Foods and home making

Why are fruits wholesome desserts? All fruits contain some sugar. To be sure they contain acids also. But fruits such as figs, dates, raisins, and bananas contain so much sugar and so little acid that they have a decidedly sweet taste. When we cook apples, peaches, and other fruits, we invariably add sugar. When we serve sliced oranges or strawberries, sugar is usually added. Not only, then, does fruit contain sugar, but sugar is often added in serving it. We have already learned how valuable and necessary fruit is. A good way to get the fruit we need to make us healthy is to use it as dessert. What are some desserts made of fruit? Brown Betty is a very appetizing dessert. It is made by adding spices and sugar to apples, placing alternate layers of the apple mixture and bread crumbs in a dish, and baking. Brown Betty is sometimes called scalloped apples. BROWN 2 cups soft bread crumbs 2 tablespoons butter 3 cups apples, chopped or cut into bits | cup sugar BETTY \ teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg \ cup water 2 lemon — juice and grated rind 1 Butter the bread crumbs as directed on page 280. Wash, pare, and core the apples and chop or cut them into small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients to the apples. Divide the bread crumbs into 3 parts and the apple mixture into 2 parts as directed for scalloped corn, page 280. Place these ingredients in layers in a buttered baking dish. Bake in a moderate oven — 375° F. — for 40 to 60 minutes or until the apples are tender and the crumbs brown. Cover the dish during the first 20 minutes of baking. Serve hot with hard sauce or with cream. * Care should be taken in grating lemon rind not to grate the portion underneath the colored part. Only the thin yellow portion should be used as flavoring. Luncheon or Supper Desserts 313 HARD SAUCE £ cup butter 1 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Cream the butter. Add the sugar gradually and continue to cream the mixture. Add the vanilla. Mix. Chill the sauce. Use it on hot desserts. Fruit cup , i.e., a mixture of uncooked fruits such as oranges, pineapple, and watermelon sliced or cut into small pieces and sugared, as well as canned fruits, makes a good dessert. Oranges and grapefruit sliced and sweetened have a finer flavor than either fruit used alone. Sometimes a mixture of fruits is used as the first course of a meal instead of soup. The acid of oranges and other fruits makes the dish a good appetizer. When a mixture of fruits is used for the first course, care should be taken not to add too much sugar. In making a fruit cup, seasonable fresh fruits or canned fruits may be used. A combination of fruits containing either fresh or canned pineapple may be prepared at most seasons of the year as follows : FRUIT CUP 4 slices canned pineapple or 1 grapefruit or 1 cup Tokay grapes 1 cup fresh pineapple or canned cherries 2 oranges \ cup sugar If sliced, canned, or fresh pineapple is used, cut it into small pieces. Pare the oranges and grapefruit, removing the tough, bitter mem- brane that incloses the pulp. Cut the pulp into small pieces. If grapes are used, cut them in halves and remove seeds. Mix the fruit and sugar. Cover and put in a cold place. If this dessert is kept in a cool place, it is not harmed by standing several hours. When ready for serving, place in sherbet glasses.