Part 4

BAKED QUARTERS OF APPLES

Wash, quarter and core but do not pare apples; lay cut side down in pudding dish, pour very little if any water over, cover close, bake until tender. Remove cover and dry out well. Eat from the fingers, rejecting the skins, or scrape the pulp from the skin with a teaspoon. The skin imparts such richness and flavor to the pulp that it seems to have been sweetened with sugar.

BAKED APPLES

To the natural taste, the apple is best just washed, put into a baking pan with little if any water (depending upon the juiciness of the apple), covered at first and baked until tender and dry. Some prefer to have the apples cored with ½-1 teaspn. of sugar (brown sugar sometimes) placed in the core space.

LEMON APPLES, ORANGE APPLES, AND OTHERS

Core and pare nice large perfect apples. Place in the core space sugar with a little grated lemon or orange rind. Sprinkle outside of apples with sugar and turn a little lemon juice over for “Lemon Apples” or “Orange Apples.” Bake until just tender, with or without a little water.

Use citron, cocoanut, raisins or nuts with sugar for other varieties. Fill core space with jelly for “Jelly Apples.” Serve plain or with nut cream or whipped dairy cream, or with cocoanut or custard sauce or with wafers or nuts for dessert, at a meal without vegetables, especially starchy vegetables.

Lemon and jelly apples make suitable accompaniments to meat dishes.

BAKED SWEET APPLES

Bake whole with plenty of water at first (covered part of the time) until perfectly tender and all the water is evaporated. Serve for dessert, or for breakfast or supper with nuts, or with nut or dairy cream, or in bread and milk, than which nothing is more delicious.

“MOTHER” CRANSON’S STEWED SWEET APPLES

Put whole apples into preserving kettle, cover with thin syrup of sugar and water and cook until tender (carefully changing the apples from top to bottom once or twice) and the syrup just a little thick. Place the apples on plates and turn the syrup over.

STEWED BANANAS

Slice bananas, stew with a little sugar water and a trifle of ground or crushed anise seed tied in a piece of cheese cloth.

Prunes may be flavored the same.

BANANAS IN BUTTER

Simmer bananas in butter in an aluminum or agate frying pan covered, on the top of the stove where it is not too hot. They will not be browned but simply stewed.

BANANAS AND RAISINS

Cook raisins in a broad flat pan in water for an hour. Slice bananas over, cover and cook 10 m.

BAKED BANANAS

The simplest way to bake bananas is in the skins. It takes just 20 m. in a moderate oven. To eat, strip a piece of skin about an inch wide from the top side and partake of the baked fruit from the remaining skin in teaspoonfuls.

Bananas may be baked whole with a little water after peeling, and served with orange or cream sauce.

A little melted butter may be poured over bananas before baking or they may be rolled in lemon juice and sugar and baked. For a richer dish, turn mixed melted butter, sugar and lemon juice over bananas in lengthwise halves in agate pan. Bake 15-20 m. in slow oven. Serve with meat dishes sometimes.

BAKED CRUMBED BANANAS

Roll peeled bananas in fine granella, cracker or zwieback crumbs mixed with sugar. Bake in moderate oven till just tender. Serve at once.

BANANAS BAKED WITH TOMATOES

Put a thin layer of stewed or sliced tomatoes in the bottom of a baking pan. Cover with bananas sliced crosswise. Bake.

CRANBERRIES

Cranberries are said to “promote digestion and purify the blood.” There is no question but they are a desirable fruit and should be used freely in their season.

=Stewed Cranberries=

1 qt. berries, ¾ cup sugar, 1-1½ cup water.

Pour boiling water over cranberries, let stand 2 m., or until cold; drain, add sugar and water, cook covered, until boiling all through. Rub through colander if the skins are objectionable. 2-3 tablespns. of lemon juice and more sugar may be added.

=Baked Cranberries.=

Make syrup of 1 pt. of water and 1½ cup of sugar; boil, cool. Pour over 1 qt. of cranberries in baking dish. Bake until clear.

=Cranberries With Raisins=

1 qt. berries ¾-1 cup seeded raisins 1 cup sugar 1 pint water

Stew raisins in water until nearly tender; pour boiling water over cranberries and drain; cook all together until berries are done.

A larger proportion of raisins and less sugar may be used.

BAKED PEACHES

Whole, pared, cling-stone peaches; sugar, butter and lemon juice. Bake 40 m. May be served with meat dishes, or as dessert.

BAKED QUINCES--Delicious

Wash, pare, halve, core. (Save skins and cores for jelly). Cover with a large quantity of thin sugar and water syrup. Bake covered, basting often and turning occasionally until tender and the syrup rich. Uncover at the last for a short time.

PLAIN BAKED QUINCES

Pare and core quinces, bake with water only, basting. Serve with hard or creamy sauce or with nut cream and sugar.

RHUBARB

Rhubarb is not a fruit but the stalk of the plant and as its acid is oxalic, it is a somewhat questionable article of diet. At all events it should not be used freely.

=Stewed Rhubarb=

1 qt. rhubarb ½ cup sugar

Wash rhubarb, do not peel, cut into ¾ in. pieces; cook with sugar, on the back of the stove until juicy; then stew till tender.

=Stewed Rhubarb, No. 2=

1 qt. rhubarb scant ⅔ cup sugar 1 tablespn. lemon juice ¼ cup water

Cook all together.

=Baked Rhubarb=

Put rhubarb in baking dish with sugar and lemon juice as for stewing, with or without a little water. Cover and bake until tender.

It is said that if young cherry leaves are scalded and the juice added to cooked rhubarb, it will impart the flavor of cherries to the rhubarb.

STEWED DRIED FRUITS

The flavors of dried fruits are more natural and delicate with prolonged soaking and short (if any) cooking. Choice dried apples and apricots are especially enjoyable soaked over night or longer without any cooking. The juice from them makes an exceedingly refreshing drink.

Pour boiling water over fruit that requires washing to more perfectly loosen the dirt, then quickly add cold water. Wash thoroughly, cover with warm water and let stand for from 12 to 48 hrs. When perfectly swollen and soft, add sugar, if it is to be used, bring to the boiling point quickly and remove from the fire. These directions if followed will cause apples, apricots and peaches to seem almost like fresh stewed fruit.

A few fresh grapes stewed with peaches give them a nice flavor.

Raisins also (previously cooked) are nice with dried peaches.

The most delightful combination with dried apples is ⅓ prunelles. Raisins are also nice with apples.

=Stewed Dried Apricots=

½ lb. apricots 3½ cups water ½ cup sugar

Follow general directions.

PRUNES--SWEET CALIFORNIA

These require no sugar but will bear a little longer cooking than peaches and apricots.

¾ prunes and ¼ apricots make a nice combination, also raisins or figs and prunes.

=Prune Marmalade=

Cook prunes with a small amount of water and rub through colander. This removes the skins or breaks them up so that many can take them who otherwise could not. Served with almonds, beaten white of egg or almond or whipped cream, the marmalade makes a nice dessert.

=Steamed Prunes--par excellence=

Soak large prunes in a very little water, stirring occasionally so that all will be moistened. Steam ¾ of an hour. Cover as soon as removed from the steamer. Serve warm for breakfast. They may be steamed an hour without soaking.

=Stewed Figs=

Wash, soak, cook until tender, reduce liquor to syrup and pour over fruit. Serve with wafers or nuts or with whipped cream flavored with vanilla or almond.

=Steamed Figs--best of all=

Wash figs and steam 25-35 m. according to dryness. Long steaming gives them a strong flavor. Cover, and serve warm. The figs may be soaked the same as prunes before steaming.

=Fruit Butter=

Stew together 1½ lb. prunes and 1 lb. of dried apricots, no sugar. Rub through colander and cook to the consistency of butter.

TO CAN FRUITS

Suggestions

The best quality of aluminum is the ideal material for the preserving kettle; but granite, porcelain or earthenware may be used.

Thorough sterilization of the jars or cans is one of the most important parts of fruit canning. I always wash and sterilize mine when I empty them.

After washing the covers of Mason jars, bake them in a moderate oven for 2 or 3 hours; scrape them on the inside if necessary but do not wet them, and screw them on to the jars, which should have been well washed, scalded, wiped with a clean towel and thoroughly dried by standing right side up in a warm place.

The rubbers should be put on when the covers are, so that the jars will be all ready for use.

When old rubbers are in good condition they are just as good as new ones. Sometimes two thin ones may be used together.

There is a certain black rubber that should not be used with delicate flavored fruits as it injures their flavor. It does not improve the flavor of any fruit.

New rubbers should be washed and rubbed well in soapsuds and rinsed before using.

Keep the jars in a dry place and when you come to use them turn them over once in a pan of boiling water, scalding the covers the same.

Do not waste time, strength, jars or sugar on imperfect, decayed or unripe fruit. The probabilities are that it will not keep; and if it does the appearance and flavor will be inferior.

Put the fruit into the jars _boiling hot_ and seal immediately. Do not try to remove the froth or air bubbles (pure air will do no harm in cans, and it will be pure when the fruit is at boiling heat all around it and will remain so if the can is well sealed), because while you are trying to let the air out the fruit is cooling on top and the germs from the outside air are settling upon it.

If the fruit gets below the boiling point while filling the jars, return it to the fire and reheat it. _Fill the jars to overflowing._ Fasten the covers on perfectly tight, press the edges down all around into the rubber of Mason jars, if inclined to leak. Do not tighten the covers after the fruit is cold.

With Lightning jars it is sometimes necessary to slip little splinters of wood (bits of berry boxes) under the wires to make the covers tight enough.

When the covers are perfectly adjusted, invert the jars and leave them until cool. This not only shows whether any are leaking or not but fills any spaces there may be.

Keep canned fruit in a dark place. The light will cause it to lose its flavor as well as color. Wrap jars in paper if necessary.

The simplest way to fill jars is to set them in a row on a towel wrung out of cold water and folded so that it is thick. The jars must be cold also. Or, the towel may be wrung out of hot water and the jars rinsed in hot water before filling. In either case have the covers warm.

Bear in mind that “sugar, when largely used, is more injurious than meat.”

Some fruits, rich fine-flavored pears and peaches, whortleberries and others are excellent canned without sugar. They taste more like fresh fruit.

I always can whortleberries without water, so as to have them for pies. For sauce, water may be added after they are opened.

Gooseberries canned without water or sugar make delightful, fresh tasting pies in winter.

Never fail to secure black currants if possible for pies.

Always label fruit before putting it away, giving the year in which it was put up.

Canned fruits and vegetables should be opened two hours or more before serving, to give the fresh taste which comes with the restoration of oxygen.

There is much work at the best connected with fruit canning, so I have tried to simplify it as much as possible. The methods given here are those which I have used for years with good results.

TO CAN SOLID BERRIES

Cherries, whortleberries, red and black currants and all berries that do not crush easily may be put into the kettle in layers with sugar (never more than ½ pt. of sugar to 2 qts. of fresh fruit and usually less), brought to the boiling point slowly and put into jars with very little trouble. The following is an average proportion of sugar and water to use with this class of berries:

Blackberries--2 qts. berries, ½-¾ cup sugar, 2 cups water.

Blk. Raspberries--2 qts. berries, ½-¾ cup sugar, 2 cups water.

Gooseberries, green--2 qts. berries, 1-1½ cup sugar, 4 cups water.

Gooseberries, ripe--2 qts. berries, 1-1½ cup sugar, 1-1½ cup water.

Whortleberries,--2 qts. berries, ½ cup sugar (if any), 1 tablespn. water.

Rhubarb--1 qt. rhubarb in ¾ in. lengths, ½ cup sugar, no water.

TO CAN PEACHES AND FRUITS OF THAT CLASS

=Peaches=

Wash peaches, rubbing well, drain, pare as thin as possible and drop into cold water to keep them from turning dark. If the peaches are very ripe, put a few at a time into a wire basket and plunge into boiling water. Hold them there a moment, then quickly turn them into cold water; after which the skins will slip off easily.

This is a quicker method and does not waste the peaches, but I have thought they were more apt to turn dark.

For each rounded quart of peaches, make a syrup of ⅓-½ cup of sugar and 1-1½ cup of water, the water in which the peaches were standing. Bring the syrup to the boiling point, drop the peaches in (if in halves the cut side down), boil until thoroughly heated through, or until tender; drop the peaches into the jars, pour boiling syrup over, seal, following “Suggestions” carefully.

=Pears=

1 rounded qt. (8 or 9) pears in halves ⅓-½ cup sugar 1 tablespn. lemon juice 1-1½ cup water

Finish the same as peaches.

The lemon juice gives character to the pears.

I once had some pears that were so flavorless it seemed hardly worth while to can them, but I tied ground anise seed in small pieces of cheese cloth and cooked with them, besides adding lemon juice, and they were excellent. Small pears and those with thin skins may be canned without paring. They are richer but the skins sometimes cause flatulence.

Do not can pears while they are hard.

=Plums=

1 qt. plums ¼-⅓ cup sugar ¼-½ cup water

It is a good plan to prick the plums on all sides with a fork before cooking.

=Quinces and Sweet Apples=

6 qts. quinces in eighths 6 qts. sweet apples in quarters 5 qts. water 4-6 cups sugar

Cook quinces in water until tender, remove with skimmer; cook apples in same water, remove apples, measure water, adding more if necessary; dissolve sugar in water, heat to boiling, add fruit, simmer a few minutes and put into jars.

Quinces are much improved by combining with sweet apples. When the apples are cooked with them, the quinces become more tender.

Quinces and citron and quinces and pears may also be combined.

=Cranberries and Sweet Apples=

1 qt. cranberries 1½ qt. sweet apples in quarters ⅔ qt. cold water ¾-1 cup sugar

Cook sugar, water and cranberries together, until the cranberries begin to crack; add the apples and cook all slowly until the apples are soft. Put into jars and seal.

=To Can Strawberries=

Also red raspberries and all delicate berries.

For each 2 qts. of hulled berries (just enough to fill one quart jar), use 1 cup of granulated sugar. Put a layer of berries into an earthen or granite ware dish, sprinkle with sugar, cover with another layer of berries and so on. (Strawberries are so juicy they will not bear any water). Let berries and sugar stand together in the ice box or cellar for several hours. They may be prepared late in the afternoon and put into the jars the first thing the next morning.

When ready to can the fruit, drain off the juice, heat it to boiling, turn the berries carefully into it and shake and turn the dish once in a while to keep the fruit heating evenly. When just boiling all through, dip carefully into cans with a handled cup. Put the covers on quickly, no matter how many bubbles of air there are nor how much froth there is in the jars, and screw down tight with a can opener. After pressing the edge of the covers down if necessary, lay the jars on the side (instead of inverting, for strawberries) and turn over occasionally while cooling.

When perfectly cold, set jars upright and you will find the berries evenly distributed through the jars and they will never rise to the top.

Allowing the berries to stand in sugar and afterwards putting them into boiling syrup hardens them so that they keep their shape. It is better to heat just enough at once to fill each jar. You can have several dishes (milk crocks, granite, porcelain and aluminum kettles) on the stove at once at different stages of heating so that you can fill one jar after another.

This was my auntie’s method and I have never seen it excelled.

=Pineapple=

¼-⅓ cup sugar ½-1 tablespn. lemon juice ¾ cup water 1 pt. pineapple

Prepare pineapple as for fresh pineapple, put into stone jars or earthen vessels with layers of sugar; stand in ice box a few hours (not long enough to ferment), drain off the juice, add lemon juice and water, heat to boiling, add fruit. Let all just boil up, fill jars, seal as other fruits. The delicate flavor of pineapple is lost by long cooking.

Grated pineapple canned with ½ cup of sugar to the quart is suitable for ices and other uses.

=Rhubarb--cooked=

Put stewed rhubarb into jars as soon as it boils up well.

=Rhubarb Without Cooking--for pies=

A reliable method which gives the natural flavor.

Wash rhubarb and cut into inch pieces without peeling, pour boiling water over, drain at once, cool, pack in cans and fill with boiled, strained, ice-cold water. Seal cans, invert in cold place and cover from the light. Set upright after a few hours. To use, drain, let stand in fresh cold water ½ hour and drain again.

Cranberries may be canned in the same way.

=Watermelon Rind or Citron=

Pare off the thin green rind, cut into pieces 1 in. square, or into strips, stand in cold water for two or three hours, changing the water occasionally; drain thoroughly, make syrup of 1 pt. water to 1 or 1½ pt. sugar, according to the richness desired. (3 or 4 tablespns. of lemon juice may be used with the larger quantity of sugar). When syrup is boiling, add rind, simmer until pieces can be pierced easily with a broom straw, or until they are clear, put into jars and seal.

One part raisins to five or six of the rind gives a nice flavor. Or, orange flowers, rose leaves or rose water may be used, but the fruit is nice without any flavoring.

Green melons which did not have time to ripen before the frost, are excellent prepared in this way.

The rind may be steamed before putting it into the syrup, and less water used for the syrup.

=Concord Grapes=

2 qts. grapes ¾ cup sugar ½ cup water

Pulp the grapes, run skins through the food cutter and cook for 20 m. in the water. Boil pulp until tender and rub through colander to remove the seeds. Add pulp and sugar to skins, heat to boiling and put into jars. The juice may be strained from the pulp and used to cook the skins in.

=Barberries=

1 qt. berries 2 cups sugar ½-1 cup water

Very nice for garnishing fruit salads, desserts or cakes.

=Tomatoes=

Select only perfectly fresh, well ripened tomatoes, wash and drop into kettle of boiling water, remove with skimmer, drop into cold water, peel, leave whole or slice. Boil well and put into jars the same as other fruit. Long boiling frees the acid and takes away the fresh, delicate flavor. When tomatoes are very watery, drain off some of the liquid and can it separately for use in soups and broths.

=Tomatoes for Soups and Sauces=

Wash and slice tomatoes without peeling. Heat to boiling, rub through fine colander or sieve to remove skins and seeds. Reheat and put into jars.

=Whole Tomatoes=

Pack peeled or unpeeled tomatoes in wide-mouthed jars. Cook a few nice ripe tomatoes, strain and pour the liquid, cold, over tomatoes in jars, seal, set jars in cold water as in canning vegetables, bring slowly to boiling point and boil ½ hour. Remove from water, tighten covers and invert jars as usual.

FRUIT JUICES

Begin with the earliest fruits and can some of the juice of each kind through the summer until you come to grapes and apples in the autumn. When diluted with water, these juices are delightful beverages for sick or well. A little lemon juice gives character to the drink. Without diluting, they make nice flavorings for fruit salads, egg creams and pudding sauces. Blueberry, black raspberry and other sweet juices make excellent dressings for grains instead of milk or cream.

=Grape Juice=

Concords or some of the dark purple grapes are the richest and most satisfactory for juice. Pick the grapes from the stems, wash and drain, put into a preserving kettle without water, cover and put on back of stove on an asbestos pad or a ring so they will heat slowly. When the skins are broken and the juice is free, bring just to the boiling point, put into jelly bags and drain without squeezing. To each quart of juice add from ½ to 1 cup of sugar. Very ripe grapes will require no sugar. Heat to boiling and can the same as fruit.

Add more water to the pulp that is left in the jelly bag, reheat, strain, boil and put into large jars for a drink, or, rub the pulp through a colander, sweeten, heat and can for marmalade.

_To Bottle Juices_--Nearly fill bottles, standing on cloth wrung out of cold water, with boiling juice, through hot funnel. Press clean cork into bottle, cut off even with the top of the bottle and cover immediately with sealing wax made by melting together resin and oil. Use only enough oil to make the resin soft enough to spread over the cork and around the edges of the bottle. If too soft, the wax will run off.

=Condensed Fruit Juices=

Cook apple and other fruit juices rapidly until thick, then simmer slowly over the fire or in the oven until as thick as desired. Seal in jars or put into glasses or cups as jelly. Convenient for travelling, diluted.

APPLES

When apples are plentiful or likely to spoil, make into any of the apple sauces, put hot into jars and seal.

=Baked Apples=

Bake unpared apples, sweet or sour, in halves or quarters, leaving them rather juicy, put into jars and seal. On opening, put apples into oven in baking dish and dry out a little more.

=Combinations of Fruits for Canning=

Red or black raspberries with currant juice.

Red or black raspberries with cherries.

Plums with sweet apples.

Currants or currant juice with pineapple.

Orange, strawberry and pineapple juices with sugar, for strawberries and pineapple canned together, or for pineapple alone.

Strawberries with pineapple.

Pears and barberries. Cook barberries in water, rub through colander, add sugar, 1-1½ cup to the pint of pulp. Return to the fire and when hot, lay in halves or quarters of nice ripe pears. Cook until pears are tender. If the pears are not quite soft, steam, or cook in pulp without sugar first. Sweet apples may be used instead of pears.

JELLIES

Because of the large proportion of sugar required in jellies it is not best to use them freely.

Fruit for jelly should always be a little underripe and should not be picked just after a rain. Combine the juices of such fruits as do not jelly easily, or of the more expensive fruits, with apple juice which jellies the easiest of all. With strong flavored fruits, apple makes the jelly more agreeable. Jellies may be made in the winter of canned fruit juices and the juice from apple skins and cores. The addition of lemon juice to sweet fruits will convert them into jelly-making products. A few pieces of rose geranium leaves dropped into apple jelly just before putting it into glasses and removed in a minute, give the jelly a nice flavor.

Always boil the juice the required length of time before adding the sugar. It requires longer boiling on damp days.

Heat sugar in flat pan in oven before adding to jelly.