Banana Bread

For such a simple standard recipe, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw one of the ingredients. I kept thinking, "This must be a typo!"But when I looked closer I realized there was no oil or shortening listed. Kristen helped me put it all together and sure enough such a think does exist called spry. This fact clearly dates this recipe as originating sometime between the 1930's and 1970's. My belief is that is has been outdone by Crisco.

To quote my lovely Wiki, "Spry was a brand of vegetable shortening produced by Lever Brothers starting in 1936. It was a competitor for Proctor & Gamble's Crisco, and through aggressive marketing through its mascot Aunt Jenny had reached 75 percent of Crisco's market share. The marketing efforts were phased out in the 1950s, but Aunt Jenny and her quotes like With Spry, we can afford to have cake oftener! have been reprinted in books such as James Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Food. Though the product is discontinued there are anecdotal reports of it being used through the 1970s."

Aunt jenny is pictured above. It's fun to know that that face was a contemporary of many women in my family. Without further ado, here is Mima's Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup spry (* my guess is today you would use Crisco*)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 bananas (but Mom wrote in 4)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup nut meal (*I use crushed or ground nuts*)

Process:
Mix in Given order and bake in moderate oven for 40 minutes.

*to me a moderate over is 350 degrees.