Desserts & Other
Delicious Delights
WHEN we moved to Maine in 1953, our nearest neighbor on Spirit Cove was an unkempt, disheveled, unprepossessing old man who lived in a tumbledown disorderly house. His intelligence, native knowledge and his constant bright observations made him good company. He often came over for a meal. When satisfied, even though pressed to eat more, he invariably replied with an old-world courtesy, "Thank you. I've had an ample sufficiency." According to common custom, dessert is usually served after a meal when the participants at table have already had an ample sufficiency.
A dessert is eaten not from need but because it tastes good. The temptation is too great to be resisted. A serving of cake, pudding, pie or ice cream is sometimes followed by a second or even a third helping. I have eaten such desserts, but not if I were given the choice of a bowl of ripe red cherries or a bunch of grapes or a juicy pineapple. Fruits are a perfect food, requiring little or no preparation, cooking, or seasoning. They contain many of the essential minerals, vitamins and nutrients. If dessert is taken, fruits and nuts would be more desirable. "With nuts and figs I crowned the cheerful board," said Horace in 30 B.C.
As for desserts, I am no great friend to them. I think they are unwholesome from being unnecessary. At any rate, I would have them in great moderation, and confined to a few kinds of ripe fruit. Preserved fruits are in my opinion cloying after dinner, and I believe injurious to the digestion of a substantial meal, and confectionery I think still worse. Desserts are made instruments of show, and a perpetual source of temptation to excess.
A Bon Vivant, The Art of Dining, 1874
The philosopher Descartes, when a caviling Marquis exclaimed, "What! Do you philosophers eat dainties?" replied, "Do you think Providence made good things only for fools?" So, I can touch on the subject of ice cream, a general favorite of young and old, and a dainty on which I occasionally fall from grace. In my childhood it was made at home solely of cream, fruit and sugar, and was laboriously cranked in a wooden freezer made to hold chopped ice and salt. It was a very special dessert rather than a common one, as it is today, and was reserved for appropriate occasions. When Scott was courting me (if such a fancy phrase can describe our "going together") he made a most delicious banana ice cream: one part cream, one part milk, one part crushed fruit, and sweetened to taste. We've rarely had it since.
Foods preserved and sweetened to titillate the taste cannot be considered in the same rank as fresh foods. Perhaps the greatest harm from eating sweetened foods is that it supplants the plainer, less adorned but more substantial and important foods. Fruits are so plentiful and so good that we do not need concentrated sweets, which are enticing but of doubtful value to the body's well-being.
I know a dentist who calls candy "the dentist's delight," and has a sticker on his ceiling, where patients can ponder it while undergoing his probing: "Support your local dentist. Eat more candy."
A prohibition of the sale of candies would put fifty percent of all the dentists out of business within three years.
DR. A.F. REINHOLD,
Nature Versus Drugs, 1898
Having uttered many sour notes on sugar and sweets, let me now tell you how I make some jams and candies, using natural sweetening and not refined sugar. Most jams that I make nowadays (and they are very few) are uncooked—just raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries from the garden, mashed in a bowl and sweetened with stirred-in honey. These I bottle cold and put in the freezer.
I have made cooked jams in the past and can pass on some handy hints. Use fruits on the unripe side; it contains more pectin and will solidify quicker. To aid this thickening, you might scrape a small raw potato into each boiling kettle as it nears the end of cooking. For those whom this practice affrights or repulses, scrape a small unripe green apple into each kettle. It fulfills the same purpose.
Before making jams rub a small blob of butter over the whole inside of the pan, including the top edge. It will prevent scorching and boiling over.
Crush your fruit till juicy before putting on the stove. Then bring to the boil slowly before gradually adding sugar or whatever sweetening you will use.
There is no need to paraffin your jars. Fill to the top and tighten the lid. Then turn the jars upside down for a few minutes and then put upright in a pan of cool water and 'twill seal.
For best success, make jams on a clear dry day.
A favorite sport for cooks is making relishes or pickles. In my early cooking venturing, while I was still flinging foods around indiscriminately and had not settled down to my present sober, frugal pace, I made many pickled concoctions. I felt like a witch over a cauldron, adding cloves, allspice, cinnamon, dill, with vinegar and sugar, to beets or cabbage or apples or cucumbers.
My mixtures tasted good to me and were fun to make, but I came to realize the resultant jumble was unwholesome if not poisonous to our systems. Scott stopped eating them, and I stopped relishing the relishes. One old-time book, after giving a recipe for spiced cucumbers, convinced me with its recommendation: "After having prepared them in fine style—throw them away." I don't throw them away. I just don't make them anymore: those "passionate desire foods that are bitter, sour, saline, over-hot, pungent, dry and burning, and which produce pain, grief and sickness. The foods that augment vitality, energy, vigour, health, joy and cheerfulness, delicious, bland, substantial and agreeable, are dear to the pure."1
Condiments only create a false hunger, a desire for food. True hunger, a need for food, has been said to be the best pickle.
Denyse, kyng of Sicilie, when he had eaten potage whiche a Cooke of Lacedemonia had made, said that the meate did not delite him. The Cook answered, it was no mervaile, for it lacked spices. When the kyng asked what spices, he answered: Labour, sweate, hunger, and thyrst, for with suche manner of stuffe the meate of the Lacedemonians was ever prepared.
SIR THOMAS ELYOT,
The Bankette of Sapience, 1545
However, from my misspent youth, here are some holdovers in the way of desserts, which are not too unwholesome.
APPLESAUCE
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup water
8 apples, unpeeled, cored
Bring syrup and water to a rolling boil. Cut up apples into sixths. Add to the boiling syrup. Stir up, and then let simmer until apple slices are barely tender and not mashed.
BAKED APPLES
6 apples, quartered and cored
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter
Do not peel the apples unless the skins are tough. Place the apples in a baking dish. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the dish. Add the maple syrup and scatter bits of butter over the apples. Bake for half an hour in a hot oven. Serve warm.
APPLICIOUS
1 quart applesauce
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons maple syrup
Dash of lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or other nuts
In a large bowl, mix the applesauce with the bananas, sour cream, maple syrup and the lemon juice. Spoon the mixture into individual bowls. If not serving right away, store in the refrigerator. Just before serving, sprinkle the chopped nuts over each portion.
CRAN-APPLESAUCE
2 cups fresh cranberries
3 cups peeled, sliced apples
2 cups orange sections
1/2 cup maple syrup
Wash the cranberries and drain well, removing any damaged berries. Place one-half of the berries in a 2-quart casserole. Top with one-half of the apple slices and one-half of the orange sections. Repeat the layers, using the remaining fruit. Pour the syrup over the fruit. Bake, covered, in a moderate oven for 30 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.
RASPBERRY APPLESAUCE
2 cups fresh raspberries
4 cups peeled, cubed apples
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons honey, or to taste
Put the raspberries in a blender or food processor. Add the apples and the cinnamon, and blend or process for a few seconds. The mixture should not be too smooth. Add enough honey to obtain the desired degree of sweetness, and serve the mixture immediately.
QUICK APPLE PUDDING
1 cup cooked wheat berries, kasha or millet, cooled to room temperature
3 cups applesauce
1 cup sour cream
Maple syrup or honey to taste
In a large bowl, combine the cereal, applesauce and sour cream, mixing until smooth. Add maple syrup or honey to taste, and serve at once.
SPICY RHUBARB
3 cups rhubarb, sliced into 2" pieces
1 cup honey
2" stick of cinnamon
Place all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat until the rhubarb is tender but not mushy—under 10 minutes should do it. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving. Serve hot or cold.
Variation: For an attractive crimson sauce, add 1 cup raspberries or halved strawberries just before serving.
BANANAS TROPIQUE
6 bananas
1/2 cup lemon or orange juice
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
Peel the bananas, cut them lengthwise, and place them in a large skillet. Sprinkle the fruit juice over the bananas, and dot with the butter. Sprinkle the coconut and the honey on top. Cook the bananas over low heat for 10 minutes, basting with the pan juices several times. Serve hot.
BANANA ICE CREAM
12 very ripe bananas, sliced
1 cup maple syrup or honey
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup chopped cashew nuts
Place one-third of the bananas, syrup or honey, and orange juice in a blender; blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and blend the remaining bananas, sweetening and juice together in two more stages. Stir in the cashew nuts. Place the mixture in two or more shallow freezer trays, and freeze several hours or overnight. The texture can be improved by stirring at intervals.
FRIED BANANAS
6 peeled bananas
1/2 cup maple syrup
Arrange the bananas in a large skillet, and pour the syrup on top. Place the skillet over medium heat and cook the bananas, turning occasionally, until the maple syrup begins to candy. Serve hot.
BANANA TOFU PUDDING
3 very ripe bananas
2 cakes tofu
3 tablespoons maple syrup
Dash of cinnamon or nutmeg
Slice the bananas and place them in a blender. Cut the tofu into smaller cubes and add to the bananas, along with the maple syrup. Blend everything together until smooth. Serve the mixture in bowls, and sprinkle the cinnamon or nutmeg on top.
SNOW ICE CREAM
6 ripe bananas, sliced
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup powdered soymeal or powdered milk
Dash of vanilla
1 1/2 quart bowlful of new-fallen snow
Place the bananas, syrup and soymeal or powdered milk in the container of a blender or food processor, and blend or process until smooth. (The mixture can also be beaten together by hand.) Add the vanilla. Go out, get your snow, and add it to the banana mixture, blending thoroughly. Place the mixture in 2 freezer trays, and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
SCOTT'S PHILADELPHIA ICE CREAM
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
2 cups crushed fruit (bananas, strawberries, peaches)
1 cup honey or sugar, or to taste
Stir all the ingredients together in a large bowl, and place the mixture in an old-fashioned hand-crank churner if you have one. Churn until the mixture is thickened. If not serving right away, you can transfer the ice cream to a freezer container and freeze it until needed. If you don't have a churner, place the mixture in two or more shallow freezer trays, and freeze for 3 to 4 hours. Stir the mixture occasionally while freezing.
GINGERED PEARS
6 pears, peeled
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Slice the pears and toss them with the lemon juice, coating well. Place the ginger, honey and water in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil; simmer for 5 minutes. Cool the mixture and pour it over the pears. Serve the pears in individual bowls, topped with the sour cream or yogurt.
FIG-RAISIN DESSERT
20 dried black figs
1 cup raisins
Water
2 cups sour cream
Place the figs and raisins in a small bowl; add enough water to cover. Let soak overnight. The next day, drain off any excess liquid and serve the fruit topped with the sour cream.
SO SIMPLE BLUES
1 quart fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup sour cream
Wash the blueberries, drain and let dry. Place the berries in individual bowls. Pour the syrup evenly over the berries, and spoon the sour cream on top.
BERRY SHERBET
1 quart blueberries, raspberries or strawberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup sour cream
Wash the berries and mash them up. Mix the berries with the syrup, and place the mixture in one or two shallow freezer trays. Place the trays in the freezer for at least 2 hours, stirring with a fork once or twice while freezing. In 2 hours the mixture should be stiff enough to serve, or it can be left overnight. Serve the fruit in bowls, topped with a dollop of sour cream.
GREEN GRAPE DESSERT
4 cups seedless grapes
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
Wash the grapes, drain and dry them and place them in a bowl. Combine the sour cream or yogurt with the sweetener, and toss this mixture with the grapes, coating them well. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
CARROT DELISH
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup lemon or orange juice
4 large carrots, grated
2 very ripe bananas, thinly sliced
1 cup sour cream
Dash of maple syrup or honey, or to taste
In a medium bowl, soak the raisins in the lemon or orange juice for 30 minutes. Add the carrots, bananas, sour cream and sweetener, and stir the mixture together vigorously. Place the mixture in individual serving dishes, and chill if not serving right away.
FRUIT AMBROSIA
2 cups fresh pineapple chunks or 1 large can pineapple chunks, drained
2 navel oranges, peeled and sectioned
1/2 cup grated coconut
4 tablespoons maple syrup
In a deep dish, place one-half of the pineapple chunks and one-half of the orange sections. Sprinkle one-half of the coconut on top. Repeat the layers, using the remaining pineapple, oranges and coconut. Pour the maple syrup over all. If not serving right away, store in the refrigerator.
SWEET MILLET
1 cup millet
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon nutmeg
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
Place the millet and spices in a saucepan. Pour the boiling water on top and stir. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the nuts, and cook 5 minutes longer. Add the raisins, and cook 5 minutes more. Serve warm with the honey or maple syrup.
SEAWEED PUDDING
1 cup dried seaweed
1 jar (12 ounces) homemade jam (strawberry or raspberry are best)
1 cup sour cream
Wash the seaweed well and place it in a bowl; add enough water to cover and soak overnight. The next day, cook the seaweed with the water over medium heat until soft. Remove from heat and stir in the jam; let the mixture cool. Just before serving, stir in the sour cream.
DATE DELISH
1/2 pound brazil nuts, chopped fine
1/2 pound dates, chopped fine
1/2 pound raisins
Mix all together and press onto well-buttered cookie sheet. Put in refrigerator overnight. Next day cut into thin slices and serve instead of cookies or cake.
PEANUT BUTTER BALLS
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
Bring oats and peanut butter to boil with 1/2 cup water. Add honey, vanilla and chopped nuts. Stir well and bring once more to a boil. Cook for a minute or so. Remove from stove and let cool. Spoon onto a buttered plate or pan, and roll into balls.
HANDY CANDY
1 cup ground nuts
1/4 cup brewers' yeast
1/2 cup raw wheat germ
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1/2 cup raisins
Sesame seeds
Mix together all ingredients except sesame seeds. Roll into balls. Coat with sesame seeds.
HONEY TAFFY
2 cups honey
3 tablespoons butter
Boil honey and butter together until a hard ball is formed when dropped from a spoon in cold water, about 20 minutes. Pour onto marble slab or buttered platter. When cool, butter hands and pull the warm candy into lengths until it becomes hard. Then cut or break into desired pieces.
Variations: 1. Substitute the grated peel from 1 lemon and 2 cups of molasses for the honey. 2. Add a cup of chopped nuts at the time the liquid forms a ball in cold water.
CRANBERRY SAUCE
4 cups cranberries
1/2 cups water
2 cups honey
1 orange, peeled, seeded and diced
Bring cranberries to boil in 1 1/2 cups water. Cook 5 minutes. Add honey and boil 5 minutes more. Remove from heat, leaving covered in pot to cool. Stir in the orange just before serving.
A PEACHY JAM
3 cups peeled and cubed peaches
1 cup blueberries
1 cup rose hips, halved and cleaned of seeds
1 cup grated green apple
3 cups honey or raw sugar
Cook all the ingredients together until the mixture becomes thick and sheets off a spoon. Takes up to an hour. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
ROSE HIP JAM
6 cups rose hips, halved and cleaned of seeds
1 cup crab apples or tart apples, unpeeled and diced
1 small potato, scrubbed and grated
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 cups honey
Stir all ingredients together and cook at a rolling boil till mixture sheets off a spoon. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
ORANGE-CARROT MARMALADE
Juice and rind from 2 oranges
Juice and rind from 1 lemon
2 cups grated carrots
2 cups honey or raw sugar
Cut the rind into slivers, cover with cold water and simmer till tender. Add the grated carrots and honey and stir. Add fruit juice and cook at a rolling boil till the mixture is as thick as you like it. Takes about an hour. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
BLUEBERRY-ROSE HIP JAM
1 quart blueberries, mashed with a potato masher
2 cups rose hips, halved and cleaned of seeds
2 green apples, grated
1 small potato, grated
3 cups honey
Cook all together at a rolling boil until the mixture is as thick as you want it and sheets off a spoon. This may take about an hour. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
RAW STRAWBERRY JAM
2 quarts strawberries, mashed
1 cup honey, or to taste
Mix strawberries and honey. Put in jars filled within half an inch of the top and store in refrigerator or freezer.
Variation: This recipe serves for raspberries, blueberries and blackberries as well.
TOMATO RELISH
10 tomatoes, quartered
3 onions, chopped
1 head celery, chopped (save heart for salad)
2 green peppers, chopped 1 cup cider vinegar
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Mix all together. Cook 2 hours. Pack in sterile pints.
UNCOOKED CARROT RELISH
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
Combine all and let stand (in refrigerator) to season until used.
GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY
1 pound green tomatoes, chopped
1/2 pound onions, chopped
1/2 pound honey
1/2 pound raisins
1 pint cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sea salt
Simmer all together till thickish. Bottle hot in sterilized jars.
ZUCCHINI PICKLE
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 quart vinegar
4 quarts zucchini, sliced, unpeeled
1 quart onions, sliced
Bring honey, celery seed, mustard and sea salt to boil in the vinegar. Pour boiling mixture over zucchini and onions. Let stand an hour. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Put into sterilized jars and keep for winter use.
CUCUMBER PICKLE WITHOUT SALT
Pick and wash any number of small cucumbers and pack in sterile but cold glass jars. Fill jars with cold cider vinegar. Seal tight. Keep in cool place. Use during winter. Vinegar can be reused.
NASTURTIUM PICKLE
Pick and save plenty of nasturtium seeds before they get too large and hard. Put in sterile jars. Fill jars with cider vinegar, a few cloves and a pinch of sea salt. Keep in cellar till wanted.
UNCOOKED ONION RELISH
1 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped chives
Mix together and moisten with French dressing (2 parts oil to one part vinegar). Keep in refrigerator until used.
CRANBERRY RELISH
2 apples, unpeeled, chopped
4 cups cranberries
1 lemon, juice and rind
2 oranges, juice and rind
Honey, maple syrup, or raw sugar
Grind all in fine grinder and add maple syrup, honey or raw sugar to taste. Store in refrigerator and use within a day or two.
BEETROOT PICKLE
Boil the unpeeled roots till they are tender (forkable). Put them in cold water and rub off skins. Cut them in thin slices, or in cubes, and bottle them. Meanwhile, boil some vinegar (as much as you think will cover them in their bottles), adding a little sliced ginger and mace. Pour liquid over beets and screw on covers. Keep in refrigerator and use ad lib.
ITALIAN SAUCE
2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tomatoes, chopped
Handful of fresh basil, chopped
Sauté onions and garlic in oil till soft. Add tomatoes, basil and salt. Bottle in sterile jars and keep in refrigerator till used.
QUICK TOMATO SAUCE
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Sauté onion in oil. Add all else and bring to rolling boil. Cover and simmer for half an hour. Use on lentils, rice or nut loaf.
VEGETABLE CURRY SAUCE
8 tomatoes, diced
6 onions, chopped
1 cup raisins
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
Mix all together and cook over moderate heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use as sauce for cooked rice.
Variation: Add 1 can pineapple chunks.
SWEET YOGURT SAUCE
2 cups plain yogurt
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons honey
Combine and mix well.
SHARP YOGURT SAUCE
2 cups plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Combine and blend well. Use for dip or with vegetables.
HOT BLUEBERRY SAUCE
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Mix all together and boil 10 minutes, stirring well while cooking. Spoon the hot mixture over any dessert desired. (Can be used cold too.)
1 The Bhagavad-Gita, 5th century B.C.