[10.] Carrageen or Irish Moss.
American, or Irish Carrageen, is a very nutritious and light article of food for children, and invalids, and is a good thickener of milk and broths, and for blanc mange is equal to the most expensive ingredients, while the cost is very trifling. The following decoction for consumptive patients, is recommended. Steep half an ounce of the moss in cold water, for a few minutes, then take it out, boil it in a quart of milk until it attains the consistency of warm jelly, strain it, and sweeten it to the taste, with white sugar or honey, flavor it with whatever spice is most agreeable, if milk is disagreeable, water may be substituted. If a tea spoonful of the tincture of rhutany is mixed with a cup full of the decoction, a tone will be given to the stomach, at the same time that nourishment is conveyed to the system.
[11.] Moss Blanc Mange.
Steep half an ounce of Irish moss in a pint and a half of milk; when it becomes a thick jelly sweeten it with loaf sugar, and flavor it with white wine and cinnamon. To make orange, lemon or savory jellies, use a similar process, substituting water for milk. Jellies made of it, are more nourishing, than those made of sago, tapioca or arrow root.
[12.] Elderberry Syrup.
Wash and strain the berries, which should be perfectly ripe, to a pint of the juice put a pint of molasses. Boil it twenty minutes, stirring it constantly; then take it from the fire, and when cold add to each quart four table spoonsful of brandy; bottle and cork it. This is an excellent remedy for a tight cough.
[13.] New Bread and Cake from old and rusked bread.
Bread that is several days old, may be renewed by putting it into a steamer, and steaming it from half to three quarters of an hour, according to its size; the steamer should not be more than half full, otherwise the water will boil up on to the bread. When steamed, wrap it up loosely in a dry cloth, and let it remain till quite dry, it will then appear like bread just baked. If pieces of bread are put in the oven and dried, several hours after baking in it, they will keep good a long time. They are good as fresh bread for dressing to meat, and for puddings, if soaked soft in cold water. Rich cake with wine or brandy in it, will keep good several months in winter, if kept in a cool place. The day it is to be eaten, it should be put in a tin pan, and set in a bake pan that has a tea cup of water in it, when heated thoroughly through take it up.
[14.] To Preserve Cheese from Insects and Mould.
Cover the cheese while whole with a paste made of wheat flour, put a piece of paper or cloth over it, and cover it with the paste, keep it in a cool dry place. Cheese that has skippers in it, if kept till cold weather will be free from them. Cheese that is growing mouldy can be prevented from becoming any more so, by grating it fine and moistening it with wine, and covering it up in a jar. It is preferred by many people to that which is not grated.