A baking tradition lives on
Everyone in the community of Carrot Bay knew Lyra Parsons as someone who could bake the most delicious pastries all year round, but when it comes to Christmas in the Virgin Islands, people would travel from near and far to order their favorite guavaberry tarts among other delicious treats which is in high demand during the holiday.
Behind her years of experience in baking homemade pastries, 73 year-old Parsons continues the tradition of using a heirloom which she said makes her product more demanding. Parsons, today, utilizes her grand- mother’s brick oven that was once used by over three generations in her family. The oven has been refurbished in order to preserve its appearance.
“I baked a lot of pastries for my home on a regular basis but a lot of people would put in their order especially at Christmas time. I would bake coconut bread, loaf bread, pineapple/guava tarts and even tomato tarts. From the time I was about 13 years old, I began baking. I saw my grandparents used to bake in this oven and I continue the tradition, it is much better to bake my tarts in,” Parsons added with a smile.
In making preparations for the busy season, Parsons said she her ability to bake without measuring her ingredients comes naturally and the routine of boiling her own fruits and using all natural ingredients becomes easier after baking for many decades. After stewing her own fruits to make her tarts, they are frozen and then thawed before adding to other ingredients to complete the process. While she uses her own unique recipe, combined with spices and often times home-made liquor, Parsons juggles her time preparing her brick oven for the final preparations.
“When you put the wood in the oven and it is light, you will notice the brick turns white. This is how you tell when the oven is ready. You sweep the ash aside and then you can put in whatever you are baking,” Parsons added as she relates the stages of using her traditional method of baking.
This tradition of baking tarts is among one of the rare cultural heritage that is kept alive in the community where Parson resides. During the festive season the guavaberry liquor was one of the drinks given to travelling carolers along with tarts and cassava bread as they go from house to house serenading the villagers. The practice continues throughout the Virgin Islands but has seemingly lost its flavor as parsons noted “Christmas is not what it used to be.”
“I enjoy baking and once you know what you are about it becomes easier every time you go at it. Even when I don’t have orders for tarts I still bake often for my home use, I love what I do this has been a part of me for many years. I don’t know who will continue to carry on the tradition after I am gone,” Parsons noted.
A wood burning brick oven gives you that unique savory taste that cannot be reproduced in a normal kitchen oven, Parsons indicated. According to history, these ovens have been around for 3,000 years or at best the early rise of civilization. Since middle age times the wood burning oven has been used to bake bread and other foods. Its origin is lost in time but leads us back to the origin of bread. The only way to bake bread was by means of a wood burning brick oven.
As well as bread, other foods can be cooked such as pizza, roast meats, pastries and cakes. The wood burning oven provides the food with a wholesome flavor that cannot be achieved with other types of cooking.
Over the years, Parsons have treasured many Christmases but the memories of her childhood days in the village where she still resides seem to be the ones that linger on most of all, as she recalls the festivities as though it was yesterday.
“We always looked forward to Christmas as a child back in those days. We would go to the hills and cut a Christmas tree and place candles on the prickles with our decorations. We would then spray on white stuff to turn it white. It was a time of sharing whatever you have with others, now it isn’t as good as before. We didn’t have goat meat and turkey, we had fried fish with home-grown chicken along with peas and rice, a lot of guava berry and a drink called ‘Miss Blyden’ (a small pear-looking fruit with prickle). We would burst it open and sweetened it with spice and sugar served with ice… very nice drink,” Parsons shook her head from side to side reminiscing on her youthful days.
According to Parsons, a daughter of the community’s soil, pastry making today is rarely done in brick ovens and therefore products are dried out and tends to lose their desired taste. Brick ovens on the other hand, are more suitable for pastries as it prevents them from drying out while they bake quickly.
Parsons in her earlier days coupled her baking skills with her job within various hotels across the Territory where she worked as a room attendant to provide for her seven children.
Despite growing up without her mother and father from a tender age of 9 months old, Parsons was cared for by her aunt and her grandmother who first taught her the art of baking. She was brought up in the Methodist Church where she remains as a devoted member of the assembly in her community today.
When she is not busy, mixing and stewing guavas, pineapples and coconut to make her mouth watering- treats, you will be sure to find her at the community center with other elders fashioning crafts, playing games or rehearsing hymns for an upcoming concert. Parsons attends senior classes three days per week at the center where she socializes with her peers and often rekindles the dwindling traditions of the Virgin Islands.