Amidst the hullabuloo of last week, I forgot to share a section from the Woman's Exchange Cook Book. Criminal, I know.
But I'm going to rectify that now, by humbly presenting a chapter called "Fruit Sauces and Colorings for Same."
If you've been dying to cook some fruit, 1900's-style, this is the blog post for you.
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BOILED APPLES, SPICED: Take about 20 nice cooking apples, wipe them clean, and place them in a preserving kettle, with water enough to about half cover them; then add 2 cups sugar, one-half cup vinegar, and a dessert spoon of ground cinnamon. Cover closely, and let simmer over a slow fire until soft.
CIDER APPLE SAUCE: Cider is best boiled down to about one-third of the original quantity. To 5 quarts of quartered apples add 1 pint of boiled sour cider and 1 pint of water. Cover with a plate and cook on top of the stove one-half day.
DRIED APPLE SAUCE: Put 1 quart dried apples to soak. Let stand two hours. Pour off water; put in earthen vessel, cover with water. Boil slowly and add hot water as needed; when nearly done slice one lemon in, not allowing seeds to get in, and sweeten to taste.
BAKED PEARS: For this choose large sweet pears. Wipe them, but do not remove the stems. Stand them in an earthen baking dish, pour around them a cup of boiling water, add 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar, cover with another dish, and bake slowly until the pears are tender, basting three or four times with the liquor. When done, stand away to cool in the dish in which they were baked. When cold, lift them carefully into a pretty glass dish, pour the liquor over them, and serve with sugar and cream.
STEWED PRUNES: Wash the prunes through several cold waters, cover them with fresh cold water, and soak over night. Next day, turn them with the water into a porcelain lined kettle, sweeten to taste, and let them simmer very gently until tender. When done, remove them carefully with a skimmer and boil the syrup rapidly for ten minutes; then pour it over the prunes and stand away to cool. Dried peaches may be stewed in the same way.
CODDLED APPLES: Take tart apples of uniform size; cut in halves, remove the cores without breaking. Lay them in the bottom of a porcelain lined kettle, strew thickly with sugar, cover the bottom of the kettle with water, put on the lid, and allow the apples to steam on the back part of the stove until tender. Dish carefully without breaking; pour the syrup over them, and stand away to cool.
STEWED APPLES (MOTHER'S RECIPE): Peel, halve and core 6 large apples. Put in earthen vessel, cover with water, and 1 cup sugar, cover tightly and stew moderately slow. If cooked properly the halves will be perfect in shape. If you wish, grate a little nutmeg over them before serving.
STEWED PEARS: Pears may be stewed precisely the same as apples.
BLACKBERRY MUSH: Make the same as flummery, using three tablespoons of corn starch instead of two.
BAKED APPLES: Put good tart apples nicely washed in a pie tin and bake until done in a moderate oven.
BAKED QUINCES: Put whole ripe quinces in the oven in a pan and bake thoroughly. When done, remove the skins, place in a glass dish, sprinkle plentifully with sugar, and serve with cream.
STEWED DRIED BERRIES: Take 4 times the water you have of berries, bring to a boil, and then cook slowly till done. Add a little less sugar than berries taken. Half blackberries and half raspberries make a good sauce. Any other dried berries can be stewed in a similar manner.
STEWED RHUBARB: Wash the rhubarb, and cut it into pieces about one inch long. Do not peel. To every pound of rhubarb allow 1 pound sugar. Put the rhubarb into a porcelain lined or granite kettle, cover it with sugar, and stand it on the back part of the fire until the sugar melts; then bring it to boiling point without stirring. Then turn it carefully out to cool, and it is ready for use.
CRANBERRY SAUCE: One quart of cranberries, 2 cupfuls of sugar, and a pint of water. Wash the cranberries, then put them on the fire with the water, but in a covered saucepan. Let them simmer until each cranberry bursts open; then remove the cover of the saucepan, add the sugar, and let them all boil for twenty minutes without the cover. The cranberries must never be stirred from the time they are placed on the fire. This is an unfailing recipe for a most delicious preparation of cranberries.
APPLE GINGER (A DESSERT DISH): Two pounds of any kind of hard apples, 2 pounds of loaf sugar, one and one-half pints of water, 1 ounce of tincture of ginger. Boil the sugar and water until they form a rich syrup, adding the ginger when it boils up. Pare, core and cut the apples into pieces; dip them in cold water to preserve the color, and boil them in the syrup until transparent; but be careful not to let them break. Put the pieces of apples into jars, pour over the syrup, and carefully exclude the air, by well covering them. It will remain good for some time, if kept in a dry place. In many cases the juices of fruits will answer the purpose and give a good flavor.
COLORING ICE CREAMS: Green coloring, use juice of spinach or beet leaves. Vegetable green, already prepared, can be bought at the druggists.
Yellow coloring, saffron soaked in warm water.
Red coloring, take cochineal, which can be had at any druggists, or made as follows: One-quarter ounce cochineal, pounded finely and add one-half pint boiling water, one-half ounce cream of tartar, one-quarter ounce alum, and one-quarter ounce salt of tartar. Let it stand until the color is extracted, then strain and bottle.
Purple coloring, mix a small quantity of cochineal and ultramarine blue.
Brown coloring, use chocolate, grated.
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Somehow I don't think I'll be making any spinach-colored ice cream. But I just may have to coddle some apples. My favorite, of course, if the Blackberry Mush recipe... because everyone knows how to make flummery, for goodness sake.
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