Long Island Strawberry Festival Booklet, Mattituck, 1961. (Image from the Collection of the Suffolk County Historical Society Library Archives.)
With the 63rd Annual Strawberry Festival under way in Mattituck this weekend, we found in our library collection this old program and recipe book that was compiled by the Lions Club for the 1961 festival. The 7th Annual Mattituck Lions Strawberry Festival was held on the grounds of Mattituck High School on Saturday, June 17, 1961. According to the event program, the festivities began at 10:30 a.m. with a parade. Other scheduled events included drawings for berries, a freezing demonstration, the crowning of the Strawberry Queen, a strawberry eating contest, and a drawing for cash awards.
"You can have a strawberry festival 'round the clock serving berries," the program booklet notes in its introduction to an assortment of strawberry-inspired recipes. "This booklet of recipes has been collected to give you a variety of recipes featuring strawberries, one of Long Island's important agricultural crops."
Here's the 1961 recipe for Shortcake Biscuits:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 to 2/3 cup milk
1 egg beaten
Sift the dry ingredients. Add the shortening and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal. Add combined milk and egg, all at once, and stir the mixture with a fork to make a soft dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead gently about 10 times. Roll or pat to 3/4-inch thickness. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased baking sheet, 14 x 10 inches. Bake at 425F for about 15 minutes.
