Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Science in Rural Schools Part 35

9 tart apples 3/4 c. water 6 whole cloves (if desired) 3/4 c. sugar Piece of lemon rind (if desired)

Wipe, pare, quarter, and core the apples. Put the water, apples, lemon rind, and cloves into a sauce-pan. Cook covered until the apples are tender, but not broken. Remove the lemon peel and cloves. Add the sugar a few minutes before taking from the fire. The apples may be mashed or put through a strainer. (Will serve nine.)

_Note._--The lemon and the cloves may be used when the apples have lost their flavour.

_Stewed Prunes or Other Dried Fruit--Apricots, Apples, Pears_

3/4 lb. fruit (about) 1-1/2 pt. of water 1/3 c. sugar 1 or 2 slices lemon or a few cloves and a piece of cinnamon stick

Wash the fruit thoroughly and soak overnight. Cook in the water in which it was soaked. Cover, and simmer until tender. When nearly cooked, add sugar and lemon juice. The cloves and cinnamon should cook with the fruit. All flavourings may be omitted, if desired. (Will serve nine.)

_Soft Custard_

2 c. milk 6 tbsp. sugar 2 eggs 1/2 tsp. vanilla A few grains of salt

Scald the milk in a double boiler. Add the sugar and salt to the eggs and beat until well mixed. Stir the hot milk slowly into the egg mixture and return to the double boiler. Cook, stirring constantly, until the spoon, when lifted from the mixture, is coated. Remove immediately from the heat, add vanilla, and pour into a cold bowl. To avoid too rapid cooking, lift the upper from the lower portion of the boiler occasionally. (Will serve six.)

_Tapioca Custard Pudding_

3 c. scalded milk 2 eggs slightly beaten 2 tbsp. b.u.t.ter 4 tbsp. pearl, or minute, tapioca 6 tbsp. sugar A few grains of salt

Minute tapioca requires no soaking. Soak the pearl tapioca one hour in enough cold water to cover it. Drain, add to the milk, and cook in a double boiler for 30 minutes. Add to remaining ingredients, pour into b.u.t.tered baking-dish, and bake for about 25 minutes in a slow oven.

(Will serve eight.)

_Rice and Tomato_

2 c. cooked rice 2 tbsp. b.u.t.ter 2 tbsp. flour 2 c. unstrained or 1 c. strained tomato 1 slice of onion minced Salt and pepper

Cook the onion with the tomato until soft. Melt the b.u.t.ter, and add the flour, salt, and pepper. Strain the tomato, stir the liquid into the b.u.t.ter and flour mixture, and cook until thick and smooth. Add the rice, heat, and serve. (Will serve six.)

_Cracker Pudding_

6 soda crackers 3 c. milk 3 eggs 6 tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt

Roll the crackers and soak them in milk. Beat the yolks and sugar well together and add to the first mixture, with some salt. Make a meringue with white of eggs, pile lightly on top, and put in the oven till it is a golden brown. Serve hot. (Will serve six.)

_Note._--Dried bread crumbs may be used in place of the crackers.

_Candied Fruit Peel_

The candied peel of oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and other fruits makes a good sweet which is economical, because it utilizes materials which might otherwise be thrown away. Its preparation makes an interesting school exercise. The skins can be kept in good condition for a long time in salt water, which makes it possible to wait until a large supply is on hand before candying them. They should be washed in clear water, after removing from the salt water, boiled until tender, cut into small pieces, and then boiled in a thick sugar syrup until they are transparent. They should then be lifted from the syrup and allowed to cool in such a way that the superfluous syrup will run off. Finally, they should be rolled in pulverized or granulated sugar.

A large number of recipes have been given, in order that a selection may be made according to season, community conditions, and market prices, and so that sufficient variety may be secured from day to day.

Attention given to this matter will be well repaid by the improved health of the pupils, the greater interest taken in the school by the parents, and the better afternoon work accomplished. It has been well said: "The school lunch is not a departure from the principle of the obligation a.s.sumed by educational authorities toward the child, but an intensive application of the measures adopted for the physical nurture of the child, to the end of securing in adult years the highest efficiency of the citizen".

USEFUL BULLETINS

_The Rural School Luncheon_: Department of Education, Saskatchewan

_The Box Luncheon_: New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University

_Hints to Housewives_: Issued by Mayor Mitch.e.l.l's Food Supply Committee, New York City

_Home Economics in Village and Rural Schools_: Kansas State Agricultural College

_Home-made Fireless Cookers and Their Use_: Farmers' Bulletin, United States Department of Agriculture

_Hot Lunches for Rural Schools_: Parts I and II, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts

_Rural School Lunches_: University of Idaho, Agricultural Extension Department

_The Rural School Lunch_: University of Illinois College of Agriculture

_The School Luncheon_: Oregon Agricultural College

HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE WITHOUT SCHOOL EQUIPMENT

There is no school so unhappily situated or so poorly equipped that it is unable to teach effectively the lessons previously outlined in the "Care of the Home" and "Sewing". Now that a grant in aid is provided by the Department of Education any rural school may procure one of the sets of equipment for cooking suggested or some modification thereof. As a stepping-stone to the provision of that equipment and as a means of educating the people of the district in regard to the advantages of teaching this branch of Household Science, it may be advisable or even necessary, in some cases, to attempt practical work, even where no equipment is installed by the school authorities.

It should be remembered that the present position of Manual Training and Household Science in urban schools is entirely owing to private initiative and demonstration, by which the people were shown how and why these subjects should be included in the curriculum of the schools. It is reasonable to suppose that the same results will follow if somewhat the same methods are tried in the case of the rural schools, which form such a large part of our educational system. Two methods of giving instruction of this character have, in the United States, been followed by successful results.

FIRST METHOD

In the first of these, the teacher spends the last thirty or forty minutes, generally on Friday afternoons, in the description and discussion of some practical cooking problem which may be performed in the homes of the pupils. Before this plan is adopted, it should be discussed with the pupils who are to take the work. They should be required to promise that they will practise at home; and the consent and co-operation of the parents should be secured, as the success of this home work depends, in the first place, on the willingness of the pupil to accept responsibility, and, in the second place, on the honest and hearty co-operation of the parents.

A meeting of the mothers should be called, in order that the plan may be laid before them and their suggestions received. At this meeting afternoon tea might be served. The teacher should plan the lessons, but occasionally, particularly at festive seasons, the pupils themselves should be allowed to decide what shall be made. When it is possible, the food prepared at home should be brought by the pupil to the school, in order that it may be compared with that made by other pupils and be judged by the teacher. In other cases, the mother might be asked to fill up a previously prepared form, certifying to the amount and character of the work done at home by the pupil each week.

The instructions placed on the black-board should be clear and concise and give adequate information concerning materials, quant.i.ties, and methods. They should be arranged in such a way as to appeal to the eye and thus a.s.sist the memory. Connected composition should not be attempted, but the matter should be arranged in a series of numbered steps, somewhat as follows:

_Recipe: Boiled Carrots_

Carrots Boiling water Salt and pepper b.u.t.ter

1. Scrub, sc.r.a.pe, and rinse the carrots.

2. Cut them into pieces by dicing them.

3. Place the pieces in a sauce-pan.