Apples—Ever Welcome

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 926, 10 May 1957, Page 22

Apples—Ever Welcome

once again in full supplythe new season’s apples-so universally in demand by New Zealanders, young and_ old. Fancy fruits come and gostrawberries, raspberries, plums and peaches, and the newer tree tomatoes, Chinese gooseberries and all the rest. Even the juicy citrus fruits, though so essential, are not so fundamental as the apple. And how clean and easy they are to eat. Not even peeling is necessary, and no juice spills over to stain the clothes. Children bite into them, before and after (and during) school hours; lorry drivers, farm workers, everybody is munching the new season’s apples. Only last week I was amused by a carrier who confided to me as he threw away a core: "I only got these new dentures last night and I’ve eaten my usual apple, skin and all!" Little do the folks reflect on the grand food value of apples; they just eat them for enjoyment. But they are, as a matter of fact, getting all the essentials for the body-calcium, iron, phosphorus, carbohydrates (in the fruit sugar) for energy, cellulose for roughage, proteins, vitamins C, A and B and calories. And yet apples are non-fatten-ing. Apples are really a protective food and dentists have called them "Nature’s Toothbrush," so clean do they leave the teeth and gums. During the war, in England, when sweets were practically unobtainable, the children were given apples (and carrots) to munch between meals, to their great benefit. For a family of any size, it is economical to buy apples by the case; and the Apple and Pear Board guarantee these for freshness and quality, as they do also the ones in the polythene bags. These, you will have noticed, are perforated in places with little holes so that there can be no sweating, and the apples stay crisp and fresh. There is a belief in some quarters that apples are frozen in the huge cool stores where they are kept while waiting for transport to markets. This is, of course, quite untrue. The cool stores are scientifically designed. The two new ones are the most modern in the world. A few years ago I was permitted to run a broadcast competition on "how to make the best use of a case of apples." We had a tremendous response. Like the envious small boy in London who watched hopefully while his brother munched the apple, only to be told "There ain’t going to be no core," these entries wasted no scraps of apples. Even the pips were dried and varnished and made into necklaces! We had recipes for apples in savoury dishes as well as in jelly, jams, puddings hot and cold, bottled, and in many combinations. Here are some. healthy, homely apple is .

Delectable Pudding {O01 This one was devised by a listener, who described it as turning out "crisp and soft, solid and liquid, jellied, , spicey, bland and appley all through. It has crisp brown bits of paste risen here and there through little rivers of syrup."

Peel and quarter about 2 lb. of sour apples and drop them into a rich syrup made of 3 cuos sugar and 1

cup of hot water, and let them simmer till soft but unbroken. Have a batter ready, made of 3 cup of butter, ¥3 cup of sugar, %4 teaspoon salt, 1 egg well beaten, 1% cupfuls of sweet milk, 2% cups flour, 214 teaspoons baking powder. Cream the butter, add the sugar and egg. Sift flour and baking powder, add to the mixture, alternating it with milk. Butter a good-sized 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. Apple Foam Stew about 4 sliced apples in 1 pint of water and sugar to taste. Set 1 red ‘jelly (red currant, cherry, etc.), with the juice drained off the apples and made up to amount stated on packet. When jelly is about half set, stir in the apples and 1 egg-white stiffly beaten, and whip all together, and finally put in a glass dish to set. Lovely for kiddies. It is much improved when covered with whipped cream, sliced bananas and grated chocolate. Apple Sandwiches Use brown bread, spread with fresh butter. Slice crisp, rather tart apples in thin slices, and put between slices of bread with a little thick mayonnaise. The apples may be coarsely grated and mixed with the mayonnaise if preferred. Thin slices of cheese may be added and a shake of pepper. ; Apple Vegetable Dish Core big apples, making a fair-sized space. Fill this with chopped mushrooms, or mashed potato mixed with grated onion, or breadcrumbs mixed with onion and a little milk, pepper and salt. Pour a half-teaspoon of Worcester sauce over each, and put a wee dab of butter. Bake in shallow dish with a little water, Serve with roast, grilled or fried pork or beef, or with roast chicken. Apple, Prune and Bacon Savoury Wrap rashers of fat bacon round soaked, stoned prunes, and set on thick apple rings. Put on buttered baking sheet, and bake until apples are soft and bacon nicely crisped. Apple and Sausage Roll Skin 2 lb. pork sausages and pat out together into an oblong. Spread on’ this 2 cups diced raw apple, 1 cup chopped onion (preferably par-boiled), 1 cup breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon chopped sage (if liked), and a shake of pepper and salt. Roll this up carefully like a rolypoly and dredge with flour, place in greased baking dish. Bake in moderate

oven till cooked and brown (about an hour). Serve with gravy and green vegetables, Tenterden Apple Pie 4 : This is the traditional apple pie of the county of Kent. Two pounds of cooking apples, 1% Ib, sugar, % Ib. cheese, some cloves and some short pastry. Peel, core and cut the apples inta thick slices. Place a layer in a piedish. Sprinkle on a tablespoon of sugar, then add the remainder of the fruit and Sugar and the cloves Pour in 14 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 ‘14 teaspoon of castor sugar, Roll out the pastry, line the edge of the piedish with a strip of pastry, put on the pastry cover, Press the edges together, raise them slightly with a knife, sprinkle with a little castor sugar, and bake in a good oven 40 to 50 minutes.