Evening star., 1952-09-25
By Violet FouIkner

Vari-colored, sweet and Juicy
grapes are a first choice for the
fruit bowl and general dessert
use. Clusters from both Eastern
and Western vineyards are in good
supply and attractively priced; the
varieties include Concords, tokays,
malagas. Thompson seedless, and
ribiers. The Concords, with the
shortest season Of the group, are
particularly desirable for Jelly
making. The supply of this va
riety will only last another couple
weeks, I've been told, so don't
delay if you've been thinking Of
making a few glasses of grape
jell or conserve.
Fruit salads and fruit cups are
all the better for adding any of
the table grapes but do, please.
cut and seed them first. If you
want to give the ladies in your
bridge circle something to talk
about just try adding some of
the seedless Thompsons and few
Slivers of blanched almonds to
your next chicken salad.
Behind the Scenes
Up until last week had no idea
how a big food distribution center
operated nor the scope of its oper-
ations. On a tour arranged for
the press we walked miles otter
ally) Through one warehouse after
the other-seven in all-under one
roof.
To me. the meat warehouse and
banana ripening rooms were the
most interesting. AS the sides of
beef are received they are weighed,
tagged with killing and receiving
dates. then passed on to the flank
ing room, where the flanks are
stripped of. From here they 60 to
the aging room, where each piece
of beef hangs from IA to 81 days.
Shrinkage during this aging Pc
riod amounts to about 11a to 21a
per cent in overall carcass loss.
After the beef has finished aging
it goes to the cutting room, where
1t Is broken down into chucks.
rounds. rib roasts, steaks, etc. The
reason for the central cutting and
trimming operation is to elimi-
nate as much work and waste as
possible for the individual store
owners. At one long table men
were cutting and boning rib ends.
the meat to be used for ground
beef. The waste bones and fat are
sold to industrial firms. In order
to standardize the quality of their
ground beef it is all ground at the
meat warehouse, put into To-
pound packages and sent to vari-
Gus outlets. They likewise make
all the corned beef that is sold in
some 200 Of their stores in the
Washington area.
Benond Ripening
When the bananas first reach
the warehouse they're green as
grass, and require careful handling
to bring them to the eating stage.
The first step is the temperature
humidity controlled room Of 7O-7l
degrees where they hang for "a
hours. Then the temperature is
dropped to 68 degrees with no
steam until the color slowly
changes to the familiar golden
hue. They are held at 66 degrees
until ready to cut and distribute.
When the bananas are broken
down any "hands" still too green
for the retail trade go back to|
the ripening rooms to be held for
future delivery.
New Look
Would you like to give q new
look to your spaghetti dishes this
fall? Fundamentally. the ingredi-
ents that go to make the new
product are the same pure
semolina enriched with vitamins,
iron and niacin it's the shape
that has been changed. To al
real spaghetti eater it's tanta-
mount to a crime to cut the long
strands but there are others who
consider them a bother. So along
comes product known as Gemelli|
-. meaning twins which isl
nothing more Or less than a twin
spaghetti twist designed to elimi-
nate the twisting and twirling.
The manufacturer claims the dou-
bic twist retains more of the sauce
SO with each bite Of spaghetti one
gets nice coating Of sauce. too.
Thrifty 'Stewers'
You may prete a broiler or
fryer because Of S speed in
cooking but don't !. Nerlook the
choice eating on the older birds.
Whether you call them "stewing
chickens" "stewing hens" Stew
ers." or fowl" makes no difference,
the point is the current supply is
ample and the prices attractive.
The stewing chicken has the ad-
vantage in the wide range Of ap-
petizing dishes for which it CAM
be used. Stewed, steamed or fri
cassed. for example, in it's initial
appearance, the leftovers can gol
into tasty combinations later.
If you're on a committee to plan
food for large group meetings
this bit of information may come
in handy. From 5-pound dressed
stewing chicken you get about q
pounds of waste ;. viscera, head,
feet and bones and about 81
pounds of meat, including the
giblets. This will make between
3 to 4 cups of cooked meat. Three
cups of diced meat will make S toI
6 generous servings of creamed
chicken and almost twice that
number of servings when made
into salad.
Here and There: