CHAPTER XLVI
BETTINA MAKES APPLE JELLY
"WHAT have you been doing?" asked Bob, as he and Bettina sat down to dinner.
"Oh, Bob, I've had the nicest day! Mother 'phoned me this morning that Uncle John had brought her several big baskets of apples from the farm, and that if I cared to come over to help, we would put them up together, and I might have half. Well, we made apple jelly, plum and apple jelly, and raspberry and apple jelly. I had made all these before, and knew how good they were, but I learned something new from Mother that has made me feel happy ever since."
"And so you came home, and in your enthusiasm made this fine dandy peach cobbler for dinner!"
"Bob, that was the very way I took to express my joy!"
"Well, what is this wonderful new apple concoction?"
"Perhaps it isn't new, but it was new to me! It is an apple and mint jelly, and I know it will be just the thing to serve with meat this winter."
"How did you make it? (I hope you are noticing how interested I'm becoming in all the cooking processes!)"
"Well, I washed and cut into small pieces four pounds of greening apples. Then I washed and chopped fine one cup of fresh mint, and added it to the apples. I covered the mixture with water, and cooked it all till the apples were so tender that they were falling to pieces. I strained it then, and used three-fourths of a cup of sugar for each cup of juice. I cooked this till the mixture jellied, and then I added four teaspoons of lemon juice and enough green vegetable color paste to give it a delicate color."