PASSIONFRUIT AND CAPE GOOSEBERRIES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 147, 17 April 1942, Page 22

PASSIONFRUIT AND CAPE GOOSEBERRIES

HESE two delicious fruits are now in full supply, and we shall do well to preserve them for use in. the "fruitless months," as well as enjoying them now while fresh. Fruit Salads Passionfruit are especially good in fruit salad, which they transform from an ordinary mixture of» fruit, into a real dessert. Even three large passionfruit will uplift a whole bowlful of sliced bananas, and apples and pears, especially now, when we cannot easily get tinned pineapple, which we have been accus ed to look’ upon as the indispensable base of fruit salad. We shall have to depend on the juices of our bottled fruits this year, to help in fruit will uplift a whole bowlful of preserve fruit juice specially for this purpose. Any bottles which would normally. be thrown away can be used for .storing fruit juices, provided they are corked securely and the whole neck covered over with melted wax or fat to make sure the seal is airtight. Fruit salads are now, of. necessity, quite simple, and do not take as long to make as we always thought necessary, Preparing the oranges was a slow job, and cutting up the pineapple-but our present fruit salads will mostly lack both of these. Try to get lemon juice always; and with that and the delightful tang of the passionfruit, a plain salad will be very good. It is, too, an excellent way of getting all the family to eat a mixture of raw fruit. Although there may always be a dish of fruit on the sideboard, many people don’t bother to

eat it. But served cut up, as a dessert, they simply have to eat it, to their own gain. Served with a good custard, made either with eggs or with custard powder, if cream is not plentiful, it makes a valuable meal. Suggestions for Fruit Salats No.1. Two apples, 3 pears, 3 peaches 3 plums, Cut into fairly large pieces. Remove stones and skins. Add pulp of 6 or 8 passionfruit, and the juice of half a lemon. Sprinkle with a little sugar, and leave for an hour or two, to blend the flavours, The skins and corés of the apples and pears, and the passionfruit skins, can be boiled ina little water, strained, sweetened and flavoured with Pineapple essence, and poured over the salad. No. 2. Two bananas, a small bunch of grapes, peeled and stoned, 4 ripe peaches or nectarines, 2 apples (for crunchiness), and the pulp and juice of 6 passionfruit, Sprinkle with sugar, and add any juice from stewed fruit or rhubarb as desired. Preserved Passionfruit No. 1. This one is uncooked, so has the real fresh fruit flavour. Just mix together equal parts of passionfruit plup and sugar in a bowl. Leave it for 24 hours, stirring often; then, when all the sugar is thoroughly dissolved, seal it up in small jars, so that it will be used up quickly when once opened: This should keep for a year. No. 2, To every cup of passionfruit pulp add % cup sugar, and boil for 15 minutes., Cover as for jam, If boiled too long, it will become sugary,

No. 3. With Salicylic ‘Acid. To five cups of passionfruit pulp add 214 cups sugar. Stir well, and add half a teaspoon of salicylic acid bought from the chemist. Still till all is dissolved. Put in small pots; cover well. Good for icings, as well as fruit salads, Passionfruit Wine One gallon of water, 4lbs, sugar, 6 dozen ripe passionfruit. Halve and pulp the fruit, add water, let ferment 6 to 8 days. Strain through muslin cloth, then add sugar. Let work for three weeks, strain and let stand a few days. Strain again and keg up tight. Let stand about seven months, then it is ready for use, To improve the colour, chop up small a lot of the nice ripe skins and add to the pulp during the first ferment. Keep well stirred several times daily. Passionfruit Jam Any quantity of ripe passionfruit; cut in halves, and scoop out pulp. Put skins on to boil in water. for half an hour, or until tender. The once whité part can now be scooped out and will be like a thick red jelly; and the skin will be like thin paper, and may be thrown away. Add the rest to the pulp, and allow % cup sugar to each cup of pulp. Boil about an hour or until it sets when tested. This jam is also very nice added to melon jam. Passionfruit Cheese Use a double saucepan, or a basin standing in a pan of water. Twelve passionfruit, 1 cup sugar, 14% tablespoons butter, 1 egg. Cut passionfruit in halves, and scrape out pulp. Push this through a wire sieve, into upper half of double saucepan. Add the beaten egg, sugar and butter, and mix well. Put into the outer pan of hot water, and cook till smooth and thick, like lemon cheese. It must not boil. Colour with alittle red foodcolouring. Seal when cool. Passionfruit and Apple Jam This uses passionfruit by the pound! Weigh 4 Ibs. and cut them up, skins and all, after washing. Peel and core

4 Ibs, apples. Boil the cut up passionfruit and the apple skins and cores in sufficient water to cover, until the passionfruit is thoroughly soft. Strain through bag or colander, on to the cut up apples, pressing through all the pulp, but not the seeds. Boil until the apples are clear, then add 4 lbs. sugar, and boil quickly until it will set when tested, Cape Gooseberry Jam Five pounds cape gooseberries, juice of 5 lemons, 1 pint water, 5 Ibs. sugar. Boil the sugar and water for a few minutes, removing any scum. Then add lemon juice and boil again. Hull the cape gooseberries, and prick them with a needle; put them into the lemonflavoured syrup and boil until jam is cooked, and will set when tested. Bottle when cold, or the cape gooseberries will rise to the top. Cape Gooseberry and Apple Jam Allow 414 Ibs. cape gooseberries, after they have been shelled, and 114 Ibs, green apples. Mince or grate the apples. Put 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, and all the fruit. Smash the gooseberries, and if there is not enough juice to start them off without burning, add about 2 tablespoons of water. Allow pound for pound of sugar, and cook all together, till it will set when tested. Cape Gooseberry, Passionfruit and Pie Melon Jam One and a-half pounds cape gooseberries, 6 Ibs. melon, 16 passionfruit, 6 Ibs. sugar. Cut melon into. blocks, and shell gooseberries. Cover with sugar, stend 24 hours. Boil 2 or 3 hours. Put the passion fruit in when, the jam boils.