⅓ Cup of dry moss.
1 Quart of milk.
¼ Cup of sugar.
Soak the moss for half an hour in warm water, to soften it and to loosen the sand which is dried and entangled in it. Wash each piece separately under a stream of cold water. Its weight (that of the water) will carry down the sand. Then put the moss in a pudding-bag, and cook it in a double boiler in the quart of milk for one hour. At the end of that time lift out the bag, squeeze it a little, throw away the moss, and put the bag to soak in cold water. Add the sugar to the mixture, strain it into molds, and set in a cool place to harden. It will form a tender jelly-like pudding, which has an agreeable taste, resembling the odor of the sea, which many like. Serve it with cream, and with or without pink sugar.[40]
This blanc-mange may also be made without sugar if it is desirable to have an unsweetened dessert.
PINK BLANC-MANGE
Make a pudding according to the above rule. Color it, just before straining, with three or four drops of carmine, barely enough to give a delicate shell pink, for if it is very dark it is not attractive.
Carmine for use in cooking is made by mixing one ounce of No. 40 carmine (which may be obtained of a druggist) with three ounces of boiling water and one ounce of ammonia. It should be bottled, and will keep indefinitely. It is useful for coloring ice-cream, cake, and puddings.