Fruit recipes

To two cups of granulated sugar add two-thirds of a cup of sweet milk and one-third cup butter. Add one teaspoonful of vanilla when the syrup has begun to simmer, Stir this until just after the vanilla has been added, then let cook for twenty-five minutes without stirring, watching carefully, however, that it does not burn. When a light brown in colour pour out on plates on which are spread chopped or halved dates and let cool. DATE ICE Make a lemonade or orangeade and to each quart of liquid add one pound of stoned, chopped dates and a half cupful of fine chopped nuts. A little lemon extract may be added. Freeze. DATE ICE-CREAM Make the usual foundation ice-cream, adding to it for each quart a cupful or more of shredded dates, then freeze. (Flavour as liked.) COCOANUT AND DATE SALAD The fresh cocoanut, cut in cubes, mixed with stoned, halved dates, served on crisp, tender lettuce or young cabbage leaves, makes a pretty and delicious salad. Mayonnaise or a cooked dressing in which lemon juice takes the place of vinegar, gives proper piquancy. COCOANUT MILK FOR COOKERY Cocoanut milk may be used in any way that cow’s milk is used: for soups, stews, and dainty desserts. The milk may still be used after the shell is brown and hard through— the proper stage is when the shell is tender enough to be cut into with a sharp, stiff, slender knife. To get all the milk at the more advanced stages the white meat should be grated, and boiling water poured over it in proportion of one scant quart to each large cocoanut. Stir this for some minutes, then strain through a cotton cloth, squeezing the cocoanut well. Let this liquid cool and it will be found that the fat rises as does cream and may be used as cream, butter, or oil. The fibre remaining may again be treated with boiling water but its quality will not be as rich. COCOANUT SOUP (Old Recipe) Scald and scrape (but do not skin) two sets of calves’ feet (eight) and place in a soup-kettle with the thin-pared tind of a lemon and six blades of mace. Pour over this one gallon of cold water and let heat gradually, skimming, simmering till the calves’ feet are thoroughly shredded by the long gentle cooking, when strain and set away to harden. Remove the fat from it and replace on the stove with a fine-scraped fresh cocoanut (at least a half-pound of cocoanut meat) and a pint or more of undiluted cocoanut milk or cream. (Butter and a little corn or rice flour may be substituted with milk for the cocoanut juice.) Add half a nutmeg grated; boil fifteen minutes, skimming, then serve with small French rolls or milk biscuit. Sugar may be passed with this. COCOANUT CURRY In India cocoanut is very much used in curries. For a vegetable curry melt two tablespoons of butter in a saucepan (or use cooking oil); slice into this one onion and let it cook for a few moments. Now add one tablespoonful of curry powder mixed with a half pint of cocoanut milk and a scant teaspoon of salt, and let simmer for five minutes. The vegetables should have been prepared beforehand, cooked separately: (cut in small bits): two carrots; two medium-sized Irish potatoes; one-half pint of green peas, and one-half pint of grated cocoanut. Place these in the curry and let simmer for about five minutes, when it is ready to serve. COCOANUT OMELET Beat together the whites of three eggs with a half teaspoonful of salt and dash of tabasco. When well whipped add the yolks and one cup of grated cocoanut with a half cup of cocoanut milk. Cook carefully for three minutes in a well-buttered saucepan where there is moderate heat, slipping a knife under the omelet once or twice to prevent burning. When partially brown set in the oven to finish cooking, a good final test being that of no particle sticking to a knife thrust into the centre. COCOANUT INDIAN FRITTERS