Dried Apples with Other Dried Fruit.—An excellent sauce may be made by cooking a few dried plums with dried or evaporated apples. Only enough of the plums to give a flavor to the apples will be needed; a handful of the former to a pound of apples will be sufficient. Dried cherries, raisins, English currants, dried apricots, prunelles, and peaches are also excellent used in combination with dried apples.
Dried Apricots and Peaches.—These fruits, if dried with the skins on, need, in addition to the preparation for cooking recommended for dried apples, a thorough rubbing with the fingers, while being washed, to remove the down. Put into boiling water in about the proportion of two parts of fruit to three of water. If the fruit was pared before drying, a little more water will be required. Cook quickly, but gently, until just tender, and take from the fire as soon as done. If too soft, they will be mushy and insipid.
Evaporated Peach Sauce.—Soak the peaches over night in just enough water to cover. In the morning put to cook in boiling water. When tender, sweeten and beat perfectly smooth with an egg beater.
Dried Pears.—These may be treated in the same way as dried apples.
Small Fruits.—These when dried must be carefully examined, thoroughly washed, and then cooked rather quickly in boiling water. They swell but little, do not require much water, and usually cook in a few minutes. They should be taken from the fire as soon as soft, as long standing makes them insipid.
Prunes.—Use only the best selected prunes. Clean by putting them into warm water; let them stand a few minutes, rubbing them gently between the hands to make sure that all dust and dirt is removed; rinse, and if rather dry and hard, put them into three parts of water to one of prunes; cover closely, and let them simmer for several hours. If the prunes are quite easily cooked, less water may be used. They will be tender, with a thick juice. The sweet varieties need no sugar whatever. Many persons who cannot eat fruit cooked with sugar, can safely partake of sweet prunes cooked in this way. A slice of lemon added just before the prunes are done, is thought an improvement.
Prune Marmalade.—Cook sweet California prunes as directed above. When well done, rub through a colander to remove the skins and stones. No sugar is necessary. If the pulp is too thin when cold, it may be covered in an earthen pudding dish and stewed down by placing in a pan of hot water in a moderate oven.
THE PRESERVATION OF FRUIT.
Fresh fruit is so desirable, while at the same time the season during which most varieties can be obtained is so transient, that various methods are resorted to for preserving it in as nearly a natural state as possible. The old-fashioned plans of pickling in salt, alcohol, or vinegar, or preserving in equal quantities of sugar, are eminently unhygienic. Quite as much to be condemned is the more modern process of keeping fruit by adding to it some preserving agent, like salicylic acid or other chemicals. Salicylic acid is an antiseptic, and like many other substances, such as carbolic acid, creosote, etc., has the power of preventing the decay of organic substances. Salicylic acid holds the preference over other drugs of this class, because it imparts no unpleasant flavor to the fruit. It is nevertheless a powerful and irritating drug, and when taken, even in small doses, produces intense burning in the stomach, and occasions serious disturbances of the heart and other organs. Its habitual use produces grave diseases.