A FEW FRUIT RECIPES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 28 February 1925, Page 15

A FEW FRUIT RECIPES.

Candied Greengages. —Ingredients: 11b of greengages, lib of loaf sugar, 1 gill of wafer. Method: The fruit should be gathered on a dry day, just before it is ripe. Wipe, but leave, on stalks. | But the sugar and water into a pan, stir until the former is melted, then boil first for 10 minutes, or until syrupy. Put in the greengages and simmer for 10 minutes. Lift out each fruit singly, boil up the syrup, and pour it over tile fruit. Every day for six days put the fruit and syrup into a pan, boil for four minutes, lift out the fruit, boil up the syrup, and pour it over the fruit. On the seventh day place the greengages on a sieve, and dry them in a cool oven. Store when cold in boxes lined with white paper, with paper between each layer. Greengage Compote.—Required : 11b of greengages, 4oz of sugar, juice of a lemon, gill of water. Skin the greengages, cut them in halves, and remove the stones. Put the sugar and water into a pun, stir until the former has melted, then, boil to a syrup, strain in the lemon juice, add the fruit, and simmer until soft, which will- take 10 to 15 minutes. Add a. few drops of green colouring if necessary, and put into a compotp dish. Hand custard, cream, or junket. If desired, a spoonful o: brandy, sherry, or a few drops of kirscli may be added, and joz of blanched and sliced almonds. Some of the. storied of the fruit may be cracked and the kernels added to the compote. Damson Cheese.—Choose sound, ripe damsons, wipe them, and put them into a jar. Add a. pinch of salt, and nearly cover the fruit with cold water. Place the jar in the oven, cover it, and cook slowly until the damsons are soft. Rub them through a hair sieve, measure, and to each pint of pulp allow ij-l’b of sugar. Put the- pulp and sugar into a. preserving pan, place this over low heat, and -stir until the. sugar ha; melted; then boil from threequarters to one hour, or until the mixture becomes stiff. Stir almost continuously. Put into small jars, and cover like jam. This mixture, is stiff enough to cut with a knife, anti great care must be taken, not to let it burn. A Melon ’Drink.—A moderate-sized ripe melon, 6oz of sugar, a spoonful of brandy, a. quart of water. Peel the til© melon and cut into thin slices without removing the seeds, first reserving some of the ripest pieces to cut into cubes for decoration. But the fruit in a basin with The sugar, bruise it well against the sides, and add 1 a quart of very hot, but not boiling, water. Cover over and leave, occassionally pressing the fruit again. When cold, strain through a muslin laid in a. sieve, using a little gentle pressure. Add the brandy, and set the melon drink in ice until wanted, with its reserved pieces of melon floating in it. A delicious drink when made with a full-flavoured melon.

Fruit Salad with Apple Snow. — Make a fruit salad of any kind of seasonable or tinned fruits, pile apple snow oh the top, and serve. Ingredients for apple snow, lib cooking apples, 1 lemon, 11b caster sugar, the whites of two eggs. Peel and core the apples, cut them small, put them in a stew pan with about two tablespoonfuls of water, and simmer until they are soft. Strain the juice from them, heat them a little, then leave until cold. Now add the caster sugar, the strained juice of the lemon, and whisked egg whites. Beat all together until it looks like stiff cream, pile it on the fruit salad 1 , and serve.

Pineapple Creams with Nuts. —Ingredients: A small tin of grated pineapple. pint cream, 1 -pint milk, loz caster sugar, -joz powdered gelatine, a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Dissolve the gelatine in hot water, mix it with half a pint of grated pineapple with, its syrup, stir in the milk, caster sugar, lemon juice, and lightly-whipped cream. Stir over gentle, heat until it is hot. When it has cooled, pour into custard glasses. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and serve cold. • Bottling* Fruit.-

This method of preserving fruit for home use is from all points most desirable. There are several methods of bottling. While the principle is the same in all methods the conditions under which the housekeeper works may make one method more convenient than another. For this reason three will be given which are considered the best and easiest. (I) Cooking the fruit in the jars in the oven. (2) Cooking the fruit in jars in boiling water. (3) Cooking the fruit before it is put into the jars. Syrup for Preserving;—Syrup used in bottling and preserving is made with varying proportions of water and sugar. One pound of sugar and one pint of water makes a heavy syrup. One pound of sugar and two pints of water boiled together lor If) minutes is sufficiently sweet for most fruits, such as raspberries, black and red currants, gooseberries, plums, apricots, rhubarb. ft is most important that the jars,' covers and rubber rings be in perfect condition. Use only fresh rubber rings, for if the rubber is' not soft, and elastic the sealing will not be perfect. Selecting and Preparation. —Select sound, perfect fruit. Have the jars and covers’ perfectly sterilised; then put fruit into the jars as fast as it is prepared; stand the- filled jars in a saucepan half full of eoldi water. Then fill to overflowing with the boiling syrup, seal firmly, place the saucepan over the fire, allow" the. jars to coo) in the saucepan; and; next day store away.