Delightful salads and compotes can be made from dried fruit, when fresh fruit is not obtainable. Quite a variety of these fruits is now on the mar- kets, besides the ordinary figs and prunes, such as apricots, peaches, pears, &c., and a mixture of the various kinds is also sold which is excellent for making a winter salad. Dried fruit should be well washed before using, then soaked overnight with sufficient cold water to cover it. Next day it should be slowly stewed or steamed with a syrup made of the water in which the fruit was soaked, and sugar in the proportion of | lb. to each pint of liquid, or according to taste. A little lemon juiee or rind may be added, also some nuts and wine if wished. 2104. Frosted Currants J lb. currants. I 1 table-sp. water. 1 white of egg. I Castor sugar. Either red or white currants may be chosen, but they should be fine and large for this purpose. Dust them lightly and break them into little bunches, removing any that are not perfectly sound. Sieve some sugar on to paper, and warm it without allowing it to melt. Beat up the white of egg and add the water to it. Dip the currants first into the egg and then into the sugar, shake them gently and place them on a paper to dry. Serve them piled up on a crystal or china dish. These make a very pretty dessert. Small grapes may be frosted in the same way. FRUIT SALADS General Notes Almost any kind of fruit may be employed in the making of a salad, such as strawberries, rasp- berries, white, red, or black currants, grapes, oranges, bananas, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, &c. In -winter, when fresh fruit is scarce, the tinned varieties will form a very welcome addition. The salad may be composed of a variety of fruits accord- ing to the season of the year, or merely of one or two fruits. Sometimes a small quantity of nuts, grated cocoanut, shred almonds or pistachio nuts, or chopped walnuts is mixed with the fruit. Fresh fruit must be dry and perfectly ripe — hard, unripe morsels will spoil any salad. It must be carefully prepared, and cut in convenient-sized pieces. Oranges should be skinned, every par- ticle of white pith removed from them, cut in thin slices, or divided in sections, and the pips taken out. Plums peeled, cut in halves or quarters, and the stones removed. Small grapes may be used whole, but the larger ones should be cut in two and have the seeds removed. Bananas, apples, pears, &c., should be peeled and cut in dice or in thin slices. Currants and berries must be carefully stalked and washed if necessary. All the cutting of the fruit must be done with a silver knife. The dressing of a fruit salad is generally com- posed of a syrup, made of sugar and water, with some wine or fruit juice added, or merely a sprink- ling of sugar with fruit juice or wine. The juicy fruits will require less liquid than the drier kinds. The kind of wine used is very much a matter of taste. For a salad composed principally of light-coloured fruits, such as apricots, peaches, pine-apple, pears, &c., it is better to use a light sweet wine ; for strawberries, raspberries, and the darker fruits a red wine may be chosen, while the addition of a small quantity of liqueur is an improvement to any fruit salad.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Delightful salads and compotes can be made from dried fruit, when fresh fruit is not obtainable. Quite a variety of these fruits is now on the markets, besides the ordinary figs and prunes, such as apricots, peaches, pears, &c., and a mixture of the various kinds is also sold which is excellent for making a winter salad. Dried fruit should be well washed before using, then soaked overnight with sufficient cold water to cover it. Next day it should be slowly stewed or steamed with a syrup made of the water in which the fruit was soaked, and sugar in the proportion of | lb. to each pint of liquid, or according to taste. A little lemon juice or rind may be added, also some nuts and wine if wished. 2104. Frosted Currants J lb. currants. I 1 table-sp. water. 1 white of egg. I Castor sugar. Either red or white currants may be chosen, but they should be fine and large for this purpose. Dust them lightly and break them into little bunches, removing any that are not perfectly sound. Sieve some sugar on to paper, and warm it without allowing it to melt. Beat up the white of egg and add the water to it. Dip the currants first into the egg and then into the sugar, shake them gently and place them on a paper to dry. Serve them piled up on a crystal or china dish. These make a very pretty dessert. Small grapes may be frosted in the same way. FRUIT SALADS General Notes Almost any kind of fruit may be employed in the making of a salad, such as strawberries, raspberries, white, red, or black currants, grapes, oranges, bananas, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, &c. In -winter, when fresh fruit is scarce, the tinned varieties will form a very welcome addition. The salad may be composed of a variety of fruits according to the season of the year, or merely of one or two fruits. Sometimes a small quantity of nuts, grated cocoanut, shred almonds or pistachio nuts, or chopped walnuts is mixed with the fruit. Fresh fruit must be dry and perfectly ripe — hard, unripe morsels will spoil any salad. It must be carefully prepared, and cut in convenient-sized pieces. Oranges should be skinned, every particle of white pith removed from them, cut in thin slices, or divided in sections, and the pips taken out. Plums peeled, cut in halves or quarters, and the stones removed. Small grapes may be used whole, but the larger ones should be cut in two and have the seeds removed. Bananas, apples, pears, &c., should be peeled and cut in dice or in thin slices. Currants and berries must be carefully stalked and washed if necessary. All the cutting of the fruit must be done with a silver knife. The dressing of a fruit salad is generally composed of a syrup, made of sugar and water, with some wine or fruit juice added, or merely a sprinkling of sugar with fruit juice or wine. The juicy fruits will require less liquid than the drier kinds. The kind of wine used is very much a matter of taste. For a salad composed principally of light-coloured fruits, such as apricots, peaches, pine-apple, pears, &c., it is better to use a light sweet wine ; for strawberries, raspberries, and the darker fruits a red wine may be chosen, while the addition of a small quantity of liqueur is an improvement to any fruit salad.

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