CANNED MINCE MEAT.
Mince meat for pies can be preserved for years if canned the same as fruit while _hot_, and put into gla.s.s jars and sealed perfectly tight, and set in a cool, dark place. One gla.s.s quart jar will hold enough to make two ordinary-sized pies, and in this way "mince pies" can be had in the middle of summer as well as in winter, and if the cans are sealed properly, the meat will be just as fine when opened as when first canned.
CANNED BOILED CIDER.
Boiled cider, in our grandmothers" time, was indispensable to the making of a good "mince pie," adding the proper flavor and richness, which cannot be subst.i.tuted by any other ingredient, and a gill of which being added to a rule of "fruit cake" makes it more moist, keeps longer, and is far superior to fruit cake made without it. Boiled cider is an article rarely found in the market, nowadays, but can be made by any one, with but little trouble and expense, using _sweet_ cider, shortly after it is made, and before fermentation takes place.
Place five quarts of _sweet_ cider in a porcelain-lined kettle over the fire, boil it slowly until reduced to one quart, carefully watching it that it does not burn; turn into gla.s.s jars while hot and seal tightly, the same as canned fruit. It is then ready to use any time of the year.
CANNED PUMPKIN.
Pumpkins or squash canned are far more convenient for ready use than those dried in the old-fashioned way.
Cut up pumpkin or squash into small pieces, first cutting off the peel; stew them until tender, add no seasoning; then mash them very fine with a potato masher. Have ready your cans, made hot, and then fill them with the hot pumpkin or squash, seal tight; place in a dark, cool closet.
PEACH b.u.t.tER.
Pare ripe peaches and put them in a preserving kettle, with sufficient water to boil them soft; then sift through a colander, removing the stones. To each quart of peaches put one and one-half pounds of sugar, and boil very slowly one hour. Stir often and do not let them burn.
Put in stone or gla.s.s jars, and keep in a cool place.
PEACHES DRIED WITH SUGAR.
Peel yellow peaches, cut them from the stone in one piece; allow two pounds of sugar to six pounds of fruit; make a syrup of three-quarters of a pound of sugar and a little water; put in the peaches, a few at a time, and let them cook gently until quite clear. Take them up carefully on a dish and set them in the sun to dry. Strew powdered sugar over them on all sides, a little at a time; if any syrup is left, remove to fresh dishes. When they are quite dry, lay them lightly in a jar with a little sugar sifted between the layers.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
COLORING FOR FRUIT, ETC.
RED OR PINK COLORING.
Take two cents" worth of cochineal. Lay it on a flat plate and bruise it with the blade of a knife. Put it into half a teacupful of alcohol.
Let it stand a quarter of an hour, and then filter it through fine muslin. Always ready for immediate use. Cork the bottle tight.
Strawberry or cranberry juice makes a fine coloring for frosting, sweet puddings and confectionery.
DEEP RED COLORING.
Take twenty grains of cochineal and fifteen grains of cream of tartar finely powdered; add to them a piece of alum the size of a cherry stone and boil them with a gill of soft water in an earthen vessel, slowly, for half an hour. Then strain it through muslin, and keep it tightly corked in a phial. If a little alcohol is added it will keep any length of time.
YELLOW COLORING.
Take a little saffron, put it into an earthen vessel with a very small quant.i.ty of cold, soft water, and let it steep till the color of the infusion is a bright yellow. Then strain it, add half alcohol to it.
To color fruit yellow, boil the fruit with fresh lemon skins in water to cover them until it is tender; then take it up, spread it on dishes to cool and finish as may be directed.
To color icing, put the grated peel of a lemon or orange in a thin muslin bag, squeezing a little juice through it, then mixing with the sugar.
GREEN COLORING.
Take fresh spinach or beet leaves and pound them in a marble mortar.
If you want it for immediate use, take off the green froth as it rises, and mix it with the article you intend to color. If you wish to keep it a few days, take the juice when you have pressed out a teacupful, and adding to it a piece of alum the size of a pea, give it a boil in a saucepan. Or make the juice very strong and add a quart of alcohol. Bottle it air-tight.
SUGAR GRAINS.
These are made by pounding white lump sugar in a mortar and shaking it through sieves of different degrees of coa.r.s.eness, thus acc.u.mulating grains of different sizes. They are used in ornamenting cake.
SUGAR GRAINS, COLORED.
Stir a little coloring--as the essence of spinach, or prepared cochineal, or liquid carmine, or indigo, rouge, saffron, etc.,--into the sugar grains made as above, until each grain is stained, then spread them on a baking-sheet and dry them in a warm place. They are used in ornamenting cake.
CARAMEL OR BURNT SUGAR.
Put one cupful of sugar and two teaspoonfuls of water in a saucepan on the fire; stir constantly until it is quite a dark color, then add a half cupful of water and a pinch of salt; let it boil a few minutes and when cold, bottle.
For coloring soups, sauces or gravies.
TO CLARIFY JELLY.
The white of egg is, perhaps, the best substance that can be employed in clarifying jelly, as well as some other fluids, for the reason that when alb.u.men (and the white of egg is nearly pure alb.u.men) is put into a liquid that is muddy, from substances suspended in it, on boiling coagulates in a flocculent manner, and, entangling with the impurities, rises with them to the surface as a sc.u.m, or sinks to the bottom, according to their weight.
CONFECTIONERY
In the making of confections the best _granulated_ or _loaf_ sugar should be used. (Beware of glucose mixed with sugar.) Sugar is boiled more or less, according to the kind of candy to be made, and it is necessary to understand the proper degree of sugar boiling to operate it successfully.
Occasionally sugar made into candies, "creams" or syrups, will need clarifying. The process is as follows: Beat up well the white of an egg with a cupful of cold water and pour it into a very clean iron or thick new tin saucepan, and put into the pan four cupfuls of sugar, mixed with a cupful of warm water. Put on the stove and heat _moderately_ until the sc.u.m rises. Remove the pan, and skim off the top, then place on the fire again until the sc.u.m rises again. Then remove as before, and so continue until no sc.u.m rises.
This recipe is good for brown or yellowish sugar; for soft, white sugars, half the white of an egg will do, and for refined or loaf sugar a quarter will do.
The quant.i.ties of sugar and water are the same in all cases. Loaf sugar will generally do for all candy-making without further clarification. Brown or yellow sugars are used for caramels, dark-colored cocoanut, taffy, and pulled mola.s.ses candies generally.