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ing, it is all, or nearly all, changed into fruit sugar. This explains the 

 apparent anomaly that well-prepared dried fruit is more easily digested 

 than fresh or canned fruit. 



A convenient way to prepare dried fruit is as follows: Rinse it well 

 in warm water, letting it stand in the water five or ten minutes, stirring 

 it well, if the fruit is at all dusty or " sugared," to make it entirely clean. 

 Put it now into the cooking vessel — preferably of porcelain — with just 

 enough water to cover it, and let it stand several hours — all night if 

 you choose — until it has reached almost its original state, so far as 

 moisture is concerned. It is now ready to cook. Put in any needed 

 sugar, a little more water, and set it on the back of the range, where it 

 may simmer for several hours, or until quite tender. 



When prunes are cooked in this way they remain whole and the 

 liquor, poured off, will be clear. The skin will be tender, the pulp 

 uniformly soft and delicious. The '* sugaring " above alluded to does 

 not arise, as many suppose, from anything added to the fruit, but is a 

 crystallization of grape sugar on the surface. It is clean and whole- 

 some, but adds little to the flavor. 



RECIPES AND SUGGESTIONS. 



Having cooked the fruit, as by the directions already given, it is ready 

 to be served in any of the various ways in which fruit is used. 



As a sauce, not by the teaspoonful, as a relish, but by the saucerful, 

 as an important and valuable part of the diet, cheaper in proportion to 

 its nutritive value than most of the food used, and far more healthful, 

 especially for persons of sedentary habits and children, than meat. 



For pies and puddings, either alone or as blends with other fruit, to 

 which it will impart a delicious flavor. 



For fruit cake, for which many of our fruits besides the raisin, are 

 admirably adapted. After being slightly soaked, they can be easily cut 

 to the proper size. 



In the detailed recipes below given, although they are each made for a 

 certain kind of fruit, yet in most of them other fruits may be substi- 

 tuted with equally good results. 



Apricots. 



The apricot is the most tender-meated of our fruits, and it will be suf- 

 ficiently cooked if prepared as follows: After soaking drain off' all the 

 water, add to it the amount of sugar required, and boil until the syrup 

 is thick; then pour over the soaked fruit. 



1. Because of their peculiar acid they do not take kindly to cream, 

 which is a great addition to all the other fruits except the sourest plums. 

 When well sweetened they make a good sauce, to be used as a relish 

 without cream. 



2. As a pie-fruit they are unsurpassed, many greatly relishing their 

 keen acid. 



3. A few apricots mixed with other dried fruits that lack the acid to 

 make them agreeable, add very much to their acceptability. 



