Special coffees then were brought from the East Indies, covered with the laboratory-made culture, and held to ripen under conditions exactly as in the holds of those old sailing vessels. The coffee's smoothness, the scientists discovered, is due to the removal of excessive free acids, said to cause sleeplessness. The new “cultured” coffee is ripened by a purely natural process, with no chemicals used. It is nature's own culture, developed like yeast; and as the culture “works,” it absorbs the gallotannic acids but has no appreciable effect on any other element of the bean. The caffeine is still there.
Pink beans, Lima beans, navy beans, any one of the three are yours for a bean dinner, and in twenty minutes flat from box to table. No soaking required—a quick rinse, that's all, then pour on the cold water, bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for fifteen minutes until the beans are tender. Season and use as they are, in baked dishes, bean soups, bean loaves. Kubie's Health Shop, 136 East 57th Street, has the Limas, 20 cents for six ounces; pink beans and navies are 15 cents a half pound.
Pint berry baskets with hand-painted covers, filled with a half pound of maple butternut cream candies, are yours for ＄1.25, postpaid direct from the kitchen of Mrs. J. B. Van Wavern, The Grassy Spur Inn, Green River, Vermont. These candies are made of the best maple syrup, with heavy cream straight from the top of the milk given by the Van Wavern cows. And that's all, except butternuts and plenty of beating. Heed the warning, don't eat more than three pieces in a row or you will make yourself sick—such utter richness!
Billy boy no longer can judge his lassie's cooking by the pie test. Now, in cherry time, the smart Nellie will hurry to the grocer's frosted food case for a package of quick-frozen pie dough to bake a cherry pie for her Bill. And a tender crust turns out every time. Two types of frozen pie dough are on the market this spring. The one labeled “Ella Mason's Frosted Crust” carries a sixteen-ounce chunk of dough to be defrosted, rolled on a floured board, and treated as any pie crust. The sixteen ounces will bake two nine-inch pie shells, with enough trimming left over to make four medium tarts. Or the trimmings may be used as a topping for the meat pie.
A second product—and unique—is Gretchen Grant's “Pre-Paired” top-and-bottom pie crust which comes quick-frozen, ready rolled, ready cut into two crusts to fit a nine-inch pie pan. It's a cook's delight—no bother with the pastry board, the flour sifter, the rolling pin; no left-over scraps. Defrost the dough rings, unfold the bottom layer from its cellophane wrapper, and turn it neatly into the pan; press gently to fit, pour in the filling, lay on the perforated top, then fold over the top of the overlapping bottom crust edge. Seal with the tines of a fork and shove quickly into the oven.
These pastries are made exceedingly short. Even the worst cook couldn't make them go tough. Better pie crusts, we say, than the average woman can make, but not equal to the pastries turned out by the expert. This type of product is coming to stay, and will be improved as the makers learn new tricks in the freezing. The lump dough sells at L. Bamberger's in Newark, the price 35 cents for sixteen ounces. “Pre-Paired” pie crust sells at B. Altman & Company, 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, the price 39 cents.
August's issue (it must have been the heat) quoted an incorrect price in this column. The naturally carbonated mineral waters, Geyser, Hathorn and Coesa, bottled by the State of New York at Saratoga Spa, Saratoga Springs, sell six bottles for ＄1, rather than ＄2. A case of twenty-four bottles is priced at ＄4. Sales tax, of course, in New York City, with slightly higher prices in the South and the West.
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