The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-09-03
HOME DEMONSTRATION NOTES
Kitchen Labor Savers

One may have both dish mop and
dish cloth but many prefer the dish
mop for everything but "wiping up.
The dish mop is so convenient, SAM
tary, and easy to manipulate and the
soaking of hands in dishwater is UNI
necessary. These may be bought at
hardware store, department store,
or ten cent store.
One woman has a two-handled
market basket for garbage pail, or
rather, two market baskets, for one
is airing while the other is being used.
A number of thicknesses of newspa-
per are put in the basket, and thus,
| a metal garbage can does not have to
be cleaned. The baskets are emptied
once day and new papers put in.
They lasts and remain clean a long
time and are easily replaced for only
| five cents.
A half-moon of rubber on a handle
is useful in scraping dishes and pans.
1t is especially useful for frying pans
and deep dishes.
A thirty-fve cent dish drainer will
eliminate drying all dishes except fine
china and silver. 1t is round and
made of closely woven wire. In the
center is another tiny basket, against
which dishes may rest and which is
intended for the silver.
A large waste basket serves very
useful purpose of receiving everything
in the way of papers, strings and
cans intended for the daily bonfire in
the alley.
Some Points on Making Jelly
Simple boiling of fruit juices isn't
making jelly. To get fine quality,
something more than boiling is nee
essary. The fruit juice must con-
tain acid, sugar, water and pectin, in
proper proportions before jelly will
fill the requirements one usually puts
to it. 1t must be of clear, sparkling
color, of tender texture, so one can
cut it with spoon, and of consis-
tency to hold its shape, yet soft
enough to culver nicely.
Pectin is the cause for jelly set
ting. 1t is a form of fruit gelatine,
distributed widely and in varying
quantities in most fruits and some
vegetables. 1t is more abundant in
slightly under ripe fruit and for this
reason under ripe fruits are safer to
use for jelly. AS fruits ripen, they
may not "jell," first, because the pee
tin has changed to substance no long
err gelatnous; second, because pectin
must have an acid to "set" it, and this
acid may not be large enough in
amount in ripe fruit to set the pectin.
| When pectin sets, it takes up GER
tain amount of water and sugar. Too
much water means it won't get solid
and too much sugar means crystals
separating out. Too much water is
as troublesome as too much sugar. 1t
must be boiled off and in boiling it
will prabably give the bad qualities
mentioned. Just enough water should
be used to extract the fruit juice on
short boiling.
An easy test for pectin is to take
one tablespoon of the cooked fruit
juice, and add tablespoon of wood
alcohol, or 95 per cent grain alcohol.
The pectin, if present, will settle out.
If it gathers in a lump and can be
scooped out with spoon, there is
enough to use sugar and juice, one to
one. With less pectin, but three
fourths as much sugar as juice should
be used and with little pectin that
won't form lump, only half as much
sugar as juice should be used. If
fruit juices are tested in this way,
much trouble and sugar may be saved
and better jelly obtained.