Ski'tkmi'.ek. 1917 



G LEANINGS IN BEE C U L T U R E 



agr.'e with I lie (il'liccr who was nskeil wliat 

 the women cduld <lo tor the boys in eain[), 

 and replied, "Lfeaxe them alone." A man 

 is never too old \o a[)|)reeiate a littl ■ 

 mothei'ing', altlio he may be slow to admit 

 it, and many of the boys in the traininji- 

 eamps are so young'. 



In the limited space at my disposal 1 do 

 not intend to give full dir^ections for jelly- 

 making, but just mention a few points 

 wiiicli you may find ^leljiful in these times 

 of high prices. Jelly may be made very 

 largely of water. Cover the fruit with 

 water when you put it on to cook; and 

 after cooking it long enougli to soften so 

 the juice will start easily, turn it into a 

 jelly-bag and let it drip. Many articles on 

 jelly making advise cooking the fruit with 

 very little water, or even none at all. I 

 made twenty-four jars of finely flavored 

 jelly out of four scant quart boxes of cur- 

 rants this summer, and T did not squeeze the 

 jelly-bag either. After picking over and 

 washing the currants, not stemming them, I 

 covered them with water, boihd them until 

 they were soft, and then put them into the 

 jelly-bag to drain. After dripping had 

 stopped I put the fruit back into the ket- 

 tle, again covered it with water, boiled it 

 about thirty minutes slowly, and turned it 

 into the bag again to drain. Altho I 

 marked the jelly made from the second 

 boiling as inferior, it did not seem to be. 

 either in flavor or aj^pearance. After a 

 part of the j'lice has dripped thru the bag 

 it is well to start making the jelly, for it is 

 much easier to cook down a few glasses at a 

 time than to boil down the whole amount. 

 The old way was to boil the juice twenty 

 minutiS before adding an' equal amount of 

 hot sugar, measured before the juice had 

 been reduced by boiling, and then boiling 

 ten minutes more, or until it jellied. You 

 will find you can make jelly of better quality 

 by adding the heated sugar soon after the 

 juice starts to boil. More time is given for 

 the inversion of the sugar by the acids of 

 the fruit, and there is 1 ss danger of crystal- 

 lization. Also you may safely reduce the 

 amount of sugar. Three quarters of a cup of 

 sug'ar for every cup of juice is ample in 

 most cases, unless you prefer a very swset 

 jelly. Cook the jelly rapidly, as long slow 

 cooking tends to darken the product, and 

 there is danger of destroying the pectin, 

 the substance necessary for jelly-making. 



One of the most reliable tests to deter- 

 mine when the jelly is sutihciently cooked is 

 to take up a spoonful, cool it slightly, and 

 then let it drip from the sid? of the spoon. 

 If it leaves the s])oon in several drops in- 

 stead of one, or in a thin sheet, it will 

 probably make a jelly of the desired firm- 



ness. A littl,^ ])ractiee will enable you to 

 get it just rigid. Skim it and pour it into 

 liot stei'ilized glasses. Save the skimmings 

 foi- the children to eat on their bread. They 

 like it better than jelly itself. Cover the 

 jelly wlien cold with melted paraffin, tip- 

 ])ing tlie glass so tiiat it comes up a little 

 on the side. 



Currants, cral)ai)ples, tart apples, 

 oranges, and grapes aie better suited to 

 making a natuial fruit jelly than others. 

 Quinces are rich in pectin, but lacking in 

 acid, and better jelly results if they are 

 combined with api)les or a small amount of 

 lemon juice. Peachss, strawberries, and 

 cherries ai'e deficient in pectin, but jellies 

 may be made from these fruits by combin- 

 ing with them fruits which are rich in 

 pectin. Also by combining apples with 

 more expensive fruits you may materially 

 reduce the cost of your jelly without injur- 

 ing its Cjuality. 



Here is a recipe for a rich conserve which 

 is fine for swe;t sandwiches, as a cake fill- 

 ing, or to spread between halves of lady 

 fingers : 



GRAPE CONSERVE. 



Three pints grapes ; 2% pints granulated sugar: 

 2 wiiole oranges ground, rejecting seeds ; 1 cup 

 English walnuts. 



Pulp grapes and put pulp to cook until 

 seeds are loosened, and then strain. Put 

 skins and pulp together, add sugar and 

 orangss ground fine, and boil about twenty- 

 five minutes. Just before removing from 

 the fire add broken nut meats and cook 

 slightly. Pour into jelly-glasses and cover 

 with melted paraffin when cool. Try this 

 same conserve with peaches cut small in- 

 stead of grapes, and for variety you may 

 add half a cup of raisins cut small. 



I always dreaded catchup-making until a 

 friend gave me this recipe. The thickening 

 shortens that last tedious hour of l)oiling 

 when it is so apt to burn. 



TOMATO CATCHUP. 



Half a bushel tomatoes cooked and sifted; 8 

 onions chopped fine; 3 green sweet peppers chopp?d 

 fine omitting seeds; 1 ^/^ pounds l:rown sugar; 5 or f5 

 tablespoons salt; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 

 teaspoon ground cloves: 1 teaspoon lilack pepper; 

 2 pints vinegar; i/i cup flour. 



The onions and sweet peppers may be put 

 thru a food-chopper, and, together with the 

 sugar and most of the vinegar, should be 

 added to the tomato pulp when it is partly 

 cooked down. AVhen nearly thick enough 

 mix flour, spices, and salt with the rest of 

 the vinegar, and use it to thicken the mix- 

 ture. Cook until the flour is thoroly cooked, 

 and, if not thick enougli, add more flour in 

 tlie same way. This makes a veiy smooth 

 catchu}). 



