My pie? It hath lost its savor.

{A post by Joe.}

I ran into a bit of an issue last night.  Back story: my friend Peter who lives in the Marshall Islands for work came to Boston to visit the corporate offices of his employer.  Each year when he comes for a site visit, we have him over for dinner (because we love him and his family that much!  We're so sad they're half a world away.)  The first time he came to visit, I had just made a beautiful apple pie and he admitted that neither he nor his wife makes pies, and apple is a favorite.  Well, the next year, knowing he was coming, I made another pie for him, and it was delicious.

Yesterday, who strolled into church?  Our friend Peter!  Of course, we invited him to come and chill with us for his Sabbath day and break his fast and catch up for a while.  Recognizing the makings of a tradition, I offered to make an apple pie.  A Kwajalein Atoll Pie.  I have Sister Lepley's crust recipe, which is perfect every time.  I have frozen apple pie filling from last year's apples.  Perfect!




{Kwajalein from the sky.}
Only.  This time it wasn't perfect.   Jen took a bite, and said, "Joe, there's something wrong with this pie." Thinking through the steps.  Oh no!  I forgot the salt!  In my zeal to blend the fats and water into the flour, I forgot the salt!

She took another bite.  "Joe, I don't think it's just the salt."  I considered the filling.  It was a bit watery, because I didn't add any cornstarch.  "Sorry dear, I should have added cornstarch to thicken it."

A third bite.  "This isn't just a salt or liquid issue, there's something else."   I took a deep whiff of the pie.  I knew the smell.  I brought the flour tub that I had just refilled over to her and had her take a smell.  Then I dipped my nose in (and got a puff of white baker's flour on the tip of my nose) and declared that the flour was rancid.  Bleh.   The pie had to go.  Sad night in the Jackson house.  I took Peter's pie and from him (I think he was still enjoying it?) and dumped it.  What an embarassment!?

The back-story is that another friend was moving out of state and didn't want to travel with food storage.  What's more, much of the canned food was out of date, and not good for much.  He was just going to dump it all, but I told him I'd take whatever he didn't find a use for and would feed it to the pigs.  (Turns out the pigs like macaroni, pudding, and powdered milk quite alot!)  I hung onto some of the staples, figuring they might still be good and pigs wouldn't really go for plain flour/sugar etc.  So it turns out, when the label says flour is good for 5 years, they don't really mean 8 years.  Once several years ago we had a problem with mildewed sacks of flour, which I tried to extricate the good flour from the middle of the bags away from the edges (hint: FAIL).  Now this year I tried to stretch some old flour by including it in something sweet (also: FAIL).  Tonight we tried one last ditch effort.  Banana bread which has a host of other flavors.  (guesses?  FAIL).

So, as it was the Sabbath I got to thinking about salty scriptural metaphors.  I was also thinking about the salt because someone at church was saying their grandfather was a salt of the earth type of guy.  What a strange phrase.  I think he was meaning for the case where the salt of the earth means humble and unpretentious people.  Or from Matthew 5:13,

 13 ¶Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

There are lots of different interpretations for this verse, but here's the one I'm going to consider today: Scientists have declared that salt cannot really lose its own flavor.  But one thing I've always noticed is that salt makes OTHER flavors stand out more.  Broccoli? Better with salt.  Same with watermelon, meat, potatoes in their many varieties, soup, even bread.  Salt seems to bring out the best in an ingredient.  It helps the item accentuate what it really does for the meal.

It's my opinion that salt is like the "motivational speaker" of the ingredient world.  Without salt, I can tell you there would be much less french fries eaten.  As the salt of the earth, I think the disciples' job was to bring out the best in people and help them project their best flavor-- essentially to repent and prepare for the salvation of the Lord.  (Perfect the saints, proclaiming the gospel, caring the poor and needy, perhaps?)  What if the apostles failed to spread Christianity and help in the work of salvation along the way?  Wouldn't that be similar to having a salt shaker that you don't use to help bring the flavors out?  In my opinion, in that case the capacity of the salt is wasted.  It loses an opportunity to make something savoury.  That would be utter foolishness!  To let food remain bland when you have salt nearby.  Good for nothing salt.  Kind of reminds me of another verse where the earth could go to waste:  JSH 1:39

 39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

I have never read this to mean anything about destruction, though I'm sure many people do.  Instead, I read this to describe what would be magnifying our earthly purposes and what would be wasting our time.   The hearts turning to their fathers I believe means that those of us who are alive should be interested in proving that we are of the noble birthright by linking ourselves to Father Abraham and Adam and the other patriarchs/matriarchs of God's chosen people. This link comes through binding ourselves to our forebears by being knowledgeable about them and uniting our families back through the lines through the sealing blessings in LDS temples, where some of those blessings are reiterated.  To me, this establishes another of the earth's purposes:  for certain performances and ordinances to be completed. (Often termed "Redeem the Dead.")  Latter-day Saints hold that earthly religious ceremonies are a prerequisite for heaven.  In the end, if we are not creating and preserving these family links, then how are we whiling away our time on earth instead?  Seems like anything less than preparing for heaven would be wasted effort, since everything else will surely pass away.

Here's one last thought:  When I was a kid Ben and I would have Cheerios with a couple spoonfuls of sugar sprinkled on top each morning.  As a prank once, I switched the salt and sugar.   He didn't appreciate how the salt over-powered his O's and milk, and he had to dump it.  On the other hand, I forgot to switch the containers back, and the next loaf of bread I made was a salty brick of door-stop bread.  Likewise, I had to dump it.  Used improperly or unused in the first place, we miss opportunities to let the SALT of the earth fulfill it's purpose.  In this case, not only the salt is wasted, but the other ingredients in the recipe also go to waste.