The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-24
THE dried FRUITS
OF CALIFORNIA.
WHY THEY ARE NOT AS WIDELY
APPRECIATED AS THEY
SHOULD BE.
RUINED IN THE COOKING.
A RECIPE WHICH MAKES THE DE-
sPIsED PRUNE A DREAM OF
DELIcIOUsNEss.

Five-sixths of a pound OF dried frnit
each month That does not seem large
quantity for either a man. woman or child
to consume and yet President Worthinp-
ton of the San Jose Grange saws that IL
every one would eat that amount the entire
dried-fruit product of the State could be
disposed of in the home market As the
demand for dried fruit is rather discour.
agingIy light the question naturally arises
why the native and adopted sons and
daughters do not show more practical
appreciation of this branch of home in
dustry?
In the great majority of cases, when this
query is put to the ''proyider" for house
hold, the gist of the answer is: 81 do not
buy any simply because we do not like it.
Raisins, of course, are kept on hand Tor
cake and buildings, but as for dried peaches
and pears and such things, chips and saw
dust are quite as appetizing and it would
be folly to put them on the table"
Curious, isn't it, how widespread is the
prejudice against an article OF diet 50
healthful, so economical and so really de-
sirable as is the product of the orchards in
| lGS QIlcQ SIdlC AC u uIA 49, 44ONCNtI,
that this prejud ice-like prejudices in gen
eral-has its foundation in ignorance. for
though there are many who condemn dried
fruits in wholesa fashion, there are very
few who have had the privilege of being
made to realize from delightful experience
the capabilities of these same 'chipsn in
the hands OF cook who understands their
treatment and appreciates their merits
| Nearly all have seen the sauce" usually
manufactured from dried pears and peaches
and apricots; few have cared to indulge in
it to any great extent, since the tough,
leathery or spongy bits OF brown fiber float
ing about in watery grave of faintly sweet
and fat-havored Syrup are far from
tempting. The ordinary dried apple and
dried peach pies-standard delicacies dur
ing New England winters-are neither
pleasing to the eve nor to the palate, and
as for prunes-iust ask man whom fate
has condemned to an existence in a cheap
boarding house, or second-class restau-
rant, what be thinks of prunes in general
and the expression of his face will answer
you before he speaks.
The fact is that very few persons know
how to cook dried fruits of any kind prop
erly. Like many other things, it is very
simple and easy to do when you know how,
but the knowing how" makes all the diff
ference in the world.
When liberal portions of ''Cape Cod
issued by the United States commissary
department to the inhabitants of captured
Southern towns not a few of the recipients
proceeded to fry it, in its forbiddingly dry
and saline state, and then threw it away in
indignant disgust, wondering greatly how
1.-The Yankees could possibly eat anything
so. to them, perfectly UNBEATABLE. As cod
| nsh then suffered at the hands of people
Ignorant of its GOOD qualities and how to
| develop them, so dried fruit suffers still.
Oddly noh fov -. - 81
books contain any recipes bearing on this
subject. Directions for canning, preserv-
| ing and picking fresh fruits and making
Jellles and jams are overwhelmingly
numerous, but concerning the dried arti-
Gle there is an almost unanimous silence
and where it is mentioned at all the rules
given for its treatment are vague and I'M
| satisfactory. The whole secret of the
proper preparation of desiccated fruit of
any kind lies In giving it plenty of time
plenty OF time to soak and plenty of time
to cook.
Colonel Weaver, whose instructions for
the preparation of dried fruits for the table
have been Endorsed by the State Board of
| Trade, recommends that all of the different
varieties be soaked from twentv-four to
twenty-six hours, but for fruit which has
not been too long in stock it has been
found that eighteen hours soaking is quite
sufficient. Colonel Weaver also recon-
mends cooking only for an hour, but
others lind that excellent results follow
the plan of slow and gentle simmering.
To make most delicious conserve of
either apples, apricots, peaches, pears,
| hgs or prunes, proceed as follows: Pick
| over the fruit and wash it thoroughly but
| quickly. Put it in a dish, earthen is pref
cradle, at about noontime and, covering it
/ generously with water, allow it to soak
| during that afternoon and night In the
| morning take the fruit carefully out into a
cooking utensil-a graniteware kettle or
saucepan or an earthen crock-and pour
over 1t, being careful not to disturb the
| sediment at the bottom, the water in
winch 1T was soaked; then cover the dish
| tightly and set 1t either on the back of the
range or IN moderate oven, where it will
quietly simmer, and let it remain there for
| eight or ten hours.
III you have an unreasoning sweet tooth
and must spoil things with sugar, add that
article not more than twenty minutes be-
fore removing the cooked fruit from the
range, and add II sparingly, since by this
method of cooking all the natural favor
and saccharine quality of the fruits are
preserved, and nearly every one who is
| privileged to taste them thus prepared
readily comedies that they are quite 'Fsuffi-
cient unto themselves"
Prunes and dried grapes become simply
''ldeallzed' under this treatment-plump
smooth, juicy and generally delicious, and
the sliced or quartered fruits rival the
dalntlest and richest of preserves in their
amber-hued translucency, as well as in
! flavor.
Verify, if the cooks and housewives
would add TO their little bills of fares the
dried fruits OF California, cooked after the i.
fashion herein prescribed, the cry for
more would be so loud and so unani-
nous that all the States broad orchards
would be quite inadequate to supply the
demand OF even the home market.