Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Fruit, Soup of Spring. — The better class of pulpy vegetables are sometimes called in cookery spring-fruit, such are rhubarb, vegetable-marrow, gourd, cucumber, and pumpkin ; they may all be dressed with a little cream, milk, butter, or stock, and form a nice delicate dish, very healthful, if not very nutritious. Early spring rhubarb, cut into pieces, and simmered with a few small onions, in some good stock, a seasoning of salt and cayenne, and a thickening of butter rolled in flour, will give a zest. The rhubarb should be peeled and blanched. One bundle of Victoria rhubarb wiU make two quarts of soup ; skim while boiling, and serve strained over toasted bread sippets. Fruit, Stewed. — Every one who has lived on the continent must have appreciated the various compotes of fruits that are so readily and easily prepared, and must have recognised their superiority over stewed fruits prepared by the English method. Almost all i:inds of fruit may be treated in the foreign style, and if served with macaroni or rice, are excellent, and much more wholesome than pastry tarts. The principal point lies in the preparation of the syrup ; the best refined sugar should be used, but as the fruits are for use within the next two or three days, they do not require much, which is very economical. Fruit Suet Pudding.— Take equal quantities of flour and finely-prepared breadcrumbs, a quarter of a pound of each, put them into a bowl ; add four ounces of shred suet and two ounces of sugar; moisten with a cup of milk, and beat until smooth ; then sprinkle and mix into the batter four ounces of weU-washed currants, with a tea-spoonful of grated ginger and one of salt. Boil in a floured cloth, not in a mould. Time, two hours to boil. Probable cost, 7d. Sufiicient for three or more persons. Fruit Sweet Sauces.— Stone some plums or cherries, having first washed them in cold water. Break the stones, blanch the kernels, and boil them gently in a very little water. Stew the fruit until quite tender with about a glassful of red wine, and a little cinnamon, powdered. When it is tender, add a piece of bread, toasted, and the water from the kernels, and stew until all can be pulped through a sieve. Sugar may be mixed according to taste, and the sauce may be thinned with wine or water. Fruit Tarts, Preserved.— Line a dish with puff paste, and fill with any kind of preserved fruit ; lay bars across, cut them with a tin-cutter; finish off neatly by laying an edging of paste round the border, and ornamenting it tastefully. Bake a very light brown. Fruit, To Bottle. — -Currants, gooseberries, and other fruit may be thus preserved. After freeing them from stalks, put them into widemouthed glass bottles, and shake them that the bottles may be full ; place the bottles, slightly corked, into a nearly cold oven for four or five hours. When the fruit shrivels, remove it from the oven, and cork the bottles tightly and quickly, tying down securely with leather. Keep in a dry place.