A DELICIOUS SWEETMEAT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 236, 24 December 1927, Page 18

A DELICIOUS SWEETMEAT

BY DORIS HENDERSON When busy making sweets and toffees it is helpful to know how to crystallise fruits, for the idea is often dismissed as being too difficult a task. This is erroneous, because if skill has already bsen acquired in making fancy creams and toffees, crystallising is not impossible. Sweets which are crystallised last much longer, and both fruits and sweets gain that professional look which is so desired when the confectionery is for Christmas presentation. THE SYRUP The crystallising syrup is prepared by boiling of loaf sugar in * pint of water, adding two drops of acetic acid. The problem is to get the correct density, and this can only be successfully gauged by means of a saccarometer, a sugar hydrometer, floated on the syrup. This instrument, in spite of its fearsome name, costs only a few shillings, and is an investment well worth while, for it will last a lifetime, and is often the secert of success in this branch of sweet-making. The correct degree of density for this syrup is 34£ degrees. If it is too dense, the syrup can be thinned down by adding cold water, very gradually, until the meter shows the correct figure. Any scum is then removed, and a circle of paper, a little smaller than the saucepan, is pricked all over, damped slightly, and floated on top of the liquid. Now patience must be exercised, for the saucepan is to be left untouched

for a day. Then when the paper has been taken off, and the syrup fn*ed from crystals, it is ready for use. SWEETS AND FRUITS All sweets and fruits to be crystallised must be quite dry. Stand a wire rack full of sweets in the bakingtin, cover with perforated paper, and on this place a second tray, the top tray to 'prevent the sv»eets rising. When ready, pour in the syrup gently, seeing that the sweetmeats are covered, then leave for 13 hours. When the fruits and sweets are removed from the racks and paper, and transferred to a dry tray, they must be left to set, a process which ■will probably take another 34 hours. Crystallising is not a task to be hurried! FOR FLOWERS A decoration of crystallised flowers is effective on cakes, and can be prepared by dissolving one teaspoonful of isinglass in a cup of boiling water. Then boil £lb of loaf sugar in half a pint of water, just until it forms a thread from a spoon. Leave both to cool. Now take your clean, dry flowers, rose petals or violets, and dip into the isinglass; drain for a minute and transfer to the syrup. Hold them here for a moment, then shake off any superfluous syrup, powder thickly with caster sugar, and lay on a sheet of oiled paper till one side is dry. Then turn over and powder with sugar on the other side. <

YOUR FACE IS YOUR FORTUNE By DOROTHY DEE. You know how a gardener at stated seasons of the year tidies up, tends his flowers, and prunes his overgrown bushes. That is what your face needs once now and again—a thorough overhaul, as it were,’of your particular garden of beauty. First you should see to your pores. Are they blocked or enlarged, or both? If you And blackheads here and there, cover them with a soft strip of flannel soaked in hot olive oil, for as many minutes as the oil remains warm. The oil, at the beginning, should be just hot enough to bear your little finger m with comfort and the flannel should be squeezed dry enough to prevent the oil dripping from it. Now coyer your forefinger with soft cloth, thick enough to prevent your nails marking the skin, and gently press out the foreign matter from the pores. If your blackheads are legion, complete the cure by degrees. An Astringent

Wring out a soft flannel in water, then in a suitable skin lotion, and apply to your skin after wiping off the oil that remains. The lotion closes the pores, and it will have the sarqe effect when your pores are enlarged without the presence of blackheads. Cold cream on a pad of wool, first wrung out of cold water, will cleanse your face of grime that mere soap and water • will not remove, and the same lotion will cut the grease and bring a fresh glow to your cheeks—incidentally, it has also a very cleansing effect. Always wipe off all cream before applying lotion. Beautiful Eyes Now see to your eyebrows. Without having them plucked, their shape needs trimming now and again, fcffray hairs are apt to grow outside tlieir natural shape, and these can be pulled out painlessly with a pair of tweezers, given a steady pull from the roots, with a finger pressed firmly each side of the hair. Then comb up your brows with a fine comb, and press them down again in a straight line, gently curving the ends. Finally, to leave your skin soft* as the petal of a rose, hold your face for a few minutes over a bowl of hot water, collecting the steam with a towel. Let it perfectly dry, and with a large pad of wool dab on a very fine and pure powder that matches the tint of your skin exactly. Smooth the powder lightly over the skin with your hands, until not a particle remains to be seen. Powder should always be applied this way—that is the secret of the beauty salons. No puff ever gives the same velvety effect.