496 
American Agriculturist, June 9,1923 
A Page For the Cook, Be She Expert or Beginner 
Sugar less Canning—Simple Recipes For L)ifferent Meals'—Kate Sweetser on ‘‘Making Friends'' 
TRAWBERRIES, late this year be¬ 
cause of the prolonged cool weather, 
are due to “glut the market,” accord¬ 
ing to authorities who watch the pick¬ 
ing and shipping all over the country. 
Whether you raise your berries or buy 
them, early June should find them 
plentiful—almost too plentiful in fact. 
Put them up! Don’t lose the oppor¬ 
tunity, for this berry is especially 
delicious when preserved. 
Sugar? Yes it’s high—but here’s a 
tip. Can the berries in their own juice 
anJ add the sugar when they are 
opened. By that time the new crop 
will be along, and prices will be lower. 
During the war, the government recom¬ 
mended sugarless canning and this 
seems a good time to revive it. 
Minna C. Denton, who tried out many 
delightful combinations in the Home 
Economics Experiment Kitchen, has 
given us the following directions for 
canning not only strawberries but other 
fruits as they come along. 
Expert Advice on Sugarless Canning 
Apples, somewhat under ripe, goose¬ 
berries, blueberries, raspberries! and 
other berries, and sweet varieties of 
plums and cherries may be canned in 
their own juices. In fact, the flavor of 
many of these products, sweetened just 
before using, is even finer and more 
like that of the fresh fruit, than when 
they are canned with large quantities 
of sugar or in a heavy syrup. Any of 
the following ways may be used; 
Method A.—This is an easy and 
simple method, especially when hand¬ 
ling soft, juicy fruit, such as berries. 
Pack the washed fruit into the jar as 
usual, and without adding liquid of 
any kind. Process for the usual period, 
or perhaps 4 or 5 minutes longer. The 
juice will cook out of the fruit during 
the processing period, and the flavor 
will be richer than if water or even 
syrup be added. 
Method B.—Select the ripest of the 
fruits, clean and trim as usual, cook 
slowly with no water added, or at least 
with, very little. When the fruit goes 
to pieces, drain the juice through a 
jelly bag; bring this juice to the boil; 
and use it instead of boiling syrup to fill 
the jars in which the firmer fruit is 
packed. Then process the jars as in 
Method A. If desired, the dripped 
juice may be concentrated to make it 
richer. 
Method C.—Prepare fruit as usual, 
and without adding any sugar, cook it 
in an ordinary pan or kettle, to a 
sauce of the consistency desired for 
table use. Have ready jars, lids and 
rubbers, covered witk boiling water. 
Remove each jar as needed; pour in 
the boiling sauce and seal at once. Do 
not wipe or touch the inside of the jar 
or lid. 
This method is not so uniformly 
successful as is Method A, because it 
is difficult to prevent bacteria and 
molds from getting into the fruit and 
the jars while they are being filled and 
sealed. Many housewives, however, can 
acid fruits successfully this way. 
Some fruits canned without sugar 
absorb the sweetening more thoroughly 
and evenly if reheated when the sweet¬ 
ening is added. This is especially true of 
very sour fruits, or those in large pieces. 
■ tTsing Syrup Instead of Sugar 
Honey, maple syrup, corn sugar, 
molasses, malt syrup or other syrups 
sold under various trade names, may be 
substituted for part or all of the granu¬ 
lated sugar ordinarily used in canning. 
None of these sweeteners will give ex¬ 
actly the same results as does granu¬ 
lated sugar; on the other hand, some 
of them may prove quite acceptable. 
When using a sweetening agent which 
you have never before tried, begin by 
substituting only enough to replace 
half of the sugar generally used. That 
is, use 14 cup of granulated sugar and 
14 cup of other sweetener for each Cup 
of ^anulated sugar called for by the 
original recipe. 
NOVEL RECIPES FOR RHUBARB 
When fresh rhubarb comes around, 
every member of the family rejoices. 
“Just plain rhubarb” becomes a rare 
delicacy. Mrs. E. A. Edelblute ^ves 
a recipe for rhubarb pie which is a 
little out of the ordinary, and Mrs. 
Carmen D. Welch sends us the other 
rhubarb recipes, which we pass on with 
hearty recommendation that our read¬ 
ers try them. 
Rhubarb Custard Pie 
One cup scalded rhubarb; 1 cup 
sugar; 1 egg; 1 tablespoon flour; 5 
tablespoons wate?-. Flavor with lemon, 
cook until thick and pour into a baked 
crust. C/over with meringue. 
Rhubarb Cobbler 
Cut the rhubarb without peeling, 
into small lengths; and place in a bak¬ 
ing dish; sugar it well; and pour over 
it a batter made of 1 cup full sour 
milk, a little water in which you have 
dissolved a half teaspoonful soda, with 
enough flour to make a batter of me¬ 
dium thickness. Bake 30 minutes, and 
serve cold with sugar and cream. 
Rhubarb Jam 
Slice six lemons in thin slices and cut 
up six pounds rhubarb in small lengths. 
Put the lemon and rhubarb in a b^owl, 
and cover with 6 cups sugar. Let it 
stand overnight, then add 1-3 cup 
water, and boil 1 hour without stirring. 
When it is quite thick, pour into jelly 
glasses and seal when cool. 
Rhubarb Marmalade ; 
Cut 2 pounds rhubarb in small pieces 
and add 1 cup boiling water, to which 
Vz pound of nut meats have been added. 
Cook the above mixture till soft, then 
add 2 cups sugar and 2 lemons cut in 
thin slices. Cook till the syrup thickens 
then remove from fire and pour into 
jelly glasses. 
SPRING SALADS ARE IN ORDER 
From Mrs. E. A. Edelblute, come 
several recipes that are particularly 
appetizing at this time of the year. 
Fruit Salad 
Equal parts of diced apples, sliced 
oranges and bananas, and 1 cup nut 
meats. Prepare one package of lemon 
jello according to directions and add a 
little more sugar. When cooled, com¬ 
bine with the fruit mixture. Serve 
with whipped cream. 
Spring Salad 
Slice young onions and radishes. 
Shred a quantity of lettuce. Make a 
dressing consisting of one egg; 14 cup 
cream; 3 tablespoons vinegar (if vine¬ 
gar is very strong, dilute it) salt to 
taste and sugar if you prefer it. Let 
cook until mixture coats the spoon. 
Cool and mix with vegetables. 
Spring brings with it an abundance 
of dandelions, mustard, horseradish, 
dock, etc., which may be used in cook¬ 
ing thus providing us with delicious and 
nourishing food. In the days gone by, 
I disliked the lowly greens but my 
sister-in-law told me how she cooked 
them. They are fine and*I want to 
pass the recipe o:i. 
Greens 
Pick, assort, and thoroughly wash the 
greens. Put them into a kettle and 
scald, pouring off the first water. Put 
them on again and cook in salt water 
until tender. Scald 14 cup vinegar 
weakened and sweetened to taste, to 
which a tablespoon of meat drippings 
has been added. Pour over the greens 
boiling hot and over all, slice a hard 
boiled egg. 
CAN YOU MAKE SALAD WITH 
SCISSORS? 
MABEL FERN MITCHELL 
How many of us realize the value of 
a pair of scissors kept in the kitchen? 
Often we have an old rusty pair, one 
point broken off, dull as a hoe, but I 
mean a nice clean pair, the cutting-clear- 
to-the-point kind. If you do not have an 
extra pair of this kind, I certainly ad¬ 
vise you to get one. I bought a pair 
with some extra egg money and one 
of the first things I did with the scissors 
was to cut up a chicken I wanted to 
fricassee. The chicken was so easily 
unjointed, and I cut right through the 
back. As a result I’ll never use a 
knife again. 
Did you ever shred your lettuce with 
i 
the scissors? Do this just before you 
serve the lettuce so the juice will not 
run out. It will make an excellent 
garnish or foundation for salads. All 
farmers’ wives make Dutch or Cottage 
Cheese. Next time make some into 
balls, and place on the shredded lettuce 
leaves. Try cutting carrots into vari¬ 
ous shapes, with the scissors, and serve 
with French dressing, made in the pro¬ 
portions of one tablespoon vinegar, 
thoroughly blended with three table¬ 
spoons of olive oil, and seasoned to 
taste with salt, pepper and onion juice. 
One of the prettiest salads ever 
served was of red and green peppers 
cut in shapes of holly leaves and ber¬ 
ries with the scissors. Serve with 
mayonnaise. 
If one is skilled in the use of scissors, 
one can cut cakes into various shapes 
for parties. Use the scissors to cut 
citron, raisins, etc.,- for cakes and 
salads. Very thin sandwiches also may 
be cut into fancy shapes with scissors. 
Cut marshmallows for salad or cake 
frosting with scissors. 
Make some old fashioned molasses 
candy next winter, and use thq scissors 
to cut into pieces of various' shapes. 
Like all other tools in use, they must 
be kept sharp and need to have keen, 
straight edges, close meeting points. 
Put them away clean each time. 
A NEW FRIEND FOR A. A. 
READERS 
_ Kate Sweetser, whose first contribu¬ 
tion to the American Agriculturist ap¬ 
pears on this page, is well known not 
only as a writer of charming fiction, 
but as one who understands girls and 
has helped hundreds with their prob¬ 
lems. Perhaps you will find in her 
advice on friendship some clue to the 
secret of her popularity with girls who 
know her personally as well as those 
who know her only through the writ¬ 
ten page. 
A USEFUL DEVICE 
Another handy little device is the 
potato ricer. Aside from making 
mashed potatoes so much nicer for the 
table it makes them smoother for bread 
making. It also mashes vegetables for 
cream soups, pumpkin and sweet pota¬ 
toes, for pies, and last but not least 
makes vegetables smooth and fine for 
baby.—(D. W., Maryland. 
The Brown Mouse 
{Continued from page 494) 
ings,” said Jim, “when you and I can 
stand here and think bur way out, even 
beyond the limits of our Universe?” 
“A wonderful journey,” said she, not 
quite understanding his mood, but very 
respectful to it. 
“And together,” said Jim. “I’d like 
to go on a long, long journey with you 
to-night, Jennie, to make up for the 
years since we went anywhere to¬ 
gether.” 
“And we shouldn’t* have come to¬ 
gether to-night,” said Jennie getting 
back to earth, “if I hadn’t exercised 
my leap-year privilege.” 
She slipped' her arm in his, and they 
went on in a rather intimate way. 
“I’m not to'blame,-Jennie,” said he. 
“You know that at any timb I’d have 
given anything—anything—” 
“And even now,” said Jennie, taking 
advantage of his depleted stock of 
words, “while we roam beyond the Milky 
Way, we aren’t getting any votes for 
me for county superintendent.” 
Jim said nothing. He was quite, 
quite reestablished on the earth. 
“Don’t you want me to be elected, 
Jim?” 
Jim seemed to ponder this for some 
time—a period of taking the matter 
under advisement which caused Jennie 
to drop his arm and busy herself with 
her skirts. 
“Yes,” said Jim, at last; “of course 
I do.” 
Nothing more was said until they 
reached the schoolhouse door. 
“Well,” said Jennie rather indig¬ 
nantly, “I’m glad there are plenty of 
voters who are more enthusiastic about 
me than you seem to be!” 
(Continued next week) 
FRIENDS—-HOW TO MAKE AND KEEP THEM. ' 
KATE DICKINSON SWEETSER 
TV^ ONEY can buy an automobile, a string of pearls, a fur coat, a 
house and lot, but there is one thing it cannot buy, and that is 
a friend. There is only one way to get friends, and that is a very old 
and a very simple way—by being friendly. 
Sitting at home alone and wishing for them never gave them to 
anybody. Feeling a little bit superior to one’s companions and show¬ 
ing it, doesn’t add to one’s chances of making them, nor does avoid¬ 
ing Jeanette because you don’t like her mannei’, or Elsie because she 
is so silly with the boys, or crossing the street for fear of having to 
walk downtown with garrulous Mrs. Brown or dull Miss Jones, or 
avoiding George Smith for fear he will tell you again about that 
wonderful trip to Niagara he once took. If you do these things and 
then complain about being left alone, and say enviously of Mary 
Ellis, “Oh yes, she always was lucky—She has more friends than 
anybody in town” — you simply are not looking at the matter straight. 
The thing to do is — find out Mary Ellis’ way of making friends, 
for as surely as she has them! so surely has she worked to attract and 
hold them. They never drop into one’s lap by magic. 
My mother used to say “Don’t bother over how many people like 
you, the point is, how many do you like”—and that is what many 
persons fail to see.. It is entirely “up to you.” In the first place, 
be that unusual thing, a good listener. It helps a lot. Have some 
interest in other people’s affairs even if they do bore you a bit. 
Probably yours bore them. Be generous with your sympathy, your 
appi’eciation, your loyalty, have a lot of “pep” in your comradeships, 
and watch for results! You will get them! But when you have 
made friends, don’t forget that they are human, that there is bound 
to come some moment especially in an intimate friendship when 
your ideals are shattered, you are disappointed, irritated, your friend 
seems unworthy of your devotion. That is the time to switch from 
the normal fifty-fifty basis on which all friendships should be built, 
to a seventy-five — twenty-five basis, or perhaps for a moment of need 
to a hundred-to-nothing basis of love and trust. You will never re¬ 
gret it. Such an investment of loyalty pays big dividends of ap¬ 
preciation, and there is no wind of rumor or flood of disappointment 
that can destroy a comradeship with such a foundation. 
Make friends whenever and wherever you can, by being friendly. 
Show that you like and like to be liked. And bind your own particu¬ 
lar friej^ds to you with unbreakable cords of mutual understanding 
and appreciation. Then you will never need to wonder why, like 
Mary Ellis, you have so many friends, for you .-ill know the reason. 
“He who hath friends must show himself friendly”—That is all 
there is to it. 
