114. Watermelon is delicious when it is served ice cold. Therefore, before it is served, it should be kept on ice for a sufficient time to allow it to become thoroughly cold. Then it may be cut in any desirable way. If it is cut in slices, the slices should be trimmed so that only the pink pulp that is edible is served, the green rind being discarded. As an appetizer, watermelon is delicious when cut into pieces and served in a cocktail glass with fresh mint chopped fine and sprinkled over the top. Small pieces of watermelon cut with a French vegetable cutter make a very attractive garnish for fruit salads and other fruit mixtures.

FRUIT COCKTAILS

115. Cocktails made of a combination of fruits are often served as the first course of a meal, usually a luncheon or a dinner, to precede the soup course. In warm weather, they are an excellent substitute for heavy cocktails made of lobster or crab, and they may even be used to replace the soup course. The fruits used for this purpose should be the more acid ones, for the acids and flavors are intended to serve as an appetizer, or the same purpose for which the hot and highly seasoned soups are taken. Therefore, they are seldom made sweet and are not taken for their food value. Besides being refreshing appetizers, they afford a hostess an opportunity to carry out a certain color scheme in a meal. Many kinds of fruit may be combined into cocktails, but directions for the cocktails that are usually made are here given. Fruit cocktails should always be served ice cold.

116. GRAPEFRUIT COCKTAIL.--The cocktail here explained may be served in stemmed glasses or in the shells of the grapefruit. If the fruit shells are to be used, the grapefruit should be cut into two parts, half way between the blossom and the stem ends, the fruit removed, and the edges of the shell then notched. This plan of serving a cocktail should be adopted only when small grapefruits are used, for if the shells are large more fruit will have to be used than is agreeable for a cocktail.

GRAPEFRUIT COCKTAIL

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Sufficient to Serve Six

)