Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-25
FAMILY PRESERVING
The Girl Feminine and Her
Latter Day Pursuits.
PROUD OF KNOWLEDGE
ONE HOUSEHOLD ACCOMPLISH
MENT AT LEAST rs NECESSARY.
Athletics Are No Longer Ones Only
Aim-Making Deli ,.>
cacies.
Written for The Evening Star.

mesticity and adjusting herself to modern
conditions. She Ia delicious combination
| Of the dfashioned girl and the new. She
is just about right; and happy is that fam
lily of which she Is a member.
This is the season of the year when the
girl feminine who has a taste for cookery
| executes her annual triumphs In the pre-
serving line. She Is not necessarily the
eldest laughter, nor yet the most staid
| member of the household. She may be
young and fond of sport, but she will break
an engagement to play tennis any morning
when she reads that berries have dropped
cents per box.
Ma'mselle Dainty's Observation-Disclosures
preserved over huge cook stove fed with
cobs and wood. 1t was one child's duty to
feed the stove and another's to swish back
and forth the ladle, not unlike perforated
hoe, which kept the jam from burning.
'Ihree-quarters of a pound of sugar to one
of fruit, and boil slowly until it is like thick
mush." And to the children, called from
play, 1t seemed an interminable task to.
bring the fruity mixture down to the thick
muSh stage.
But behold Mamselle Dainty, in spotless
percale and cambria, adjusting the fame of
her gas stove secure in the thought that
the temperature beneath the preserving
kettle cannot vary save at her touch. She
further protects her handiwork by a thick
asbestos mat reinforced by q square of
sheet iron.
Ma'mselle Dainty.
Great-grandmothers preserving kettle
was Of iron, big and heavy as a small wash
tub, and blackened on the outside with coal
and wood SCOT. Mamselle Dainty uses
Austrian enamel. speckled blue without and
pure white within, four ply thick, yet light
enough for her to lift with ease. To match
this kettle she has measuring cups, colan-
der and ladies in Austrian ware, cherry pit
tiers and apple parers and fruit knives with
china handles. No patent has ever improy-
ed on the oldfashioned screw-top and rub
ber-band glass Jar, but there is a pretty
novelty in jelly glasses, a small cone-shapei
glass to hold portion of jelly for the in
valid.
The term preserving in the average house
hold includes the making of jellies, jams,
preserves, sweet pickles. relishes and but
ter and the canning of fruits, but 1t is
upon her canning that Ma'mselle Dainty
particularly prides herself This is the
most healthful and natural way to pre-
serve fruit
To be successful Gamer she must be as
clearly as surgeon, for canning is mere
ly sterlizing fruit by heat TO can small
fruits she picks them over carefully and
washes them. Then she packs them in abso-
lutely clean Jars, and fills the jars to the
very top with cold water, after which she
adjusts the rubber bands and lays over each
jar its screw top, Immediately clean within
and without. ..-.
She has ready large, new wash boiler
fitted in the bottom with a wooden rack or
tray not unlike that used in the ice COM
partment of a refrigerator. She sets the
filled jars on this rack, pours cold water
into the boiler until it rises to half the
height of the jars. and lights the gas
flame beneath the boiler. She claps on the
boiler lid allows the water to boil briskly
for five minutes, uncovers the boiler, lifts
each jar separately. being very careful not
to let its lid slip off, and, directly she sets
the jar down. she screws the lid tight. Her
fruit is sterilized and canned.
When Canning.
If she wants her canned fruit sweetened,
she sprinkes sugar over the fruit she
packs 1t in the jars. Large fruits must
be peeled and boiled in a sugar syrup,
allowing quarter pound Of sugar to each
pound of fruit When tender the fruit is
skinned and packed into the jars the
syrup is poured over 1t and the canning
process is completed as described.
Jellies Ma'nlselle Dainty regards espe-
cally desirable in case of illness, and in
her preference runs to crabapple. ounce,
grape, blackberry, currant, and mixture
of raspberry and currant
She selects fruit that is barely ripe rather
than over-rtpe. to secure firm, clear jelly.
In the cool of the evening she cooks her
fruit for the first time. allowing one quart
of water to each pound of fruit and TWEEN
ty minutes for the boiling process. The
juice is poured into the jelly bag, Ma'am-
selle Dainty using double cheese cloth In
stead of the flannel bag her great-grand-
mother considered essential for clearing
jelly. 1t is left to drip over night into a
large agate bowl.
Half to Half
The next morning Ma'amselle Dainty
measures off fruit juice and sugar, half a
pound Of best graduated sugar to each
pint of Juice. She brings the juice to a
boil. and spreads the sugar On tins, sel,.ng
them in the oven to heat. When the Juice
has boiled ten minutes. she drops In the hot
sugar, tries" the jelly on cold sauce
plate set the ice, and quite generally
finds that, thanks to the hot sugar 1t al
ready forms" Then she pours it into
the sparkling glasses. and leaving 1t to COOL
she Is away on her game of tennis
On her return, she covers the glasses with
white paper, fastened down with white of
an egg cleanliest of all muclages
When country relatives with gaze criti-
caliy fixed on city ways, visit Ma'mselle
Dainty's home, she surprises them with
preserves equal to any country made
sweets.
retain the shape of the fruit so she han
dies 1t with infinite care. Strawberries
raspberries and blackberries are washed by
plunging the colander in cold water before
stemmlng the fruit. If they are stemmed
hrst, they soak up water. Only the largest
and frmest fruit is selected for preserving
Allow one pound of best graduated sugar
for each pound of fruit Arrange in the |
preserving kettle layer of sugar on the |
bottom, next one of berries, and so on uno
til all are used Stand the kettle over the |
gas stove, with the fire turned low and |
heat gradually until the boiling point is |
reached. or until the fruit is thoroughly |
scalded
The Last Touches
With perforated ladle lift the fruit out |
OF the syrup in small quantities, SO that |
1t Will not be bruised. and fill the Jars half |
full or more. Boil downith syrup, pour it |
ever the fruit In the jars and leave the |
Jars open until the preserves are cold. Then |
cover as directed for jelly. Il
There lives not a man who does not re-
call some friend of his mother, famous for |
her branded peaches, and it Is to please |
Father that Mamselle Dainty perfects |
herself In the art of brandying peaches.
For this she selects the firmest and finest |
peaches ON the market, the best French |
brandy, and the purest granulated cane |
sugar To every four pounds of peaches,
pared, she allows an equal weight of sugar
and pint OF brandy. The peaches are laid
Ia the enamel kettle, covered with the
sugar and allowed to stand over night.
The next morning the peaches are SWIM
ming in syrup formed of the sugar and
wv tpf EooI i, y1e