We served Stone Soup again this year on Saturdays during the Knox County Scenic Drive Fall Festival, the first two full weekends in October.

Thanks to our volunteers and our wonderful patrons nearly $1600 was raised in 2011. One half of the funds will go to support the mission projects of the PCUSA and the remaining half will be added to our organ restoration fund.

Recipe for Stone Soup

Stone Soup has been served during the drive at the Presbyterian Church since the early 1980’s. The soup takes its name from a children’s story about Revolutionary War soldiers who entice townsfolk into unwittingly sharing their horde of food with the soldiers in the making of Stone Soup.

Our soup making is really more of a process than a recipe.

This process has been modified over the years to remain in compliance with the county health department for the soup we serve during the drive.

Here is the original recipr:

Announce a date in the late summer/early fall to assemble the soup.
• Meet in the church kitchen
• Get out the largest pots and put them on the stovetop burners.
• Start tossing in whatever folks bring:
1. Excess of this year’s garden produce: tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, green peppers, corn, peas, green beans, turnips
2. Frozen and canned vegetables from last year
3. Clean out the spice cabinet: parsley, basil, oregano, chives, garlic, pepper, sage, paprika
4. Bits of frozen meat broth saved throughout the year
5. A pot roast or two if you have them
6. Roast and boil soup bones, if you can get them cheap or free, for additional broth.

Cook until the carrots are soft. Everything else will be done by then, too. Overcooking improves the soup. Add barley for a nice look.

Some things we have learned over the years:
Nobody wants zucchini in their soup but a few always sneak into the kitchen. Use those in something else. You can never have too many tomatoes, but juicing them is a lot easer than peeling them all. Chopping and peeling onions is everyone’s least favorite job. Nobody really misses the potatoes if you don’t have any.

As recollected by Peg Bivens