APPLES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 308, 18 May 1945, Page 22

APPLES

sensible fruit, are now plentiful, and we value them all the more because they have been scarce, Usually they are more or less taken for granted, and yet are indispensable. "Fancy fruits" come and go, but apples are a foundation. ‘ A the healthy, homely, Raw apples are best for us, and we should eat the skins or at least chew them. Even delicate people, and young children, can eat raw apple scraped from the fruit with a teaspoon. They also act as a good cleanser for the mouth and teeth, and should be eaten raw after a meal. Another good idea is to eat a raw apple and drink a glass of milk, to- | gether, as a meal, every morning; it has been found excellent in relieving rheumatism, Here are some recipes for cooking. apples: Apple Dumplings Peel and quarter about 2lb. of sour apples, and drop them into a rich syrup made of three cups of sugar and one cup of hot water, and let them simmer till soft but unbroken. Have a batter ready, made of one-third of a cup of butter, one-third cup sugar, %4 teaspoon salt, 1 egg well beaten, 1144 cupfuls of sweet milk, 2% cups flour, 2% teaspoons baking powder. Cream the butter, add the sugar and egg. Sift flour and baking powder, add to the mixture, alternating it with the milk. Butter a goodsized piedish, and drop the batter by spoonfuls into it, and with it spoonfuls of the hot apples and syrup, much as one juggles with the mixture of marble cake. Then pour the remaining hot syrup over all. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon, and bake in a: hot oven for about half an hour. It will then be elicious with crisp brown bits of pas¢e risen here and there through little rivers of syrup. It will be crisp and soft, solid, liquid, jellied, spicy, bland and appley all through. Small Apple Puddings (Original) This recipe comes from an Onehunga Link in the Daisy Chain. Make a suet crust with 142 cups of flour, 4% cup wholemeal, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons of baking powder,. good pinch of salt, and 3o0z. shredded suet. Mix it to a nice dough with about" % cup of warm milk and water, with Y% teaspoon each of ginger, cinnamon and clove flavouring. Roll out, and line four small basins, or cups without handles, keeping a piece of paste to cover each one. Peel and core 4 nice apples carefully, and place one in each pastry-lined basin. Minc® lb. ‘of cakefruit mixture, add %. teaspoon each of orange and lemon flavouring to 1 teaspoon of hot water, and add this to the minced fruit. Mix all well with a fork. Fill up the core spaces in the apples with this, and place a small piece of butter on top. Dissolve a tablespoon 'of honey in four tablespoons of hot water, add a few drops of clove flavouring, and pour over each apple. Cover with suet

top, then with butter paper and a rubber band. Steam in one large saucepan for about 144 hours. They may all be put into one big pudding if liked. Serve with thin ginger sauce. Orchard Pudding-Steamed This is delicious and not nearly so much trouble as it sounds. Make a good suet crust with 8oz. flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder, 4oz, finely grated suet; a pinch of salt, and milk to mix. Roll out, and divide into three parts. Grease a pudding basin, and cover the bottom with 2 tablespoons of rel currant jelly, or strawberry jam. On top of this put a layer of pastry large enough to come three parts up the sides of the basin. Fill up this space with sliced apples, sprinkle with sugar, and about half a cup of water flavoured with lemon juice. Cover the apples with a thin layer of pastry, amd spread on top of ita layer of black currant jam-about 2 tablespoonfuls, Put the third layer of pastry over the top, cover with buttered paper, and steam for 24% hours. Very goodnice with cream, Tenterden Apple Pie This is the traditional apple pie of the county of Kent. Two pounds of cooking apples; %lb. sugar, 1%41lb. cheese; some cloves, and some short pastry. Peel, core and cut the apples into thickslices. Place a layer in a pie dish. Sprinkle on a tablespoon of sugar, then add the remainder of the fruit and sugar, and the cloves. Pour in % teacup of water. Cut the cheese in thin slices, and cover the apples with them. Sprinkle with the merest suggestion of pepper, and a little nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon of castor sugar. Roll out the pastry, line the edge of the pie-dish with a strip of pastry, put on the pastry cover. Press the edges together, raise them slightly with a knife, sprinkle on a little castor sugar, and bake in a good oven 40 to 50 minutes. Devonshire Apple Curranty Three-quarters pound flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, %4lb. grated suet, 4 or 5 large sour cooking apples; 2 tablespoons sugar; 3: tablespoons currants or sultanas; 1 egg; salt, and milk to mix. Chop apples into pieces the size of a lump of sugar. Blend the flour, baking powder, suet, sugar and salt. Add chopped apples and currants, and mix with beaten egg, and only just sufficient milk to make a mixture of cake consistency. Grease a piedish, put in the mixture, and bake for about an hour. If preferred, grease a basin and fill with the mixture, cover with butter paper, and boil for 2 hours. A.T.P. Jam The initials stand for apples (2Ib.), ripe tomatoes (4lb.) and passion-fruit (1% dozen). Scald the tomatoes and remove the skins. Peel the apples and slice and boil together until soft. Add 5lb. sugar, and boil very quickly for 30 minutes. Then add the pulp of the passion-fruit and boil a little longer till it sets nicely when tested. ;