[Ill.u.s.tration: SLICED ORANGES.]
[Sidenote: Oranges, grape-fruit, or shaddocks.]
The grape-fruit is served at breakfast, or as a first course at luncheon. The pulp must be separated from the thin bitter skin which separates the sections, with a silver knife. A little sugar is added, and sometimes a teaspoonful of sherry, to each portion. The pulp and juice is eaten with a spoon from the peel, one half the shaddock being served to each person, or it may be served in small gla.s.ses. The peels prepared as fancy baskets can be kept fresh for several days in water.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GRAPE FRUIT SERVED IN THE HALF PEEL.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: GRAPE FRUIT SERVED IN A BASKET MADE OF THE PEEL AND A BRANCH OF HOLLY TIED TO THE HANDLE. (SEE PAGE 530.)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: GRAPE FRUIT SERVED IN A BASKET MADE OF THE PEEL--GERANIUM LEAVES TIED TO THE HANDLE.]
[Sidenote: Peaches.]
Peaches should have the down taken off lightly with a soft brush before being served. A fruit doily should be given at the time they are pa.s.sed, as peaches stain the table linen.
[Sidenote: Strawberries.]
Large fine strawberries are served with the hulls on and piled in a pyramid. Sugar is pa.s.sed with them, or they may be served on individual plates around a small mound of sugar, made by pressing the sugar in a winegla.s.s and then unmolding it in the center of the plate.
[Sidenote: Berries.]
No berries should be washed. If strawberries are sandy, cold water must be poured over them and drained off at once, but the berries will no longer be at their best. Sugar should always be pa.s.sed, and not put over the berries before serving them, as it extracts their juice and destroys their firmness.
They should also be served in small dishes, as they crush with their own weight. Where a large quant.i.ty is being served, several dishes should be used.
[Sidenote: Currants.]
A mixture of red and of white currants makes an attractive breakfast fruit. They may be served on the stems if fine and large cl.u.s.ters.
[Sidenote: Bananas sliced, sauted, and fried.]
Bananas sliced and covered with whipped cream make a good light dessert for luncheon. They may be moistened with orange-juice or with sherry before the cream is added, if desired. Bananas may be cut in two lengthwise, sauted in a little b.u.t.ter, and served as a vegetable or as an entree; or they may be cut in two, the ends cut square, so they will resemble croquettes, then rolled in flour, and fried in hot fat to a light color, and served as a dessert with currant jelly sauce. To make the sauce, dilute the jelly with boiling water; add a few chopped blanched almonds and shredded candied orange-peel. The unripe and not fully developed banana is devoid of sweetness and when roasted resembles a baked potato. In hot climates the natives live mostly on bananas, and a nation is said to be cursed where they grow, because the ease with which they get their living makes them lazy.
[Sidenote: Stewed figs.]
Soak dried figs in cold water for several hours, then stew them slowly until plump. Drain and pile them on a dish, and serve with whipped cream slightly sweetened and flavored with vanilla, sherry, maraschino, or with essence of almond.
Arrange the cream in a circle around the figs.
[Sidenote: Salpicon of fruits.]
Mix together lightly an equal proportion of orange-pulp, bananas cut into half-inch dice, and grapes cut in two and the seeds removed. Add sugar if necessary, and a little sherry or liqueur if desired; serve in gla.s.ses or in half-orange skins. Grape-fruit may be used in the same way; it may also be combined with the orange salpicon. There should be a good quant.i.ty of juice with the mixture.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SALPICON OF FRUITS IN ORANGE-SKIN.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: SALPICON OF FRUITS IN GLa.s.s.]
[Sidenote: Melons.]
Melons are in perfection in hot dry weather. They absorb water readily and should not be gathered after a heavy rain storm. Small melons are cut in two, the seeds removed, a piece of ice placed in each piece, and a half melon served to each person. Large melons are cut in broad sections and a generous piece served as a portion. Melons may be served at the beginning or the end of any meal. They are usually most acceptable as a first course. They should be thoroughly cold.
[Sidenote: Frozen fruits.]
Any of the fruits can be partly frozen and served as an ice.
Cut them into pieces, sweeten with sugar syrup, and pack in ice and salt for an hour, but do not leave them long enough to become stiff. Berries are of course left whole.
[Sidenote: Quinces baked.]
Pare and core quinces the same as apples. Put them in a shallow earthen dish, with enough water to fill the dish a quarter inch deep. Place them in a moderate oven and bake until tender, basting them often. Serve them hot with b.u.t.ter and sugar as a luncheon dish.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLUMS.]
[Sidenote: Nuts.]
Nuts with hard sh.e.l.ls are cracked, the meats removed and placed in bonbon dishes, or are piled on lace papers in small compotiers. Almonds with paper sh.e.l.ls are served whole. Almonds are also served blanched. Peanuts with the sh.e.l.ls and skins removed, and served in bonbon dishes, are much liked and seldom recognized as the much-despised nut.
Peanuts may be salted the same as almonds.
[Sidenote: Salted almonds.]
Blanch the almonds by putting them in boiling water for a few minutes; the skins can then be easily rubbed off. Put the blanched nuts into a pan with a small piece of b.u.t.ter, and place them in a moderate oven. Stir them frequently so they will brown on all sides. Sprinkle them freely with salt as soon as they are taken from the oven.
[Sidenote: Salted almonds No. 2.]
Blanch the almonds, and when they are thoroughly dry pour a tablespoonful of oil on every cupful of nuts. Let them stand in the oil for an hour, then add a tablespoonful of fine salt to each cupful. Stir them and place in a shallow pan in the oven until they are colored a light brown. Stir them occasionally while in the oven, so they will be evenly colored. Turn them onto a paper to dry, and shake off the loose salt before serving.
[Sidenote: Salted English walnuts and filberts.]
Brown them in the oven with a little b.u.t.ter the same as almonds. Filberts are blanched, but walnuts do not have the skin removed.
A mixture of salted almonds, walnuts, and filberts makes a good combination.
Salted nuts are served at luncheon or dinner, and are eaten at any and all times during those meals.
=SALPICON OF FRUIT PUNCH=
This is served in gla.s.ses, in place of and in the same way as frozen punch after the roast. Cut a pineapple into small dice; remove the bitter skin carefully from the segments of three shaddocks and cut them into pieces. Cut in two and remove the seeds from a pound of white grapes; mix the fruit together. Put a cupful of rum and a cupful of sugar into a saucepan on the fire and let them come to the boiling point, then pour them over the fruit and let stand until cold. The rum will not penetrate the fruit so well if put on cold. Put the mixture into a freezing-can and pack in ice and salt for several hours, or until ready to serve. Stir the mixture together carefully every little while.
=PUNCH OF WHITE CALIFORNIA CANNED CHERRIES=
Drain off the liquor; make a rum syrup as above; soak and freeze in the same way.
=JELLIED FRUIT=
Cut the pulp of two oranges into small pieces; cut two bananas into dice; cut half a dozen candied cherries into quarters; chop a dozen blanched almonds. Mix all lightly together and turn them into a bowl or a china mold. Soak a half ounce of gelatine in a half cupful of cold water for an hour; dissolve it in a cupful of boiling water; add a half cupful of sugar and stir over the fire until dissolved; then add the juice of half a lemon, the juice which has drained from the fruit, and a tablespoonful of sherry. Turn it into the mold slowly, so it soaks into the fruit, and set aside to cool. Serve with cream if convenient. Any mixture of fresh fruits may be used in the same way; raisins may be used instead of cherries, or both may be omitted. This is a good way to utilize fruits that are going to waste.
=FRUIT JUICES=