THE BANANA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 July 1938, Page 8

THE BANANA

SOME EXCELLENT DISHES. These dishes will be found suitable to all tastes: — Banana Honeycomb. Take 4 bananas, 1 pint hot.water, 1 packet vanilla jelly crystals, cochineal. Dissolve the jelly crystals in.the hot water and leave until it is beginning to set. Peel the bananas and mash to a fine pulp, then add to the jelly and whisk all together for a few minutes. Stir in a few drops of cochineal. Turn into a wet mould to set, then turn on to a glass dish. Decorate base with slices of banana. Ginger Bananas. Take 6 bananas, 1 gill cream, 3oz preserved ginger, apricot jam, a few almonds, castor sugar, vanilla. Blanch and chop some almonds. Place them on a sheet of paper on a tin, and put into the oven until a golden brown. Peel the bananas and split into halves lengthways, then scoop out a little ridge down the centre. Cut the ginger into tiny pieces and place along this centre hollow. Heat a little jam, and, if it is stiff, thin down with just a very small quantity of water, then rub through a sieve. Spread the edges of the halved bananas with this, then coat with the prepared almonds. Whisk the cream until it stiffens, sweeten and flavour to taste. Put this into an icing bag and force a line down the centre of each halved banana. Decorate with pieces of ginger. Banana and Pineapple Royal. Take 7 bananas, 1 pint milk, Joz gelatine, 1 small tin pineapple. Peel six of the bananas and mash them to a pulp. Drain the syrup from the pineapple and put the fruit through a mincer. Dissolve the gelatine in a saucepan with half a gill of the pineapple juice, add the remainder to the banana pulp. Stir in also the minced pineapple, leaving out a little for decoration. Strain in the dissolved gelatine, then add the milk,- and some castor sugar is required. Turn into a dish and leave to set. Just before you are ready to serve it, heap some minced pineapple in the centre and add the remaining banana cut' in slices. Banana Crescents.

Take 4 or 5 slices tinned pineapple, a few glace cherries, bananas (as required). Peel the bananas and cut into slices. Cut the pineapple slices into halves, and place the two pieces together (one on top of the other). Put these in rather a shallow dish, and arrange slices of banana on them in the form of a crescent, making each slice overlap the previous one. Place a thick piece of banana in the centre hole of the pineapple and stick a cherry on top of it Pour a little syrup round and serve with cream. Chartreuse of Bananas. Take 1A pint packets of lemon or pineapple jelly crystals, I gill sherry, 51 gills hot water, 4 or 5 bananas. Dissolve the crystals in hot water according to directions on the packet; when cold, stir in the sherry. Rinse a plain mould with water, pour a little jelly in the bottom and leave to set, then decorate .with pieces of banana (dipped in jelly). When set, coyer with jelly to about a depth of half an inch, and when this is set cover with jelly and set again. Now add sliced bananas (also dipped in jelly), place then all over in rings, and let each slice overlap the previous one. When set, cover with jelly to the depth of half an inch, and when this is set proceed in the same way until the mould is full. When quite firm, dip in warm water, turn on to a dish, and serve with cream. Note: Put a little ot the jelly aside and use for dipping the bananas in. Banana Russe. Take 2 tablespoonfuls chopped banana, 2 egg-yolks, J pint' milk, J oz gelatine, 1 gill water, 3 tablespoonfuls sherry, 4 sponge-fingers, 4 whole bananas, whipped cream and cherries to decorate, sugar. Make a custard with the egg-yolks and the half-pint of milk. Add sugar to taste. Mix in chopped bananas, the sherry, and gelatine dissolved, in the water. When beginning to stiffen, pour into a buttered mould lined with split bananas and sponge-fingers. When set, turn out and decorate with cream tnd crystallised cherries.