Domestic science (1914 text-book)

One-half pound macaroni broken in pieces. Pour over boiling water, add a little salt. Boil hard twenty minutes; drain and put in a pudding dish and pour over the following. mixture; Two tablespoons flour, two teaspoons dry mustard, one-half pound grated cheese, one pint new milk. Mix mustard and flour into a smooth paste, with some of the cold milk, set the rest on the stove. When boiling add flour, mustard and cheese; cook until it looks smooth, taking care that it does not bum. When done pour over macaroni and bake until a nice brown. Twenty minutes ought to be enough. Be sure to use new milk, as otherwise the cheese will cause it to curdle. Digitized by Google Lesson XXVn Sugar (Reading) The plants from which we get sugar are the maple tree, the sugar cane, and the sugar beet. The sugar is first obtained in the form of a thin syrup. To get this sugar from the canes, the stalks are crushed between heavy rollers, and the juice which is pressed out is caught in vessels. Sugar beets are washed, cut into small pieces, and heated in water until the sugar is dissolved by the water. The maple syrup is first obtained as sap which rises from the roots to the branches of the maple tree early in the spring. After the sap from any one of these plants is obtained, it is boiled in a large kettle to evaporate the water. When enough water has been driven off, the sugar will begin to form hard lumps, or crystals, in the kettle. The crystals formed from boiling the juice of the sugar cane or beet are not fine and white like the sugar which comes from the store. There are some dirt and mineral matter and some dark coloring matter in them and they must therefore be cleaned. This process of cleaning is called refining. The dark crystals, known as "raw sugar,'* are dissolved in hot water, which is then strained through cloth and then through bone charcoal. This takes out all the dirt and even the dark color. Everyone knows how the mud is thrown outward by the buggy wheels when the vehicle is driven rapidly through it. The force that throws the mud outward is called the centrifugal force (getting away from the center). This same force is used in separating the sugar from the clear, clean liquid which is obtained by refining. This liquid is put into a machine which Digitized by Google is whirled rapidly. Because the water is heavier than the sugar, it is thrown to the outside, where it is drawn off, leaving the sugar in the center of the machine. The rapid turning of the machine also keeps the sugar grainy and so we get our common granulated sugar. Loaf sugar is made by running the syrup into molds, where it hardens, and then it is sawed into pieces. The broken pieces which are left after this sawing are ground up into pulverized sugar. After the sugar is made, if both are thoroughly refined, one cannot tell which is made from beets and which from sugar cane, for they look and taste alike. But the poorer qualities of beet sugar show a decided bluish or pinkish color and sometimes a very noticeable blackish tinge. A practiced eye can detect these inferior grades. Some housewives believe that fruit keeps better if preserved with cane sugar instead of beet sugar, and that the latter will not make good candy. Other kinds of sugar: There are other kinds of sugar which are less commonly used in cooking. One of these is grape sugar. This is sometimes made from grapes, but more often from cornstarch, which is heated by a certain process till it forms a syrup. It is not so sweet as cane sugar and is used principally in making candy and table syrup. Fruit sugar is a sugar that forms naturally on fruits, especially on grapes and dates when the water evaporates from them. Milk sugar is made from milk and is used almost exclusively in medicine.