kind of like it at breakfast too, it was a good breakfast, fruit. I like it warm; I like it cold with a little cream on, too. But a little bit warm, lukewarm is best for me.
Do you think the dish has become more or less popular over time?
Well, it’s popular around here because it’s a Scandinavian area. And when churches have dinners, they have it, and I assume that people have it at their homes, too. Most of the family like it, so I’ve been making it most of the years I was married.
Do you think it’s changed any with the ingredients that people use?
Yes, different ingredients are available now that weren’t available many years ago.
Did you ever see it outside this community? was it something that other people picked up?
Not that I know of. No, I think it’s a Scandinavian dish.
Do you think it ever got to the well-known level that lefse or lutefisk would have?
Well lefse’s gotten a lot of publicity and so does lutefisk. They just make fun of lutefisk. I don’t hear them, I don’t think they talk about prune soup so much. There’s a song about lefse and a song about lutefisk. Now, that’s known around here, I don’t know if other parts of the country… probably wouldn’t know what it was.
Did your mom – what did she call it if she made it?
Prune soup, just called it pruned soup. She called it prune soup or maybe she said fruit soup. I think either one because it had raisins in it so that was another fruit, and technically it is a fruit soup.
Did either of your parents speak much Swedish?
(Mishears to “eat”) We ate pretty much Swedish food, I think.
Did they have any – there is a name for it in Swedish, but she never used the Swedish name for it?
I can’t think of anything right now. Rice pudding, Swedish rice pudding was another staple that was right along with the prune soup. And that was both for holidays and many times during the year… we had rice pudding. I did not grow up with lefse, that is Norwegian. Lukefisk we did have. And various bakings. Not krumkake, that too was Norwegian. But she had a Norwegian friend down the road who made krumkake so I learned what that was. And we had rosettes and various sugar cookies.
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