The Mena weekly star., 1897-09-22
cuRRANT puDDINos AND PIES.
Some Points of vnIne to the Careful
 Housewife.


 Some Points of ynIue to the Careful
 Housewife.
 The fruit of the currant bush is now at crimson perfection, and its hedges redden the border of thousands of ru- rzl gardens. We began to appreciate the luxury of this fruit when a num- Der of years ago the currant worm in- vaded the land and threatened to cut short our supplies of jellies and sweet preserves The currant is, of course, the preeminent fruit for jelly. A pret- tier and more delicate jelly is prepared from hah-white entrants and half red than from the pure crimson fruit. Housekeepers frequently prepare their currant jelly with a little less sugar than it was formerly considered neces- sary to use. The success of the proc ess of reducing the juice of the cur rant to jelly depends moreupon thetime and circumstances under which the fruit is gathered than upon the amount of sugar used. 1t is not advisable, in spite of this, to attempt to make jelly with less than three-quarters of pound of sugar to pound of entrants. It is essential, however, to gather the fruit as early as a few days after it turns crimson, since the fruit becomes thin and watery by hanging on the vines. It is also desirable to gather the fruit on clear day.
 After entrants have hung on the vines for some time they are no longer fit for jelly, but they possess rich, lucious tartness that renders them excellent for table fruit, and they are also in prime condition for pies and buildings.
 The currant is so abundant a fruit that in some sections of the country the surplus left on the bushes after the fruit has been gathered for jelly is allowed to go to waste. The currant makes an excellent baked or steamed pudding. Sift large cup of flour with n substantial teaspoonful of baking powder. Add a large teaspoonful of butter, and rub it through the flour and baking powder; add a quarter of a cup of sugar, two eggs and a scant half cup of milk. Beat the batter hard and stir in a cup of entrants. Butter six
 
 Turn teaspoonful of sugar from one cup to another, until their buttered sur faces are weii coated with sugar; then divide the pudding mixture between the cups, steam the pudding about three-quarters of an hour. setting them in closely recovered steamer over ket- tie of boiling water The same pudding 1n 1No1r aialy for half an hour instead of being steamed. Serve the buildings with a hard sauce of butter and sugar.
 Currants make delicious meringue pie. Stew a quart of well-steamed red entrants, adding Q tablespoonful of water, merely to prevent their burning. After cooking them ten minutes strain out the seeds and skins, but let as much as possible of the pulp pass with the juice through the puree sieve they are strained in. Add a cup of sugar to the currant pulp, and teaspoonful of corn starch moistened with a little water. Let the thickened mixture boil for ten minutes over the fire, stirring it constantly. Line a tin pieplate with
  rant pulp, and bake the pie for 40 or 50 minutes. Make meringue of the whites of two eggs and two tablespoon fuls of sugar Spread it over the pie while it is still warm, and return it to the oven. Let it bake for 20 minutes, turning off the heat, so that it will be only faintly tinged with brown. A good currant pie is made of two cups of ripened entrants and a cup of su gar. Mix the entrants and sugar thor oughly together and fill a pieplate. Scatter a few stoned raisins over the entrants. Cover the pie with narrow strips of puff paste or with an entire cover. Bake 1t 50 minutes; then remove it from the oven and dredge 1t with sugar. Return 1t to the oven for mo- ment or two to melt the sugar enough to make it cling to the pie. - N. Y.