I was just talking to my husband about euchre the other day. I asked him since he is a card player, if he found euchre to be a common card came when he was in the service.

My father liked to play cards as well, and he had a photographic memory and playing with him, or against him, kept one on their toes. My father taught all the students who used to board with them, and also my fiance how to play euchre. None of them had ever heard of it before. They were often shy of a card partner, and I got pressed into service, even though I'd rather have root canals than play cards. I remember the right and left bower and that's about all.

So, is euchre a regional game? I've found mostly folks where were native to Appalachia who play it.

No, I've never heard of euchred figs. LOL. What did you mean by euchred figs being a Heinz variety? Were they a name for a tomato?

According to our Webster's Dictionary,euchre means to make something,like figs,tart by adding acid.

If you think euchre is an obscure card game, have you heard of Jass? pronounced Yass, it is similar to euchre but with all sorts of interesting things like nell, schteck and lord knows what they mean. It is a game of swiss origin. My in-laws played it, I never learned it. Every day after work my f-i-l would stop at his mother's house to play a few games of Yass with her until she died. If the cards were not going her way she would put a hex on the cards which involved blowing on the pack and saying something that started with huxty-buxty. And yup, we are located on the edges of Appalachia.

I never thought of euchre as an obscure card game. Everyone played it when I was in high school & college. I don't play cards much anymore, so maybe it's fallen into obscurity, but back in the 1950's & 1960's it was a common & wildly popular card game where I grew up.

Tibs, I should known you'd know euchre. I found the link below on the history of this game, and sure enough it's Alsatian or Swiss. This area was heavily populated with German, Swiss and Alsatian immigrants in the 19th century. I had never heard of Jass, but the link I attached mentions Klaberjass as well. Also a Swiss game.

Thanks Marda for the definition. I looking up euchred in all my very old cooking books, some of whom go back to the 1800s and could find no reference to euchred anythings.

Thanks also Josh, this is the "something new" I got off the GP for the day.

I forgot to attach the link. Below, Juker (euchre) and klaberjass and other card game origins. My father also taught said group of fellas (who often sat around the dining room table with big fat stogies stuck in their mouths) the game of Hearts.

Here is a link that might be useful: Historic card games

Suzy, I found an old Heinz ad (see link) but actually this all started when DH showed me one of his tiny HO-gauge railway cars he'd decaled...When I said I'd never heard of Euchred Figs he said he'd bought the Heinz decals for the boxcar and maintained that they had to be accurate because RR buffs are fanatics...LOL So of course I got curious...

I think I might have played euchre back in the early fifies, Andie. My BIL was from Ohio and loved cards...I remember sitting around my Mom's kitchen table playing penny-ante poker or cribbage while listening to radio...was it Inner Sanctum on Sunday nights?

I loved the historic cardgame site, Suzy. Somewhere I saw a reference to euchre originating with the Amish which really surprised me..didn't think they played cards. Will see if I can find the reference again.

josh

Here is a link that might be useful: Heinz advertisement

Columbia Encyclopedia states game of Euchre originated with Amish.

Also, Wikipedia even has descriptions of ways of cheating ..which relates back to one dictionary definition of "euchre" as meaning "sly, underhand, or cheating".

Still don't understand the connection with preserved figs, but I've sure enjoyed the tales of card playing and Tibs' huxty-buxty spell. josh

Here is a link that might be useful: Euchre origin

Euchred figs - figs which have been steeped in brandy or wine. A sort of a compote. I think the Victorian version used dried figs which had been plumped by stewing in a sugar syrup, drained and then steeped port wine for several weeks or months.

My mother had an overly-productive fig tree, and that was one of the recipes we used to preserve the harvest, using fresh figs [no cooking in syrup] and a dark wine. I do not like fresh figs nor wine, so I can't tell you how the finished product tasted, but mum was fond of it.

I love the way these threads go. And yes, you learn something new every day at the GP.

Just as an aside, I remember as a kid one of the neighbors were celebrating their 57th anniversary & my mom wrote to Heinz about it & they sent a package with one each of the 57. I don't know if euchred figs were included, but maybe so.

Thank you, Meldy...did your family use the term "euchred" for the preserved figs? I was thinking maybe Heinz used the term to convey "a lot like home-made but no hard liquor involved". But maybe back in 1902 grocers could legally sell brandied peaches or fruits in wine concoctions?

My wooden spoons stand in a small wooden cask banded with metal and stamped 'Peaches in Brandy". It was a 1960 wedding gift...when we opened it we decided it was a waste of 2 good products. But I love the little cask...LOL

Andie, I love the detours too. My Mom wrote FDR that I was born on his birthday and got a letter back signed by Missy ___?) his personal secretary. LOL Guess writing to famous folks must have been popular but I think your neighbor got the best return..LOL

I've learned a lot about the Amish, too...no mention of euchred figs or cardgames. It's been fun. josh

Yes, but for years I thought it was spelled you-ker. A neighbor called them "drunken figs" but never minded getting a jar or three.

Wasn't "being euchred" Victorian slang for being in one's cups, or having too much to drink while playing cards?

I didn't realize one couldn't buy brandied fruit in the grocery? Not even in the specialty section?

My g'mother used to throw all the excess seasonal fruits in a large crock and cover them with booze. She called it tutti frutti. That's part of the history of minced meat. Booze is a great preservative. It'll pickle a liver given an excess, lol.

I remember that in the early 1950's, when practically no one in this country drank wine with dinner, Creme de Menthe sauce and Claret sauce were popular ice cream toppings, especially around Boston. I've never seen Claret sauce on a grocery shelf in the Midwest, but Googling I find that Claret sauce is still hanging on in the East, being poured over spumoni in a fancy Italian place in New Hampshire, for instance.

Ditto hard sauce. Most folks in this country aren't familiar with that term. I also had a devil of a time (all hard liquor sales are done through a state store, or now a state appointed liquor store) even finding cooking sherry.

Suzy,

Why not just use dry sherry? That's what I use to deglaze while cooking, or any other call for sherry in a recipe. We have state stores too, but you can buy cooking sherry in the grocery store. It's essentially sherry with enough salt added to make it undrinkable. ;^P

When we were playing euchre in Mex we found that Canadians play with different rules than we do in the US. It is interesting to note that DH's dad who is 82 and becoming somewhat forgetful remembers the cards better than any of us.

beanmomma.......that's the problem. It isn't available in all our grocery stores. I went to every one I could think of, and the package stores. None of them had any kind of sherry. Several times the clerks asked me what sherry was. LOL. This is not a cosmopolitan area, regardless of their self perceptions. I finally did find sherry at the last grocery on the list.

Aaah, I see Suzy. Never occurred to me that you couldn't find basic dry sherry.

On the euchred definition...

Could it tie to the eucharist? Combining the bread/host with the wine... mixing/preserving other foods with wine?

Just a thought.

The big Webster's says that it's preserving something (e.g., figs) with acid or spice. It says that the origin is obscure and marks the usage as dialectical.

Neil, the main wine I remember from the early fifties was Chianti in those basketed bottles at every Italian restaurant. Everyone then fought over the empty bottles to take home and stick candles in...I had one for years. On the other hand everyone kept dry white Vermouth on hand...those were the Martini days..LOL

Meldy, there were so many "dry" counties (even some still today) that I just thought the Heinz version might not have contained hard liquor to be legal (and cheaper)...thus the term "euchred" in it's definition of "cheating". Preserved fruit in liquor may have been allowed, though.

Sometime in the sixties I added dried apricots to Vodka with rock candy (sugar lumps) in tall glass bottles for Christmas gifts. I think House Beautiul Magazine had run an article about it. Really pretty and you could serve the fruit over icecream and drink the liqueur...just in tiny sips...it was potent! I may make up another batch soon...it has to sit some time before using. I probably still have the original article...LOL

Suzy, I think Rumtopf is another word for your Mom's Tutti-Fruity. A friend has a crock with the lettering molded in...I'd forgotten her explanation of the word until now. josh

According to the American Cook Book, published in 1914:

Euchered Figs
7 lbs. Fruit
5 lbs. sugar
1pt. vinegar
1 c. Water
1/3 c. whole cloves
2/3 c. stick cinnamon
Make a syrup of sugar, vinegar and water; skim and add the spices. Scald figs in the syrup on three consecutive mornings; on the third morning put the figs in jars, boil the syrup to consistancy of molasses and pour it over them. Put spices into the jars with the fruit. Seal.

Eucher is definitely a card game. The Pittsburgh Athletic Association, a private club, had regular euchre nights years ago which my grandmother always attended. It is similar to Whist, (for which a Delaware club is actually named).

I only heard about the food adjective a few years ago when I saw a Heinz box car with "Euchered Figs" on the side, come up at an auction and I got curious. Apparently there are also euchred pickles.

One day they'll make a comeback.

For another esoteric foodstuff, see cherry bounce.