Fresh apples, pears or peaches;
Dried, steamed or stewed figs, raisins, dates, prunes, apple sauce,
baked apples or baked quinces;
Celery, lettuce, cabbage, tender inside leaves of spinach, grated raw
carrot or turnip;
Breakfast cereals, parched or popped corn, well browned granella,
crackers, gems, zwieback, Boston brown and other breads;
Stewed green peas, string beans, asparagus, corn, greens, potatoes,
squash, cauliflower, all vegetables;
Pies, cakes and different desserts when used.
=Nut Butter=
A good nut butter mill is an excellent thing to have, but butter can be
made with the food cutters found nowadays in almost every home. If the
machine has a nut butter attachment, so much the better; otherwise the
nuts will need to be ground repeatedly until the desired fineness is
reached.
_For almond butter_, blanch and dry the almonds according to
directions, adjust the nut butter cutter, not too tight, put two or
three nuts into the mill at a time, and grind. When the almonds are
thoroughly dried they will work nicely if the mill is not fed too fast.
Brazil nuts and filberts need to be very dry for butter.
Pine nuts are usually dry enough as they come to us.
All nuts grind better when first dried.
_Raw peanut butter_ is a valuable adjunct to cookery. To make, grind
blanched dried nuts; pack in tins or jars and keep in a dry place.
_For steamed butter_, put raw butter without water into a double boiler
or close covered tins and steam 3-5 hours. Use without further cooking
in recipes calling for raw nut butter.
Or, grind dried boiled nuts the same as raw nuts. For immediate use,
boiled nuts may be ground without drying.
When _roasted nut butter_ is used, it should be in small quantities
only, for flavoring soups, sauces or desserts.
My experience is that the best way to roast nuts for butter is to heat
them, after they are blanched and dried, in a slow oven, stirring
often, until of a cream or delicate straw color. By this method they
are more evenly colored all through. Do not salt the butter, as salt
spoils it for use with sweet dried fruits as a confection, and many
prefer it without salt on their bread.
The objection to roasted nuts is the same as for browning any oil.
Raising the oil of the nuts to a temperature high enough to brown it,
decomposes it and develops a poisonous acid.
Hardly too much can be said of the evil effects of the free use of
roasted nut butter.
“There are many persons who find that roasted peanuts eaten in any
quantity are indigestible in the sense of bringing on pain and
distress.... Sometimes this distress seems to be due to eating peanuts
which are roasted until they are very brown.”
--_Mary Hinman Abel, Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 121, U.S. Department of
Agriculture._
=Nut Meal=
Nut meal is made the same as nut butter except that the nuts are ground
fewer times through the finest cutter of the mill, or once only through
the nut butter cutter loosely adjusted. Either cooked or raw peanuts
may be used, but a cooked peanut meal is very desirable. The nuts may
be cooked, dried and ground, or cooked without water, after grinding,
the same as steamed nut butter.
When one has no mill, meal of many kinds of nuts may be made in the
following manner:
Pound a few at a time in a small strong muslin bag; sift them through
a wire strainer and return the coarse pieces to the bag again with the
next portion. Be sure that not the smallest particle of shell is left
with the meats.
A dear friend of mine used to keep jars of different nut meals prepared
in this way on hand long before any manufactured ones were on the
market.
One writer says: “The children enjoy cracking the nuts and picking out
the meats, and it is a short task to prepare a cupful.”
Cooked nuts and some raw ones may be rubbed through the colander for
meal.
Nut meals are used for shortening pie crust, crackers and sticks; and
all except peanut, are delightful sprinkled over stewed fruits or
breakfast foods.
=Nut Butter for Bread=
Nut butters (except raw peanut) may be used on bread as they are
ground; but are usually stirred up with water to an agreeable
butter-like consistency, and salt added.
Strained tomato may be used instead of water for a change. This is
especially nice for sandwiches. With peanut butter made from boiled or
steamed nuts it has a flavor similar to cheese.
Nut butter is more attractive for the table when pressed through a
pastry tube in roses on to individual dishes. Use a cloth (not rubber)
pastry bag.
While pure nut butter, if kept in a dry place, will keep almost
indefinitely, it will sour as quickly as milk after water is added to
it.
=Nut Cream and Milk=
Add water to nut butter until of the desired consistency, for cream;
then still more, for milk.
Almond milk makes a delightful drink and can be used by many who cannot
take dairy milk. It may be heated and a trifle of salt added.
=Cocoanut Milk=
If you have not a cocoanut scraper, grate fresh cocoanut, one with milk
in it, or grind it four or five times through the finest cutter of a
mill. Pour over it an equal bulk or twice its bulk, of boiling water,
according to the richness of the milk desired or the quality of the
cocoanut. Stir and mix well and strain through cheese cloth or a wire
strainer. Add a second quantity of hot water and strain again, wringing
or pressing very dry. Throw the fibre away.
Use cocoanut milk or cream for vegetable or pudding sauces or in almost
any way that dairy milk and cream are used. Stir before using. To
break the nut in halves, take it in the left hand and strike it with a
hammer in a straight line around the center. It may be sawed in two if
the cups are desired for use.
=Cocoanut Butter=
Place milk on ice for a few hours when the butter will rise to the top
and can be skimmed off.
=Ground or Grated Cocoanut=
Is delightful on breakfast cereals, or eaten with bread in place of
butter. The brown covering of the meat should first be taken off.
=Shredded Cocoanut=
Put any left-overs of prepared cocoanut on a plate and set in the sun
or near the stove to dry. Keep in glass jars in a dry place. This
unsweetened cocoanut can be used for shortening and in many places
where sweet is not desirable.
=Milk and Rich Cream of Raw Peanuts=
May be prepared the same as cocoanut milk, except that cold or lukewarm
water is used instead of hot.
To raw nut meal (not butter) add one half more of water than you have
of meal. Mix and beat well, strain through a thin cloth, squeeze as dry
as possible. Let milk stand in a cool place and a very rich cream will
rise which may be used for shortening pie crust, crackers and sticks,
or in place of dairy cream in other ways. The skimmed milk will be
suitable for soups, stews or gravies. It may be cooked before using
if more convenient. The pulp also may be used in soups. It should be
thoroughly cooked.
=Nut Relish=
Different nut butters and meals may be combined in varying proportions.
For instance, 2 parts Brazil nuts, 1 part each pine nuts and almonds;
or 1 part each Brazil nuts, almonds, pecans, and pine nuts. Dry nuts
well and grind all together or combine after grinding. Press into
tumblers or small tins and stand in cool place. Unmold to serve. The
relish may be used in combinations suggested for whole nuts, and it is
a great improvement over cheese, with apple pie.
=Toasted Almonds=
When blanched almonds are thoroughly dried, put them into a slow oven
and let them come gradually to a delicate cream color, not brown. These
may be served in place of salted almonds.
Sweetmeats of fruits and nuts will be found among confections.