616 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1917 



To prepare dried corn for the table, 

 soak it over night in a veiy little water ; 

 put it on to eook in the same water; brirg 

 it to a boil and simmer gently three quar- 

 ters of an hour, or until tender. The water 

 should be nearly absorbed when done. Do 

 not drain off any of the water or you will 

 waste half of the delicious flavor and much 

 of the food value. When done add a little 

 cream, or butter and milk, and season with 

 salt and a very little pepper. If you have 

 followed all these dii-eetions your dried corn 

 will be so sweet that you can hardly con- 

 vince visitors you have not sweetened it. 



Driers consisting of fine-mesh galvanized 

 wire cloth arranged one above another in a 

 framework of lath can be cheaply made at 

 home, and used hung above the kitchen 

 range. The electric fan may also be used 

 for drying some things, if one has the cur- 

 rent. I should expect to find corn all over 

 the room if I aimed an electric fan at it. 

 Driers may be used on radiators, and this is 

 the easiest method of all if the weather hap- 

 pens to be cold enough to necessitate heat, 

 which sometimes happens early in the fall. 

 String beans may be dried in much the 

 same way as corn. Prepare them as for 

 cooking and spread out to dry, or they 

 may be blanched — that is, plunged into 

 boiling water from six to ten minutes, 

 and then dried, after removing the sur- 

 face moisture between towels. Peas may 

 be shelled and dried, or dried after blanch- 

 ing three to five minutes. Lima beans, if 

 ripe, are shelled and dried very easily. 

 If desired gi'een, shell and blanch five to 

 ten minutes and then dry. It is well to 

 heat beans thoroly before storing, to kill 

 all insect eggs. Green peppers may be 

 dried after splitting and removing seeds, or 

 they may he steamed until tender and then 

 dried. 



Onions, leeks, cabbag?, cauliflower, and 

 all root vegetables have been successfully 

 dried, but there could be no object in dry- 

 ing these for home use if one has a reason- 

 ably cool storage place, as most country 

 people have. Pumpkins and squash may be 

 peeled, cut into one-fourth-ineh strips and 

 dried, or they may be cut thicker, blanched 

 three minutes, and then dried. 



Our grandmothers used to dry pumpkin 

 by cooking it and straining it, just as you 

 Avould prepare it for a pie, and then spread- 

 ing it in thin layers in trays and di-ying 

 it until tough and leathery. This was cut 

 into strips and packed away in jars, and I 

 know a man who thinks that pies made from 

 pumpkin dried in this way were better than 

 any modern pies, altho he is not the sort 

 of man who is forever praising his mother's 



cooking to his wife. This is one trouble 

 with this method. The pumpkin strips 

 will not keep well, not if the children have 

 access to the store room. 



Apples, pears, and quinces should be 

 peeled, cored, and sliced. Dip the slices 

 into a weak salt solution, 8 teaspoons of 

 salt to the gallon of water, to prevent dis- 

 coloration, and then dry until tough and 

 leathery, not hard. You may dry peaches 

 either peeled or unpeeled. They should be 

 cut in halves and the stones removed. Ber- 

 ries, plums, cherries, and apricots may also 

 be dried. Do not forget to condition all 

 dried foods in the way I described for corn. 



In storing your product it is well to have 

 it in rather small containers. Then if in- 

 sects should get a start they will not be so 

 apt to spoil a large amount. A cool dry 

 storage place is desirable ; and if you have 

 enough glass or tin containers your food will 

 be safer. Defective fruit-jars do nicely, 

 and most housekeepers have a supply of 

 empty coffee, baking-jjowder, or cocoa cans 

 as well as empty lard-pails. 



HONEY CINNAMON ROLLS. 



About 3 cups bread dough, measured af- 

 ter rising once ; 1-3 cup butter or oleomar- 

 garine; % cup extracted honey; Cinna- 

 mon to taste. 



Roll out the dough very thin, about % 

 inch. Spread it first with butter or oleo- 

 margarine and then generously with honey, 

 and sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up in 

 a long roll, cut across in pieces IV2 inches 

 thick with a sharp knife, and stand on the 

 cut ends in a well-oiled baking-pan, allow- 

 ing plenty of room to rise. Scrape up all 

 the honey which has oozed out on your 

 kneading-board in the process of cutting 

 and spread over the rolls. Allow them to 

 rise until double in bulk, and bake in a 

 moderate oven, watching carefully to pre- 

 vent scorching. When you ti'y this recipe 

 and get honey all over your hands, knife, 

 and bread-board you will undoubtedly de- 

 cide j^ou do not like Stancy Puerden at all; 

 but when your family sample the finished 

 product you may reverse your decision. 

 These rolls keep moist much longer than 

 those made with sugar. I once laid some so 

 successfully from my family that I forgot 

 them myself for a couple of days, and they 

 were moist and fresh-tasting. 



To vaiy the above recipe and make it 

 richer, sprinkle nut meats over the dough 

 before rolling it, or dot it with English cur- 

 rants. Also instead of bread dough you 

 may use baking-powder biscuit dough. In 

 the latter case, make it rather jjlain and 

 dry, as the honey softens it. 



