HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 

 HOME MAKING 



MISS HELEN A. HARUIMAX. Uf nionstratiuii Agent 



What the Food Situation is 



The men of England, Scotland, Ire- 

 land, Italy and Belgium are fighting; 

 they are not on the farms. The food 

 production of these countries, our Allies, 

 lias therefore been greatly reduced. 

 Even before the war, it was much less 

 than the amount consumed. The differ- 

 ence was supplied by the United States, 

 Canada and other countries, including 

 Russia, Romania, South America, India 

 and Australia. 



The difference is now greater than 

 ever, and at the same time, food can no 

 longer be obtained from outside coun- 

 tries. Therefore, our Allies depend on 

 North America for food as they never 

 depended before, and they ask us for it 

 with a right which they never had before. 



Millions of the men, women and chil- 

 dren of the United States cannot go 

 abroad and fight the enemy face to face. 

 But they can fight by helping the fighters 

 fight. 



France, Great Britain, Italy, and Bel- 

 gium must now import 60'/'r of their 

 breadstuffs instead of 409c they imported 

 before the war. America must .supply 

 the greater part of this need. To send 

 them the least that they can live on we 

 must increase our export of wheat from 

 88,000,000 to 220,000,000 bushels. We 

 cannot send them corn as they have no 

 mills for grinding, and corn meal spoils 

 in shipping. 



The oats, rye, and barley that we send 

 will not support them unless mixed with 

 wheat. We must send them more wheat, 

 and to do this we must eat less wheat 

 bread. 



Because of lack of fodder and the in- 

 creased need of meat to feed the soldiers 

 and war workers, our Allies have .3.3,000,- 

 000 less head of stock than before the 

 war. The herds are still decreasing and 

 we are now sending them three times as 

 much meat as we did before the war. 

 We must send them still more meat this 

 year, than ever before. 



The chief source of fats for eating is 

 in dairy products. We are able to pro- 

 duce no more of these now than before 

 the war, yet last year, we sent our 

 Allies three times as much butter and 

 ten times as much condensed milk as we 

 used to send them. Because their milk 

 cows are still decreasing, we must send 

 even more butter and condensed milk 

 this year. Because their hogs are de- 

 creasing, we must send them more lard. 



Before the war, France, Italy and Bel- 

 giuin raised all their own sugar. Great 

 Britain bought sugar from Germany. 



Now, France and Belgium cannot raise 

 much sugar, because their men are fight- 

 ing, and Great Britain cannot buy sugar 

 where she used to buy it. All must get 



How to Use Salt and Smoked Fish 



The average housekeeper rarely knows 

 more than four or five ways in which 

 salt and smoked fish can be used. Since 

 the meat supply is not normal, and the 

 use of fish is encouraged on Tuesdays 

 and Fridays, the American people should 

 learn to use cured and preserved fish. 

 Those fishes preserved in tin should be 

 saved and sent to our troops and Allies. 

 Less than two pounds per capita is the 

 yearly consumption of salt and smoked 

 fish, and of this the greater part is eaten 

 by foreign born. Where fresh fish are 

 not obtainable, or in those seasons when 

 they are scarce almost everywhere, 

 ' smoked salt fish make a very acceptable 

 I and low priced substitute. Salt fish can 

 be "laid in" in quantity for a winter's 

 supply and therefore be convenient and 

 1 available for emergencies. Smoked fi.sh 

 are, generally, more perishable than salt 

 fish unless especially packed, but they 

 can be held for sufficient periods to make 

 them convenient. 



Because they are comparatively non- 

 perishable, salt fishes, unless specially 

 packed and in expensive containers, are 

 generally sold at retail at a lower price 

 than the same fishes fresh, but it is not 

 generally known that pound for pound, 

 both salt and smoked, they contain more 

 nutriment than when fre.sh. This is be- 

 cause the curing extracts a large part of 

 the water, and what is left is more nearly 

 all food. 



Perhaps some of these are not obtain- 

 able, because they are little known or 

 new, but you will help vary the national 

 diet and prevent waste if you will ask 

 your dealer for them. Remember that 



sugar where we get it, and there is not 

 enough to go around unless we save. 



HOW YOU CAN HELP 



Sign a pledge card and join the ranks 

 of the Food Administration. Put the 

 window card in your front window. Buy 

 less; cook no more than necessary. Use 

 local and seasonable supplies to lessen 

 transportation. Preach and practice the 

 "gospel of the clean plate." 



Each person use only four instead of 

 five lbs. of wheat per week. 



Each person save 1-3 oz. (2 tsp. ) ani- 

 mal fat each day. 



Each person save 1 oz. (2 tbs.) sugar 

 each day. 



Don't let Friday be the only fish day, — 

 ask for the new fish. 



Turn off electric lights when you don't 

 need them. 



Use wood instead of coal. 



Eat plenty, wisely, without waste and 

 help win the war. 



— U. S. Food Administration. 



Home Canned Food Safe 



"There is no danger that the type of 

 food poisoning known as 'Botulism' will 

 result from eating fruits or vegetables 

 which have been canned by any of the 

 methods recommended by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. Of 

 course, extreme care should be taken to 

 ascertain before eating canned goods of 

 any kind whether they are in good condi- 

 tion, and if they have spoiled they should 

 not be consumed." 



fishermen will not catch in large num- 

 bers, nor the dealer handle, fish that 

 nobody asks for, and when they get in 

 the net they are often thrown away — a 

 sheer loss of good food. 



Salt fish must be freshened before 

 they are used, but that requires little 

 more trouble than mere forethought. 

 Place them flesh side down in a large 

 volume of water, and leave them there 

 from 12-48 hours, according to taste, and 

 the size and thickness of the fish. 

 Change water several times. The ex- 

 traction of salt may be hastened if the 

 fish be raised above the bottom of the 

 container by placing it on a wire tray or 

 clean sticks, and if the pieces be thick, 

 by making several deep incisions in the 

 flesh. Less freshening is required if the 

 fish be boiled or otherwise cooked in 

 liquid than if used for broiling or frying. 



RECIPES 

 The following recipes may be used for 

 almost any dried salt fish, .such as cod, 

 pollack, haddock, hake, whiting, burbot, 

 channel bass, barraconda, drumfish, 

 shark, etc. Many of the recipes may be 

 used for sablefish by reducing or omitting 

 the fats. Bacon and salt-pork fats may 

 be substituted for butter in many cases. 

 Some of these fish are sometimes so salt 

 as to require considerable soaking, some- 

 times so fresh as to require little or none. 

 The cook must use her own judgment 

 with the particular material at hand. 



1. Salt-fish chowder. — Take one-half 

 a pint of picked salt flsh. Pare and 

 slice 1 pint of raw potatoes and 1 large 

 white onion ; put in a hot buttered baking 

 dish in alternate layers of fish, onion, 

 potato, and 1 cracker, crushed fine. Add 

 salt and cayenne pepper to taste, cover 

 with hot water, and boil gently for 20 

 minutes. Add 1 pint of hot milk and a 

 few tablespoons of good cream and let 

 boil up. 



2. Baked salt fish. — Take a cup of 

 picked fish and stew gently in warm 

 water. Mix 2 cups of cold mashed po- 

 tatoes with a pint of milk, 2 eggs, a lump 

 of butter the size of an egg, or bacon fat, 

 a seasoning of pepper, and a pinch of 

 salt if necessary. Mix with the fish, 



Coucluded on page 6 



