Chapter XXXI: Mary's Marriage (10)

Bartlett pears may be used, pared and cut in halves and core and seeds removed, or small sweet Seckel pears may be pared. Left whole, allow stems to remain, weigh, and to 7 pounds of either variety of pear take one pint of good cider vinegar, 3 pounds granulated sugar, a small cheese cloth bag containing several tablespoonfuls of whole cloves and the same amount of stick cinnamon, broken in pieces; all were placed in a preserving kettle and allowed to come to a boil. Then the pears were added and cooked until tender. The fruit will look clear when cooked sufficiently. Remove from the hot syrup with a perforated spoon. Fill pint glass jars with the fruit. Stand jars in a warm oven while boiling syrup until thick as honey. Pour over fruit, in jars, and seal while hot.

PEACH MARMALADE

Thinly pare ripe peaches. Cut in quarters and remove pits. Place peaches in a preserving kettle with 1/2 cup of water; heat slowly, stirring occasionally. When fruit has become tender mash not too fine and to every three pounds of peaches (weighed before being cooked) allow 1-1/2 pounds of granulated sugar. Cook sugar and fruit together about three-quarters of an hour, stirring frequently, until marmalade looks clear. Place in pint glass, air-tight jars. Aunt Sarah always preferred the "Morris White," a small, fine flavored, white peach, which ripened quite late in the fall, to any other variety from which to make preserves and marmalade.

AUNT SARAH'S GINGER PEARS

4 pounds of fruit. 2 lemons. 1/4 pound of ginger root. 4 pounds of sugar. 1 cup water.

Use a hard, solid pear, not over ripe. Pare and core the fruit and cut into thin slivers. Use juice of lemons and cut the lemon rind into long, thin strips. Place all together in preserving kettle and cook slowly one hour, or until the fruit looks clear. Should the juice of fruit not be thick as honey, remove fruit and cook syrup a short time, then add fruit to the syrup. When heated through, place in pint jars and seal. This quantity will fill four pint jars and is a delicious preserve.

PEAR AND PINEAPPLE MARMALADE

2 ripe pineapples, 4 quarts Kieffer pears. 4 pounds granulated sugar.

Both pears and pineapples should be pared and eyes removed from the latter. All the fruit should be run through food-chopper using all the juice from fruit. Mix sugar with fruit and juice and cook, stirring constantly until thick and clear. (Watch closely, as this scorches easily if allowed to stand a minute without stirring.) Pour into glass pint jars and seal while hot. Any variety of pear may be used, but a rather hard, solid pear is to be preferred. A recipe given Mary which she found delicious.

GRAPE BUTTER

Separate pulp and skins of grapes. Allow pulp to simmer until tender, then mash through a sieve and reject seeds. Add pulp to skins. Take 1/2 pound of sugar to one pound of fruit. Cook until thick, seal in air-tight jars.

CANNED SOUR CHERRIES FOR PIES

Pit cherries and cover with cold water and let stand over night. Drain in the morning. To 6 heaping cups of pitted cherries take 2 level cups of sugar, 1/2 cup water. Put all together into stew-pan on range, cook a short time, then add 1 teaspoonful of corn starch mixed with a little cold water and stir well through the cherries; let come to a boil, put in jars and seal. This quantity fills five pint jars. This is the way one country housekeeper taught Mary to can common _sour_ cherries for pies and she thought them fine.

CANDIED ORANGE PEEL

Cut orange peel in long, narrow strips, cover with cold water and boil 20 minutes. Pour off water, cover with cold water and boil another 20 minutes, then drain and take equal weight of peel and sugar. Let simmer 1 hour, then dip slices in granulated sugar. Stand aside to cool.

AUNT SARAH'S "CHERRY MARMALADE"

Pitted, red sour cherries were weighed, put through food-chopper, and to each pound of cherries and juice add 3/4 pound of granulated sugar. Cook about 25 minutes until syrup is thick and fruit looks clear. Fill marmalade pots, cover with parafine when cool, or use pint glass jars and seal. One is sure of fruit keeping if placed in air-tight jars.

AUNT SARAH'S QUINCE HONEY

Pour 1 quart of water, good measure, in an agate stew-pan on the range with three pounds of granulated sugar. When boiling add 3 large, grated quinces, after paring them. Grate all but the core of quinces. Boil from 20 to 25 minutes, until it looks clear. Pour into tumblers. When cold, cover and stand away until used.

PICKLED PEACHES

Twelve pounds of peaches, 1 quart of vinegar, 3 pounds brown sugar. Rub the fuzz from the peaches. Do not pare them. Stick half a dozen whole cloves in each peach. Add spices to taste, stick-cinnamon, whole doves and mace. Put spices in a small cheese cloth bag and do not remove the bag, containing spices, when putting away the peaches. Scald sugar, vinegar and spices together and pour over the peaches. Cover closely and stand away. Do this twice, one day between. The third time place all together in a preserving kettle. Cook a few minutes, then place fruit in jars, about three-quarters filled. Boil down the syrup until about one-quarter has boiled away, pour over the peaches, hot, and seal in air-tight jars. This is an old and very good recipe used by "Aunt Sarah" many years.

CURRANT JELLY

Always pick currants for jelly before they are "dead ripe," and never directly after a shower of rain. Wash and pick over and stem currants. Place in a preserving kettle five pounds of currants and 1/2 cup of water; stir until heated through then mash with a potato masher. Turn into a jelly bag, allow drip, and to every pint of currant juice add one pound of granulated sugar; return to preserving kettle. Boil twenty minutes, skim carefully, pour into jelly glasses. When cold cover tops of glasses with melted parafine.

PINEAPPLE HONEY

Pineapple honey was made in a similar manner to quince honey, using one large grated pineapple to one quart of cold water and three pounds of sugar. Boil 20 minutes.

PRESERVED PINEAPPLE

Pare the pineapples, run through a food chopper, weigh fruit, and to every pound of fruit add three-quarters of a pound of sugar. Mix sugar and fruit together and stand in a cool place over night. In the morning cook until fruit is tender and syrup clear; skim top of fruit carefully; fill jars and seal.

GRAPE CONSERVE

Wash and drain ten pounds of ripe grapes, separate the skins from the pulp, stew pulp until soft, mash through a sieve, reject seeds.

Place pulp and skins in a preserving kettle, add a half pound of seeded raisins and juice and pulp of 4 oranges. Measure and add to every quart of this 3/4 of a quart of sugar. Cook slowly, until the consistency of jam. A cup of coarsely-chopped walnut meats may be added, if liked, a few minutes before removing jam from the range. Fill pint jars and seal.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR RHUBARB JAM

Skin and cut enough rhubarb in half-inch pieces to weigh three pounds. Add 1/2 cup cold water and 2 pounds of granulated sugar, and the grated yellow rind and juice of 2 large oranges. Cook all together, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, a half hour, or until clear. This is a delicious jam.

APPLE SAUCE

When making apple sauce, cut good, tart apples in halves after paring them, cut out the cores, then cook, quickly as possible, in half enough boiling water to cover them. Cover the stew-pan closely. This causes them to cook more quickly, and not change color. Watch carefully that they do not scorch. When apples are tender, turn into sieve. Should the apples be quite juicy and the water drained from the apples measure a half pint, add a half pound of sugar, cook 15 or 20 minutes, until it jells, and you have a glass of clear, amber-colored jelly. Add 1 teaspoonful of butter and sugar to taste to the apple sauce, which has been mashed through the sieve. Apple sauce made thus should be almost the color of the apples before cooking. If the apple sauce is not liked thick, add some of the strained apple juice instead of making jelly; as some apples contain more juice than others.

RHUBARB MARMALADE (AS FRAU SCHMIDT MADE IT)

Cut rhubarb into small pieces, put in stew-pan with just enough water to prevent sticking fast. When cooked tender, mash fine with potato masher, and to three cups of rhubarb, measured before stewing, add 1 cup of granulated sugar, also 1 dozen almonds which had been blanched and cut as fine as possible, and stewed until tender, then added to hot rhubarb and sugar. Cook all together a short time. Serve either hot or cold. A large quantity may be canned for Winter use.

The addition of almonds gave the marmalade a delicious flavor A good marmalade may be made by adding the juice and thinly shaved outside peel of several lemons to rhubarb. Put all together in kettle on range with sugar. Cook over a slow fire until proper consistency. Turn into jars and leave uncovered until day following, when cover and seal air-tight.

GRAPE FRUIT MARMALADE

For this marmalade take 1 large grape fruit, 2 large oranges and 1 lemon. After thoroughly washing the outside of fruit, slice all as thinly as possible, rejecting the seeds. Measure and add three times as much water as you have fruit. Let all stand over night. The next morning boil 15 minutes, stand over night again, in a large bowl or agate preserving kettle. The next morning add 1 pound (scant measure) of sugar to each pint of the mixture and boil until it jells. This is delicious if you do not object to the slightly bitter taste of the grape fruit. Put in tumblers, cover closely with paraffin. This quantity should fill 22 tumblers, if a large grape fruit is used.

ORANGE MARMALADE

Slice whole oranges very thin and cut in short pieces after washing them. Save the seeds. To each pound of sliced oranges add 3 pints of cold water and let stand 24 hours. Then boil all together until the chipped rinds are tender. All the seeds should be put in a muslin bag and boiled with the oranges. Allow all to stand together until next day, then remove the bag of seeds, and to every pound of boiled fruit add a half pound of sugar. Boil continuously, stirring all the time, until the chips are quite clear and the syrup thick as honey on being dropped on a cold dish. The grated rind and juice of 2 lemons will improve the taste of marmalade if added at last boiling. When cooked sufficiently the marmalade should be clear. Pour at once into glass jars and cover closely.

CHERRY RELISH

After sour cherries have been pitted, weigh them and cover with vinegar and let stand 24 hours. Take from the vinegar and drain well, then put into stone crocks in layers, with sugar, allowing 1 pound of sugar to 1 pound of cherries. Stir twice each day for ten days, then fill air-tight jars and put away for Winter use. These are an excellent accompaniment to a roast of meat.

CANNED PEACHES

When canning peaches make a syrup composed of 1 cup of sugar to 2 cups of water.

Place in preserving kettle and when sugar has dissolved cook thinly pared peaches, either sliced or cut in halves, in the hot syrup until clear, watching closely that they do not cook too soft. Place carefully in glass jars, pour hot syrup over and seal in jars.

Aunt Sarah also, occasionally, used a wash-boiler in which to can fruit. She placed in it a rack made of small wooden strips to prevent the jars resting on the bottom of the boiler; filled the jars with uncooked fruit or vegetables, poured over the jars of fruit hot syrup and over the vegetables poured water, placed the jars, uncovered, in the boiler; water should cover about half the height of jars. Boil until contents of jars are cooked, add boiling syrup to fill fruit jars and screw the tops on tightly.

PEAR CONSERVE

Use 5 pounds of pears, not too soft or over-ripe, cut like dice. Cover with water and boil until tender, then add 5 pounds of sugar. Peel 2 oranges, cut in dice the night before using; let diced orange peel stand, covered with cold water until morning. Then cook until orange peel is tender. Add this to the juice and pulp of the two oranges. Add one pound of seeded raisins and cook all together until thick honey. Put in glass jars and seal.

LEMON HONEY

The juice of 3 lemons, mixed with 3 cups of sugar. Add 3 eggs, beating 1 in at a time. Add 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoonfuls of butter. Cook all together 20 minute, until thick as honey.

CANNED STRING BEANS

Aunt Sarah used no preservative when canning beans. She gathered the beans when quite small and tender, no thicker than an ordinary lead-pencil, washed them thoroughly, cut off ends and packed them into quart glass jars, filled to overflowing with cold water. Placed jar tops on lightly, and stood them in wash boiler in the bottom of which several boards had been placed. Filled wash boiler with luke warm water about two-thirds as high as tops of jars, cooked continuously three to four hours after water commenced to boil. Then carefully lifted jars from wash boiler, added boiling water to fill jars to overflowing, screwed on cover and let stand until perfectly cold, when give jar tops another turn with the hand when they should be air-tight. A good plan is to run the dull edge of a knife around the outer edge of the jar to be sure it fits close to the rubber, and will not admit air. Beans canned in this manner should keep indefinitely.

PRESERVED "GERMAN PRUNES" OR PLUMS

After washing fruit, piece each plum several times with a silver fork, if plums be preserved whole. This is not necessary if pits are removed. Weigh fruit and to each pound of plums take about 3/4 pound of granulated sugar. Place alternate layers of plums and sugar in a preserving kettle, stand on the back of range three or four hours, until sugar has dissolved, then draw kettle containing sugar and plums to front of range and boil 20 minutes. Remove scum which arises on top of boiling syrup. Place plums in glass jars, pour boiling syrup over and seal.

A good rule is about four pounds of sugar to five pounds of plums.

Should plums cook soft in less than 20 minutes, take from syrup with a perforated skimmer, place in jars and cook syrup until as thick as honey; then pour over fruit and seal up jars.

BUCKS COUNTY APPLE BUTTER

A genuine old-fashioned recipe for apple butter, as "Aunt Sarah" made it at the farm. A large kettle holding about five gallons was filled with sweet cider. This cider was boiled down to half the quantity. The apple butter was cooked over a wood fire, out of doors. The cider was usually boiled down the day before making the apple butter, as the whole process was quite a lengthy one. Fill the kettle holding the cider with apples, which should have been pared and cored the night before at what country folks call an "apple bee," the neighbors assisting to expedite the work. The apples should be put on to cook as early in the morning as possible and cooked slowly over not too hot a fire, being stirred constantly with a long-handled "stirrer" with small perforated piece of wood on one end. There is great danger of the apple butter burning if not carefully watched and constantly stirred. An extra pot of boiling cider was kept near, to add to the apple butter as the cider boiled away. If cooked slowly, a whole day or longer will be consumed in cooking. When the apple butter had almost finished cooking, about the last hour, sweeten to taste with sugar (brown sugar was frequently used). Spices destroy the true apple flavor, although Aunt Sarah used sassafras root, dug from the near-by woods, for flavoring her apple butter, and it was unexcelled. The apple butter, when cooked sufficiently, should be a dark rich color, and thick like marmalade, and the cider should not separate from it when a small quantity is tested on a saucer. An old recipe at the farm called for 32 gallons of cider to 8 buckets of cider apples, and to 40 gallons of apple butter 50 pounds of sugar were used. Pour the apple butter in small crocks used for this purpose. Cover the top of crocks with paper, place in dry, cool store-room, and the apple butter will keep several years. In olden times sweet apples were used for apple butter, boiled in sweet cider, then no sugar was necessary. Small brown, earthen pots were used to keep this apple butter in, it being only necessary to tie paper over the top. Dozens of these pots, filled with apple butter, might have been seen in Aunt Sarah's store-room at the farm at one time.

CANNED TOMATOES

When canning red tomatoes select those which ripen early in the season, as those which ripen later are usually not as sweet. Wash the tomatoes, pour scalding water over, allow them to stand a short time, when skins may be easily removed. Cut tomatoes in several pieces, place over fire in porcelain-lined preserving kettle and cook about 25 minutes, or until an orange-colored scum rises to the top. Fill perfectly clean sterilised jars with the hot tomatoes fill quickly before they cool. Place rubber and top on jar, and when jars have become perfectly cold (although they may, apparently, have been perfectly air-tight), the tops should be given another turn before standing away for the Winter; failing to do this has frequently been the cause of inexperienced housewives' ill success when canning tomatoes. Also run the dull edge of a knife blade carefully around the top of jar, pressing down the outer edge and causing it to fit more closely. Aunt Sarah seldom lost a jar of canned tomatoes, and they were as fine flavored as if freshly picked from the vines. She was very particular about using only new tops and rubbers for her jars when canning tomatoes. If the wise housewife takes these precautions, her canned tomatoes should keep indefinitely. Aunt Sarah allowed her jars of tomatoes to stand until the day following that on which the tomatoes were canned, to be positively sure they were cold, before giving the tops a final turn. Stand away in a dark closet.

EUCHERED PEACHES

Twelve pounds of pared peaches (do not remove pits), 6 pounds of sugar and 1 gill of vinegar boiled together a few minutes, drop peaches into this syrup and cook until heated through, when place peaches in air-tight jars, pour hot syrup over and seal.

AUNT SARAH'S METHOD OF CANNING CORN

Three quarts of sweet corn cut from the cob, 1 cup of sugar 3/4 cup of salt and 1 pint of cold water. Place these ingredients together in a large bowl; do this early in the morning and allow to stand until noon of the same day; then place all together in a preserving kettle on the range and cook twenty minutes. Fill glass jars which have been sterilized. The work of filling should be done as expeditiously as possible; be particular to have jar-tops screwed on tightly. When jars have become cool give tops another turn, to be positive they are air-tight before putting away for the Winter. When preparing this canned corn for the table, drain all liquid from the corn when taken from the can, pour cold water over and allow to stand a short time on the range until luke-warm. Drain and if not _too_ salt, add a small quantity of fresh water, cook a few minutes, season with butter, add a couple tablespoonfuls of sweet milk; serve when hot. This canned corn possesses the flavor of corn freshly cut from the cob. Sarah Landis had used this recipe for years and 'twas seldom she lost a can.

DRIED SWEET CORN

In season when ears of sweet corn are at their best for cooking purposes, boil double the quantity necessary for one meal, cut off kernels and carefully scrape remaining pulp from cob. Spread on agate pans, place in a hot oven a short time (watch closely) and allow it to remain in a cooled oven over night to dry. When perfectly dry place in bags for use later in the season.

When the housewife wishes to prepare dried corn for the table, one cup of the dried corn should be covered with cold water and allowed to stand until the following day, when place in a stew-pan on the range and simmer slowly several hours; add 1/2 teaspoonful of sugar, 1 tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper. This corn Aunt Sarah considered sweeter and more wholesome than canned corn and she said "No preservatives were used in keeping it."

When chestnuts were gathered in the fall of the year, at the farm, they were shelled as soon as gathered, then dried and stored away for use in the Winter. Aunt Sarah frequently cooked together an equal amount of chestnuts and dried corn; the combination was excellent. The chestnuts were soaked in cold water over night.

The brown skin of the chestnuts may be readily removed after being covered with boiling water a short time.

PRESERVED CHERRIES

Aunt Sarah's preserved cherries were fine, and this was her way of preparing them: She used 1 pound of granulated sugar to 1 quart of pitted cherries. She placed the pitted cherries on a large platter and sprinkled the sugar over them. She allowed them to stand several hours until the cherries and sugar formed a syrup on platter. She then put cherries, sugar and juice all together in a preserving kettle, set on range, and cooked 10 minutes. She then skimmed out the cherries and boiled the syrup 10 minutes longer, then returned the cherries to syrup. Let come to a boil. She then removed the kettle from the fire, spread all on a platter and let it stand in the hot sun two successive days, then put in glass air-tight jars or in tumblers and covered with paraffin. A combination of cherries and strawberries preserved together is fine, and, strange to say, the flavor of strawberries predominates.

A fine flavored preserve is also made from a combination of cherries and pineapple.

FROZEN DESSERTS--AUNT SARAH'S FROZEN "FRUIT CUSTARD"

One tablespoonful of granulated gelatine soaked in enough milk to cover. Place 2 cups of sugar and 3/4 cup of milk in a stew-pan on the range and boil until it spins a thread; that is, when a little of the syrup is a thread-like consistency when dripped from a spoon. Allow it to cool. Add dissolved gelatine and 1 quart of sweet cream. One box of strawberries, or the same amount of any fruit liked, may be added to the mixture; freeze as ordinary ice cream.

This dessert as prepared by Aunt Sarah was delicious as any ice cream and was used by her more frequently than any other recipe for a frozen dessert.

SHERBET

Frau Schmidt gave Mary this simple recipe for making any variety of sherbet:

2 cups of sugar, 1 tablespoonful of flour, mixed with the sugar and boiled with 1 quart of water; when cold, add 1 quart of any variety of fruit.

Freeze in same manner as when making ice cream.

ICE CREAM--A SIMPLE RECIPE GIVEN MARY

When preparing this ice cream Mary used the following: Three cups of cream and 1 cup of milk, 1 egg and 1 cup of pulverized sugar (were beaten together until light and creamy). This, with 1 teaspoonful of vanilla flavoring, was added to the milk and cream. The cream should be scalded in warm weather. The egg and sugar should then be added to the scalded milk and cream, stirring them well together. When the mixture has cooled, strain it into the can of the freezer. Three measures of cracked ice to one of salt should be used. The ice and salt, well-mixed, were packed around the freezer. The crank was turned very slowly the first ten minutes, until the mixture had thickened, when it was turned more rapidly until the mixture was frozen.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S ICE CREAM

This recipe for ice cream is simple and the ice cream is good. A boiled custard was prepared, consisting of 1 quart of milk, 4 eggs, between 3 and 4 cups of granulated sugar. When the custard coated the spoon she considered it cooked sufficiently. Removed from the fire. When cold she beat into the custard 1 quart of rich cream and 1 teaspoonful of vanilla, turned the mixture into the freezer, packed outside tub with ice and salt. It was frozen in the ordinary manner.

MAPLE PARFAIT

For this rich, frozen dessert Mary beat 4 eggs lightly, poured slowly over them 1 cup of hot maple syrup, cooked in a double boiler, stirring until very thick. She strained it, and when cold added 1 pint of cream. She beat all together, poured into a mold, packed the mold in ice and salt, and allowed it to stand 3 hours. This is a very rich frozen dessert, too rich to be served alone. It should be served with lemon sherbet or frozen custard with a lemon flavoring, as it is better served with a dessert less rich and sweet.

ICE CREAM MADE BY BEATING WITH PADDLE

This recipe for a delicious and easily prepared ice cream was given Mary by a friend living in Philadelphia and is not original. She found the ice cream excellent and after having tried the recipe used no other. A custard was made of 1 quart of scalded milk, 6 eggs, 3 cups of sugar. The eggs were beaten light, then sugar was added, then the hot milk was poured over and all beaten together. She put all in a double boiler and stirred about ten minutes, until thick and creamy. A small pinch of soda was added to prevent curdling. When the custard was perfectly cold she stirred in three cups of sweet, cold cream, flavored with either vanilla or almond flavoring, and beat all together five minutes, then turned the mixture into the freezer, packed well with pounded ice and coarse salt. She covered the freezer with the ice and salt and threw a heavy piece of old carpet or burlap over the freezer to exclude the air. She let it stand one hour, then carefully opened the can containing the cream, not allowing any salt to get in the can. With a long, thin-handled knife she scraped down the frozen custard from the sides of the freezer, and with a thin wooden paddle beat it hard and fast for about five minutes. This made the cream fine and smooth. Any fruit may now be added, and should be mixed in before the cream is covered. The cream should be beaten as quickly as possible and covered as soon as the fruit has been added. Aunt Sarah usually made peach ice cream when peaches were in season. Fine ripe peaches were pared and pitted, then finely mashed, 2 small cups of sugar being added to a pint of mashed peaches. She allowed the peach mixture to stand one hour before adding to the beaten cream. When the mashed peaches had been added to the cream, she fastened the lid and drained off part of the water in outer vessel, packed more ice and salt about the can in the freezer, placed a weight on top to hold it down, covered closely with a piece of old carpet to exclude the air, left it stand three or four hours. The beating was all the labor required. The dasher or crank was not turned at all when making the ice cream, and when frozen it was delicious.

Mary was told by her Aunt of a friend in a small town, with a reputation for serving delicious ice cream, who always made ice cream by beating with a paddle, instead of making it by turning a crank in a freezer.

AUNT SARAH'S RECIPE FOR FROZEN CUSTARD

One quart of rich, sweet milk, 2 tablespoons of corn starch, 4 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, small tablespoon of vanilla. Cook the milk in a double boiler, moisten corn starch with a little milk. Stir it into the hot milk until it begins to thicken. Beat sugar and eggs together until creamy, add to the hot milk, cook a minute, remove from fire, add the vanilla, and when cool freeze. Crush the ice into small pieces, for the finer the ice the quicker the custard will freeze, then mix the ice with a fourth of the quantity of coarse rock salt, about 10 pounds ice and 2 pounds salt will be required to pack sides and cover top of a four-quart freezer. Place can in tub, mix and fill in ice and salt around the can, turn the crank very slowly until the mixture is thoroughly chilled. Keep hole in top of tub open. When mixture is cold, turn steadily until it turns rather hard. When custard is frozen, take out inside paddle, close the freezer, run off the salt water, repack and allow to stand several hours. At the end of that time it is ready to serve.

PINEAPPLE CREAM

This is a delicious dessert, taught Mary by Aunt Sarah. She used 1 quart sweet cream, 1-1/2 cups sugar, beaten together. It was frozen in an ice cream freezer. She then pared and cut the eyes from one ripe pineapple and flaked the pineapple into small pieces with a silver fork, sprinkled sugar over and let it stand until sugar dissolved. She then stirred this into the frozen cream and added also the beaten white of one egg. Packed ice and salt around freezer and allowed it to stand several hours before using. Mary's Aunt always cooked pineapple or used canned pineapple with a rich syrup when adding fruit before the cream was frozen.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR PEACH CREAM

Mary made ice cream when peaches were plentiful; she used 1 quart of sweet cream, sweetened to taste (about 2 cups sugar) and 2 quarts of ripe peaches mashed and sweetened before adding to cream. Freeze in ordinary manner. If peaches were not fine flavored, she added a little almond flavoring.

LEMON SHERBET

This is the way Frau Schmidt taught Mary to make this dessert. She used for the purpose 1 quart of water, 5 lemons, 2 tablespoons gelatine, 2 large cups sugar. She soaked the gelatine in about 1 cup of water. She squeezed out the juice of lemons, rejecting seeds and pulp. She allowed a cup of water out of the quart to soak the gelatine. This mixture was put in an ice cream freezer and frozen.

FRAU SCHMIDT'S FROZEN CUSTARD

1-1/2 quarts milk. 2 cups sugar. 5 eggs. 2-1/2 tablespoonfuls of flour.

Scald the milk in a double boiler. Moisten flour (she preferred _flour_ to corn starch for this purpose) with a small quantity of cold milk, and stir into the scalded milk. Beat together egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy, then add the stiffly beaten whites of eggs and stir all into the boiling milk. Cool thoroughly, flavor with vanilla and freeze as you would ice cream. When partly frozen crushed strawberries or peaches may be added in season. A little more sugar should then be added to the fruit, making a dessert almost equal to ice cream. In Winter one cup of dried currants may be added, also one tablespoonful of sherry wine, if liked.

CARAMEL ICE CREAM

Scald one pint of sweet milk in a double boiler. Stir into it one cup of sugar and one rounded tablespoonful of flour, which had been mixed smoothly with a small quantity of the milk before scalding. Add two eggs which had been beaten together until light and creamy. At the same time the milk was being scalded, a fry-pan containing one cup of granulated sugar was placed on the range; this should be watched carefully, on account of its liability to scorch. When sugar has melted it will be brown in color and liquid, like molasses, and should then be thoroughly mixed with the foundation custard. Cook the whole mixture ten minutes and stand aside to cool; when perfectly cold add a pinch of salt, one quart of sweet cream, and freeze in the ordinary manner.

CHERRY SHERBET

Aunt Sarah taught Mary to prepare this cheap and easily made dessert of the various berries and fruits as they ripened. Currants, strawberries, raspberries and cherries were used. They were all delicious and quickly prepared. The ice for freezing was obtained from a near-by creamery. The cherries used for this were not the common, sour pie cherries, so plentiful usually on many "Bucks County Farms," but a fine, large, red cherry, not very sour. When about to prepare cherry sherbet, Mary placed over the fire a stew-pan containing 1 quart of boiling water and 1 pound of granulated sugar. Boiled this together 12 minutes. She added 1 tablespoonful of granulated gelatine which had been dissolved in a very little cold water. When the syrup had cooled, she added the juice of half a lemon and 1 quart of pitted cherries, mixed all together. Poured it in the ice cream freezer, packed around well with coarse salt and pounded ice. She used 1 part salt to 3 parts ice. She turned the crank slowly at first, allowed it to stand a few minutes, then increased the speed. When the mixture was firm she removed the dasher. She allowed the water to remain with the ice and salt, as the ice-cold water helped to freeze it. She filled in ice and salt around the can in the freezer and on top of the can; covered the top of the freezer with a piece of old carpet and allowed it to stand a couple of hours, when it was ready to serve. Almost any fruit or fruit juice, either fresh or canned, may be made into a delicious dessert by this rule.

One quart of boiling water and 1 pound of sugar boiled together to form a syrup, then add 1 quart of juice or fruit and juice to measure exactly one quart. Mix together according to directions and freeze.

GRAPE SHERBET

Grape sherbet was made in this manner: The grapes were washed, picked from the stems and placed in a stew-pan over the fire. When hot remove from the fire and mash with a potato-masher and strain through a jelly bag, as if preparing to make jelly. Boil together 1 pound of granulated sugar and 1 quart of water, about 12 minutes. While hot add 1 pint of grape juice and 1 teaspoonful of granulated gelatine, which had been dissolved in a very little cold water, to the hot syrup. When the mixture was partly frozen add the stiffly beaten white of 1 egg and 1 tablespoonful of pulverized sugar, beaten together. All were stirred together, covered and stood away until cold. Then placed in a freezer, iced as for ice cream, and frozen in the same manner as for cherry sherbet. The juice of all berries or fruits may be extracted in the same manner as that of grapes.

WINES AND SYRUPS--UNFERMENTED GRAPE JUICE

To 6 pounds of stemmed Concord grapes add 1 quart of water, allow them to simmer on range until grapes have become soft. Strain through a piece of cheese-cloth, being careful to press only the juice through, not the pulp of the grapes. Return the grape juice to the preserving kettle and add 3/4 of a pound of sugar. Allow the juice to just commence to boil, as cooking too long a time spoils the flavor of the juice. Bottle at once, while juice is hot. Bottles must be sterilized and air-tight if you expect grape juice to keep. Cover corks with sealing wax.

VINEGAR MADE FROM STRAWBERRIES

"Aunt Sarah" Landis possessed the very finest flavored vinegar for cooking purposes, and this is the way it was made. She having a very plentiful crop of fine strawberries one season, put 6 quarts of very ripe, mashed strawberries in a five-gallon crock, filled the crock with water, covered the top with cheese-cloth and allowed it to stand in a warm place about one week, when it was strained, poured into jugs and placed in the cellar, where it remained six months, perhaps longer, when it became very sharp and sour, and had very much the appearance of white wine with a particularly fine flavor. This was not used as a beverage, but as a substitute for cider in cooking.

BOILED CIDER FOR MINCE PIES

In Autumn, when cider was cheap and plentiful on the farm, 3 quarts of cider was boiled down to one, or, in this proportion, for use in mince meat during the Winter. A quantity prepared in this manner, poured while hot in air-tight jars, will keep indefinitely.

LEMON SYRUP

Boil two cups of granulated sugar and one cup of water together for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved, then add the juice of six well-scrubbed, medium-sized lemons; let come to a boil and add the grated yellow rind of three of the lemons. Be careful not to use any of the white skin of the lemons, which is bitter. Put in air-tight glass jars. This quantity fills one pint jar. A couple tablespoonfuls added to a tumbler partly filled with water and chipped ice makes a delicious and quickly prepared drink on a hot day.

EGG NOGG

Add to the stiffly beaten white of one egg the slightly beaten yolk of egg. Pour into glass tumbler, fill with cold sweet milk, sweeten with sugar to taste and a little grated nutmeg on top or a tablespoonful of good brandy. This is excellent for a person needing nourishment, and may be easily taken by those not able to take a raw egg in any other form. The egg nogg will be more easily digested if sipped slowly while eating a cracker or slice of crisply toasted bread.

ROSE WINE

Gather one quart of rose leaves, place in a bowl, pour over one quart of boiling water, let stand nine days, then strain, and to each quart of strained liquid add one pound of granulated sugar. Allow to stand until next day, when sugar will be dissolved. Pour into bottles, cork tightly, stand away for six months before using. Aunt Sarah had some which had been keeping two years and it was fine.

DANDELION WINE

Four good quarts of dandelion blossoms, four pounds of sugar, six oranges, five lemons. Wash dandelion blossoms and place them in an earthenware crock. Pour five quarts of boiling water over them and let stand 36 hours. Then strain through a muslin bag, squeezing out all moisture from dandelions. Put the strained juice in a deep stone crock or jug and add to it the grated rind and juice of the six oranges and five lemons. Tie a piece of cheese-cloth over the top of jug and stand it in a warm kitchen about one week, until it begins to ferment. Then stand away from stove in an outer kitchen or cooler place, not in the cellar, for three months. At the end of three months put in bottles. This is a clear, amber, almost colorless liquid. A pleasant drink of medicinal value. Aunt Sarah always used this recipe for making dandelion wine, but Mary preferred a recipe in which yeast was used, as the wine could be used a short time after making.

DANDELION WINE (MADE WITH YEAST)

Four quarts of dandelion blossoms. Pour over them four quarts of boiling water; let stand 24 hours, strain and add grated rind and juice of two oranges and two lemons, four pounds of granulated sugar and two tablespoonfuls of home-made yeast. Let stand one week, then strain and fill bottles.

GRAPE FRUIT PUNCH

Two cups of grape juice, 4 cups of water, 1-1/2 cups of sugar, juice of 3 lemons and 3 oranges, sliced oranges, bananas and pineapples. Serve the punch in sherbet glasses, garnished with Marachino cherries.

A SUBSTITUTE FOR MAPLE SYRUP

A very excellent substitute for maple syrup to serve on hot griddle cakes is prepared from 2 pounds of either brown or white sugar and 1-3/4 cups of water, in the following manner: Place the stew-pan containing sugar and water on the back part of range, until sugar dissolves, then boil from 10 to 15 minutes, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of honey. Remove from the range and add a few drops of vanilla or "mapleine" flavoring. A tiny pinch of cream of tartar, added when syrup commences to boil, prevents syrup granulating; too large a quantity of cream of tartar added to the syrup would cause it to have a sour taste.

SALTED ALMONDS OR PEANUTS

Blanch 2 pounds of shelled almonds or peanuts (the peanuts, of course, have been well roasted) by pouring 1 quart of boiling water over them. Allow them to stand a short time. Drain and pour cold water over them, when the skin may be easily removed. Place in a cool oven until dry and crisp. Put a small quantity of butter into a pan. When hot, throw in the nuts and stir for a few minutes, sprinkle a little salt over. Many young cooks do not know that salted peanuts are almost equally as good as salted almonds and cheaper. Peanuts should always be freshly roasted and crisp.

PEANUT BUTTER

When peanuts have been blanched, are cold, dry and crisp, run them through a food chopper. Do not use the _very finest_ cutter, as that makes a soft mass. Or they may be crushed with a rolling pin. Season with salt, spread on thinly-sliced, buttered bread. They make excellent sandwiches. Or run peanuts through food chopper which has an extra fine cutter especially for this purpose. The peanuts are then a thick, creamy mass. Thin this with a small quantity of olive oil, or melted butter, if preferred. Season with salt and you have "peanut butter," which, spread on slices of buttered bread, makes a delicious sandwich, and may frequently take the place of meat sandwiches. Nuts, when added to salads, bread or cake, add to their food value.

A CLUB SANDWICH

On a thinly-cut slice of toasted bread lay a crisp lettuce leaf and a thin slice of broiled bacon. On that a slice of cold, boiled chicken and a slice of ripe tomato. Place a spoonful of mayonnaise on the tomato, on this a slice of toasted bread. Always use stale bread for toast and if placed in a hot oven a minute before toasting it may be more quickly prepared.

CANDIES-WALNUT MOLASSES TAFFY

Place 2 cups of New Orleans molasses and 3/4 cup of brown sugar in a stew-pan on the range and cook; when partly finished cooking (this may be determined by a teaspoonful of the mixture forming a soft ball when dropped in water), add 1 tablespoonful of flour, moistened with a small quantity of water, and cook until a teaspoonful of the mixture becomes brittle when dropped in cold water; at this stage add 1 scant teaspoonful of baking soda (salaratus). Stir, then add 1 cup of coarsely chopped black walnut meats; stir all together thoroughly, and pour into buttered pans to become cool.

COCOANUT CREAMS

Grate 1 medium-sized cocoanut, place in a bowl, add 2 pounds of confectioners' sugar, mix with the cocoanut; then add the stiffly beaten white of 1 egg and 1 teaspoonful of vanilla; knead this as you would bread for 10 or 15 minutes. If the cocoanut is a large or a dry one, about 1/2 pound more sugar will be required. Shape the mixture into small balls, press halves of English walnut meats into each ball, or have them plain, if preferred. Stand aside in a cool place a half hour. Melt a half cake of Baker's unsweetened chocolate, add a half teaspoonful of paraffin, roll the small balls in this chocolate mixture until thoroughly coated. Place on waxed paper to dry. From the ingredients in this recipe was made 3 pounds of candy.

FUDGE (AS MADE BY MARY)

Two cups of granulated sugar, 1 cup of sweet milk, 1/4 cup of butter, 1/4 cake or 2 squares of Baker's unsweetened chocolate. Cook all together until when tried in water it forms a soft ball. Remove from fire, flavor with vanilla, beat until creamy, pour in buttered pan and when cooled cut in squares.

A DELICIOUS "CHOCOLATE CREAM" CANDY

Place in an agate stew-pan 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1 cup of sweet milk, butter size of an egg. Cook all together until it forms a soft ball when a small quantity is dropped into cold water. Then beat until creamy. Add a half a cup of any kind of chopped nut meats. Spread on an agate pie-tin and stand aside to cool.

For the top layer take 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup milk and butter size of an egg, 2 small squares of a cake of Baker's unsweetened chocolate. Cook together until it forms a soft ball in water. Beat until creamy. Add half a teaspoonful of vanilla, spread over top of first layer of candy and stand away until it hardens and is quite cold.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR MOLASSES TAFFY

Four tablespoonfuls New Orleans molasses, 9 tablespoonfuls sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls water, 2 teaspoonfuls butter, 1 teaspoonful vanilla. Boil all together until it becomes brittle when a small quantity is dropped in water. Pour the mixture into buttered pans and when cool enough to handle, pull with the hands until a light creamy yellow shade. Pull into long, thin strips, cut into small pieces with scissors. This taffy is fine if boiled a long enough time to become crisp and brittle, and you will be surprised at the quantity this small amount of sugar and molasses will make.

RECIPE FOR MAKING HARD SOAP WITHOUT BOILING

To make hard soap without boiling, empty a can of "Lewis Perfumed Lye" (or any other good, reliable brand of lye) into a stone jar with 1 tablespoonful powdered borax. Add 2-1/2 pints of cold water to the lye. Stir until dissolved. Be very careful not to allow any of the lye to touch hands or face. Wear old gloves when emptying can and stirring lye. Stand the dissolved lye in a cool place. The tin cans containing the fat to be used for soap (which have accumulated, been tried out, strained, and put in empty tin cans at different times) should be placed in the oven of range for a few minutes. When warm they may be turned out readily into a large stew-pan. Put over fire and when all has dissolved and melted, strain through cheese-cloth bag into an agate dish pan. When weighed you should 5-1/2 pounds of clear fat. A recipe telling exact quantity of fat and lye usually comes with can of lye. When temperature of fat is 120 degrees by your thermometer (luke-warm), the lye should have been allowed to stand about 1 hour from the time it was dissolved. It should then be the right temperature to mix with strained, luke-warm fat or grease not over 80 degrees by thermometer. Now slowly pour the dissolved lye over the fat (a half cup of ammonia added improves soap), stir together until lye and grease are thoroughly incorporated, and the mixture drops from the stirrer like honey. The soap may be scented by adding a few drops of oil of cloves, if liked. Stir the mixture with a small wooden paddle or stick. Stir slowly from 5 to 10 minutes, not longer, or the lye and fat may separate. Pour all into a large agate dish pan lined with a piece of clean muslin. Throw an old piece of carpet over the top and stand near the range until evening, when, if made early in the morning, a solid cake of soap, weighing 8-1/2 pounds, may be turned out on a bake-board (previously covered with brown paper) and cut into 20 pieces of good hard soap. Lay the pieces of soap in a basket, cover to protect from dust, and stand in a warm room to dry thoroughly before using. Soap made according to these directions should be solid and almost as white as ivory if the fat used has not been scorched.

This soap is excellent for scrubbing and laundry purposes. The greater length of time the soap is kept, the better it will become. The grease used may be clarified by adding water and cooking a short time. Stand away and when cool remove fat from top, wiping off any moisture that may appear. Soap-making is a _small economy_. Of course, the young housewife will not use for soap _any fat_ which could be utilized for frying, etc., but she will be surprised to find, when she once gets the saving habit, how quickly she will have the quantity of fat needed for a dollar's worth of soap by the small outlay of the price of a can of lye, not counting her work. The young, inexperienced housewife should be careful not to use too small a stew-pan in which to heat the fat, and should not, under any circumstance, leave the kitchen while the fat is on the range, as grave results might follow carelessness in this respect.

TO IMITATE CHESTNUT WOOD

Before painting the floor it was scrubbed thoroughly with the following: One-half cup of "household ammonia" added to four quarts of water. The floor, after being well scrubbed with this, was wiped up with pure, clean water and allowed to get perfectly dry before painting. For the ground color, or first coat of paint on the floor, after the cracks in floor had been filled with putty or filler, mix together five pounds of white lead, one pint of turpentine and about a fourth of a pound of yellow ochre, add 1 tablespoon of Japan dryer. This should make one quart of paint a light tan or straw color, with which paint the floor and allow it to dry twenty-four hours, when another coat of the same paint was given the floor and allowed to dry another twenty-four hours, then a graining color, light oak, was used. This was composed of one pint of turpentine, one teaspoon of graining color and two tablespoons of linseed oil, and 1 tablespoon of Japan dryer, all mixed together. This was about the color of coffee or chocolate. When the wood had been painted with this graining color, before drying, a fine graining comb was passed lightly over to imitate the grain of wood. This was allowed to dry twenty-four hours, when a coat of floor varnish was given. The room was allowed to dry thoroughly before using. The imitation of natural chestnut was excellent.

MEASURES AND WEIGHTS

When a recipe calls for one cup of anything, it means one even cup, holding one-half pint, or two gills.

One cup is equal to four wine glasses.

One wine glass is equal to four tablespoons of liquid, or one-quarter cup.

Two dessertspoonfuls equal one tablespoonful.

Six tablespoonfuls of liquid equal one gill.

Two tablespoonfuls dry measure equal one gill.

Two gills equal one cup.

Two cups, or four gills, equal one pint.

Four cups of flour weigh one pound and four cups of flour equal one quart.

One even cup of flour is four ounces.

Two cups (good measure) of granulated sugar weigh one pound and measure one pint.

Two cups butter equal one pound.

A pint of liquid equals one pound.

A cup of milk or water is 8 ounces.

Two tablespoonfuls liquid equal one ounce.

One salt spoonful is 1/4 teaspoonful.

Four tablespoonfuls equal one wine glass.

Piece of butter size of an egg equals two ounces, or two tablespoons.

A tablespoonful of butter melted means the butter should be first measured then melted.

One even tablespoonful of unmelted butter equals one ounce.

One tablespoonful sugar, good measure, equals one ounce.

Ordinary silver tablespoon was used for measuring, not a large mixing spoon.

COOKING SCHEDULE TO USE WITH THE OVEN THERMOMETER OF A GAS STOVE

_To Cook_-- _Cook for_--