Dear Sun Spots: I’m a former Maine resident residing in New York. I remember wonderful Italian sandwiches in the ’50s at a sandwich shop in Auburn near Jimmy’s Diner. How were these made, and what kind of rolls were used? Meats? Cheese of what kind? I also remember there being black olives on them.

Can anyone tell me how to make a good one again, like I remember them? – No Name, New York.

Answer: Hopefully, there are readers out there who would be willing to share their Italian memories and recipes with you.

Portland, Maine, is known as the birthplace of the Italian sandwich, according to http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HoagieSubmarinePoBoy.htm.

During the beginning of the 20th century, Italians were immigrating to New England in large numbers to lay paving stones on streets, extend railway lines, and work as longshoremen on the waterfront. Giovanni Amato, an Italian immigrant, started selling fresh baked rolls from a pushcart to his fellow Italian immigrants working on the docks of Portland. At the workers’ request, Giovanni added a little meat, cheese and fresh vegetables, and the Italian sandwich was born. Nobody knows the precise date of the first Italian sandwich, but Amato’s sandwich historians say it had happened by 1903. By the 1920s, Amato had opened a sandwich shop on India Street. In the 1950s, people would line up outside the shop to get their Italians, and Amato’s would sell 5,000 sandwiches on Sundays.

Today, almost every corner grocery store in southern Maine makes its own version of this regional delight. According to most Italian sandwich aficionados, the best Italians in Maine are always made in little mom and pop grocery stores.

The present-day sandwich doesn’t include anything remotely Italian. Unlike most sandwiches, the Italian doesn’t have lettuce. Neither does it have mayonaise or mustard. Instead, it’s topped with salt and pepper, and a squirt of oil. The freshly baked buns are soft, not crunchy (the sour pickles and soft rolls are what makes the Italian sandwich unique), and filled with veggies aplenty. The meat is ham or salami (boiled ham was introduced somewhere in the 1960s and is as popular today as the original with salami), and American cheese. The sandwich is also a bit messy. The oil on the traditional Italian makes the sandwich a challenge to eat.

Again, according to the Web site, Roger Kirk, a former resident of Portland notes the sandwich is made with a 1-foot-long soft roll (not the hard sub roll), sliced two-thirds of the way through lengthwise (like a hot dog roll) and pulled open for ingredient insertion. Wrapped in white waxed paper, the locals unwrap one end and eat directly from the wrap. As it is made today, it has:

American cheese slices

Boiled ham slices (originally was salami)

Onions (chopped)

Tomato

Green pepper

Sour pickles (hand-sliced long and thin)

Black or Greek olive halves (typically 4 per sandwich)

Oil (mixed olive and vegetable oils)

Salt and pepper

Dear Sun Spots: Regarding your Wednesday column about spruce gum: There is a fellow from Stratton who sells the gum in a little wooden box with a slide top. It is offered at the Better Living Center in Farmington. A bit of trivia: the last of the spruce gum companies that went out of business in Maine was the C.A. McMahan company of Five Islands, in 1987. John Curtis started the first U.S. gum company (which was spruce gum) in 1848 outside of Bangor and moved to Portland in 1850. – David Fuller, Agriculture & Natural Resources Professional, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Farmington.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be posted at www.sunjournal.com in the Advice section under Opinion on the left-hand corner of your computer screen. In addition, you can e-mail your inquiries to [email protected].