KITCHEN CORNER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 11 February 1933, Page 9

KITCHEN CORNER

SEASONABLE RECIPES USING THE BLACKBERRY The blackberry season is now with us, and this much maligned berry will be in profusion on every hand. Properly treated, the blackberry is an appetising food, and also makes a delightful drink for winter nights. The following are some recipes. Blackberry Cordial

Place 21b sound ripe blackberries inti a stone jar with 21b white sugar and three tablespoonfuls of water. Cover the jar closely, and stand it in a sauce-

pun with enough boiling water to come half-way up the jar. Having stewed the berries thus for two hours, mash them well, strain, measure the juice into an enamel pan and boil for 1”> minutes without the lid, removing any scum as it rises. To each half-pint ot the syrup add a sherry glass of brandy. When quite cold, bottle it and cork down tightly. Blackberry Wine Bruise 101 b of not over-ripe blackberries, put them into a small tub or barrel, add two gallons of cold water, cover with a cloth and leave for three days. Then squeeze the pulp through muslin, return the juice to the tub, add (ilb of sugar, stir well, cover and leave for a fortnight. Pour the mixture into a dry cask, bung securely, and leave for 12 months. Another Recipe Take any quantity of blackberries, place in a pan and cover with boiling water, and let them stand in a warm place to cool over all night to draw out the juice. Strain the juice into a shallow vessel, let ferment for about ten days, then add Hlb sugar to each gallon of juice, also a little brandy or gin. Bung up tightly in a clean cask, and let stand on its side in a- cool cellar for about a year before bottling. Blackberry Jelly Gather the berries when red and hard. Do not trouble to remove stalks. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil half-an-hour. Place a hair sieve over a large basin and strain ort the juice. To every pint of juice add lib of best preserving ginger. Put the juice back in the pan, add the sugar and bring to the boil. Boil very quickly, skimming all the time, till it jellies, ft should take 20 minutes, but test sooner. It should be of a beautiful red colour. For jelly with ripe ' berries, use the same proportion of fruit and sugar, but add apples pared and cut up, the proportion being one-third apples to the quantity of berries used Bottling Blackberries When too much fruit is available for immediate use, it is a good plan to

bottle some for winter use. The underlying idea of fruit bottling is to ensure complete sterilisation, so that it will keep if necessary for at least a year. Bottles are obtainable with screw or clip cups fitted with rubber rings. These are filled with the fruit—-but no water is required for the blackberries -—and fastened down, then immersed in water up to the fruit level, the heat gradually raised to 180 degrees and maintained at that for varying times, according to the nature of the fruit, blackberries requiring about 11 hours. Leave it to cool, examine the fastenings and finally store in a cool, dry place, the bottles resting on their sides.

“HAVE YOU EVER CURRIED CAULIFLOWER?” SAYS MISS UNA CARTER Boil three or four small cauliflowers, till tender, or use cooked cauliflowers, cut them up into little bouquets, and serve with curry sauce, prepared thus : Take one sliced onion, a pinch of salt, a dessertspoonful of good curry powder, 3 tablespoonsful of milk, 1 tablespoontul butter, a little dessicated coonnut, a dessertspoonful of Chutney, and a dessertspoonful of Lea & Perrins’ Worcestershire Sauce; let all these cook very slowly until onion is soft, then pass it through a sieve. Keep lid on pan. Pour this, sauce over the pieces of cauliflower, and let all simmer until well heated; dish up the pieces on pyramid, and pour the sauce all over. “The addition of the sauce is important,” says Miss Carter, cookery expert and Gold Medallist. “It must, however, be Lea & Perrins if the perfect result is to he obtained, as this sauce alone possesses the unique properties of both adding to and drawing out the flavour of the various ingredients used. Lea •& Perrins is a blend of rare spices and most economical in use, a very little gives the best results.” i

Blackberry and Apple Pudding Pick over a pint of ripe blackberries and lay them in a shallow piedish. Sprinkle a quarter-pound sugar over them, and then a good layer of thinlysliced cooking apples. Add some more sugar, and then pour over a custard made from four eggs, a pint of milk, sufficient sugar and an ounce of cornflour. Slake the cornflour and sugar with a. little of the milk, add the whisked eggs and finally the remainder of the milk. Bake in a moderate oven, letting the custard set nicely and dust with powdered sugar before serving either hot or cold. Blackberry Cream Having obtained a pint of blackberry juice, dissolve one ounce of gelatine in a pint of hot milk, add the juice, four ounces of fine castor sugar and a little brandy. Stir together, let cool, and gradually blend in half a pint of partly whisked cream. Pour the whole into a wetted mould and set in a very cool place till required for serving. Blackberry and Apple Trifle Required: lib blackberries, lib cooking apples, 1 pint rich custard, 1 pint cream, 1 pint water, Soz sugar, juice of one lemon, fruits, etc., for decorating. Put the sugar, water and lemon juice in a pan and bring to the boil tor five minutes, then drop in the fruit and cook till tender but unbroken. Take out the fruit and arrange it neatly in a suitable dish, boil the syrup several minutes longer, cool, and pour round the fruit. Make up the pint of custard as described before and pour on the. fruit. Whip the cream with a little sugar, two egg whites, and pile it roughly on the cooled custard, ready for serving. Blackberry and Apple Charlotte Grease a charlotte mould with melted butter, and line the outer edge with stale bread cut into suitable fingers and dipped into melted butter, also cutting a piece to fit the bottom. Fill the mould with blackberries and apples previously cooked until soft and sweetened, also flavoured with lemon juice. Cover a piece of bread on top, lay a. dish or plate on and bake quickly. Serve with cream or milk and sugar while hot. Plum Meringue Pie Stew some plums with sugar and a little water until quite tender, then pass the fruit through a sieve. Line a pie plate with short pastry, bake in moderate oven, and fill up with the puree. Top this with the whites of two eggs beaten stiffly with a. little powdered sugar. Return to the oven for a few minutes to set and brown the meringue. Plum Sponge Stew 21b of plums with a little water and sugar to taste, put the fruit through a sieve, and melt loz of gelatine in the strained syrup. When the syrup begins to set beat well and add the well-beaten whites of three eggs. Make alternate layers of the puree and whipped syrup in a mould, set, and serve very coid with whipped cream.