CRYSTALLISED FLOWERS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 20

CRYSTALLISED FLOWERS

' Though housewives may make crystallised fruits at home, few venture to experiment with rose and violet petals, delightful though they are. And it is not at all difficult. To begin with the roses. The flowers should be gathered on a warm, dry day, in the morning, but not so early that they are still damp with dew. Strip the petals, selecting only perfect specimens, and lay them on a dish. Now dissolve a quarter of a pound of gun. arabic in a pint of water, or better still, have it ready beforehand. Sprinkle the petals thoroughly, dust them with fine white sugar, and leave them for a day. Then boil one pound of loaf sugar in half a pint of equal quantities of water and rose water, heating to the thread degree (250 F.). Keep well stirred at first, then allow any scum to rise and take it off. The roses should be steeped for a day in this syrup, then laid on a confectioner’s wire tray and put in a cool oven, but the door must not be shut. If too hot the oven will brown them. Except where the darkest red petals are used it is well to add a dash of carmine to the syrup. As violets flower chiefly during dark autumn, winter and spring days, care is necessary to get them dry. Pick on the best possible day, take the blooms off the stalks, and spread them out for a little in a warm, airy room. Do not leave them long enough to let them fade, but only just long enough to get rid of the damp. Even a small quantity of moisture prevents their crystallising in a satisfactory manner. Sprinkle, as advised for the roses, with a solution of gum arabic dissolved in water, and dust liberally with castor sugar with one pound of loaf sugar to half a pint of water. Boil to the thread degree. Steep the violet blooms in this for 24 hours, drain them, place on a confectioner’s tray, and dry them as you do the roses, but be sure not to let them brown. To preserve roses, sops-in-wine and marigolds. An old recipe in a 17th century manuscript tells how to preserve these flowers whole. The sops-in-wine are carnations. Boil a syrup of sugar and rose water together until when a stick is dipped therein and a finger applied to it a thread may be drawn off. Dip the flowers in this; then separate the petals again with a wooden bodkin lest they stick together. Lay them on papers in the sun, or in the oven upon a pewter dish. Then put them in glass jars and store in a dry room.

SOMETHING NEW FOR BREAKFAST Next time you order from your grocer, get a packet of Diamond O-tis for breakfast. O-tis contains all the goodness of finest selected oats, and Is so quickly cooked. Don’t forget the name—Red Diamond O-tis