Clever Cranberry Combinations
By AM!\E LEll IS PIERCE
When pale-faced meals no longer appeal—remember that the Cranberry is Nature's “Rouge-Pot" for
Color in the Menu. Before this season's Cranberries become "off-the-market"—better decide at once
to fill up those sad, empty shelves in the preserve closet and enjoy these all-season berries while you may.
HERE were you last summer when it was
preserving time? At the seashore, perhaps,
or there was sickness just at the height of
currant time; or the heat was too great in
the kitchen, or perhaps you did “put up” so
successfully that the jars are all empty.
And now there is a stretch until fresh fruits and
vegetables are plentiful again, and if they are coming
it is from afar and you must pay their traveling ex
penses! Rut cranberries will fill up the empty shelves,
provide jams and jellies, and color, health
fnl acids and minerals to see you through
the Dietary Desert that lies between January
and March.
They say we are coming more and more
to eat with the eye instead of the palate.
Foods must look just right or we wop’t even
taste them. Now when wo want to put up a
signal to “Stop! I.ook! and Listen!’’ we make
it a red one. That’s just what Nature did
when she made the cranberry and painted it
red—the color of physical vitality. SCz she—
Ston! For and Annetizine Flavor
Look! For Your Eyes’ Pleasure
Listen! To our Health Talk
r.very woman Knows tnat she should not serve potatoes
and turnips and mafaroni all at the same meal with
white bread and a chicken pie, and a baked custard for
de««ert! Wouldn’t that be a horrible meal to face? And
they are all good foods, at that.
Rut suppose von have cream of tomato soup, not
roast with vegetables, macaroni and cheese (a golden
brown) cranberry sauce to balance the richness, and far
dessert, fruits (apples and grapes, iced Italian style),
with cheese and coffee.
If you find yourself committed to a palefaced meal
by force of circumstance you can redeem it by a cran
berry sauce with the dinner or acid jelly with blocks of
cream cheese and lettuce for the salad.
And how do you take your cranberry sauce?
Some want it sweet, some want it sour, and some
want it jellied clear and others thick and hearty.
Personally, the day that we met cranberries, preserv
ed, clear and whole and tender in a rich clear juice in
stead of all mashed up in a general stew, we felt it
marked an epoch in our acquaintance with this “winter
ruby of the bogs.” You know the difference between
just stewed apples and apples that are quartered and
cooked clear in a sugar syrup? Well, there is all that
difference and more between cranberries just stewed
end cranberries tenderly coddled for five minutes in a
hot sugar syrup.
After all this, here are the two ways of “saucing”
cranberries, and this being a free country we are obliged
to let you take your choice! If it were a soviet we
would shoot at dawn any one who cooked cranberries
any way but according to Rule No. 1. That’s the way
we fe<l about Rut t^re is no accounting for tastes!
Paragon Cranberry Sauce.
Dissolve two cups of sugar in two cups of boiling
water and boil them together for five minutes. Skim,
add a quart of cranberries and let them boil briskly,
floured board and roll thin before lining the tins. This
amount will make upper and lower crusts for one large
pie.
The By-Ways.
Serve your cranberry sauce hot with roasts like the
French compote (a few raisins in it will add to the oc
casion.) Serve it cold with cold meats. /
Serve it mixed with cream cheese for a sandwich fill
ing, between thin slices of Boston brown bread.
Serve it as a filling for criss cross pie by putting one
uriu one-naiL laoiospoons ot Hour to tnree
cups of sauce, and cooking in a plate lined
with pastry and stripped across the top (10
minutes in a hot oven and for 15 more at
a lower heat.)
For a shortcake: Beat the whites of 4
eggs unlil stiff and slowly beat in -3 cup of
sugar. Beat the four egg yolks until very
thick, put in Ms teaspoon of salt and add
to the sugar and whites. Gently' fold in *3
cup of flour and add Vi teaspoon of vanilla.
Bake the cake in two layers in a moderate
oven for half an hour. I’ut the cranberry
sauce between the layers and on top, with
bits of whipped cream.
Remember these desserts spell wholesomeness, need
ed minerals, acids that make the blood alkaline, strange
as it may seem, and that they add to our daily quota
of iron that we have such a time finding in our de
vitalized, overcivilized ration. Those who are trying to
lose weight may look on the pastry dessert when it is of
sugar. Cook the cranberries and water until the skins
of the fruit are all broken, then press through a sieve
and cook this pulp until it becomes quite thick; add the
sugar and cook for one-half hour over a very gentle
fire, stirring constantly. When slightly cool turn into
jars, and cover closely. This makes a delicious and
healthful spread on hot biscuits, bread or cake.
Cranberry and Raisin Marmalade.
1 quart cranberries
1 cup raisins
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
I’our water over cranberries. Cover the saucepan and
bring to a boil quickly. Mash w.th a wooden masher, a
Boil for three minutes. .Mash through a strainer. Add^
sugar and raisins cut in pieces. Boil slowly 30 minutes,
stirring often.
This is an excellent marmalade for winter days, and
especially for those whose preserve closet is not so well
stocked as usual. The raisins blend in very well with
a tartness of the cranberries and afford a decided change
from plain cranberry sauce. This amount makes two
tumblers of marmalade. •
These may be made as reeded as emergency products
or he put up by the provident housekeeper in half dozen
lots at least (increase the quatities given three times)
and stored to produce as needed.
Cranberry Conaerve.
To four cups of cranberries add one cup of cold wa
ter and bring to the boiling point. When the berries
“pop" rub them through a sieve. Add one cup of boil
cranberries with less fear than on
most last courses. And eaten halved,
raw, in fruit cups, and salads they
will give the eater real co-operation
in his “flesh-losing” struggle.
Here follows a conserve, a fruit
butter; a jelly and a marmalade
that will add distinction to your
menu, color and flavor to the lunch
box or the Sunday night tea; make
a cake filling or a spread for hot
toast or hot biscuit for breakfast.
Spiced Cranberry Apple Jelly.
This is a particularly good con
serve to serve W'ith a rich dish like
roast goose and it is very attrac
tive for service owing to its bright
color.
Heat together two cups of strain
ed apple juice and one cup of strain
ed cranberry juice, adding a spice
bag, containing six w’hole cloves,
An Advance Spring Tonic.
You won’t need ‘‘sulphur and
molasses” in the spring if cran
berries, apples and oranges, toma
toes and raw cabbage have played
a big part in your winter menu.
And the cranberries are reason
able in price and such a pleasant
dose to take! A real sugar coated
pink pill for pale people, put up
by Dame Nature instead of Lydia
I’inkham, and full of sound scien
tific healthfulness. Happily, the
raisrn with its iron and concern
trated sweetness is just the thing
to supplement the acid cranberry
for a conserve and give you a
perfect combination.
ing water, one cup of seeded raisins
(or the seedless variety,) 114 cups
of black walnuts or pecans chopped;
3 cups of sugar and 3 oranges (in
thin slices, quartered and the seeds
removed.) Cook slowly over a low
heat for 30 minutes. This will make
a rich, thick conserve, most delicious
for fowl or the afternoon tea sand
wich and it will keep perfectly.
Spiced Cranberries.
Cook to a syrup 3*4 pounds of
brown sugar, two cups of vinegar,
two tablespoons each of allspice and
cinnamon, and one tablespoon of j
ground cloves. Add 5 pounds of^F
cranberries and simmer slowly for
two hours. Store in covered stone
or glass jars.
Good with all your cold meat*
for supper? Well, rather.
half a nutmeg, three blades of mace and a broken stick
of cinnamon.
Boil for 20 minutes, remove the spice bag and mea
sure the juice. Add a cup of heated sugar for each
cup of boiled juice and cook until a little jells when tried
on a cold saucer. Pour into a large ornamental mold
or individual molds.
% Cranberry Butter.
Three quarts cranberries, one pint water, two pounds
When the Cranberry Jell*.
Cranberry jelly is one of the cheapest and easiest
of jellies to accomplish. Don’t make one little dab at a
time it keeps. Make up half a dozen passes as you
would of the more expensive grape or currant in their
season, ami have it ready for meats, cheese salad, or
tarts.
An Improvement on Pink I.emonade.
Always, apparently, we have longed to look on the drink
when it is red in the cup.
without stirring, for five
minutes or until they are
transparent.
Standard Sewed Cranberries.
Cook one quart of cran
berries in two cups of water
until the skins are all broken
(about twenty minutes.)
Add two cups of sugar and
simmer for five minutes long .
er. Chill well before serving
—the juiae may partly jelly.
If so mucn sugar is objection
able try adding a scant quar
ter teaspoon of salt for each
cup of berries, decreasing
the sugar one-quarter to one
half, according to one’s taste.
Especially is this a good sug
gestion when the sauce is to
be used for pies or puddings. m
This sauce may be strained
if desired, but skins and
seeds add to wholesomeness
and should preferably be re
tained.
Now having caught your
sauce—what to do with it?
Just as with the rabbit, you
can make an admirable pie
or tart, this time with mer
ingue or lattice work top.
You go to a hotel and ask
for the pastry tray with plea
surable anticipation, but you
Olay seldom make a tart for
home use and they are good.
Less apt to have a soggy
bottom crust than pie. Here
is a hot water pie crust that
provides quality and ease of
making. Try it, “oh ye of
little faith,” who have been
reared on having all your
pie-crust making materials
ice cold and see what hap
pens!
Never Fail Hot-Water Pie
Cruat.
2 Vz cups' flour
’i cup boiling water
'z cup shortening
Vt teaspoon baking pow
der
'!» teaspoon salt
i Preferably J/i cup butter
and V* cup lard)
Cream the shortening with
the water by adding the lat
ter only a bit at a time. Mix
the salt and baking powder
with the sifted flour, and
stir this into the butter and
water. Turn out upon a
*
Individuality for the Carrot
By ADELAIDE I TTEH
Separated From Their Affinities, (Ireen Peas and Cream Sauce, Carrots Shine
in New Guises and Flavors.
EARROTS, for some reason, are
not Rooked on'with much fa
vor and yet they are really de
licious and very wholesome, and
should be served much more fre
quently than they are.
There is a story of a woman
who took her young daughter to a
doctor. He looked her over and
told the mother to see that she
had carrots three times a day for
a month and then to bring the
girl back to him. At the end of
the month the mother and daugh
ter returned; the daughter. In
stead of being the bloodless, life
less thing that she was, now blos
somed like a rose. The doctor
was pleased to see such good re
sults come from his prescription.
The mother said: “Yes, doctor, I
did just as you said and gave her
carrots three times a day, ^and
they sure did bring her out.”
Now, not many of us would
care to have such a steady diet
of carrots as that, but there are
so many ways of preparing them
that we can have them often and
not tire of them. Of course,
creamed carrots and carrots ancl
peas are often brought to the
table, but suppose now you try
them in some of the following
ways, always remembering that
carrots should be cooked in as
little water as possible and that
they shotdd be boiled rapidly.
Carrot Saute.
Scrape and cook young carrots
in boiling salted water till ten
der. Cut in halves, lengthwise;
roll in cracker crumbs, then in
beaten egg and crumbs again, and
fry in butter till a golden brown.
Sprinkle with minced parsley and
serve very hot.
Caramel Carrot*.
Scrape and boil in salted water
until tender, cut in strips and roll
in sugar to which a little salt has
been added. Have butter very
hot, drop in the strips of carrot,
and as soon as the edges curl and
brown sprinkle with parsley and
serve.
Carrot Custard.
Scrape and clean half a dozen
medium-sized carrots, just cover
with salted water and boil till
tender, and the water is nearly,
all absorbed. Mash the carrots,
sweeten to taste (about three
tablespoons sugar), pour in about
a half cup milk with a tablespoon
of cornstarch to thicken, cook
rapidly, two minutes arid add
three well beaten eggs and a
tablespoon of butter. Mix' well
and flavor with one-quarter tea
spoon orange extract. Hake in a
slow oven until firm, turn on a
dish and serve with powdered
sugar and lemon.
Cnrrot Pie.
To two carrots boiled and
mashed add two tablespoons each
of cracker crumbs and butter,
one-half cup milk and the yolks
of three eggs, well beaten; sweet
en to taste, season with nutmeg
and bake in an open crust. Make
a meringue of the whites of the
eggs and three tablespoons of
sugar, flavor with orange, spread
on the pie and set in a cool oven
until puffed and a light brown.
Carrot Pudding.
Cream one-half cup chopped
suet; add one and one third cup
stale bread crumbs. 1! >it the
yolks of two eggs till very light,
add two thirds cup of brown
sugar; combine the mixture. Add
one-half cup grated carrot, one
half cup raisins, cut in pieces,
one-third cup currants, three
tablespoons flour mixed with one
half teaspoon ground cloves, one
fourth teaspoon grated nutmeg,
half a teaspoon cinnamon and a
little salt. Add grated rind of
one lemon, a half tablespoon of
vinegar and the whites of two
eggs beaten stiff. Put in a mold
and steam for two and a half
hours. Serve with a sauce.
(Editorial Note. The earrot is
one of our neglected blessings; eat
it when it is young and it is de
licious as well as wholesome. N’ot
only has it vitamine value hut it
is the best source of lime, next to
milk, and helps to preserve our
‘‘calcium balance,” which in these
days of overrefined foods is apt to
be a deficit. Its lime and its
vitamine value are tin* two counts
on which the preceding story
rests.
If young enough carrots are
good raw, really spicy and sweet;
try them. They may he grated
and added to a salad with profit.
If cooked you get the most benefit
by steaming them and serving
with hutler, pepper and salt; hut
cooked, for variety, still give you
benefit unless you boil them in
much water and throw the water
away.
“Sell” your child on eating car
rots. You can do it if you tell
him it will help to keep him out
of the dentist's chair and make
his bones and teeth and nerves
strong, provided you also buy the
carrots young enough and serve
them well.)
whether it be sparkling bur
gundy or circus lemonade.
Cranberry juice gives color
and flavor, both to beverages
without adding any suspicion
to them, and makes besides a
delightful frozen punch to •
serve with the meat or fowl
course or for dessert. Try
these recipes:
Cranberry Ice.
Co6k one quart of rran
berl'ies with one quart of wa- ,
ter until the berries are tpn- ^
der; strain through a fine
sieve; add two cups of sugar
and cook until this is thor
oughly dissolved. Cool, stir
in the juice of two lemons,
and freeze as you would a
water ice. A dessert for
six, is this, attractive in color
and flavor, to serve in sher
bet dishes with duck, fowl or
mast pork or veal outlets, or
for dessert, with a delicate
white raisin cake, after a
rather heavy dinner.
Cranberry Ade.
Cover cranberries with wa
ter, boil until soft, then strain
through a bag or fine sieve.
To each quart of juice add
one cup of sugar and just
bring to a boil. Bottle (add
ing pineapple juice to taste
if desired) and use as an ad
dition to fruit punehes of all
sorts, or if the pineapple is
added it may be served “just
so,” poured over cracked ice.
Cold Water Canning
Perhaps the best way to
get cranberry juice will be to
“cold can” your berries at the
time when they are best and
cheapest, ns you do rhubarb.
That is, sterilize a quart pre- I
serve jar (i. e., submerge it
in boiling water, open, for
6 minutes.) Wash the ber
ries carefully, fill the jar
with them, and then to over
flowing with pure cold water
(boil and cdol It If you are
not sure of the water supply.)
and seal as tightly as you
would preserves. Then your
fresh berries will be ready
any time for making juice for
drinks or for any other pur
pose, For the cranberries,
(t oniinurd on Page 111)