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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1918 



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y^ thoroly en- 

 j y work- 

 ing on my copy 

 for this depart- 

 ment. So many 

 readers have 

 said or written 

 such pleasant 

 things of Our 



Food Page that I have come to feel 

 that it is my opportunity to send a 

 message to thousands of friends 

 scattered not only over every part 

 of the United States but in many 

 distant parts of the world, for kind 

 letters have come from even far- 

 away Australia and New Zealand. 



But this month, for some reason, 

 writing was drudgery of the hardest kind. 

 The terrible influenza epidemic had east 

 such a shadow over our country that it was 

 hard to realize that the sun would ever shine 

 normally again, and I can never write when 

 I am nervous and depressed. 



This morning (Nov. 7) came the joyful 

 news that our State of Ohio has at last gone 

 dry. This afternoon, being unusually tired 

 after a morning's work in the kitchen, I 

 bathed and lay down near an open window 

 to rest a few minutes before finishing my 

 copy. Suddenly a whistle began to blow a 

 long, continuous blast. Other whistles and 

 bells took it up, and a locomotive shrieked 

 shrilly. I lay still and wondered why they 

 waited until afternoon to jubilate over the 

 dry victory. And then my fifteen-year-old 

 boy came in and told me the wonderful, un- 

 believable news, the news that the world had 

 been praying to hear for more than four 

 years. Even if the news was later officially 

 denied as premature, we can surely look for- 

 ward to a real Christmas with "peace on 

 earth, good will to men." 



We are often told that we are all crea- 

 tures of habit, but I never realized the 

 truth of it until this past year. There are 

 people who can apparently with better grace 

 give up their sons to fight than they can 

 change their habits of eating. And the 

 strange feature is that the sugar restrictions 

 seem to be harder to endure than any others. 



In midsummer, when the allowance of 

 sugar per person for a month was three 

 pounds, a housekeeper said to me: 



"I do not see of what use it is for you to 

 give out recipes for baking with the wheat 

 substitute flours when there is not enough 

 sugar for baking. I have not been able to 

 bake cake or cookies all summer. ' ' 



Later, when the sugar allowance was re- 

 duced to two pounds per person a month, 

 another housekeeper said to me: 



"I find we are actually buying more sugar 

 on the two-pound basis than we did when we 

 were free to buy all we wished." 



There you have the two extremes, and I 

 have quoted them because they are typical. 

 The first housekeeper had a family of five. 



OUR FOOD PAGE 



Stancy Puerden 



1 



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and when I ask- 

 ed her what she 

 did with that 15 

 pounds of sugar 

 which was her 

 due she replied: 

 ' ' We use it all 

 on the table in 

 tea and coffee 

 and on breakfast 

 cereal and fruit." 



The family of the other house- 

 keeper used almost no sugar on the 

 table and none in coffee and tea, 

 and consequently even on the two- 

 pound basis they could enjoy their 

 desserts as usual. 



One woman who kept a boarding- 

 house kept her boarders from using 

 their entire allowance on the table by the 

 following ingenious scheme: she placed a 

 jelly tumbler containing half a pound of 

 sugar at each boarder's place at the table, 

 calling his attention to the fact that the 

 amount in the glass was his whole allowance 

 for the week. Then she told the boarders 

 that the amount left in the glasses at the 

 end of the week, together with what sugar 

 substitutes she could buy, would be used in 

 making sweet desserts for the following 

 week, and they could easily see if they were 

 greedy with the sugar their desserts would 

 have to be extremely limited. 



An American, who has lived in Eussia for 

 the past 15 years, recently visited "The 

 Home of the Honey Bees." He is now 

 living in Cleveland, and being a lover of 

 honey came down to visit the ' ' sweetest 

 town on earth, ' ' as Medina is sometimes 

 called on account of the amount of honey 

 kept in stock here. He told of the way the 

 Russians have of sweetening their drinks. 

 He said they place a spoonful of sugar or 

 honey on the tongue and then drink the 

 coffee or tea. If they drink a cup of coffee 

 on the installment plan, as I do, they would 

 use at least six teaspoonfuls to each cup of 

 coffee. In that case a Russian hostess would 

 probably say to her guest, "Do you take 

 coffee with your honey, Mr. Blankski?" 



Recently a Gleanings reader said she wish- 

 ed I would give the equivalent in sugar for 

 the amount of honey called for in my recipes. 

 She is fond of honey on the table, but, as 

 her husband is neither a beekeeper nor a 

 millionaire, she does not feel justified in us- 

 ing it in baking. If housekeepers will bear 

 in mind that honey is approximately one- 

 fifth water, they can substitute sugar for 

 honey in any recipe. When you substitute 

 a cup of sugar for a cup of honey omit about 

 one-fifth of a cup of wetting. 



There, I enjoyed answering that question 

 because it afforded me an opportunity to 

 casually speak of sugar as a honey substitute 

 instead of the reverse. 



Speaking of honey in cooking, another 

 very pleasant subscriber, who recently called 

 at the Puerden home, said he had with dif- 

 ficulty persuaded his wife to try making pre- 



