APPLES. 49 



strain over the fruit. Set away to cool, and serve with cream. 

 One ounce of gelatine will be sufficient for six or eight ap- 

 ples. 



Apple Cliarlotte.— Butter a deep dish, out smooth slices 

 of bread and spread them with butter, and line the bottom 

 and sides. Fill it with sliced sour apples. Sprinkle each 

 layer of apples with brown sugar, also a few small bits of 

 butter and season as wished. Soak some slices of bread in 

 milk or water, lay them on the top and cover them with a 

 plate and lay a weight upon that. Bake two and a half 

 houi s in a moderate oven. It should turn out whole. Serve 

 with cold sauce. 



Apple Butter. — Take sweet cider from the press, not 

 more than a day old or alcohol will begin to form and the 

 cider will have lost it fruity (j^iiality. Boil it down one-half 

 and then add apples, pared, cored and sliced. There should 

 be, by measure, slightly more than half as much apple as 

 of boiled cider. Cook slowly and carefully, skimming when- 

 ever necessary, and stir with a long wooden paddle which 

 reaches the bottom of the kettle. The apple is broken into 

 one homogeneous mass like marmalade. When it begins to 

 break sweeten to taste : it is more wholesome and appetizing 

 if left quite tart. Good brown sugar is better than white. 

 It can be kept any length of time in stone jars or wooden 

 pails or firkins if thoroughly cooked. The usual apple but- 

 ter sold in groceries is made insipid by too much sugar. 

 The old-fashioned apple butter, less rich but more palatable, 

 preserves the very essence of the apple. Season with spice 

 to taste, if spices are desired, but^the apple flavor is itself 

 incomparable. 



