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and sausage in. Then come the ingredients such as black pepper, red pepper (or cayenne) vinegar, green onion tops and other onions and a couple of cups of the hot water that the heads were cooked in add salt to taste. The water off from the heads is to make the head cheese solid so you can slice it when cold. When the heads are taken out of the washpot the pot is cleaned out good and the fat for the cracklins is put in with a real low fire under pot and the fat has to be stirred every few minutes and when the cracklins are ready to be taken out, the grease will bubble up and will be like a foam on top. Oh, boy; could I eat a handful of them with a sweet potato or cold biscuit."
Now comes the chitlins, they have to be emptied, put in a tub of water, stir and stir then pour that water off, put in more clean water and then put them in a bucket and pile table salt on and let stand over night. Then next day rinse good and take one at a time on a table in the yard and scrape until there?s nothing but a thin casing left. So now they are ready to be stuffed with the sausage. The sausage meat had to be cut in small pieces, that is to be small enough to put in a sausage grinder then when its ground you put your seasoning such as salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and sage. The kind of sage you get in the woods, you hang it up and let it get good and dry. Then you put it through a sieve and get it as fine as powder almost. Then you've got something good. The men folks take charge of cutting the hogs up and salting the hams, shoulders and other parts down, then after so many days, if I remember right, the meat stays salted down nine days then its all dipped in hot water to get the salt off and then it's all hung on poles in the smoke house with a constant smoke under it for quite some time. I don't remember just how long. But after it's smoked enough even then when it comes a rainey spell you have to keep a little smoke under it for a day or so as not to let the meat stay wet/mould. Some of that good old times sausage would taste mighty good in the A.M. for breakfast with hot grits and biscuits. My mother-in-law, Mary Dave, another daughter-in-law would stay up at night until 1:30 & 2 o'clock in the morning making hog head cheese. Some people call is souse.
When I first started writing this diary or history of my life or what ever you may call it, I was 90 years old but this past April 22nd, I was 91 years old. I have been delayed on account of illness but now I feel quite a bit stronger so may be I can get back to my
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