Turpentine and its waste product rosin are used for violin varnish, paint thinner, salves such as Vicks, and household cleaners like Pine Sol. Rosin w

The Almost-Lost Art of Rosin Potatoes

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2024-10-30 02:30:05

Turpentine and its waste product rosin are used for violin varnish, paint thinner, salves such as Vicks, and household cleaners like Pine Sol. Rosin was even used as a cure, dubious at best, for hook worms. But it is rosin that has made a name in the culinary world for baking potatoes to perfection.

I had my first rosin baked potato in Portal, Georgia, during their Catface Turpentine Festival, and I became hooked on rosin baked potatoes. Rosin, which can be hard to find in large quantities, can be purchased at the Catface Festival.

Rosin baked potatoes have a very humble beginning in the Southern pine forests of North Carolina and Georgia. Enslaved workers would create slashes in the pine tree that resembled the whiskers of a cat or catfish. The workers would tie a container beneath the slashes to catch the pine sap. Once the container was full it would be taken back for processing in a still. Yes, the same type of still that would also make moonshine. The still would process the pine sap into turpentine and the waste product of rosin would drip into a vat.

I have no idea who looked at this vat of rosin and decided to use it to cook lunch. Bless whoever did look and see rosin as a liquid oven to bake a potato. Now there are some folks trying to revive the turpentine industry in Georgia.