The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-07-18

The color is a rich looking brown. Mext.
cans like 1t that shape, because it is
handy for stirring into and thus sweet.
entng their coffee. 1t is not suitable
for tea, in that it imparts a slightly
aciduated taste thereto, besides some
times dfsc0loring 1t: whereas the ever
stronger coffee DISCUSSES these effects
Now. this pure. unredned sugar is
produced as a candy in country district
homes for family use or for visitors
the sugar being handed round in a box
holding about pound Each person
takes one of the little laths and breaks
OF and mouths pieces of it at intervals.
1t is much softer, more toothsome. and
speedier Of dissolving in the mouth
than our own rock candy, which is "un-
interesting" in comparison. This, then,
is the Sunday afternoon stock candy OF
millions of Mexicans. And, while it is
almost nations only candy. it Is pro-
badly the purest candy on earth-it is
just the God-given, nature-given con-
centrated sweetness. 1t is now thir-
teen years since I first made it's ac-
quaintance while touring among the
Sierras Of Mexico, and l have liked 1t
ever since. This is the simple life"
in candydom. and is the nearest to ma
ture ''goody" yet produced.
Mexican vaquerOs-cowmen, ranch
men and the like-have been known.
when otherwise foodless or astray in
the Sierras, to support life for days on
just that candy-a proof Of its natur-
al nutritiveness and purity.
This Mexican azukar. technically
known among sugar experts as muske-
vedo-a word which is also spelled half
a dozen other ways-is unobtainable in
the United States anywhere north of
the Rio Grande. 1t Is not for sale even
in the large cities of the United
States.
Melon sugar, candy 1 heard OF also
while in Mexico. but never saw it. It
is just the sun dried juice of the melon:
the left behind pulp forms a cattle
feed.
In the travels Of Marco Polo. Of near
ly 600 years ago. you read of the ball
butter Of the Tartars-butter worked
up into ball form, size Of the fist. then
enclosed in a casing of pure cheese
preserving the butter from the outside
air, and the butter keeping the cheese
from becoming "hard as rock"
The same system of butter preserva-
ton continues to this day among the
Orientals, except where displaced by the
timed or canned notions of the west
ern world. Hundreds of years ago
the idea travelled to and was copied
by the Armenians, Turks, Greeks and
Italians, but has never been adopted
by Americans.
Butter can thus be preserved for a
score Of years or more. have used up
scores Of them during travels: some
times, on opening. there may be fee
tie odor Of rancidity on the butter sur
face, but the inner portion is rarely al
fected. The rancidity will be due to
small pocket of air being left inside
when folding the cheese envelop about
the butter. which in time "goes bad"
so to speak. 1t is considered bad work.
manship to allow any particle Of air
to remain within the casein envelop.
The cheese-in the making up of this
ball butter-is rolled out like 50 much
dough-"like mother used to do" the
butter ball placed inside. then the
cheese covering is worked, up around
the butter by hand with the close dex-
terity coming from long practice. The
cheese casing varies from one-half to
one centimeter in thickness. Sometimes
1t imparts a slight cheesy taste to the
butter but that you sometimes notice
even in fresh American buffers.
Confectioners thus preserve their but
ter shortening for years. The ball but
ter Is sent in sacks on camel back to
the innermost cities of China being
sometimes fifteen months In transit.
''as In the time of Moses"
This ball butter should be another
pointer" in preservation for the Am
erican trade.
Dried cream with all the butter fat
intact and dried eggs have only been
known In recent years to the Ameri-
can confectionery trade; yet the Asia
ties have had them since history was
lost in the night Of time.' The Chi
ness have also q system Of preserving
soft liquid eggs In the shell Tor scores
OF years, by immersing them In pickle
and earth, but the yolk becomes rather
solid, and can be cut by knife.
OF dried cream and milk have had
some dozen years experience. 1t was
first produced in Europe 40 = curiosity
about half q century ago; but the
Orientals have used the sun dried milk
and cream as fatigue food In their