School and Home Cooking Part 96

Cook the cranberries and water slowly, until soft. Force through a sieve, and add the sugar, lemon juice, and salt. When cool, freeze (see _Preparing and Packing the Freezer_ and _Freezing_).

Serve with roast chicken or turkey, or as a dessert.

QUESTIONS

What are the leavening materials used in Plum Pudding? Explain their action.

Why are raisins and currants sprinkled with flour before adding to the pudding?

How should pudding molds be prepared for pour batters (see _General Suggestions for Steamed Quick-bread Mixtures_)? If it is desired to use left-over steamed pudding, how should it be reheated?

What is the price per pound of suet? How much by weight is required to make one half cupful?

See Figure 63 and tabulate the percentage composition of beef suet and b.u.t.ter. Which contains the more fat?

How many persons does the Plum Pudding recipe serve?

How many persons does the Cranberry Frappe recipe serve?

LESSON III

CHRISTMAS SWEETS

THE USE OF CANDY IN DIET.--Candy is an energy-giving food, but, unfortunately perhaps, it is not (at all times) a most desirable energy- giving food. Sugar exists in candy in concentrated form. As stated previously, such sugar is irritating to the organs of digestion. Sugar is contained in large quant.i.ty in some fruits, especially in dried fruits, figs, dates, prunes, etc. These fruits are a much better source of sweets for children than is candy, because they do not contain as much sugar, and have, in addition, valuable food materials in the form of ash. (See Figures 92 and 94. Note the large quant.i.ty of carbohydrates and ash in raisins. Also note the large quant.i.ty of carbohydrates--which are in the form of sugar--in stick candy.)

Candy should never be used to excess or at the wrong time. A little eaten at the end of a meal is not harmful to the normal person. At that time the sugar is diluted because it is mixed with other foods. When diluted it does not irritate the digestive tract to the extent that it would if eaten between meals with no other foods. It is well to drink a generous quant.i.ty of water when eating candy or other sweets. Since mola.s.ses, honey, and maple sirup are not so concentrated as is sugar (see Figure 94), they are desirable sweets for children,--provided they are used moderately, at the right time, and are mixed with other foods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 94--THE COMPOSITION OF SUGAR AND SIMILAR FOODS (Revised edition)]

PARISIAN SWEETS

Chop equal parts of figs, dates, or raisins, and nuts together. Knead on a board dredged with confectioner's sugar, until well blended. Roll to 1/3 inch thickness, cut into cubes or rounds, and dip each piece in confectioner's sugar. Store in tin boxes.

STUFFED FRUITS

Cover _prunes_ with cold water, and let them soak for 30 minutes.

Then heat and cook at boiling temperature for 15 minutes. Now drain off the water and place prunes in the top part of a double boiler and cook over boiling water for 45 minutes. Or put the prunes in a tightly covered pan and place in the fireless cooker for several hours. Cool and remove the stones and fill the open s.p.a.ce with a nut or a mixture of chopped dates or raisins, figs, and nuts. Press the prunes into symmetrical shape, then roll them in fine granulated sugar. (The Parisian Sweet mixture may be used for stuffing prunes.) Prunes may also be stuffed with marshmallows. One half of a marshmallow should be inserted in each cooked and seeded prune.

_Dates_ stuffed with chopped nuts, peanut b.u.t.ter, or candied ginger are tasty sweets. They may be rolled in granulated sugar after stuffing.

DATE BARS

1 egg 1 cupful sugar 1 teaspoonful vanilla 1 cupful flour 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder 1/4 teaspoonful salt 3/4 cupful dates, seeded and cut into pieces 1 cupful nuts, chopped 1/2 cupful milk

Mix as Date Pudding. Turn into an oblong or square pan about 9 by 9 inches. Bake at 350 degrees F., for from 30 to 40 minutes. When sufficiently baked, remove from the pan and place on a cake cooler for a few minutes. Then cut the cake into halves, and cut each half into narrow strips about 1 inch wide and 4 1/2 inches long. Roll each strip in powdered sugar. Store in a tightly covered tin box. These cakes have a finer flavor after they have been stored for a few days.

Raisins may be subst.i.tuted for dates.

POP-CORN b.a.l.l.s

1 cupful mola.s.ses 1/4 teaspoonful baking soda 1 cupful corn sirup or sugar 1/2 teaspoonful salt

Mix the mola.s.ses and sirup or sugar and cook them to the crack stage. Then add the soda and salt and pour the mixture over popped corn,--about six quarts. Stir the corn while pouring the sirup. Let the sweetened corn stand a few minutes. Then dip the hands into cold water, shake off the water, and with the two hands press some corn into a ball. Repeat until all the corn is shaped into b.a.l.l.s.

QUESTIONS

Explain why Parisian Sweets and Stuffed Fruits are a more desirable sweet food than candy.

When is the best time to eat candy? Explain your answer.

Why are mints served at the close, rather than at the beginning of a meal?

Why is it advisable to drink a generous quant.i.ty of water when eating candy or sweets?

Compare the recipes for Date Pudding and Date Bars. Account for the greater quant.i.ty of flour, sugar, and milk in Date Bars.

Why is it necessary to dip the hands in cold water before shaping Pop-corn b.a.l.l.s?

LESSON IV

CHRISTMAS CANDY

SUGAR AND GLUCOSE.--Granulated sugar and glucose differ in taste and composition. Granulated sugar is crystalline in structure, while commercial glucose exists in the form of a heavy sirup, _i.e._ is non-crystalline in form.

In many candies, a creamy consistency is desired. This is not possible, if all the sugar of the candy exists in coa.r.s.e crystalline form. Hence in the making of candy from granulated sugar, it is desirable to add glucose or sirup to granulated sugar or to change some of the crystallized sugar to a sugar which crystallizes with difficulty, _i.e._ _invert sugar_.

This can be accomplished by boiling granulated sugar with acid.

Recent experimentation [Footnote 137: See Journal of Home Economics, February, 1919 (Vol. XI), p. 65, "Factors Influencing the Amount of Invert Sugar in Fondant," by Daniels and Cook.] with sugars, however, shows that the quant.i.ty of acid required varies with the degree of hardness or the alkalinity of the water,--the more alkaline the water, the greater the quant.i.ty of acid needed. This experimental work also shows that unless soft water is used in boiling sugar to which acid is added, more constant and satisfactory results may be secured by adding glucose rather than acid to sugar.

COOKING SIRUPS.--Sugar and water are boiled to different degrees of temperature for making different kinds of candy. The thicker the sirup, the higher the temperature. Tests for sirups of different consistencies are:

(_a_) Thread,--when dropped from a spoon, the sirup forms a thread about two inches long (230 degrees F.). [Footnote 138: These temperatures apply to sirups made from cane sugar. The addition of glucose to cane sugar lowers the temperatures of the sirups at the various stages. See Note to the Teacher, Lesson CXVI, regarding the use of the Fahrenheit scale of temperature.]

(_b_) Soft ball,--when dropped into cold water, the sirup forms a soft ball if rolled between the fingers (236 degrees F.).

(_c_) Hard ball,--when dropped into cold water, the sirup forms a firm ball (252 degrees F.).

(_d_) Crack,--when dropped into cold water, the sirup becomes brittle (270 degrees F.).

(_e_) Hard crack,--when dropped into cold water, the sirup becomes very hard and brittle (293 degrees F.).