CHINESE GOOSEBERRIES and TREE TOMATOES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 360, 17 May 1946, Page 26

CHINESE GOOSEBERRIES and TREE TOMATOES

RUITS which used to be considered quite a novelty are now being grown in our own gardens, and one of these unusual fruits is the Chinese gooseberry. In the days when we used always to have a cream sponge or a cream Pavlova cake for afternoon teas and suppers, these could be decorated most artistically with rounds of peeled Chinese gooseberries. Of course, we can still use them for, decorating, but it has to be icing, instead of cream. As for tree tomatoes, there are lots of uses for them too, and a dish of stewed tree tomatoes, with custard, makes a tasty finish to a meal.

Fruit Salads and Jellies

Raw Chinese gooseberry pulp added to fruit salad gives quite a fascinating tang, and looks pretty too; while slices set on top of a red jelly look most appetising. Stewed tree tomatoes can also be set in jelly. Here are some special recipes for these fruits:

Chinese Gooseberry Jam

Cut the ripe gooseberries in half, and scoop out the pulp. Just cover the bottom of a preserving pan with water. Then add the fruit pulp and boil till thoroughly cooked. Allow threequarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of gooseberry pulp. Warm the sugar, add to the cooked pulp, and stir till all is dissolved. Then boil till it will set when tested on a plate.

Chinese Gooseberry and Orange Jam

Four and a-half pounds of the pulp of Chinese gooseberries; 442lb. of sugar, the juice and‘ grated rind of 8 sweet oranges, and the juice and rind of 2 lemons. Boil all together until the jam will set when tested on a plate.

Chinese Gooseberry Chutney

Twelve Chinese gooseberries, peeled and cut up; 3 medium-sized onions grated; 1 large banana cut up; 2 lemons peeled and cut into chunks; 1 small cup of sultanas or raisins; 1 teaspoon of ground ginger; %4lb. of preserved ginger; 1 large cup of brown sugar; 1 dessertspoon of salt, or a little less if desired; Y teaspoon of pepper; 1 large cup of vinegar. Put all the ingredients into a saucepan-the vinegar should just cover the other ingredients. Simmer about 114 hours. Mash with a potato masher-do not strain through a colander. When cool, bottle and cork well:

Chinese Gooseberry and Tree Tomato Jam

Ten tree tomatoes; 12 Chinese gooseberries; 6 cups of sugar; and 2 large cups of water. Skin the tomatves, and cut them up into the pan. Scoop out the pulp from the Chinese gooseberries, and add to the tomatoes, with the water, and cook for about half an hour. When

it comes to the boil, add the warmed sugar, and cook until it will set when tested on a saucer.

Tree Tomato Pudding

Skin 1lb. of three tomatoes; and peel and slice 2lb. of cooking apples. Line a buttered pie dish with a layer of breadcrumbs, then add a layer of tomatoes, and apples. Sprinkle with sugar. Repeat these layers until the dish is full, Put a couple of dabs of butter on top, and then lay on the apple peels. Bake in the oven till cooked, and just before serving remove the apple peels, and brown the pudding on top.

Tree Tomato and Apple Jam

Scald and peel 3lb. of tree tomatoes; peel and mince 1lb. green apples, and bring these both to the boil with 2 teacups of water. Add 4lb. of warmed sugar, and boil till it will set when tested--about one hour. Then add the juice of one or two lemons, bottle and seal while hot.

Tree Tomato Chutney

Skin and cut up 3lb. of tree tomatoes; peel and cut up 1lb. onions, and 114Ib. of apples. Put into a pan with a pint of vinegar; 2441b. brown sugar; 42 packet of mixed spice; a tablespoon of salt; and a scant half teaspoon of cayenne pepper. This should not need more than an hour’s boiling. It should make about 5%4lb. and is better with onions than with garlic.

Tree Tomato and Melon Jam

Peél and cut 4lb. of melon into dice. Pour 2 pints of boiling water over 2ib. of tree tomatoes, which must, be clean; and stand in a hot place for 15 minutes. Skin the tomatoes and cut them up. Pour the water that they have been soaked in over the melon, and the cut-up tomatoes. Bring to the boil, and boil for five minutes. Then add 6lb. of sugar, and boil till it jells, then add 1 level teaspoon of citric or tartaric acid. Bottle while hot, and seal when cold.

Tree Tomato and Macaroni Pie

Boil 30z. of macaroni in salted water, Cut up finely i1lb. of cold meat; peel and slice about 6 tree tomatoes. Put alternate layers of macaroni, meat and tomatoes in a buttered piedish with a little seasoning. Add about 2 tablespoons of stock or vegetable water, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and one or two dabs of butter. Bake about threequarters of an hour in a good oven.