STRAWBERRY TIME

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 62, 6 December 1930, Page 18

STRAWBERRY TIME

SOME GOOD RECIPES There is no better way of serving strawberies than plain with sugar and cream. Generally speaking, they are hulled, piled in a dish so arranged that they form a pyramid with the pointed ends outward, and accompanied by cream and castor sugar.

Sometimes, and especially at parties where service should be saved, they are hulled, put "all anyhow” into bowls, sugared and covered with whipped create. A spoon and a fork is put into each bowlful.

Yet another much-liked preparation consists of a foundation of plain ide cream, then the, sweetened hulled strawberries, and then some whipped cream. Strawberries prepared in this way are served at afternoon and evening parties or for luncheon or dinner sweets, for dessert, of for tea. There are times, however, when a more elaborate strawberry sweet is required. In that case a strawberry souffle may be recommended, writes Mrs. C. S. Peel, in the “Queen.” Strawberry Souffle.

Ingredients: i pint strawberry puree, three eggs, 2 oz. sugar, i oz. gelatine, three tablespoonsful of syrup, a squeeze of lemon juice, gills cream, a few drops of carmine. .

Method: First of all have ready a small souffle dish measuring 4J inches across and 2 inches in height, and paper it —that is, tie double kitchen paper securely round the outside so that it protrudes 3 inches above the rim. When the souffle is poured into the dish it should be 2 inches higher than the rim of the dish. Choose ripe strawberries and put them through a hair sieve (this is called a puree). Whisk the yolks bf the eggs, the sugar and'the puree in a basin in a pan of hot water over very gentle heat until the mixture warms and thickens. Dissolve the gelatine in the juice over gentle heat and strain it into the puree. If not enough juice comes from the fruit in which to melt the gelatine add water and a spoonful of sugar to make up the quantity. Add the lemon juice and a drop or two of carmine to make the mixture a pretty pale pink, but on no account over-colour. Over-coloured foods look as vulgar as over-dressed people. Whisk the whites of the eggs (removing the speck from each) very stiffly. That means that youi should whisk until when the basin is turned upside down the egg froth does not fall out, and then whisk still a little more with a clean dry whisk, and in a clean dry basin. Then whip the cream. This must not be too much whinped, or it would butter. Fold the cream into the puree and, lastly, fold in the white of egg. Cream and egg must be folded in lightly but yet thoroughly. Place in the papered dish and put in a cold place to set. When set. deeprate. Two methods of decoration are shown. One souffle is piped with whipped cream to make an edge and a centre, and ripe strawberries are arranged round. The other is decorated round the edge and on top with very finely chopped pistachio nut., which looks well on the pale pink souffle. This recipe is a particularly useful one. because you can use fresh rapsberries or apricots or any tinned fruits when strawberries are not available. It is delicious made of tinned apricots

or tinned pine. Tinned pine i« preferable to fresh, because fresh pine is so acid that it is very apt to curdle the cream. Strawberry Jam. Pick perfectly sound dry fruit and use small strawberries for jam. If possible, make strawberry jam in dry weather. Hull the berries and weigh. To each pound of fruit allow Jib. sugar. Put the fruit into a preserving pan over gentle heat. Bring to the boil and boil 30 minutes. Stir- occasionally and skim well. Put the sugar into the oven to warm, and at the end of 30 minutes add to the fruit. Stir until dissolved, then boil and skim for 30 minutes. If the best preserving sugar is used, far less skimming is necessary than when using an inferior quality. A pint of red currant juice to each 41b. of fruit improves this jam. Have ready some perfectly clean dry jam jars, put in the jam and cover. Some cooks rub the preserving pan with a little oil before making jam. Strawberries Preserved Whole in Syrup. Mash some, straw berries, let them simmer for 20 minutes, and strain the juice. For each pint allow lib. of sugar; reheat the juice and heat the sugar separately; when the juice boils, mix together. Have some sound whole strawberries ready in heated bottles or glass jars about 3 inches short of the tops, and when the syrup is thick fill up the bottles with it. Do not cover till cold. ; Bottling Strawberries. The bottles must be absolutely clean. Pack them as full as possible with sound fruit which has been picked in dry weather and then hulled. Do not add any water. Place the bottles in a cool oven and let them stand on thick cardboard or slats of wood. Increase. the heat by degrees and when the fruit begins to crack and sink down take out the bottles one at a time and immediately fill the bottles with absolutely boiling water. To do this it is necessary to have enough water to fill the bottles ready boiling. Have ready rounds of paper and brush them all over with thick boiled starch or flour, which must be perfectly free from lumps. Put a cover on, press it firmly round the neck, wipe the bottle thoroughly. Repeat the process ■ twice, so as to have three coverings, and be sure that the paper comes well down and adheres closely to the sides of the bottles. It is useful to know of this process, as often in the preserving season one may run short of screw top bottles and have some left over fruit. The fruit thus boiled should be used before that which has been cooked in a proper bottling plant.