Hermits

WBZ's Jordan Rich talks with Susan Mara Bregman, author of "New England Sweets: Doughnuts, Bonbons & Whoopie Pies," about the history of Hermit cookies. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Gonnas's Corner. I'm Jordan Rich. We've been exploring
New England suites. That's the title of a new book
by Susan Mahra Bregman. It's great fun. The photographs are amazing,
and now we get to something that's really fun and delicious,
particularly with a hot cup of tea or coffee, and
that is the now world famous hermit tell us.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
More So, hermits are traditional bar cookies, and they usually
have a lot of spices, and they have raisins or
currents in them, and you know, they're like a lot
of traditional New England treats.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Nobody really knows where they came from.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
There are early recipes from the late nineteenth century in
the Champlain Valley and whether they originated up in New
York State or Vermont, no one really knows exactly, but
they definitely have a New England feel to them. And
as for the name, again, it's one of those one
of those strange stories. Some people say maybe they were

(00:54):
once made in religious hermitages. Some people say the brown color.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Of the cookies looks like the robes that monks wore. Again,
nobody really knows, and those to me sound like stories
that kind of came after the fact to explain something
that no one really knows.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
The answer to.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Susan, You're amazing. Susan Mara Bregman, author of New England Sweets, Donuts,
bon Bonds and Whoope Pie's and Our Sweet series continues
with her coming up on Connoisseur's Corner. W Z Boston's
news radio