Kerr: Very special Kittery cookbook brought to you by 'the kayaker with the cookies'

Betsy Wish is one of those people you could affectionately refer to as a local character, even if she is “from away.”

Until recently, she was perhaps best known as the lady who delivers homemade cookies via kayak to local lobstermen in Portsmouth Harbor, accompanied by her loyal canine sidekick Maggie. New Hampshire’s PBS station is even running a segment this February on her annual tradition.

But Betsy fills several other roles here in Kittery — artist, activist, and now, author. To mark the 375th anniversary of Maine’s oldest town this year, the retired elementary school art teacher contributed a genuine small-town treasure.

“Kittery’s Maine Ingredients” isn’t just a cookbook. It definitely has a lot of recipes, some dating back 400 years, but it also includes photos, anecdotes and a whole lot of history. It was a project more than two years in the making, another of those instances of an idea brought to fruition during the enforced isolation of the COVID pandemic.

In bringing together the recipes which make up this volume, Betsy also decided to include the family stories behind many of these uniquely Maine dishes, as well as recollections of local eateries and markets from years past. She mentioned recently that 90-year-old former resident Barbara Fowler, who contributed her recipe for Jewish Apple Cake, wound up ordering 11 cookbooks.

“When I drove to her home to deliver the cookbooks, she told me that she wanted to give them as gifts to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,” Betsy said.

One section of the book is devoted to early Native American and Colonial eras. It includes indigenous dishes such as blueberry cornbread, wild rice with cranberries and “three sisters soup,” and Colonial items like potato stew, johnny cakes and molasses doughnuts.

Another section spotlights Rock Rest, the home of Kittery residents Clayton and Hazel Sinclair. Rock Rest was an oasis after World War II for African-American travelers who weren’t always welcomed elsewhere. Hazel was a celebrated local cook and caterer, and the book features her famous carrot “copper pennies,” as well as her caramel ice cream, date bars, clam pie, two-egg cake, Maine State potato pancakes, and a fudge recipe calling for three cups of sugar.

There are of course many recipes you would expect to be found in a Maine cookbook, especially those related to lobster — lobster bisque, lobster pie, lobster rolls, baked Maine lobster, lobster-and-fresh-corn salad, lobster stew, lobster casserole, lobster mornay pie, curried lobster and lobster boil, which calls for steaming the critters in a pot with corn-on-the-cob.

But there are also some surprising dishes, like those culled from the 1872 Appledore Cookbook compiled by Maria Parloa. The instructions for “calf’s head and pluck” include the following:

“Tie the brains in a cloth, and boil with the head … When it has boiled two hours, put in the heart, liver and feet, and boil two hours longer. When you dish, take the bones from the head, and place it in the centre of the dish. Cut some slices from the heart and liver and place around the head. Split the feet, and lay on the edge of the dish. Serve with brain sauce.”

And of course, there’s a section dedicated to Betsy’s beloved lobstermen. She moved to Kittery in 2007 with her husband, Bill, after retiring. She started photographing the local lobster boats while venturing out in her kayak.

“Initially, the lobstermen let me know that they referred to kayakers as speed bumps,” she says.

Although somewhat wary of her at first, they warmed up a bit when she shared the photos she took of them and commenced delivering bags of cookies by the dozen. The most popular is a peanut butter cookie baked with Special K cereal, as it often serves as their breakfast as well.

“Not so much a bribe, as a way of thanking them for allowing me to stalk them,” she says.

Betsy also shares her treats with others she encounters on the water, and in fact I’ve been a recipient as well. Now she’s known as “the kayaker with the cookies.”

In a lot of ways, her cookbook really is the story of Kittery, even moreso than a more scholarly historical work. A reader will find references and photos of local sites and landmarks including Fort McClary, Lady Pepperrell’s mansion, Rice Public Library and of course Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; as well as prominent figures of the past like Sir William Pepperrell, a famous war leader said to be the richest man in New England during the early 1700s, and Gen. William Whipple, a former Kittery sea captain who signed the Declaration of Independence.

(As a matter of disclosure, I should also acknowledge the volume contains historical articles I wrote for the Portsmouth Herald over the course of the yearlong 375th year celebration.)

But “Kittery’s Maine Ingredients” focuses mostly on the stories of past and present local folks who passed on the ingredients and instructions offered in the book -- the people who make the state’s oldest town so unique.

One of them is Rae Reed, the 88-year-old lady who graces the cover of the cookbook. Rae has lived in the same Kittery Point home for 80 years, or had at the time of publication. A client of Footprints Food Pantry, she often brings in baked goods for the volunteers there, who she believes are underappreciated.

When told she would be featured on the book’s cover, she told Betsy, “I think I’m going to like being famous!”

Copies are still available for $24.95 at the front desk of the Kittery Community Center, as well as the Beach Pea Baking Co., Lil’s Cafe, Red Door Pottery, and Maine Meat. Proceeds from any profit the book receives will go to Footprints Food Pantry and other local non-profits.

Just something to think about if you need a Christmas gift for anyone with a Kittery connection.

D. Allan Kerr and Betsy Wish were both members of Kittery’s 375th Celebration Committee.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kerr: Kittery cookbook brought to you by 'kayaker with the cookies'