BLACKBERRIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1938, Page 5

BLACKBERRIES

FOR PIES AND PUDDINGS. Most housewives make blackberry jam during the season, but few attempt anything else, which is a pity, since the blackberry is useful in many ways. Blackberry Cream. Take 1 pint fresh blackberries, Joz sugar, loz gelatine, J pint cream, 4 tablespoonfuls water. Pick over a pint of fresh blackberries and put them into a pan with half an ounce of sugar and two tablespoonfuls water. Dissolve the gelatine in the remaining two tablespoonfuls of water. When the blackberries are soft, mash and strain them into a basin. Add the gelatine, and when cool add the whipped cream. Turn into a mould and leave until set. Decorate to taste. Blackberry Pudding. Take 11 cupfuls fine breadcrumbs, 1 egg, 1 cupful flour, 2 cupfuls blackberries, -J teaspoonful grated nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 cupful water, 3 teaspoonfuls baking-powder, custard to serve. Sift flour, salt, and baking-powder into a basin. Stir in crumbs, nutmeg, and beaten egg, then gradually stir in the water, and lastly the blackberries. Beat well, pour into a buttered pie-dish, and bake three-quart-ers of an hour in a moderate oven. Serve with custard. Blackberry and Apple Flummery. Take 11b blackberries, 'lib apples, 1 pint water, sugar to taste, 2oz flour, 1 teaspoonful mixed spice. Pick the blackberries and peel and core the apples. Stew the fruit in the water, sweeten it to taste, and rub through a hair sieve. Mix the flour and spice to a perfectly smooth liquid with a little cold water. Boil the fruit puree and pour it on the flour, stirring well. Return the mixture to the pan, stir till it boils. Boil for five minutes, and when cool enough pour it into a glass dish. Serve cold with milk, custard, or cream. Blackberry Mould. Take 3 tablespoonfuls blackberry jelly, 11 pints milk, 3J flat tablespoonfuls cornflour, loz butter or margarine, 1 tablespoonful cream, cochineal. Mix the cornflour to a smooth paste with a small quantity of milk. Heat the remainder, and pour on to the cornflour, return to the saucepan, and bring to the boil, keeping it well stirred. Add the butter and jelly, mix well. Simmer for about eight minutesh. Draw off the gas, add the cream, and a few drops of cochineal. Pour into a wet, border mould and leave until set. Turn on to a glass dish to serve. The centre of the mould can be filled with whipped cream or stewed blackberries. Blackberry Cobbler. Line a deep pudding dish with pastry rolled out a quarter of an inch thick, and fill with fresh blackberries. Sprinkle with half a cupful of sugar. Cover with a top crust, and press down the edges. Bake slowly for three-quarters of an - hour and serve hot with cream and sugar. Blackberry Tartlets. Take 4oz short pastry, Jib blackberries, 1 lemon, | pint cream, sugar. Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a quarter of an inch. Flour a plain cutter and cut out rounds. Place in patty-pans and prick the bottom of the pastry to prevent it rising in the centre. Flake the edges and bake in the top of hot oven for about twelve minutes. While baking, cook the blackberries with very little water and sugar to taste and finally grated lemon rind and a little strained juice of the lemon. Remove the tartlet cases from the oven. Place them on a sieve to cool. When quite cold, place a spoonful of blackberries in each to fill them generously. Add a little of the thick juice. Whip the cream and sweeten it with a little castor sugar. Decorate round the edge of the tarts with the cream. Blackberry Jelly. Pick over some very ripe and juicy blackberries and put them into a jar in a pan of boiling water. Cover the top and leave for an hour. When the juice has stewed out of the fruit, take the pan off the gas and strain fruit through a muslin jelly bag, or through a hair sieve. Measure the quantity of juice and allow threequarters of a pound of sugar for every pint of juice. Boil up the sugar and juice until the syrup jellies when tested. Be sure to remove any scum that rises while it is boiling, otherwise the jelly will be cloudy. When ready, pour the jelly into small jars and cover. Blackberry Cordial. Wash the blackberries well, put them into a saucepan, and let them heat slowly, stirring often; do not allow them to boil. Strain through a hot jelly bag, leaving only the seeds in the bag. Measure the juice, and to every quart add two cupfuls of sugar; put on the stove, and add one inch of cinnamon stick, four whole cloves, and four whole allspice tied in a piece of muslin. Boil until the syrup is thick —about twenty-five minutes: when done, set aside to cool. When cold, add one cupful of brandy and one cupful of sherry to every quart of syrup. Bottle and seal tightly. Serve two tablespoonfuls in one tumblerful of ice cold water.