Foods and home making

Put the dried fruit in a bowl or pan and wash in hot water. If the fruit is very much wrinkled, use a brush to clean it. Then place the fruit in an enamel or aluminum pan. Add the water. Cover the pan to prevent dust from getting into it, and let the fruit remain for about 2 hours or until plump. After the fruit has been soaked in water, note how it is changed in appearance. Soft dried fruits need no soaking. Place the fruit and water in which it was soaked on the stove and cook slowly, i.e., boil gently. (See Experiment i, page 24.) Usually if dried fruit has been soaked in water sufficiently, it is necessary to cook it for not more than 15 minutes after the boiling point is reached. The fruit should be cooked until tender, but not broken into pieces. Remove from the flame. If sugar is to be used in the fruit, add it. Stir only enough to mix the sugar with the fruit. Care should be taken not to break the fruit in mixing the sugar. Serve hot or cold. Yield : 6 servings. Additional Flavoring. — Lemon juice may be added to the prunes or peaches. Use 1 tablespoon for % pound of fruit. Add the lemon juice when the sugar is added. Mixture of Dried Fruits. — A mixture of one of the sweet dried fruits such as raisins, dates, or prunes with the tart apricot makes a pleasing combination. With § pound of apricots use 1 cup of raisins, dates, or prunes. The Value of Dried Fruits 47 What sweet should you buy — candy or dried fruit ? What boy or girl does not like figs or dates or raisins? These fruits are sweet and taste good. The kind of sugar found in fruit is a better food than granulated or cane sugar from which candy is usually made. We have learned that dried fruits contain, in addition to sugar, very valuable materials, namely, minerals. This combination of sugar and minerals along with other materials found in fruit makes dried fruits a more wholesome sweet than candy. There- fore, it is wise to satisfy your desire for sweets with fruits instead of candy. SUMMARY In drying fruit, there is 1. Loss of water. 2. No loss of sugar, cellulose, and mineral matter. 3. Loss of vitamin C, unless sulphured in drying. Dried fruits are a cheaper source of sugar, mineral matter, and cellu- lose than fresh fruit, but they contain less of vitamin C. Buying dried fruits : Prunes — small prunes numbering 70 to 90 to the pound are the most economical. Apricots — more expensive than most dried fruits, cheaper than canned apricots. Peaches — less expensive than canned peaches. Raisins — seedless, seeded, cluster ; cluster most expensive. Dates — sold in bulk or package. Two types — golden brown, black. Figs — types, black and white. White figs, Smyrna variety, best quality. Cooking dried fruits : 1. Soak in hot water. 2. Cook until tender. 3. Add sugar and flavoring if desired. REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1. After cooking dried fruits, the sugar should be added at once to the hot fruits. Why not wait until the fruits become cold before adding sugar? (See Experiment 2, page 32.) 2. Why is the sugar added after rather than before cooking? 48 Breakfast 3. What is the purpose of soaking dried fruits in water before cook- ing? 4. Why should the fruit be covered while soaking ? 5. Notice the vitamins in lemons. (See page 37.) Why is the addition of lemon juice to cooked prunes desirable from the standpoint of health ? HOME WORK