INFORMATION EXCHANGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21909, 19 September 1934, Page 5

INFORMATION EXCHANGED

ANSWERS FROM READERS CONDUCTED BY FEMINA Dried Fig Jam S.R., Putaruru sends the following directions for making dried fig jam in | answer to a reader's inquiry:—Wash six pounds dried figs and cover with water. Let stand 12 hours. Cut figs finely and add a quarter of a pound finely shredded preserved ginger. Make water up to ten pints and boil with fruit for half-hour. Then add one cup sugar to each cup of pulp and boil until a little sets when tried, half-hour or longer. S.R. also tends the following recipe for dried fig and rhubarb jam:—Six pounds rhubarb, a little preserved ginger, four pounds dried figs. Soak figs for 12 hours, cut finely; chop rhubarb and ginger and boil with 18 cups of water. When soft add one cup sugar to each cup of pulp and boil until set. Another recipe sent in by a correspondent is as follows:—Take the driest figs you can get, put them in a pan or basin and scala them with water just below boiling point. This done, drain the figs and slice them in half removing the stems. Then weigh them and for each pound take one pound sugar, the juice of one lemon and one teaspoon grated lemon peel. Now stew the figs with the lemon juice and grated rind, simmering slowly till quite clear and tender (a little water may be added if needed, just enough to cover the bottom of pan and prevent burning). When you consider them tender enough, add the sugar and cook slowly till jam thickens and sets; stirring carefully all the time it is cooking. Then pour into bottles or jars and cover in usual manner: preferably while still hot. Curdled Milk M.H. writes in answer to a correspondent's inquiry as to why new milk should curdle, that possibly the trouble is not due, as suggested, to turnip feed, but to the presence in the milk of some small particles of fermentable or curd-causing matter. These might have been present in tiny particles of sour impurity, not entirely removed ftom the vessel used for boiling, before use, or in traces of impurity which might have got into the milk while milking or handling, etc. Usually such curdling agencies are put out of action at once by the cooling of fresh milk, but heating it right away would stimulate all such, if present, to great vigour, with resultant souring und curdling. Had the milk been well cooled for a while first, before heating it, no trouble might have occurred. It is sometimes difficult to be quite sure

every trace of impurity is out of the milk; so cooling well first, after milking, is the safest way to avoid such trouble. Butterless Sponge L.A. (Hamilton) sends the following recipe for butterless sponge, in answer to an inquiry frqin "Taihape.":—Take four eggs, three-quarters breakfast cup sugar, one breakfast cup flour (scant), half teaspoon baking powder. Beat eggs and sugar together and add flour and powder. Bake in moderately quick oven, in two sandwich tins, for 15 minutes. This filling is delicious with above sponge: —Orange filling: Two oranges, one tablespoon cornflour, quarter cup sugar, one teacup water (small). Grate rind of oranges, strain juice, add to water and sugar and bring to boil. Mix cornflour with little water and stir in. Boil for a few minutes. Pour out in a thin, even layer on a large plate and when cold place between layers of sponge. Silver Fish Mrs. L. S. (Ellerslie) writes that she has used the following for many years to destroy silver fish and moths and has found it most satisfactory:—''Take a suitable duster and sprinkle with kerosene; roll up tightly and put aside for awhile, then rub over furniture, floor, in fact anything and everything. Take a second duster, well sprinkle with turps and use straight away. Rub the inside of wardrobes., under side of mattresses, books, carpets anywhere where moths and silver fish can harbour. People will be horrified at the state of the dusters, but pleased with the wholesome atmosphere of the home. Kerosene is a wonderful cleanser and purifier. I always have a bottle handy to my kitchen bench and occasionally clean the dishcloths, sink and bath. Silver taps over baths, basins, etc., should never be cleansed with anything but soap and water." Making Sandsoap Mrs. E. (Guthrie, via Rotortia), will bo glad if a reader can tell her how to make sandsoap. Verdigris Marks "Worried" (Henderson) would like to know what will take verdigris marks from a woollen frock. It was boiled in a copper with a dye. To Olean Panama "Query" (Kingsland) desires information how to clean a white Panama hat. She ajso asks if a reader can supply directions for a clear varnish which is satisfactory on linoleum, instead of a polish, and which will keep bright when wiped with a damp cloth.