A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from October 08, 2006
Texas Strawberries (beans; jalapenos; shelled corn)

A “Texas strawberry” can mean simply a strawberry grown in Texas.
 
In slang use, “Texas strawberries” means beans. More recently, “Texas strawberries” has also meant jalapenos. In one citation below, “Texas strawberries” means shelled corn.
 
 
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Published by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Wednesday, July 11, 2001
Chuckwagon cooking
(...)
Day in and day out, there were beans. They were cooked on a slow fire the night before; it was the job of the cook’s helper to keep the fire going and keep water in the beans. They were called “Texas strawberries” or “prairie whistlers.”
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
1968-70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III-IV. 125 Texas strawberries, n. Red beans. New Mexico State.
     
Double-Tongued Word Wrester
Catchword: Texas strawberry
Part of Speech: n.
Quotation:
Bill Beckley, Betty Harford and Virginia Hawkins, a threesome of actors from the nighttime TV soap opera “Dynasty,” brought piles of English sausage rolls and buckets of “Texas strawberries,” or red beans prepared Abilene-style.
Article or Document Title:
“Fund-Raiser Had Animal Magnetism”
Author:
David Nelson
Article, Document, Publication, Web Site:
Los Angeles Times
Date Recorded Here:
Oct 13, 2005
Date of Publication:
Aug. 12, 1988
Page Number:
1  
 
Double-Tongued Word Wrester
Catchword: Texas strawberry
Part of Speech: n.
Quotation:
Navy lingo is equally mind-boggling.…A schnorker is a sausage, Texas strawberries are baked beans and a goffer translates as a non-alcoholic drink or a big wave.
Article or Document Title:
“All aboard to try the Navy life” (URL)
Author:
Victoria Tagg
Article, Document, Publication, Web Site:
Express & Star
Publishing Location:
Wolverhampton, England
Date Recorded Here:
Oct 12, 2005
Date of Publication:
Oct. 6, 2005
Related: pooch-kick, honking, suitcase college, australus, spargelzeit, bag nasty, dirt Navy, Haji Mart, Language, English, Subject, Food & Drink, Military
 
Double-Tongued Word Wrester
Catchword: Texas strawberry
Part of Speech: n.
Quotation:
Coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad, white bread served from its plastic wrapper, pickled okra, pickles and jalapenos (described by one man as “Texas strawberries”) completed the buffet.
Article or Document Title:
“Mini-Reviews Fort Worth/Mid-Cities”
Article, Document, Publication, Web Site:
Dallas Morning News
Publishing Location:
Texas
Date Recorded Here:
Oct 13, 2005
Date of Publication:
Aug. 4, 1989
Page Number:
25
 
December 1939, Southwestern Sheep and Goat Raiser, pg. 14:
But of all beans, the red bean, or the frijole, is the Southwest’s own. It is the “West Texas strawberry,” or the “Pecos strawberry.”
 
15 June 1976, Chicago Tribune, pg. B3:
But here are some CB terms which are off the beaten path because they’re from different parts of the country:
(...)
Texas strawberries—Shelled corn. [Southwest]

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Sunday, October 08, 2006 • Permalink


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