Every year, Riley Mercaldo looks forward to a family Thanksgiving tradition of making her late grandmother’s cherished stuffing recipe. 

“Whenever fall time comes around, I always count down the days until Thanksgiving,” said Mercado, a sophomore studying Nursing. “I remember being a little kid and helping my grandmother make her homemade stuffing. It was always my favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving dinner, and still is even to this day.”

Making this dish is a long process, but it’s always worth it.

“It is the longest dish to prepare out of all the food my mother and I make on Thanksgiving,” said Mercaldo. “But that is one of the reasons I cherish it so much. 

“I remember my first time cutting onions was when I was helping my grandma make this meal when I was about 8 years old,” she said. “I hated doing it back then, but now it is one of my favorite things to do because it reminds me of her.”

Mercaldo said that this recipe has been in her family for decades, and she plans to keep making it.

“My grandmother gave this recipe to my mom when she was young, and after she passed about 10 years ago, my mom gave it to me,” she said. “I plan on passing it down to my future children to keep it going for as long as possible.” 

Just don’t ask Mercaldo what makes the recipe so special. She is determined to keep it a secret, even from her other family members.

“Every single year, many of our friends and family that attend our dinner ask us for the recipe because of how much they enjoy the dish, but we never give in,” Mercaldo said. “The first thing my mother told me when she gave me the recipe was to only give it to my children, if I were to ever have any, and nobody else.” 

“This might sound like a weird thing to do, but my grandmother wanted it that way and I’ll always respect her decision to not share it,” she said.