Evening star., 1943-09-23
Report to the Housewife

These energetic and conservation
conscious ladies of Washington are
IN for a disappointment If they have
been hoping to see reasonable prices
on the fall fruits and vegetables for
picking or preserving. All of such
items are proving scarce and all
most prohibitive in price. This is
especially true of damsons, crab
applies and seckel pears. Ounces
are q little more reasonable, and
green tomatoes aren't too bad.
Grapes, however, are very much in
the higher bracket, and dreams of
homemade grape Juice and grape
jam or jelly will be expensive to
bring to realization. Red tomatoes
are plentiful and moderately priced,
considering, so you can still "do" a
few jars of relish or bottles of to-
mato Juice. Apples. of course, are in
full swing and will not cause the
budget too much pain If certain
varieties are used for canning and
preserving. Don't overlook a
chance to make apple chutney, to
20 with curry dishes next winter.)
Other produce items in plentiful
supply In local markets, at reason
able prices, include snap beans,
sweet and white potatoes, avocados,
green lines and lemons. Also avail
able In moderate quantities are pep
pers, beets, turnips, radishes, cab
bage, celery, garden lettuce, onions,
mushrooms (but at what q priceD
scantaloupes and honeydews, also
costing out of this world.
Hard to And, and usually expen-
'sive when you do, are caulihower,
spinach, kale, rape, carrots, broc-
coli, okra, limas, eggplant "a change
from last week., corn, fresh prunes
ssand plums. There are some good
pears to be had, and Concord and
Niagara grapes are coming in
slowly. There is fair variety of
plums In the speciality stores and
Persian melons that are beautiful
but beyond the averagespocket.
rst Oranges have followed grapefruit
Into the carcer-than-h -hens' teeth
the situation will improve much be-
fore the first of November. A few
of the first shipments from Florida
may reach here by mid October, but
the early fruit Is never at its best,
An extra short California season,
combined with war demands, ac-
counts for this extra lag period be-
tween crops.
Eggs, say the dealers, are mighty
scarce and getting scarcer. The
housewife knows they are plenty ex-
,pensive, too. With the lavish sup
plies of chickens coming into the
markets the see-saw tips against us
IN the matter Of eggs. Poultrymen
are killing their chickens to avoid
the high cost Of feed and before
many months have passed we may
find the old problem of which comes
first, the chicken or the egg, q mat
ter Of very real concern. Markets
are featuring chickens again this
week and you can have your choice
of stewers, bakers or fryers.
Trying to find cheddar cheese is
like trying to find butter these days,
but there still seems to be fairly
good supply of the Swiss type about
and you can use that in most of
the dishes formerly graced by ched-
: dar, If you'll do a little expert
imenting.
Meats show little change from last
weeks report, with pork somewhat
scarcer, a small amount of lamb,
beef and veal obtainable after
search. Some markets are suggest
ing ground beef as good week end
buy and the speciality butcher shops
offer such items as marrow bones
for grilling, brains, OK tails and
mock chicken legs" of ground veal.
Butterf1sh, trout and porgies are
your best bet in the fish line, with
some mackerel also to be had.
Oysters are still hard to get, bat
scallopS and CLAIMS are usually avail
able. You may find occasional ship
ments Of large soft-sf1ell crabs ar
irving in town, as the season draws
to close and resort hotels and
clubs no longer require them.
T. X
3 Here and There: The period
between October Is and 81 has been
announced as Better Parenthood
;, Week" in case you're interested.
Slogan for this year: "Today's Chill
dren are Tomorrow's Hope-and your
: responsibility" Now that the
canning and preserving season is
practically over, pressure cookers
are coming on the market. :.
Early reports on cranberry pros
poets indicate a crop of slightly less
proportions than that of last year,
but somewhat larger than most