FoodNet

For the comfort of the family

1914

Page 19 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1914. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
The next fruit to make its entrance on our garden stage is the strawberry. What could start the day better than a circle of these large, luscious, crimson berries with their green caps on surrounding a snowy cone of powdered sugar on a plate of vivid green strawberry leaves? The smaller berries which have been discarded for the breakfast table are sliced, covered with sugar, then set away in the cold till it is time to serve them as a sauce for plebe- ian boiled rice which has been molded in melon shape. Strawberries, washed, hulled and cooked with their equal weight in sugar, make a de- licious jam. They should be cooked until the liquid when dropped on a plate will jelly; if WHEN WE EAT WHAT WE CAN 89 cooked too long they lose their color and a good deal of their flavor. Often one has a few berries left over after a meal; it is well worth while to turn them into jam, and it is quite surprising what a shelf full of goodies one can accumulate in this easy way. When the robins begin to haunt the cherry trees, the Crown Prince and the Youngest Member also get busy. There are cherries enough for all, as when we planted we took into consideration the needs of our feathered neighbors, so the birds do not miss the fruit when on our breakfast table appears a great wooden bowl — ^you have no idea what an artis- tic bit the chopping bowl becomes when util- ized in this way — ^filled with clusters of black- heart and white-heart cherries and their leaves. Often for dessert at this season we have a cherry pudding which is made by sifting two cups of flour with four teaspoons of baking powder and one-half teaspoon of salt. Stir into this one cup of milk; add one cup of cherries stonedCherry Pudding; turn into buttered baking- powder tins, and steam two hours. Serve with hard or cream sauce. To preserve cherries, 90 COMFORT OF THE FAMILY select large firm fruit. Make a sirup of two parts granulated sugar to one of water; skim thoroughly; stone cherries and cook until soft in boiling sirup. Pack cherries in jar; fill to brim with hot sirup and seal. Strain remain- ing sirup in which cherries have been cooked into jars or bottles; seal and use for fruit bev- erages. Cherries make a delicious jam as well. Sometimes when making vanilla ice cream in the raspberry season, I line a melon mold with the frozen mixture and fill the cavity with these luscious berries which have been lightly sug- ared. The mold is then filled to the brim with ice cream, a sheet of parafiine paper laid on the top, and the cover pressed down. It is then packed in ice and salt for two hours, not longer, as the berries should not freeze, un- molded and surrounded with whipped cream which is garnished with berries. Raspberry jam is made the same as strawberry and gives variety to divers desserts. On a July day, so hot that all the world stands idle in the market places, a currant ice will alter one's outlook upon life. Make a WHEN WE EAT WHAT WE CAN 91 sirup by boiling equal quantities of sugar and water together. Cool and add sufficient cur- rant juice, pressed from fresh fruit, to give it a rich, deep crimson. Add the juice of one or two lemons, that depends upon the quantity made, and freeze. As the mixture loses sweet- ness in freezing, currants require a sweeter sirup than other fruits. A water-ice which is not sweet enough is about the flattest produc- tion in the culinary world.