No other culinary creation seems to divide the public like the fruitcake. To those who abhor this fruit and nut mixture, the defenders think you just haven’t had the right kind. So what is the right kind?

Sisters Catherine Jenkins and Ruth Nagle believe they have the right kind and have been getting together for three years to “make Mama’s fruitcake.” The recipes come by way of their great-grandmother and grandmother.

They meet at Tom and Catherine’s home which is situated just a few yards from the home site of their great-grandmother. Their land was once was a part of an English grant on the shores of Horn Harbor in the Susan area of Mathews. The Jenkinses have been permanent residents of Mathews for about four years and had visited the area many years prior.

The sisters prepare ingredients, “chopping the fruits and nuts.” They do all the mixing and baking of the standard size tube pan, four loaf pans and two small loaf pans of cake in one ...