Foods and home making

After being washed and cored, apples may be prepared for baking as follows : 1. Unpared. (The skin may be cut halfway between stem and blossom end of apple ; this makes the apple keep its shape better.) 2. Pared. 3. Upper half of apple only (around stem end) pared. Place the apples in a granite or an aluminum pan or in a glass baking dish. Pour a tablespoon of sugar in the core of each apple. Pour the water around the apples. Bake in a hot oven. If you have a heat- regulated oven, set the wheel at 400 degrees. Bake for 20 to 40 minutes, or until the apples are tender. The time of baking will depend upon the kind and size of apple. Addition of Butter and Flour. — If you like, instead of putting sugar only in the cores of the apples, you may use a mixture of sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. For 6 apples, stir together 6 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon butter 3 tablespoons flour A teaspoon powdered cinnamon Cooking Fresh Fruits 27 Put some of this mixture in the core of each apple. Pour water in the bottom of the pan as for plain baked apples. Bake as directed for plain apples. What kind of pan should be used in cooking fruit ? One day a small girl, in her mother’s absence from home, was cooking apple sauce for the evening meal. The girl selected a small iron pan in which to cook the apples. Soon she went to the stove to see how the apples were progressing and much to her amaze- ment found that the apples, which were white after paring, had become an unattractive gray. What had happened to discolor the fruit? Some of the iron of the pan, coming in contact with the acid of the apples, had formed a dark-colored substance. Have you not noticed this dark-colored substance on the blade of your knife when you pare an apple ? The knife blade is made of steel and steel is composed largely of iron. When the acid of the apple comes in contact with the iron of the knife blade, the dark-colored substance is formed. If a stainless-steel knife is used, there is, of course, no stain left on the knife- blade. From this you see that it is well not to select an iron pan for the cooking of apples or other fruit. It is usually well, also, not to use a tin pan, for tin pans are not made of pure tin. So- called tin pans are made of iron which is coated or plated with tin. Sometimes the tin wears off the iron, leaving the iron uncovered. In the recipes for apple sauce, apple compote, and baked apples, note that you are directed to use enamel or aluminum pans or glass baking dishes. Utensils of these materials should be used for the cooking of all fruit. Why is only a small quantity of water generally used in cooking fruits ? When you made apple sauce, your attention was called to the fact that the water added did not cover the fruit. Let us consider the reason for adding only a small quantity of water. When you pare an apple you have doubtless noticed that the pared apple feels and looks moist. Apples and fruits in general 28 Breakfast contain more water than most other foods. (See Figure 13.) When apples are cooked, some of the water is drawn from the solid portion of the apple. For this reason, we do not add much water to apples when we cook them. For most fruits, it is well to add only enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.