What is Skurtfurt?

Up on top of a mountain in Tango WV over 60 years ago my dad build a rustic dwelling for his new wife with the help of friends and relatives. It is where my story began. I was born while we lived in that home. The story goes that mom had to practically slide off the side of that snowy mountain when she went into labor in order to get to a car and to the clinic where I was born.

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My paternal grandfather was a tobacco farmer and his large family worked hard to grow food and tobacco to support and feed the family. Their crops were grown on the mountain side and when the tobacco was ready the extended family gathered to tie the tobacco. It would then be hung high in the barn lofts to dry and then be taken to auction. Jobs were not easy to come by and people in my neck of the woods knew how to survive and thrive off the land. Most food was grown in gardens and canned for the winter. We had one small store called Foster’s that was in walking distance of most of our neighborhood. There was a delivery truck that had hamburger and bologna and it would come once a week. I remember my mom walking to the store to get some of the meat before it was all sold. Everyone bought it quickly. I’m jumping ahead of myself. Let’s go back.

To get to my story. So, I told you that everyone canned food. Well everyone made kraut  from cabbage. It was made in a crock where it fermented and then was canned in glass quart and pint sized jars. I loved kraut. I loved that sour and salty taste of fermented cabbage which I had only heard being called kraut. I loved to set inside dads knees as a little child and we would eat kraut together as a snack. We could eat almost a whole jar and many times had the jar sitting beside of us and a fork. 

A grocery store like we have today or maybe even back in the 50’s and 60’s was something that I was not exposed to. We did not have one that was close. When we did go to a modern grocery store it was quite an experience for us kids. Mostly I noticed the toys. Eventually I started noticing things in a modern store besides toys. 

Strolling behind my mom and dad down the canned good aisle with my little sis beside me we come upon canned sauerkraut. I had never seen canned sauerkraut before. In my world it was called kraut and came in a jar. Honestly, I never saw kraut spelled out before that day. Well let me tell you how my brain works. I see a word I don’t know and relate it some way to something so I can sorta remember it. What I remembered was skurtfurt and I pronounced it “skirtfurt”. I told lIttle sis what it was and we both called it skurtfurt. It stuck. I still think of kraut as homemade kraut in a Mason jar and metal canned kraut as skurtfurt.