Chapter III: Part 3

Press the juice from 3 oranges and shave off the rind, being careful not to get any of the white part. Remove blossoms and stems from 5 lbs. gooseberries, seed 2 lbs. of raisins, and chop all together very fine. Add 3-4 lbs. sugar and the orange juice and cook slowly for an hour. Turn into jars or tumblers and when cold spread a layer of powdered sugar on top of glass and seal.

=Mrs. Chandler’s Rhubarb Jam=

3 lbs. (3½ qts.) of rhubarb in inch lengths
1½ lb. (3 cups) sugar
½ lb. of figs or raisins, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup water

Let rhubarb and sugar stand together over night, add other ingredients and cook slowly for about 3 hours.

=Rhubarb and Pineapple Jam=

6 lbs. (7 qts.) rhubarb in inch lengths
1 large pineapple, grated
3 lbs. (3 pints) sugar

Cook rhubarb and sugar ½-¾ of an hour, add pineapple, boil up, put into jars, seal.

=Melrose Apple Butter=

7 lbs. pared, quartered and cored apples, 3 lbs. molasses sugar if obtainable, if not, dark brown sugar. Put apples and sugar in layers in a kettle, cover tight, let stand 12 hours or over night. Then let come just to boiling and simmer without stirring, or uncovering for 5-12 hours.

Apple juice made by boiling the skins of apples in ⅓ their bulk of water, as for jelly, with lemon juice to taste, is a valuable addition. Finely-ground coriander seed may be added. A little date or prune marmalade may also be used.

A delightful butter may be made by combining plums and apples.

=Elder-berry and Apple Butter=

To each 2 qts. of elder-berry juice prepared as for jelly take 2 lbs. brown sugar and ½ peck sour apples. Put juice and sugar on to boil and add the apples pared, quartered and cored; simmer slowly until thick. May be put into jelly glasses.

Equal quantities tomato and apple make a nice butter.

=Grape Marmalade=

Pulp the grapes and put the skins through the food cutter. Cook the pulp and rub through the colander to remove the seeds. Take ½-¾ as much sugar as there is of fruit, cook 20 m. The skins improve the flavor.

=Lemon Peaches=

1 cup lemon juice
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
peaches to fill 3 pint jars

Wash and rub the peaches well, drop into boiling syrup of lemon juice, sugar and water, cook until tender, put into jars and seal.

=Ripe Cucumber Pickles=

Pare and seed cucumbers and cut into eighths if large. Soak over night in lemon juice and water; in the morning drain, add to hot syrup and boil until soft; skim out of syrup and put into jars standing in hot water. Keep hot. Boil syrup 10-15 m., pour over fruit and seal; let stand three or four weeks before using.

_Syrup_--

3 cups brown sugar
3 cups lemon juice
1 cup water
½-1 tablespn. salt

Flavor with celery salt or seed, ground coriander or anise seed, and raisins to taste. (Use anise seed sparingly). The cucumbers may be steamed tender, put into jars and the reduced syrup poured over.

Watermelon rind may be prepared the same.

=To Dry Blueberries=

For buns, puddings and cakes.

1 qt. berries
⅓-½ cup sugar
1 teaspn. water

Mix, heat in preserving kettle until juice begins to exude. Spread on buttered plates, dry carefully, stirring often.

I prize this recipe highly, as all will, I am sure, after trying it. Cherries, peaches and pears are better with sugar sprinkled over them before drying.

Dried fruits make a pleasant change from canned ones, besides not requiring jars. Home-dried fruit far excels factory products.

TO CAN VEGETABLES

While vegetables require a little more care than fruit in canning, if they receive that care one will be rewarded with nice fresh canned vegetables, free from harmful preservatives, all through the winter.

In the first place, vegetables must be fresh, especially corn and peas. Corn gathered early in the morning ought to be in the cans and on the fire before noon, and peas the same day.

If one is alone with all the housework to do, it is better to put up a few jars at a time.

Always use new rubbers on jars in canning vegetables.

“Blanching”, in this connection, means a short boiling in a weak brine (¼ cup of salt to 3 qts. of water) and is used with vegetables to eliminate the acids which they contain.

Place the vegetables in a wire basket or a cloth bag and dip into the boiling brine, then into cold water.

Prepare nearly all vegetables as for the table, before blanching, (okra and corn are exceptions).

After blanching, pack as close as possible in jars. Fill jars to overflowing with water with or without salt, according to special directions; fasten covers on tight (do not be afraid the jars will burst), and set into a kettle or boiler with a board containing holes or with several thicknesses of cloth or with thin tin rings underneath. Surround jars ¾ their depth with water, cover the vessel close so that the steam will be retained, bring to the boiling point and boil rapidly and continuously the required length of time.

Use wrench for tightening covers of Mason jars during the cooking. If Lightning jars do not seem to be air-tight, thin bits of wood may be placed under the wires. With corn and peas, it is better to have the water deep enough to cover the jars, for boiling after tops are tightened.

Invert jars after removing from the water, cover to exclude light, cool.

Store in dark, rather cool place.

Use cold water to surround jars at first if contents are cold and warm water if contents are warm.

The length of time given is for cooking quart jars. ½-1 hour less will be required for pints and 1 hour more for 2 quarts.

_Asparagus_--Prepare asparagus as for the table; blanch tips 3 m., other parts 5 m., dip in cold water, pack in jars--the tips in one, the middle of the stalks in a second, and the inferior ends for soups, in a third.

Fill jars with cold water to which salt has been added in the proportion of 1 teaspn. to the quart.

Fasten covers and cook according to general directions for two hours, tighten covers and cook for one hour longer.

_Asparagus in Full Lengths_--Place stalks in jars, heads up, and pack as close as possible.

_To Use_--Open jar, add ½ teaspn. salt, set jar in cold or lukewarm water, heat to boiling, pour water off (save for soups), and draw stalks out carefully on to slices of prepared toast.

_Shelled Beans_--Follow directions for canning asparagus.

_String Beans_--Prepare as for the table or leave whole, blanch for 2 m., and follow directions for canning asparagus, using water without salt to fill the jars.

_Greens_--Narrow dock, milkweed, pigweed, purslane or spinach. Wash the greens thoroughly, drop into boiling salted water and leave just long enough to wilt. Remove from water with skimmer, pack into jars, cover with cold salted water and proceed as with other vegetables.

There are no vegetables that we enjoy more in winter than our “greens.”

_Okra_--Wash young tender okra, cut off stems and tops, blanch 10 m., dip in cold water, cut in transverse slices or leave whole, and finish the same as asparagus.

_Peas_--Blanch fresh-gathered, mature, but not old peas, for 5 m. (old for 8 m.), dip in cold water, proceed as for canning asparagus, using sugar, 1 teaspn. to quart of water if peas are not sweet. Boil 3-4 hrs. in all; 1 hr. after tightening covers, with water covering jars if possible.

_Corn_--Prepare fresh-gathered corn as for drying. Pack at once (filling all spaces) in clean jars to within an inch of the top, cover to the depth of a half inch with slightly salted water, fasten covers on as tight as possible, cook 3 or 4 hours, screw covers down again, cover jars with boiling water and boil for 1 hour longer. Remove boiler from fire and let jars cool in the water.

Ears of corn may be boiled in clear water 5 m. and dropped in cold water before removing kernels.

_Corn No. 2_--Prepare as in preceding recipe and cook for 1 hr. after the water is boiling; tighten covers, invert and leave until the next day. Cook for 1 hr. the second day and again the third day, that is, 1 hr. each for three consecutive days.

_Beets_--Boil small dark red beets for 30 m., drop into cold water and rub the skins off. Place in jars, cover with cold water, fasten covers, boil 1 hr., tighten covers and boil for 1 hr. longer.

_Mushrooms_--Pour boiling salted water over mushrooms and allow them to stand in a warm place until withered; cool, drain, pack close in jars and cover with the water in which they were standing; seal and cook 1½ hr. Tighten covers and cook ½ hr. longer. Invert jars until cool.

TO DRY VEGETABLES

_Corn_--Boil corn 2-5 m., score down the center of each row of grains with a sharp knife. With a large sharp knife cut off the thinnest possible layer from each two rows, then with a dull case-knife scrape out the pulp from the hulls on the cob. Mix pulp with that which was cut off, spread on plates or granite pans and dry in a warm oven, stirring often. If the oven is too warm, the corn will turn dark. Corn may be dried in the sun if it is hot, but must be brought in before the dew begins to fall and spread out in the house. It is better to dry a little at a time in the oven and have it out of the way in a few hours. With proper care it can be done in an afternoon.

When dry, put at once into dry clean jars and seal, or into paper sacks tied tight so that no insects can get at it.

With care to keep it from souring, the corn may be dried without cooking.

Any dried corn has a richer flavor than canned corn, but words are inadequate to express how rich and fine flavored the yellow sweet corn is when dried.

Corn for drying should be nice and tender; a little younger, if anything, than for cooking green.

Directions for cooking dried corn are among the vegetables.

_Shelled Beans_--Lima and all green beans may be dried after shelling by being spread out in a dry, airy place and stirred occasionally, and are quite different in flavor from dry, ripened beans.

_String Beans_--Cook beans until half done; drain, dry in sun, pack in paper bags, keep in cool place. To cook--soak over night, cook shorter time than usual.

_Mushrooms_--String mushroom caps, also stems, on a cord the same as apples, for drying, hang in sun and wind until just before the dew begins to fall and finish drying over the stove, or, dry entirely over the stove.

Put into dry, close covered jars or thick paper sacks. (May wrap in waxed paper before putting into sacks). Keep in dry place.

When first dried, mushrooms may be pulverized in a mortar and the powder put into clean, dry jars. It is delightful for flavoring soups and sauces.

=String Beans in Brine=

Put layer of salt 1 in. deep in bottom of stone jar or cask; then a layer of nice, tender string beans 3 in. deep; continue layers until cask is full. Cover beans with a board a little smaller around than the inside of the cask or jar and put a heavy stone on it so that the beans will be well covered with the brine. The beans may be put in at different times, but must be covered with the board from the first.

_To Cook_--Soak over night in cold water, changing the water several times in the early part of the evening. Cook the same as fresh beans, changing the water once or twice while cooking.

They are as nice and fresh as when picked.

=Corn in Brine=

Put layers of fresh picked corn, cut from the cob, in crock the same as string beans except that the layers of corn should be 1 to 2 in. deep only, and salt ½ in. deep. Have the top layer of salt, and thicker than the others and keep the corn well under the brine with a board and stone.

Soak over night for cooking, changing the water 2 or 3 times. Cook in unsalted water.

SOUPS

“The more liquid there is taken into the stomach with the meals, the more difficult it is for the food to digest, for the liquid must first be absorbed.”

Consequently, the most perfect hygiene in the use of soups, would call for a few sips only, at the beginning of the meal, which in some cases stimulates the flow of the digestive juices.

With a hearty dinner of other foods, a small portion of some light soup or broth should be served, while a legume soup a chowder or a purée may make the principal dish of the meal.

We seldom make a soup after a recipe. When we serve soups every day, we purposely cook more than is required for other dishes of such things as will make good ingredients for soups; or, if used occasionally only, we make soup at a time when there are left-overs that are suitable. We get better results from these combinations, both from the variety of flavors, and because, with few exceptions, reheating develops richer flavors in foods.

“Our Famous Soups” are some that we have made, at different times, after this plan.

Under the head of soups are classed, bouillons or consommés, bisques, purées and chowders; though some of them are not soups in the strictest sense. For instance, a chowder is often made of the consistency of a stew, with a small proportion of liquid, and, as Francatelli says, “a purée is a kind of pulpy maceration of legumes, vegetables, etc., which have been passed through a fine colander,” but both of these are sometimes made with a larger proportion of liquid and served as thick soups.

The word “bisque” means rich soup, so in using it we do not say “tomato bisque soup” because the word soup is comprehended in bisque.

Bouillons (_boo-yon´_ or _bool-yon´_) or consommés are broths.

Suggestions

Do not put everything through the colander, (celery and oyster plant, never). Mastication in connection with soups is an aid to their digestion as well as being more satisfying.

Use potatoes seldom in any but potato soups; potato water, not at all. The addition of potatoes to an otherwise wholesome soup might convert it into a fermentable combination: as well as to remove it from the dietary of those who cannot use starchy foods.

Cook turnips and carrots by themselves and drain before adding to soups. The flavor of turnip in soup is often disagreeable.

Utilize the food cutter in preparing vegetables for soups.

As a rule, use oyster plant in slices, ¼ in. thick in the largest part and a little thicker toward the end; but if desired fine, grind it before cooking. In this way it retains its characteristic flavor.

Often the best way to thicken a soup is to heat the flour in oil or butter (without browning) and add some of the hot soup to it as for gravy, so avoiding a scorched taste.

Dried mushrooms washed well, soaked 2 to 4 hours, simmered 5 m., cut fine and added, with their juice, give a fine flavor to many soups. Three or four small pieces are sufficient for 1½ to 2 qts. of soup.

Always keep a quantity of consommé or bouillon on hand, for soups or sauces, or to pour over hash, or chopped potatoes, or to moisten roasts.

Serve bouillon or consommé in cups with or without the beaten white of egg in teaspoonfuls on each.

Whipped cream may be added to bouillon just before serving or dropped by teaspoonfuls on the cups, with a leaf of parsley laid on each.

When soups are lacking in character, the addition of water and salt will develop a meaty flavor, relieving the “porridgy” taste.

Raw nut butter may be added to any of the combinations of vegetables in the proportion of 1 or 1½ tablespns. to each quart of soup.

The water drained from boiled peanuts may be used in place of raw nut butter, taking care not to use too much.

If you should have the thick nut stock, use not more than 2 tablespns. to each quart of soup.

Use herbs sparingly, some, such as mint and thyme, in minute quantities.

In putting corn through a colander, first crush the kernels in a pan or grind them through a food cutter, and put a very little into the colander at a time.

Use poor or top parts of stalks of celery, crushed, for flavoring soups.

Okra is a valuable addition to some soups, tomato soups especially. When using it, take about ¼ less water for the soup, and add from ¼-½ of a pint can to each pint of soup. Heat carefully and serve at once.

The water from spinach is an invaluable addition to vegetable soups, and with the addition of a little cream it alone makes a delightful broth. The water from nearly all greens is desirable in soups.

A little stewed asparagus adds very much to any vegetable soup or chowder.

If soup has thickened by standing, add water or milk before serving.

WATER SOUPS

=★ Nut Bouillon=

1½ tablespn. raw nut butter
3-4 tablespns. chopped onion
½ cup strained tomato
2-3½ teaspns. browned flour
1-1¼ teaspn. salt
1 qt. water

Rub the nut butter smooth with part of the water, simmer all ingredients together 1½-2 hrs., strain vegetables out, add water to make 1¼ qt., heat, serve.

_To Clear_--Add water for one quart only, cool, beat with the white and shell of one egg, set over a slow fire and stir often until the broth boils rapidly, then boil without stirring until it looks dark and clear below the scum. Let stand off the fire about 10 m., strain through 2 or 3 thicknesses of cheese cloth laid over a colander; pour through wire strainer on to the cheese cloth. Add more water if necessary after straining, to develop a meaty flavor. Reheat, serve.

=★ Vegetable Consommé=

With or without 2-3 tablespns. raw nut butter or soup stock.

1-2 large onions, sliced
¼ cup dried celery tops pressed down
2 large bay leaves
2 large tomatoes or ½-⅔ cup stewed tomato
¼ level teaspn. thyme
1 level tablespn. browned flour
2-3 cloves garlic, if desired
2½-3 teaspns. salt
2 qts. water

Cook together 1-2 hours, strain, add water to make 2 quarts, more salt if necessary, heat, serve.

=★ Vegetable Consommé, No. 2=

Omit browned flour and garlic in preceding recipe, substitute celery salt for celery tops, and add a trifle of sage.

=White Stock=

¼ cup raw nut butter or meal
1 large onion, sliced
1½ level teaspn. celery salt or seed
¼ level teaspn. powdered sage
⅛ level teaspn. thyme
1 medium bay leaf
1½-2 teaspns. salt
2-3 qts. water

Mix dry ingredients, add nut butter which has been stirred with water, simmer all together 1½-2 hours, strain, and add water to make 2½ pints, heat, serve.

=Dark Stock=

¼ cup raw nut butter or meal
1 medium bay leaf
1 level teaspn. celery salt
½ level teaspn. powdered sage
¼ level teaspn. thyme
1 level tablespn. salt
1 level tablespn. browned flour
1 cup sliced onion
1 clove garlic
2½ qts. water
½ cup strained tomato

Finish the same as white stock, leaving 2½ pts. of stock.

=Vegetable Stock=

¼ cup each beans and split peas
1 each medium onion and carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery or ¼ cup celery tops or ¼ teaspn. celery seed or salt
1-2 tablespns. chopped parsley
⅛ level teaspn. thyme
½ level teaspn. leaf sage or ¼ powdered
Salt

Simmer all together 3-4 hours; strain, serve. Parsley may be added after straining soup. Savory, marjoram and other herbs may be used, or the herbs may be omitted altogether.

Other legumes may be substituted for the ones given. Tomato or browned flour or both may be added. This stock is excellent for gravies and sauces. A thick soup may be made by rubbing the vegetables through the colander instead of straining them out.

=★ Cereal Bouillon=

2½ pts. nice fresh bran pressed down. 2½ qts. boiling water. Simmer together 2 hours or more; strain, add

1 pint strained tomato
1 bunch celery stalks, crushed
1 large onion, sliced
¼ teaspn. powdered mint in a muslin bag

Simmer together ½-1 hour, strain, salt to taste, heat, serve. This should make 2½ qts. of soup. Other flavorings maybe used.

In using the bran put up in packages, sift it and use only the coarse part.

=Tomato Broth=

1 qt. stewed tomato
1 onion, sliced
1 bay leaf
salt
1 pt. water

Simmer all together about 20 m., strain and add water for 1½ qt. of broth. Use plenty of salt. This broth may be cleared the same as bouillon, leaving 1 qt. only. 3 or 4 teaspoons of browned flour may be used.

=Legume Broths=

Cook beans, lentils or whole green peas, until the water looks rich, but not until the skins begin to break. Strain, making 1 pt. of broth from each pint of legumes. (The legumes remaining may be used for stews and soups). Add salt, heat and serve. These broths are very satisfying. They may be varied by adding different flavorings to legumes while cooking or to broths after straining. Tomato, celery, onion with or without browned flour, or thyme are suitable. Brown beans with onion have quite a different flavor from white beans with onion.

=★ Nut French Soup=

2 tablespns. raw nut butter
2 cups stewed tomato
6 cups water
½ tablespn. browned flour
½ large onion, sliced
1 large bay leaf
¼ teaspn. powdered sage
¼ teaspn. thyme
2½-3 teaspns. salt

Simmer ½-1 hour, strain, reheat, serve. An English woman in sampling this soup after I had made it up, remarked that it tasted like some of the French soups, hence its name.

=Egg Soup=

Add salt and butter to water, break eggs into a cup, one for each cup of water, leave whole and turn slowly into the rapidly boiling water, beating briskly with fork or wire whip until the egg is in white and yellow shreds. Boil up well and serve with crackers and celery. This is an emergency soup. Cream may be added to the water instead of butter, or part milk may be used.

=★ Nut and Barley Soup=

4 tablespns. raw nut butter
2 qts. water
2½ tablespns. coarse pearl barley
½ bay leaf
2 small sticks celery, or a few celery tops
2½-3 teaspns. salt

Cook barley and nut butter in part of the water for 3-5 hours. Add water to make 2 qts., with celery and bay leaf. Simmer from 15-20 m., no longer. Remove celery and bay leaf, serve. Bay leaf may be omitted.

=★ Cabbage and Tomato Soup=

Cook chopped or finely-shredded cabbage in boiling salted water until tender; add stewed tomatoes, simmer 15-20 m., add necessary salt and water, serve. Excellent.

=★ Celery and Tomato Soup=

Use stewed celery instead of cabbage in cabbage and tomato soup. A delightful combination.

=★ Savory Rice Soup=

4 tablespns. raw nut butter
2 qts. water
2½ tablespns. rice
1 teaspn. chopped onion
⅛-¼ teaspn. sage
2½ teaspns. salt

Blend nut butter and water. Heat to boiling, add rice, onion, sage and salt. Boil rapidly until rice is tender.

It may be necessary to add 1-2 cups of water after rice is cooked.

=Onion Soup=

Simmer sliced onions in butter without browning; add water, boiling, cook until onions are tender, thicken slightly with flour, rub through colander, add salt and a little browned flour, more water if necessary, and chopped parsley.

May cook raw nut butter with onion instead of using dairy butter.

=Split Peas and Onion Soup=

Split peas, water, salt, raw nut butter and onion, a little tomato sometimes. Cook all ingredients together until peas and onion are tender. Strain or not as preferred.

=Potato Soup with Onion or Celery=

Simmer chopped onion in oil or butter, add boiling water, potatoes cut in small pieces, and salt. Cook until potatoes are tender, add water to make of the right consistency, salt, and chopped parsley.

Serve with shelled nuts and croutons.

Finely-sliced celery may be cooked with the potatoes, and onions omitted.

=Vegetable Soup No. 1=

1 cup each carrot, turnip and parsnip in small pieces
2 cups each onion and celery
2 tablespns. raw nut butter
2 qts. boiling water
salt
½ cup rice

Cook all except rice for ½ hour, add rice and cook until it is tender; add 1 tablespn. parsley, more salt and water if necessary.

=Vegetable Soup No. 2=

Equal quantities carrot and turnip in small pieces, twice as much onion and celery, with raw nut butter and water. Cook until vegetables are tender; add salt and necessary water. In their season, asparagus, peas, and string beans may be added.

=Vegetable Soup No. 3=

Simmer sliced onions, celery or carrots and cabbage in water, with raw nut butter, until tender. Add browned flour, salt and necessary water; heat.

Mashed legumes may be used in place of nut butter in these vegetable soups. Or they may be made into cream soups by using milk instead of nut butter and water, with or without thickening. Chopped parsley may be used in any of them.

=Tomato Soup=

1 tablespn. oil or butter
2 tablespns. flour
1 teaspn. salt
1 pt. boiling water
1 qt. stewed tomatoes

Add flour to melted butter in saucepan, pour boiling water over, stirring, add tomatoes and salt. Boil up well.

Chopped onion may be simmered in the oil before adding flour.

=Nut Gumbo=

3-4 tablespns. raw nut butter
1⅔ qt. water
⅔ cup nutmese in small oblong pieces
⅓ cup trumese in small oblong pieces
⅔ pt. stewed or canned okra
⅔ cup finely-sliced celery, stewed
1 tablespn. rice, cooked
½ tablespn. chopped parsley
salt

Cook raw nut butter in part of the water, add other ingredients, heat well. Cooked noodles may be used instead of rice.

=★ Tampa Bay Soup=

1 tablespn. oil
1 tablespn. flour
½ tablespn. browned flour
1 cup boiling water
1 cup stewed tomato
3 tablespns. raw nut butter
1-1¼ qt. water
½ cup sliced okra
½ cup sliced onion
½ cup trumese in dice
¼ cup nutmese in dice
chopped parsley

Cook tomato, raw nut butter, the 1¼ qt. of water, okra and onion all together, rub through colander and add to sauce made with oil, browned and white flour and the 1 cup of water. Add salt and more water if necessary, and when boiling, the trumese and nutmese, with chopped parsley. Throw egg balls into the soup just before serving, or serve separately in each dish. Or, pass a dish of boiled rice with the soup.

=★ Mother’s Soup=

1 qt. clean wheat bran pressed down in the measure
3 qts. boiling water
2 large onions, sliced or chopped
¼ cup grated carrot
1 bay leaf
1-2 tablespns. browned flour
½ cup chopped turnip
⅛ teaspn. thyme
salt

Cook all except turnip and thyme together 1½-2 hours. About 20 m. before removing from the fire add the turnip, and in 10 m. the thyme; after another 10 m., strain, add salt and more water if necessary, heat.

When soup is boiling rapidly, turn in slowly, in a slender stream, batter for cream noodles, stirring constantly. Boil up well, remove from fire, serve at once.

3-4 tablespns. raw nut butter may be used for stock instead of bran, and 1½ teaspn. lemon juice added when soup is done.

=★ Bean Soup=

Put the beans into boiling water and cook rapidly until the skins begin to break, then simmer until tender and well dried out. The longer and more slowly the beans are cooked the richer the soup will be. Rub beans through colander, keeping them where they will remain hot during the process. Return to the fire, add boiling water and salt, and simmer for an hour. Stir well and serve.

There are three things essential to the perfection of bean soup: 1st., cook the beans without soaking or parboiling, 2nd., dry out well after they become tender, 3rd., do not let the beans or soup get cold at any time before serving. Warmed-over bean soup is very good, but there is a certain meaty flavor lost by cooling and reheating. Left-overs of bean soup, we usually combine with other ingredients. Brown beans and red make very rich soups, much better than black. One pint of beans will make about 3 qts. of soup.

=★ Chick Peas Soup=

Make the same as bean soup (except that peas require longer cooking), or cook in consommé. Very rich in flavor.

=★ Unstrained Bean Soup=

Cook nice tender white beans until partially cooked to pieces. Add salt, and water to make of the right consistency, and simmer slowly ½ hour or longer.

=★ Swiss Lentil Soup=

1 pint lentils
1 large onion
2-4 tablespns. browned flour
salt

Cook lentils and sliced onion together until lentils are tender and well dried out, rub through colander, add the browned flour and salt, with water to make of the right consistency. (There should be from 2½-3 qts. of soup). Heat ½-1 hour. This makes an unusually meaty-flavored soup.

The idea of combining onion and browned flour with lentils was given me by one who had spent some years among the French in Switzerland.

=Swiss Peas or Swiss Bean Soup=--May be made the same.

=★ Canadian Peas Soup=

Cook whole ripe peas with onion and a little garlic, rub through colander, add salt, a little browned flour and powdered sage, with water to make like a broth. Unusually good.

=★ Green Peas Soup=

Cook green peas until tender, put ¾ of them through the colander, add water and salt, boil up, thicken with a little flour and butter rubbed together, add the whole peas, heat to boiling and serve.

CREAM AND MILK SOUPS

Cream soups do not necessarily contain cream, though the addition of a little improves their flavor.

The simplest ones consist of milk thickened to the consistency of very thin cream, salt, and a vegetable or some other ingredient. If the vegetable is mashed, or is one that does not break to pieces easily, the milk may be added to it, and the whole brought to the boiling point and thickened. In a few exceptional cases the ingredient may be cooked in the milk; nice tender green corn, for instance.

A richer sauce is made by making a roux of 2 level tablespns. of butter, and 1-1½ level tablespn. flour, with a pint of milk, put together in the regular way for sauces; but you will be surprised to see how much better soups (with few exceptions) are without thickening, being free from the porridgy taste of those thickened a trifle too much.

A little cream with the water in which the vegetable was cooked often gives a finer flavored soup than milk and is no more expensive.

Sour cream makes a delightful as well as wholesome substitute for sweet cream in corn, cabbage, tomato, in fact, nearly all vegetable soups.

_The following is a list of soups in which the general directions are understood when no exceptions are noted. Salt is understood in all._

=★ Cream of Asparagus=--Cook tougher parts and rub through colander. Throw cooked tips in last unless desired for some other dish. The very toughest parts only make a nice, delicate flavored soup. This is one which favors cream and water instead of milk.

=Cream of Bean=--Lima, common white, or colored. Cook as for water bean soup, rub through colander or leave in broken pieces. Milk, or cream and water, no flour. 1 cup beans to 1½-2 qts. soup.

=Cream of Bouillon=--¼-½ cup cream salted and whipped, to each quart bouillon just before serving, either stirred in, or laid on top of each cup in spoonfuls with a leaf of parsley.

=★ Cream of Cabbage, or Celery and Tomato=--Cabbage or celery, and tomato soup, with a little heavy cream added.

=Cream of Carrot=--1 cup of ground or grated carrot, cooked, 3 pts. milk and water, 1½-2 tablespns. butter, 1¼ tablespn. flour; or, 1 cup strained tomato, ½-¾ cup cream, with water to make 3 pts., and no butter.

Without the tomato, soup may be flavored with onion or celery, and bay leaf, with chopped parsley.

=Cream of Celery=--1 pt. finely-sliced celery, stewed, milk and cream added to make 3 pts., 1-1½ tablespn. flour with or without 1 or 2 tablespns. of butter. Do not strain. When soup is thickened, crushed stalks of celery may be steeped in it for 15 m., then removed.

=★ Cream of Celery No. 2=--Steep leaves or poor stalks of celery in milk for 15 m., add cream and flour, or flour and butter, to make of the consistency of thin cream. Strain. May add a little celery salt.

=Cream of Chestnut=--Mashed boiled chestnuts, milk to thin, cream, plain or whipped, or, milk and butter. May be flavored with celery or onion or both.

=★ Cream of Corn=--1 pt. canned or grated corn to 3 pts. rich milk, 1 level tablespn. only, of flour, a very little salt. Do not let soup stand long before serving. A little onion improves the flavor. If fresh corn is used, the milk may be heated in a double boiler, the corn added and cooked 20-30 m., or it may be boiled in a small quantity of water 6-10 m. The cobs may be boiled in the water for 10 m. before and removed; or they may stand in the milk while it is heating and be removed before corn is added.

Fine fresh cracker meal gives a nice flavor to cream of corn soup when used instead of flour for thickening.

A very little strained tomato imparts a delightful flavor and makes a different soup.

=Cream of Dried Corn=--Soak corn, grind, add to hot milk, or cream and water. Heat in double boiler 1 hour, add salt, serve. If necessary, thicken a trifle.

=Cream of Dried Corn and Carrot=--Add cooked grated carrots to corn and milk in above recipe and heat. Delicious.

=Cream of Leek=--Boil sliced leeks to pulp or cook only until tender.

=Cream of Lentil=--1 cup lentils cooked and rubbed through colander. 1½-2 qts. soup. No flour. May flavor with celery and onion.

=Cream of Onion=--Cook sliced onions in salted water. Do not strain. Nice thickened with tapioca instead of flour.

=Cream of Oyster Plant=--Cook sliced oyster plant in water until just tender, not soft; add salt, simmer 5 m. Add cream and more water if necessary. Or, grind oyster plant before cooking. May thicken a trifle.

=Cream of Peas, dry=--Canadian, dried green, split or chick; 1 cup to 1½-2 qts. of soup. Cook, rub through colander; milk, or cream and water. No flour. Celery or onion flavor or not.

=Cream of Potato, or Sweet Potato=--1½-2 qts. of milk, or cream and water, for each pint of mashed potato. Flavor with onion, celery salt or bay leaf.

=Cream of Spinach=--Use a very small proportion of cooked spinach rubbed through a colander, with rich milk, or with cream and the water in which the spinach was boiled. Whipped cream may be added just before serving. Thicken with tapioca sometimes.

=Cream of String Beans=--Cook beans in small pieces, add rich milk, thicken with flour or tapioca.

=Cream of Succotash Soup=

Use 1 part of beans to 2 parts of corn; put either, neither or both through a colander; add rich milk and salt.

For variety, flavor the soup with celery or onion or both, and add a sprinkling of chopped parsley just before serving.

=Cream of Corn and Celery Soup=

Equal quantities cooked celery and corn, rich milk thickened a trifle if desired, salt.

=Cream of Corn and Peas Soup=

1 cup dried green peas
1 cup canned corn
2 or 3 stalks of celery
milk

Cook peas, rub through colander, corn also if preferred. Add milk to make of the right consistency. Put over fire in double boiler with salt and the stalks of celery crushed. Heat for 15 m., remove the celery and serve. 1 pint of canned green peas may be used instead of dried ones.

=Okra Soup with Cream=

1 pt. canned okra, vegetable consommé to make of the right consistency, ½-1 cup cream, salt. If the okra is in large pieces, cut smaller.

=Cream of Rice Soup=

½ cup rice
1½ teaspn. salt
1½ pint water
1¾ pt. milk
½ cup cream

Cook rice with salt and water in a double boiler or in a pan in the oven until the water is absorbed, add the milk hot, and cook stirring often, on top of stove or in double boiler till rice is soft and creamy. Add cream and more salt and water if necessary. Soup may be flavored with 2 teaspns. finely-chopped onion, a crushed half clove of garlic, or ⅛-¼ teaspn. sage, or with a bay leaf, or crushed stalks of celery. All milk may be used.

=★ Paris Onion Soup=

Cook sliced onion with browned flour in salted water until tender. Rub through colander, add cream or butter, milk and salt. Thicken a trifle, heat and add chopped parsley.

=Soup of Peas Pods=

Wash peas pods, stew 3 hours with a small sprig of mint. Rub through a coarse wire sieve (a few at a time) until nothing is left but the membrane. Add milk and butter, or cream and water, with a little flour to thicken if desired, then a few whole peas; season with salt.

=Split Peas Soup=

1 pt. split peas, 1 onion sliced; cook in water till soft. Add milk to make of the right consistency and salt to season. Good without onion.

=★ Peas and Tomato Soup=

1 cup dried green peas (2 cups after being cooked and mashed)
1¼ qt. water
2-4 cups tomato
½ cup cream
Salt

Cook peas and rub through colander, add water, tomato, cream and salt. Heat. Serve.

=Cream of Green (or canned) Peas Soup=

1 pt. stewed or canned, well matured green peas, 1-1½ qt. rich milk, salt. Heat peas, rub through colander, add hot milk gradually, stirring, then salt. Heat well, serve. If peas are not sweet, 2 teaspoons of sugar may be added. The soup may be thickened with 1 level tablespn. of flour. It also may be flavored with stalks of celery or slices of onion, for variety; but nice-flavored peas do not require any additional flavoring.

=★ Tomato Cream Soup=

1 qt. rich milk
1-1½ tablespn. flour
1 cup strained tomato
1 teaspn. salt

Heat milk, thicken with flour, add tomato, then salt; serve hot.

=Cream of Tomato Soup=

Same as Tomato Cream Soup, with 2½ cups of tomato instead of 1 cup, and 1½-2 teaspns. salt.

=★ Another=

1 tablespn. butter
1 level tablespn. flour
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1 cup strained tomato
⅔ teaspn. salt

Heat butter, add flour, then water, milk, tomato and salt, stirring smooth.

=Cream Broths=

Cauliflower, cabbage or spinach water, with a little cream, make delightful broths; also barley or rice water or juice of tomato.

=Brazil Nut Soup=

½ lb. (1 large cup) ground Brazil nut meats
1-1½ pt. water
1 cup chopped onion
1½ cup finely-sliced celery (crushed stalks of celery may be used)
2 cups milk
Salt

Cook ground nuts in the water for 2 hrs., add onion and celery, and cook 15 m., to ½ hr., add the milk, heat, strain, add salt and more milk or water if necessary, reheat. Other flavorings may be used.

This may be used as a white stock with or without the milk.

=Sister Cooley’s Brown Potato Soup=

1 pt. of potato, in small pieces, cooked, mashed and well beaten, 3 tablespns. butter and oil mixed, 4-6 tablespns. chopped onion, 2 or 3 teaspns. browned flour, 1½ teaspn. white flour, 3 cups milk, salt. Heat onion in oil, add flour and mashed potato, then milk and salt with a little chopped parsley. If too thick, add a little more milk or water.

=Sliced Potato Soup=

1 pt. of potato in thick slices, 1 medium sized onion chopped, salt. Cook until potatoes are tender but not soft; add 1 tablespn. butter, or 2-3 tablespns. cream with milk to make 1¼-1½ qt. of soup, salt, and chopped parsley. Finely-sliced celery may be used in place of onion.

For parsnip soup substitute parsnip for half or all of the potato.

=Vegetable Soup--Milk=

1½ tablespn. oil, or 2 tablespns. melted butter
4 tablespns. finely-sliced celery
2½ tablespns. chopped cabbage
2½ tablespns. chopped carrot
2 medium sized onions sliced thin
scant ½ cup stale bread crumbs
2 cups boiling water
1½ cup milk
salt
1 tablespn. parsley

Simmer, but do not brown, vegetables in oil 10-20 m., add boiling water and bread crumbs and cook till vegetables are very tender. Rub through colander or not as preferred. Add milk, salt and parsley. Reheat. If too thick add more milk or water. Soup may be thickened slightly with pastry or rice flour instead of crumbs.

=Mayflower Soup=

3 level tablespns (¼ cup) raw nut butter or meal
1 cup each tomato, onion and corn
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespn. butter
1-1½ tablespn. flour
1 qt. milk
salt
½ teaspn. celery salt

Cook nut butter, onion and garlic in salted water; when tender add tomato and corn; heat. Rub butter and flour together, pour hot milk over gradually, stirring. Boil up well, combine with vegetables, add salt and celery salt, and if necessary, water to thin.

A little cream may be used in place of butter, but the soup is excellent without either.

=★ Oyster Bay Soup=

1 qt. sliced oyster plant (about 20 roots, 3 bunches or less)
1-1½ pt. chopped cabbage
1 pt. milk
¼-½ pt. cream
1-1½ tablespn. flour
2-2½ teaspns. salt
½-1 teaspn. olive oil

Cook oyster plant in 1½ pt. water; when nearly tender, add salt. Cook cabbage till tender (20-25 m.), in so little water that it will be nearly dry when done. Add milk, heat, strain; add liquid from oyster plant. There should be 3 pts. of liquid in all. Boil, stir in flour rubbed smooth with the oil and part of the cold milk. Boil up well. Add cooked oyster plant. Heat. Do not make too thick. The flour may be omitted entirely. The oil may be cooked with the oyster plant.

=Milk Stew of Cabbage--White or Red=

1 pt. chopped cabbage
1 tablespn. chopped onion
1 pt. water
2 level tablespns. butter
1½ level tablespn. flour
1 pt. boiling milk
chopped parsley

Cook cabbage and onion in the water 20-25 m. leaving ½ pt. of liquid. Blend butter and flour and pour hot milk over; boil, add cooked cabbage and chopped parsley. Heat. Serve.

=Milk Stew of Oyster Plant=

Cook 1 qt. of sliced oyster plant in a small quantity of water. Add salt when nearly tender; drain, add rich milk to liquor to make 1 qt. Pour over oyster plant, heat, add salt. Turn into tureen containing ¼ cup heavy cream, or 1 tablespn. butter.

=Cream Stew of Oyster Plant=

Cook oyster plant in water and add heavy cream.

=Oyster Plant and Celery Soup=

Equal quantities sliced oyster plant and celery cooked; water, cream, with or without a little flour to thicken, salt.

=Oyster Plant and Corn Soup=

⅔ qt. (1 bunch) sliced oyster plant
¼ cup corn
3½ cups water
¾-1 tablespn. flour
½ cup cream, salt

Cook oyster plant, drain, add water to liquor to make 3½ cups. When boiling, thicken and add corn, oyster plant and cream, with salt. Heat, serve.

BISQUES

=Bisque of Corn=

1 pt. corn
2½ pts. water
1 tablespn. flour
1-1½ tablespn. butter
½-¾ cup cream, whipped

Heat butter, add flour, then hot water; stir into corn with salt; heat, turn over whipped cream in soup tureen and send to table at once.

Butter may be omitted, and the water thickened with flour.

=Bisque of Cucumber=

2 tablespns. raw nut butter
1 pt. water, salted
2 small onions, sliced
4 large cucumbers, grated
½-1 teaspn. celery salt
1 pt. rich milk
1 level tablespn. flour
¼-½ cup cream
salt

Cook onion in nut milk (made by blending raw nut butter and water) until tender, add the cucumbers and cook 5 m., add celery salt and milk, thicken with flour; rub through colander, add salt, milk or water to thin if necessary, and cream, whipped or plain. Serve immediately.

=★ Milk and Tomato Bisque=

1 pt. chopped cabbage
1 pt. milk
1 tablespn. butter
2 teaspns. flour
1 qt. stewed tomatoes, strained
1 tablespn. flour
½ cup cream
salt

Cook cabbage 20-25 m., in just enough water to cook it tender. Add milk, heat, strain. Heat butter and the 2 teaspns. of flour and add cabbage flavored milk.

Thicken tomato with 1 tablespn. of flour and add thickened milk just before serving. Add salt the last thing. Turn over whipped cream in soup tureen or serve the cream by teaspoonfuls on each plate of soup. Cream may be omitted.

Milk may be flavored with onion instead of cabbage, or not flavored at all, but the cabbage gives an exceptionally fine flavor to the combination. Equal quantities of milk and tomato may be used, or twice as much milk as tomato, remembering to thicken both milk and tomato (if all the flour is put into the milk it makes it too thick to blend well with the tomato), to combine just before serving, and to add the salt last.

=Milk and Tomato Bisque, with Eggs--Starchless=

1½ cup rich milk
½ cup water
½ tablespn. oil or melted butter
2 eggs
1 cup strained tomato
salt

Cook milk, water, oil and eggs the same as a boiled custard. Remove from fire, add the hot tomato gradually, stirring, then salt. Serve at once.

=★ Nut and Tomato Bisque=

⅓ cup roasted nut butter
1 cup rich strained tomato
3 cups water
salt

Stir butter smooth with tomato, add boiling water, heat and add plenty of salt. This soup requires no flavoring, but onion, garlic, mint, caraway, or a delicate flavoring of thyme, are all nice with it.

=★ Nut and Tomato Bisque No. 2=

2 tablespns. raw nut butter cooked in water ½ to 1 hr., instead of the roasted nut butter. Flavor with onion, garlic, or delicately with thyme, if desired.

=Bisque of Spinach=

2 qts. spinach
3 pts. milk
1-1½ tablespn. oil or melted butter
1½ tablespn. flour
1½ tablespn. chopped onion
1-3 stalks celery
¾ teaspn. celery salt
salt

Heat milk, onion and celery in double boiler for 20 m., strain, pour liquid over oil and flour heated (without browning) in saucepan; add salt and celery salt and turn on to spinach (which has been cooked and chopped fine or rubbed through a colander) gradually, stirring. Serve hot.

CHOWDERS

Many of the chowders are almost a “full meal” in themselves. I can think of no luncheon more delightful than a nut chowder with finger croutons, beaten biscuit or whole wheat wafers, with fruit or other not too rich, dessert.

Raw nut butter may be used in all these chowders in place of butter or oil, giving a meaty flavor.

A smaller proportion of liquid may be used when desired. The vegetable strainings left from a consommé, rubbed through the colander, make an excellent foundation for chowders.

=★ Seashore Chowder--Corn=

1 pt. to 1 qt. milk
1 pt. water
1 pt. corn grated or chopped
2-3 tablespns. oil or melted butter
5 small onions sliced
1 qt. potato in small pieces (not slices)

Heat oil (without browning) in kettle, add onions, simmer 10 m., then add the water, boiling, with salt and potatoes. Cook until potatoes are just tender, not soft; add the milk, hot, and then the corn. Heat to boiling and serve with crackers. When fresh grated corn is used, of course it should be cooked in a double boiler for 10-15 m. before adding to chowder.

The chowder may be thickened a trifle if the larger quantity of milk is used, but the smaller is the usual quantity. Sometimes only one-half as much potato as of corn is used.

Dried corn chopped after soaking makes an unusually fine chowder.

Water and cream are better than milk.

A little browned flour is thought by some to be an improvement.

Fine chopped trumese gives the chowder a little more of the seashore effect.

=Corn and Carrot Chowder--Unusually Fine=

1-1½ tablespn. oil or melted butter
1 medium onion, sliced
1 cup carrot in small, thin pieces
1 pt. water
¾-1 cup corn
2½-3 cups rich milk
salt

Heat onion and carrot in oil, add water, cook tender, add hot milk, and corn with salt. Heat.

½-¾ cup of tomato may be added for variety.

=★ Nut Chowder=

2-3 tablespns. raw nut butter
1 medium onion, sliced fine
½ cup carrot in small pieces (fancy shapes if convenient)
½ cup finely-sliced celery
1 cup stewed tomato
1 cup nutmese, shredded or in dice
½-1 cup trumese, shredded or in dice
2 hard boiled eggs, shredded parsley,
chopped or picked into small pieces
½-1 cup cream
water
salt

Rub nut butter smooth with water, add the tomato and more water; cook ½ hour. Cook together carrots and onion and add without draining to nut butter stock. Cook celery till perfectly tender and add with the water in which it was cooked; add salt, nutmese and trumese, eggs, parsley and cream, with more water if required. Let stand a few minutes and serve.

One cup of oyster plant with the water in which it was cooked is a great improvement. ½ cup of turnip in dice, cooked by itself and drained, and a few pieces of cooked red beet, in fancy shapes, may be added just as the chowder goes to the table.

=Potato and Onion or Celery Chowder=

2 tablespns. raw nut butter
1 pt. potato in small pieces
1 pt. water
2 or 3 onions, sliced

Rub nut butter smooth with water, heat to boiling, add salt and onions, cook 10 m., add potatoes and cook until tender. Finish with water and cream, or water alone. 1 cup finely-sliced celery may be cooked with the potato instead of the onion, and chopped parsley added at the last.

Nut butter may be omitted and cream used.

=★ Tomato Cream Chowder=

2-3 tablespns. oil or butter
2 large onions, sliced
1 pt. stewed tomato
1 pt. thin cream sauce
Salt

Simmer onion, carefully, in oil until tender, add tomato, heat and add cream sauce with necessary salt. Onion may be cooked in a small quantity of salted water and oil omitted.

Add stewed celery for Celery and Tomato Chowder.

=★ Oyster Plant Chowder=

1½ tablespn. oil or butter
1 large onion, sliced
1 pt. potato, in small pieces
1 pt. oyster plant, partly cooked
1½ pt. water (including that in which the oyster plant was cooked)
1½ pt. rich milk or thin cream
salt, crackers

Simmer onion in oil, add water, potato and oyster plant, with salt; cook; add hot milk and more salt if necessary. Pour over split or whole crackers in tureen.

=★ Another=

Leave out potato and use more oyster plant and onion.

=String Bean and Celery Chowder=

1 part cooked celery and 2 parts string beans with rich milk, thickened a trifle. Salt.

=Celery, Onion and Corn Chowder=

Equal parts celery and corn. Cook onion and celery in butter (or salted water only), add water, then milk and cream, corn and parsley. Heat. Serve.

=Rice and Vegetable Chowder (of things on hand)=

split peas soup
string beans
celery in tomato
tomato and okra soup
hard boiled eggs
boiled rice

Slice hard boiled eggs, mix all ingredients, heat and serve.

=★ Royal Vegetable Chowder=

a few mashed green or yellow split peas
carrot
onion
canned peas
canned asparagus tips
tomato
parsley
milk, a little
cream, a little

A little canned okra when convenient.

PURÉES

The term “purée,” as used in this connection, means a _thick soup_ of ingredients rubbed through a fine colander. Thicker purées of cooked nuts, fruits, legumes or vegetables are served as true meat dishes, entrées, side dishes or relishes, according to their nature.

=Almond Purée--small quantity=

Very nourishing and digestible for invalids.

Rub 2 tablespns. of almond butter smooth with 1-1⅓ cup of water. Just boil up over the fire (or cook in double boiler till thick), add salt, serve. The proportion of water may be varied

=Split Peas Purée=

1 cup split peas
3-4 tablespns. raw nut butter
½ large bay leaf
a few celery tops or ¼ teaspn. celery seed in piece of muslin
a pinch of sage
1 small onion, sliced
salt
water
1 tablespn. butter
½ tablespn. flour
1 teaspn. grated onion

Cook peas, raw nut butter, bay leaf, celery tops and onion all together in salted water, rub through colander, turn on to butter and flour which have been heated together (or the butter and flour may be rubbed together and stirred into the purée), add necessary water, salt, sage and the teaspoon of fresh grated onion; simmer for 5 m. Serve with strips of bread, or finger croutons. The teaspoon of onion at the last is very important.

=Purée of Potatoes=