From Pennsylvania Dutch Farm to Queen of the Funnel Cakes

By Alice Reinert

As I speak with Alice Reinert, I cant help but recall Dr. Ruth Westheimer, you know, the German sex therapist whose rather controversial views have been popular now for decades. Alice even talks like Dr. Ruth, with what sounds like a heavy German accent. Not only that, but Alice looks a bit like Dr. Ruth, was born four years before the doctor, and in fact, wanted to be a doctor, not in human biology, but a veterinarian from the time she was a small child. Theres one big difference between the two, however. Alice Reinert is a born and bred, red, white, and blue American. She belongs to that rare class of people called Pennsylvania Dutch.

Theyre not really Dutch, mind you. They are descended from Swiss and German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. Apparently, because Deutsch (the adjective meaning German) was misunderstood in the early days of their immigration, they developed the rather interesting name of Pennsylvania Dutch, and the language they speak today is not exactly German, because of centuries of regionalization.

Over the months that Alice and I sat and talked in the process of writing this book, and she related to me the stories of her childhood and teenage years and the details of her business making funnel cakes for 26 years, and we laughed, and yes, cried about some of the circumstances, I knew this book would be interesting and provocative, not just to people in Pennsylvania or her friends and customers in the funnel cake business, but to everyone who is passionate about learning how to make a success of life, especially after a rocky start.

Believe it or not, when Alice started school at the age of 5, she did not speak a word of English. Her family spoke Pennsylvania Dutch at home, (very little English) and she could not speak any other language, including the native language of her home country. To this day, because of her very distinct German-sounding accent, people ask her what country she immigrated from, and she laughingly tells them the United States. I actually think she enjoys being asked!

She reminds me that one thing living on a farm did teach her was always to keep her sense of humor. As a child, she didnt laugh as much as she does now, because she says she has learned to take things more lightly as shes grown older. But it strikes me as curious how people in America dont even know there are pockets of native-born people in this country who for generations and even to the present day, do not speak English, even though its been the native tongue of the United States for centuries.

Thats one of the reasons why I took on the job of writing this book with Alice Reinert, not just because she single-handedly invented, and created the modern-day funnel cake and promoted it for more than a quarter century, and indeed earned the right to be called The Queen of the Funnel Cakes. It goes way beyond that. She is a woman, that despite all the odds, a harsh upbringing, the pain and heartache of raising, then losing a disabled son, and the unjust loss of her business at the hands of a Chauvinist society, has continued into her 80s to maintain an optimistic and faith-filled hope in the future. That inspired me to help her capture her story in this book.

First and foremost, she is a woman devoted to her family, her two daughters and their extended families. And the book is primarily for them. But the advice offered here and the anecdotes from a Pennsylvania Dutch farm are fascinating and priceless. I hope that everyone will read her story. Not only does the book offer graphic and humorous insights into life on a farm (which, I might add, is still today a challenging lifestyle, even in this high-tech society) but also some good advice from a woman who has been there and done that, including being, for years (and still is), the pre-eminent authority on funnel cakes.

Cathwren Hermon

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465380135

Alice Reinert

Alice Reinert is known throughout eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey as the undisputed “Queen of the Funnel Cakes,” a title she cherishes and deserves, for her single-handed innovation and promotion of this delectable regional treat that is now recognized worldwide. But she’s more proud of her roots on her parents’ Pennsylvania Dutch farm, her “hard knocks” childhood, what it taught her that is still relevant today, and how she rose above the challenges and heartaches to make a home with her husband Harlan for their three beloved children and their extended family.

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Copyright © 2011 by Alice Reinert.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011918753

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-8012-8

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-8011-1

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-8013-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my dear husband, Harlan Reinert, who passed away in 1989. He was not only my husband, but my partner in every part of my life. After his heart attack at the age of 49, diabetes for seven years, and lung cancer for the last nine months of his life, Harlan lived with a lot of pain, but you would never have known it. I’ll never know what kind of courage it took for him to put up a good front with all the pain I knew he endured so much of the time.

Throughout his life, Harlan always laughed and joked; his goal in life seemed to be to make family and friends laugh. Even during his most painful days, he was cheerful and encouraging. He was also my Mr. Fixit, always repairing something or other in the house or in the funnel cake business. All the equipment that was necessary to run the business, the trucks, concession trailers, and campers were always in tip-top shape because of Harlan.

He left a huge hole in my life when he passed, not just in the business, but in my heart. I decided in 1992 that I couldn’t run the business without my partner and inspiration, the very man who had suggested it in the first place. I miss you, Mr. Reinert, every day of my life.

INTRODUCTION

Life on a Pennsylvania Dutch farm is demanding. Everyone from the smallest child to the oldest senior citizen has a job to do, and none can afford to slack. Often, the very existence of the family depends on the fact that everyone works hard and supplies all that the family needs to survive. Such is the environment into which I was born on June 12, 1924, somewhere near Kutztown, Pennsylvania, just before this country sank into the mire of the worst economic turndown ever in its history.

As a little girl, I never even realized we were in the throes of the Great Depression. All I knew is that we were a family who loved and cared for each other, and that I was important to our farm. So, I learned early on that even if I was small for my age and the youngest child, I could do my chores and help out by working without complaining.

As I look back at those growing-up years, I realize now how very hard it was, in comparison to my life now in the twenty-first century. And at times, back then, I did wonder why I was punished so harshly or treated in what might be termed a cruel way. But then, I remember the animals, the fresh country air, the superb array of good food, meats, vegetables, fresh eggs and dairy products, and it really doesn’t seem so bad.

The very best by-products of my childhood on the farm are the recipes (or as they used to be called receipts) passed down to me from my great grandmother, Judy Spohn Lenhart. I’ve included many of them with an introduction at the end of this book, a section called Alice’s Receipt Box. These recipes are time-tested by the best Pennsylvania Dutch cooks I know of: My great grandmother, her daughter, my grandmother, Mary Lenhart Dietrich, her daughter, my mother, Ellavada R. Dietrich Wolfinger, and finally, now to me, Alice Mary Wolfinger Reinert.

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My Pop and Mom

And of course, now my legacy goes to my daughters, Shirley and Mary. They have continued the wonderful heritage of our family with Shirley’s daughters and grandchildren, and her husband Patrick, as well as Mary’s son Wesley, and his son Eli, and Mary’s husband Norman. I present this, my autobiography and family recipes to them, even the boys. I expect you guys to try cooking my recipes, too! That’s the family Harlan and I raised. I know he would have been proud to see them all now, and I hope his spirit is happy.

This book about my life, along with Alice’s Receipt Box and Alice’s Song Book, is written lovingly for all of them, and our many friends met and loved over the years while we made funnel cakes. This work is not just to pass on the culinary secrets of several generations of cooks, but also to show what a rich treasure our family history has been. I want everyone who knows us, all the people who have enjoyed my cooking, especially my funnel cakes over the years, to see the love that went into every one of those cakes.

Without sounding arrogant or full of myself, I feel like the Queen of the Funnel Cakes, not just because for 26 years, my business was the top seller of funnel cakes at all the major eastern Pennsylvania fairs and festivals, but also because I single-handedly advanced the popularity of the funnel cake throughout the whole country.

When I talk about then and now in the book, I’m also talking about how the funnel cake came from a simple, sausage-sized dessert to be the large, sumptuous concoction it is today all over the United States. I’m proud to say I helped in a big way to accomplish that popularity. I hope my story and my recipes will help others who read my book, especially women, to feel like the Queen of their own kitchens and families, as well. If I’ve contributed to that, I will have reached my goal!

With great love for my family and for the many fans of my funnel cakes over the years,

ALICE MARY REINERT,

December 22, 2011 at the age of 87.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

My Earliest Memories

Old Enough To Feed The Cows Before School

Old Enough To Cook

Holidays On The Farm

A Teenager On The Farm

The Light Of My Life

My Three Children

Juney’s Short, But Significant Life

Life After Juney

Fairer Days Are Here Again

Harlan’s Death And My Retirement

Then And The Eternal Now

Alice’s Receipt Box

Harlan’s Favorite Potato Soup

Hard Tacks

Leftovers

Liver And Gravy

Gravies

Bologna

Muffins

Baking Powder Biscuits

Fritter Batter For Fruits Or Vegetables

Potato And Hot Dog Stew

Graveyard Stew

Apple Pie

Alice’s Snitz* And (Un) Gnepp**

Corn Pudding

Dutch Or German Raw* Potato Cakes

Alice’s Famous Corn Chowder

Funnel Cake Recipe

Corn Fritters

Reinert Family Hot Toddy

Cottage Cheese

Cottage Cheese Pie

Homemade Scrapple

Pepper Relish

Homemade Sausage

Pig Stomach

Rivels

Pickled Pigs’ Feet

Pigs’ Brains

Beef Liver

Beef Tails

Pickled Kidneys

Canning Meat Cold Pack

Potato Salad

Alice’s Uncooked Cookies

Alice’s Walnut Cookies

Devil’s Food Cake

Vanilla Pie Cake

Alice’s Vanilla Pudding

Split Pea Soup

Alice’s Drop Cookies

Sponge Cake

Drop Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fasnacht Donuts*

Raised Donuts

Alice’s A-Piece Cake

Hickory Nut Cake

Potato Candy

Poorman’s* Cake

Black Joe* Cake

Lemon Pie

Waffle Dough

Quince Honey

Coffee Cake

Crumb Cake

Alice’s Song Book

MY EARLIEST MEMORIES

Little did my parents Ellavada Rebecca and Jeremiah Wolfinger know the difficult times ahead for them on a tenant farm in eastern Pennsylvania when I was born the youngest of four children on June 12, 1924. I’ve always liked my date of birth, 6 doubled is 12, and 12 doubled is 24. Whether it was coincidence (which I don’t believe in) or some Divine Plan, which I think is really true, some part of me always believed I was destined to make my mark.

My grandfather Charles Wolfinger (my father’s father) died before I was born. My paternal grandmother Amenda lived until I was seven or eight, but she was bed-ridden and continually feeling sorry for herself, so she was not pleasant much of the time. She didn’t want children in her room or even near her, so I missed out on knowing any of my grandmothers or grandfathers. It was always confusing to me how farm folk always took responsibility for the care of their parents and grandparents, but didn’t feel it was important for them to share the old folks with their grandchildren.

My maternal grandmother also died before I was born. My mother’s father, Wilson Dietrich, had such bad sinusitis, that it spread into his brain. The pain was intense, and he of course, lost most of his mental facilities, to the point where he literally pulled all his hair out. The medicine and doctoring of the day, of course, were of little effect, so his family just left him at home, as they went on with their lives. I was told he tried many times to hang himself, but his children always saved him. Finally, he didn’t eat or talk, and the family doctor recommended he be sent to Wernersville State Hospital where he died at 78. In looking back, I realize this was not a good beginning for my mother and I can understand, to some degree, why she was not ever a happy person. The first time I saw my mother’s father was in his coffin, when I was 22. It struck me that he was a handsome, young-looking man, someone I would have liked to know, but never had the opportunity. I can’t help thinking that maybe I could have helped him somehow.

I am quite different in my philosophy toward the elderly, especially my family. I even wrote a song about it, which you’ll see in the chapter containing my songs (See Alice’s Song Book). I have always loved my people, my grandparents, even when I didn’t really know them. Loving your ancestors is part of loving your history and the people who helped make you the person you are. Later, I would welcome my mother into our home and business, even though she continued in late life to be cruel to me. My parents will always be my Mom and Pop, even after the back-strappings I so feared as