Frosted Currants

Pick fine even bunches of currants and dip them, one at a time, into a mixture of frothed white of egg and a very little cold water. Drain them until nearly dry and roll in powdered sugar. Repeat the dip in the sugar once or twice and lay them on white paper to dry. Use as a garnish.

DATES AND NUTS

Serve dates piled on a dessert plate with halves of nuts around, or on individual dishes with a spoonful of any desired nut butter or meal in the center of the dish.

DATES AND CREAM

Slice dates and cover with nut or dairy cream. Dairy cream may be whipped and piled in center of dish with fruit around.

DATES OR FIGS AND MILK

One writer on health subjects recommends dates and milk or figs and milk as an improvement upon bread and milk. They make an excellent combination and a satisfying meal.

Nut milk or nut cream are ideal for sweet fruits.

Serve figs with nuts and with cream, the same as dates. For Stuffed Dates and Figs, see Confections.

GOOSEBERRIES

Nice large ripe gooseberries are most enjoyable right from the bushes.

There is perhaps no fruit more highly recommended than the grape. One says: “It is safe to say that the juice of no other fruit or vegetable so strikingly resembles blood in its composition as the unfermented juice of grapes.”

Another: “Grapes eaten exclusively for several days bring about wonderful results in the system. From one to two pounds should be consumed daily at first, gradually increasing to eight or ten pounds.”

The “grape cures” in France and Germany are too well known to require mention. There is said to be “a life giving principle in grapes which builds tissue and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system.”

These quotations apply particularly to fresh grapes. Cooked grapes and juice do not agree with every one.

TO PACK GRAPES

Take the late grapes, pick them carefully, spread them in a cool place in layers on shelves, let them remain two weeks, then pack in barrels with dry hard-wood sawdust. Bran will answer very well. Packed in this manner the fruit will keep good through the winter it is said. After packing, grapes should be kept in a cool, dry place.

GRAPE FRUIT

Cut in halves crosswise, remove seeds with sharp pointed knife, and separate the pulp from the bitter membrane between the sections. Serve one half to each person in peel or small glass, or serve halves after removing seeds without separating pulp. The fruit should not be cut long before serving as the juice and pulp absorb the bitter of the cut membrane. Taken at the close of the meal, grape fruit is an aid to digestion. The effect will be better without sugar. As a dessert, it is sometimes served with a tablespoonful of thick maple syrup in the center.

GRAPE FRUIT WITH MALAGA GRAPES

Prepare grape fruit as for salad, combine with halved, seeded Malaga grapes and sugar; refill cups which have been wiped dry after standing in ice water. Garnish with candied cherries or blanched almonds.

GRAPE FRUIT AMBROSIA

Mix grape fruit pulp with orange pulp, grated cocoanut and sugar. Serve, sprinkled with cocoanut, in its own cups or in glasses.

“When properly prepared, olives like nuts supply the place of butter and flesh meats. Oil as eaten in the olive is far preferable to animal oil or fat. It serves as a laxative. Its use will be found beneficial to consumptives and it is healing to an inflamed, irritated stomach.”

The olive contains more protein than any of the other common fruits, and with the exception of the alligator pear is the only one containing any appreciable amount of oil. Until within a few years we have been eating this valuable fruit in its unripe state, but now we get it, both imported and home grown, ripe. There is just as much difference between a ripe and green olive as between a ripe and green apple.

The ripe olive is black or dark brown in color (according to where it was grown) and has its full quota of oil. After one has eaten ripe olives for a time, the green ones will have a harsh, rank taste to him. It is also much easier to acquire a taste for the ripe olive. The large, luscious ones with meat as thick as that of a good sized plum are truly delightful.

Those hurried on to the eastern market from California before the holidays are not thoroughly ripened, but there are some growers who hold them until properly matured before gathering. Olives are better just soaked a little and eaten in that state than to be used in cooked dishes; but when used in soups or sauces, add without cooking just before serving.

Ripe olives are a valuable substitute for butter with bread, giving an emulsified oil instead of a free fat, with no germs of tuberculosis or other diseases.

The dried olives sold by Italian grocers require a long soaking and several changes of water. They, too, become stronger flavored by cooking. They are considerably cheaper than the bottled ones but much less delicate in flavor.

“The one thing that quickest revives a human being is orange juice.”--_Dr. Paul Edwards._

“The orange is a fruit that is distinctly health-giving. Orange juice aids greatly in reducing the amount of putrefaction in the intestines of nearly all persons who are submitted to clinical laboratory tests.”--_H. Irving Hancock, in “Good Housekeeping.”_

The white separating membrane of the orange is rather indigestible, so in many cases it is better to use the juice or pulp only.

I am going to tell you how to “drink” oranges. First, cut the orange in halves from end to end, then cut each half in three or four pieces; place each one of these oblong cups to the lips and extract the juice, rejecting the seeds and leaving all the membrane. This method is most refreshing, if not elegant. Eaten with a spoon from the halves cut across is, next to this, most satisfying, but takes more time.

In Jamaica they peel off the outer yellow skin and cut the orange across into two unequal portions. They extract the juice and pulp from the larger stem section first, and reserve the smaller, sweeter section for the last.

Again, they peel the yellow part of the rind off about one-fourth of the way down, run the knife into the peeled end and cut away a conical portion of the pulp, thus opening all of the sections of the orange. They then suck out the juice, without any burned lips as the result.

One nice way to prepare the pulp is to peel the fruit as you would an apple, cutting deep enough to remove all the white portion of the covering; then to cut all around each section of pulp, just inside the separating membrane, when you can remove the pure pulp. Serve in glass sauce-dish, or in cups,--orange, glass or china.

Another dainty and satisfactory way of preparing an orange is to “cut two circles through the skin around the fruit about ½ in. apart and half way between the two ends. Remove all the rind except the half-inch band. Just over one of the natural separations between the sections of the orange, cut the band with a sharp knife. All the divisions may then be carefully separated one from another, while all remain attached to the girdle of yellow rind. Oranges may be laid in layers on a fruit plate, outstretched upon the narrow piece of peeling, or they may, after the several divisions have been carefully made, be closed together again. A ribbon tied around the orange over the rind girdle will preserve the spherical form and be very pretty and ornamental. It is but the act of a moment to untie this ribbon, when the sections will all lie before one in perfect readiness to be eaten.”--_Clipping._

Ripe mellow peaches are incomparable both for health and palatability. They are equally good both for grown people and children, though one writer says “the ripe mellow peach is really the child’s fruit.”

A friend fold me that an old Indian came to the house when her little brother was lying at the point of death, and said, “peach juice will keep him alive.” The mother, anxious to leave nothing untried, began giving him the juice of stewed peaches, from which time he began to retain his food (the mother’s milk) and to improve in every way. When he came to be weaned, peach juice and gradually the soft halves of peaches were his sole diet for eight months; then other foods were introduced sparingly, but all his life peaches have formed a large part of his diet and he is an unusually well man.

Wash and carefully rub peaches in cold water, and rub them well with a soft cloth in wiping to remove the down, which is irritating.

Peaches should ripen on the trees; the shipped ones are often suitable for cooking only as they are gathered before they are ripe. Some varieties are sour and disagreeable, while others are sweet and luscious.

Few people know how exceedingly delightful rich juicy white peaches are.

PEACHES AND CREAM

Pare peaches just as short a time before they are to be served as possible. Cut in halves, quarters or thick slices. Do not sweeten but pass sugar and unwhipped cream with them. Almond or cocoanut cream are especially suitable for peaches.

PEACH SNOW

Add sweetened cream to stiffly-beaten whites of eggs (⅓ cup to each white) and pour over peaches just before serving. All must be cold.

Peaches combine nicely with bananas and with red raspberries. The juice of the berries may be served over the peaches instead of cream.

PINEAPPLES

The pineapple is another of the universal favorites and deservedly. Its delightful flavor is unequaled and the fresh juice contains bromelin, a remarkably active principle which aids digestion both in the stomach and in the intestinal tract. A slice or two of pineapple taken at the close of a meal gives a marked laxative effect. The use of pineapple in diphtheria is well known. I knew a very successful physician in one of our large cities who always had quantities of pineapple canned each year for use in diphtheria cases. The digestive ferment is not quite so active in the cooked fruit as in the uncooked.

SHREDDED PINEAPPLE

Use only choice large well ripened sound pineapples. Wash and drain; give the crown a twist with the hand, when it will come out easily if the fruit is ripe. Set the pineapple on a board and with a large sharp knife pare it by cutting slices down from the top all around, cut thick enough to remove all the woody covering (the fruit in connection with that has very little flavor), leaving only the deepest eyes.

After removing the eyes, take the pineapple in the left hand with the base up and shred it by picking up small pieces all around with the tines of a silver fork. It will come off easily from that end, leaving the core, which should be wrung to obtain all the juice.

Let the fruit stand in layers with sugar, ¼ to ½ cup, (or ¼ to ⅓ cup sugar, ½ to 1 tablespn. lemon juice and ¾ cup water) to each pint, for some time before serving, or, serve plain and pass sugar with it. Pineapple and strawberries or raspberries or oranges with lemon juice and sugar are nice alone, or with cake, for dessert.

PINEAPPLE AND GRAPE FRUIT

Equal quantities of prepared pineapple and grape fruit with sugar and the juice of either poured over.

Peach, orange and pineapple is another nice combination.

PINEAPPLE AND WHIPPED CREAM

Drain finely-shredded pineapple and beat with whipped cream, as much as can be used and keep the combination stiff. Serve cold in glasses.

PINEAPPLE AND STRAWBERRY AMBROSIA

Equal quantities ripe strawberries, shredded pineapple and cream. Whip cream, place layer of pineapple in dish, sprinkle with sugar, cover with cream, then make a layer of strawberries, sugar and cream. Continue. Have cream on top. Serve cold with sponge cake or cocoanut crisps.

PINEAPPLE AND ORANGE AMBROSIA

Drained shredded pineapple, orange pulp and juice, grated cocoanut and sugar, in layers.

Raisins are nutritious and valuable foods, containing sometimes as high as 61 per cent. of grape sugar and a considerable proportion of albuminoids. They are suitably combined with all kinds of bread and nuts. One thing that makes them so satisfying is that they require thorough mastication.

RASPBERRIES--RED

When necessary to wash, have cold water in a deep pan and turn the berries in, not more than a quart at a time. (Do not pour the water over the berries as that bruises them.) Rinse up and down in the water with the hands and remove quickly to a colander. Drain, pile in dish and serve at once. Lemon or currant juice poured over makes a harmonious combination. ⅓ or ½ very ripe currants may be mixed with the berries. Serve Brazil nuts or blanched almonds with these combinations.

RASPBERRIES--BLACK

Black raspberries have a peculiar spicy flavor not found in any other fruit and when plump and thoroughly ripened may be used in moderate quantities in their natural state.

STRAWBERRIES

The perfect way to serve strawberries is the French--with the hulls on, without washing. Pass sugar with them, or pile the berries around a mold of sugar on individual plates, or, set a dainty cup or glass containing sugar in the center of the plate and pile the berries around. But if the berries are very sandy, wash the same as red raspberries. Wash berries always before hulling unless obliged to let stand after hulling, then do not wash until just ready to serve. The little strawberry hullers snip the hulls out so quickly and so perfectly without staining the fingers that they seem among the indispensables of housekeeping.

ORANGE STRAWBERRIES

Put sliced berries into glasses and pour sweetened orange juice over to more than cover. Let stand in a cool place 3 or 4 hrs. to improve the color. They may be served with an uncooked meringue garnished with halves or quarters of berries or a slice of orange.

WATERMELON

The flavor of watermelon is better if cooled in water instead of on ice. To serve cut the melon in halves across and cut off pieces from the ends so that they will stand. Serve the pulp by spoonfuls, scooped out with a tablespoon. If convenient take the pieces out before sending to the table, remove the seeds and return the pieces to the shell, then keep in a cool place until serving time.

The watermelon furnishes an abundance of pure distilled water. Watermelons that are not very sweet maybe served with almond cream and sugar.

WHORTLEBERRIES

The most desirable of this family is the large purple soft pulpy sweet juicy berry growing in the swamps, and called in some parts of the country “blueberry.” It is delightful with nut or dairy cream or with sugar or in bread and milk. Its juice being so sweet it is one of the most suitable berries for sauce with cereals. In cakes puddings or pies it is equally enjoyable.

The so-called “huckleberry,” though more seedy, has a nice flavor when cooked.

FRUITS--COOKED

APPLE SAUCE

Select nice tart apples; wash, drain, cut out the blossom end of each so that the little black particles will not get on to the fruit. Pare as thin as possible. When all are pared, cut into quarters, and core by cutting from both stem and blossom end downward to the center, just below the core. After coring, throw enough quarters into the kettle (granite, porcelain or aluminum) to about cover the bottom, and turn the quarters core side down. Then arrange another layer in the same way and continue until all are in. Pour boiling water over to half cover the apples (more or less according to the juiciness of the apples), cover kettle and set over hot fire. Cook without removing cover until apples are perfectly tender; remove from fire at once, stir in a little sugar if desired and a trifle of salt. This method gives a nice white well cooked sauce with a fresh apple taste. Placing the apples as directed causes them to cook tender quickly and evenly. The salt improves the flavor unless too much is used.

STRAINED APPLE SAUCE

When apples are small or knotty, cook without paring, rub through colander and add a little sugar.

BAKED APPLE SAUCE

Place quartered apples in pudding dish as for apple sauce. Sprinkle delicately with sugar between the layers and over the top. Pour water in at the side of the dish so as to leave the sugar on the top. Cover and bake for several hours until the apples assume a rich red color.

BAKED QUARTERS OF APPLES

Wash, quarter and core but do not pare apples; lay cut side down in pudding dish, pour very little if any water over, cover close, bake until tender. Remove cover and dry out well. Eat from the fingers, rejecting the skins, or scrape the pulp from the skin with a teaspoon. The skin imparts such richness and flavor to the pulp that it seems to have been sweetened with sugar.

BAKED APPLES

To the natural taste, the apple is best just washed, put into a baking pan with little if any water (depending upon the juiciness of the apple), covered at first and baked until tender and dry. Some prefer to have the apples cored with ½-1 teaspn. of sugar (brown sugar sometimes) placed in the core space.

LEMON APPLES, ORANGE APPLES, AND OTHERS

Core and pare nice large perfect apples. Place in the core space sugar with a little grated lemon or orange rind. Sprinkle outside of apples with sugar and turn a little lemon juice over for “Lemon Apples” or “Orange Apples.” Bake until just tender, with or without a little water.

Use citron, cocoanut, raisins or nuts with sugar for other varieties. Fill core space with jelly for “Jelly Apples.” Serve plain or with nut cream or whipped dairy cream, or with cocoanut or custard sauce or with wafers or nuts for dessert, at a meal without vegetables, especially starchy vegetables.

Lemon and jelly apples make suitable accompaniments to meat dishes.

BAKED SWEET APPLES

Bake whole with plenty of water at first (covered part of the time) until perfectly tender and all the water is evaporated. Serve for dessert, or for breakfast or supper with nuts, or with nut or dairy cream, or in bread and milk, than which nothing is more delicious.

“MOTHER” CRANSON’S STEWED SWEET APPLES

Put whole apples into preserving kettle, cover with thin syrup of sugar and water and cook until tender (carefully changing the apples from top to bottom once or twice) and the syrup just a little thick. Place the apples on plates and turn the syrup over.

STEWED BANANAS

Slice bananas, stew with a little sugar water and a trifle of ground or crushed anise seed tied in a piece of cheese cloth.

Prunes may be flavored the same.

BANANAS IN BUTTER

Simmer bananas in butter in an aluminum or agate frying pan covered, on the top of the stove where it is not too hot. They will not be browned but simply stewed.

BANANAS AND RAISINS

Cook raisins in a broad flat pan in water for an hour. Slice bananas over, cover and cook 10 m.

BAKED BANANAS

The simplest way to bake bananas is in the skins. It takes just 20 m. in a moderate oven. To eat, strip a piece of skin about an inch wide from the top side and partake of the baked fruit from the remaining skin in teaspoonfuls.

Bananas may be baked whole with a little water after peeling, and served with orange or cream sauce.

A little melted butter may be poured over bananas before baking or they may be rolled in lemon juice and sugar and baked. For a richer dish, turn mixed melted butter, sugar and lemon juice over bananas in lengthwise halves in agate pan. Bake 15-20 m. in slow oven. Serve with meat dishes sometimes.

BAKED CRUMBED BANANAS

Roll peeled bananas in fine granella, cracker or zwieback crumbs mixed with sugar. Bake in moderate oven till just tender. Serve at once.

BANANAS BAKED WITH TOMATOES

Put a thin layer of stewed or sliced tomatoes in the bottom of a baking pan. Cover with bananas sliced crosswise. Bake.

CRANBERRIES

Cranberries are said to “promote digestion and purify the blood.” There is no question but they are a desirable fruit and should be used freely in their season.