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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1954-8-4, Page 7TABLEA TA KS oicvm Every editor and columnist - --oven the conductor of so modest a column as this—is fairly deluged with what is known in the trade as "hand-outs" For the most part these are attempts by press -agents -- excuse me, "public relations counsellors"— to get free mention of their pro- ducts, instead of paying adver- tising rates, However, this morning I re- ceived, from the Bakery Goods Foundation, some material which I think should be handed along, Advertising Department or no Advertising Department. it is headed SAFEGUARDING SUM- MER MEALS. It's summertime—time for out- ings, picnics and backyard sup- , pers. It's time for special summer meals, prepared ahead of time, and served out of doors. It's time for the entire family JO enjoy eating to the full! But there are dangers ahead— whether You're aware of them or not, Food poisoning, in any one of its various forms, can spoil your summer fun, and even end in tragedy, unless you are constantly on guard against it. Here are some of the facts. t « « FOOD POISONING MENACE Food poisoning occurs when, by mistake, some article of food is eaten which is poisonous itself, or which has been contaminated from an outside source. Poison- ous berries, fungi mistaken for mushrooms, diseased meat a n d poisonous shell fish, have taken their toll from time to time. But the most common cases of food poisoning a r e those caused by foot' infections or food intoxica- tione. • Illness from food infection is caused, by bacteria carried into the mouth ON FOOD when it is eaten, If there are bacteria or poisonous toxins IN THE FOOD, the resultant illness is d u e to. food intoxication, WO hear of cases of food poi- sonr'hg where a number of people are stricken after a church pic- nic, wedding reception or ban- que£, Yet few people realize that thin same common food poisoning bact"caria (staphylococci, salmon- ellae.and" streptococci if you want their names!) may be presentin foods prepared at home, even though the kitchen may be scru- pulously clean. The bacteria or resultant toxins may be in the food when it is purchased or may be introduced by any person handling the food as it is sold, prepared or served. - There is no red warning light to flash on and off when food poisoning bacteria lurk in your food. Blit there are sensible pre- cautions or danger signals which, if heeded, will prevent or dis- , courage bacterial growth. 'Warm summer days increase the need for obeying the danger signs. You'll want to recognize them when they appear. $ * * THE DANGER SIGNS: Don't trust your!. instincts! Usually the guilty food does not leek or taste or smell spell- ed, If you're in doubt, boil the suspicious food rapidly for sev- eral minutes BEFORE TASTING IT, Better still, discard it and eat something else. * « ' * There's safety in cleanliness! Clean food, handled by ,clean people under sanitary conditions will seldom be guilty of causing food poisoning. Buy your food in a clean, tidy store. Wash all food, even though you plan to cook it. Make sure food is stored, prepared and eaten in clean sur- roundings. Public picnic tables and campsites are a wonderful invention, but they should al• ways be covered or thoroughly cleaned before using, Especially away from home, children a n d adults should be encouraged to wash hands often. Cuts and open sores should be covered .-- and of course all food should be well protected from disease -carrying flies and insects. You're Wrong - If you think II is is Marilyn Monroe. It's Rosalina Neri, of Milan, Italy, the latest beauty to be compared to the popular Hollywood movie star, Rosalind, 25, is a TV performer. « * Beat and Ilum1dite Indrease the Risk! Although most bacteria can be killed by very high temperatures, the average' hot, humid, summer day merely provides ideal, grow- ing weathersfor the food poison- ing types. Cooked or uncooked foods, prepared ahead of time, should be continuously and well refrigerated until serving time. Portable ice boxes and roadside ice vending machines are invalu- able aids to the travelling fam- ily. Time is of the Easenee:' No matter how favourable or unfavourable the other condi- tions, the longer the -time between preparing and eating th e food, the greater the danger of food poisoning bacteria developing. T h e minutes count, so prepare your foods as near to mealtime as possible andakeep them cold and covered until eaten. * * * FOOT) -- HANDLE WITH CARE: AlI year round most foods need special care in handling and stor- age if they are to stay. fresh and appetizing, During summer months when conditions are apt to be more favourable for growth of food poisoning bacteria a n d toxins, some common foods de- serve priority on your menu lists. Others, because they are more susceptible to bacterial growth, merit extra attention to safeguard their freshness. Any variety of bread, enriched white, whole wheat, rye or specialty loaf, un- der reasonable conditions, is a completely safe food at any time, Because it stays fresh even at high 'temperatures, and is not easily contaminated in storage or handling, bread is the ideal basic food for picnic or' camp meals. Build your outdoor meals around other bakery foods like r o l i s, muffins, cookies and cakes. They ,are natural picnic "musts" since they keep and eat well too. Other top priority summer foods include most kinds of cheese, washed fruits like apples, bananas and oranges, clean raw vegetables, cured or pickled meats, peanut butter, and most commercially canned foods. Exercise sensible precautions with other essential foods, but don't eliminate them from your meals just because they could be potential sources of food poison- ing. In fact, protein foods can be the worst Offenders, but your daily diet would suffer from lack of them. - Milk, cream and all foods con- taining milk and cream should be handled carefully and kept well refrigerated. Take a tip from, your, baker and keep cream -filled cakes, pies and pastries covered and cold until tater. Fresh meat, especially when chopped or ground, sausages and prepared meats should be refri- gerated, carefully cooked and used the day they are purchased. Commercially canned meat is safest to carry, unopened, on pic- nics or camping trips. Fish and poultry should be well cooked and kept well refrigerated if they are to be part of the pie- nic meal, Again, commercially canned fish and chicken are saf- est for use away from home `Special mention should be made of stuffings for poultry, fish and creat, Because bread stuffings are usually made by hand, often well in advance of cooking, they can be suitable media for bacterial growth. Even refrigeration and freezing are not recommended, , since they may prevent the stuf- fing from reaching proper cook- ing temperatures or temperatures high enough to kill bacteria that may be present. Any time of year, prepare stufi'ings a n d dressings in cool, sanitary conditions, as near t� cooking time as possible.e ' Egg salads and other . protein salad mixtures are poor picnic risks unles they are kept under refrigeration. - Left over, foody are "out" for outdoor feasts. Keep them safely tucked away in- the refrigerator for an economical meal when you're home. PUZZLED Theodore was,., stuck with a blind date, an unbelievably hor- eible female who. looked, talked and acted like one of the Gor- goos. Ile stiggested the movies where at least he wouldn't have to look at her -- and Some. how he got through the evening. Taking her home, ,though, he couidn't stand it any longer. "You know, I believe in relit - carnation," he blurted out. "What were you before you died?" Old -Time Molasses Cookies Taste Just as Goo... Today I31( PORD'Ilfir AMMO REMEMBER those soft molasses cookie`s we used to enjoy when we were children? 1 fitly leve there, 80 do a lot of other people. Maybe Yeti do, too. So here`s .a recipo; Soft Molrieses Cooides • (Veldt 4 dozen eookkr) One cupshortening, 13/4 cups unsulphured rnolaeses, V4 sup sager, 4 cups sifted, all-purpose douri 13/4 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons Soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 335 teaspoon* ginger, % teaspoon 4lovos; 1 egg, ' Melt shortening hi saucepan large enough for mlxtn$ *ookie*. Stir in molasses and sugar; coot, - Sift together four, salt, soda, cinnamon, ginger and glove!. Mix in small amount of flour; boat in egg. Add remaining flout, blending until smooth. CI)1ll dough about 2 hours, Shape into 13/4 -inch belle..Place on cookie sheets about 9 inches apart to allow cookies to spread during baking. Bake in a moderate even (380 degrees F.) 16 minutes. While warm, spread half the 'cookies with eonfeetloner's sugar glaze. Store in closely covered container. - * t here's another cookie oath a delicate mojosses flavor, utter -Molasses Thln*les (field: 18 dozen) .Four cups sifted, all-purpose flour; 1% cups sugar, lit cues butter or margarine, % cup unsulphured molasses, 1 whole egg, plus' 1.egge'yolk; Vs cup sugar (optional), 1 teaspoon pinnamon `(optlonal). Sift together dour and sugar. Cut In butter with pastry blender tntil 'Mixture resembles coarse meal. Combine molasses attd eggs; stir into Sour -butter mixture. 'Chill dough overnight. Roll out on pastry cloth sprinkled with confectioner's sugar to 1/10 -inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters; place on cookie Molasses cookies taste Just as wonderful today as they did back when we were children. sheets. (If desired, mix sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle lightly over, unbaked cookies.) Bake in a moderately bot oven (400 degrees F.) 8 to 8 minutes, or until edges have lightly- browned. Cool. Store in tightly covered container. Note. To make cookies without chilling, form slough Into smalls balls, using 35 teaspoon of the dough. Place on cookie sheets, flatten cookies to l/10 -inch thick with bottom of glass covered with damp cloth. Dip bottom of glass in water when cloth sticks to dough. (These cookies will keep for a long time, but you may make a smaller quantity by cutting the recipe in half,) .. PLAIN HORSE SENSE .� By F. (BOB) VON PILLS The following editorial appear- our international responsibilities' ed.in The British Farmer, „official organ of t h e National Farmers Union, o, in London, Eng - Not So Funny "There is little attempt , by people in this country to conceal the almost universal delight at the disastrous fall in world wheat prices and to shake hands with one another because Britain re- fused to. join in the International Wheat Agreement. Further falls are joyfully anti- cipated and the most sanguine are even envisaging a price war, with the United States throwing huge stocks on the world market, If farmers enjoyed the same 'powers ofself-delusion as many economists, some of us night also be hanging out the flags. For so many of us buy more cereals than we sell and we might welcome so much cheap imported raw ma- terial. But few, I think, will view this with any complacency. So often the price of wheat, and certainly the price of wheat coupled with' that of maize, has set the tone. for world food prices generally. It was the collapse of the North American wheat price in 1929-30 that heralded the worst industrial depression this country can re- member, for in the end it im- poverished the primary producers abroad who had been our cus- tomers but could no longer buy our goods. Avoiding Disaster History, I know, never exactly repeats itself and the U.S. Govern- ment are insulating their wheat growers against the disaster that • would otherwise be upon them. But can they do this indefinite- ly? Can it insulate world trade generally against a heavy slump in food producers' incomes in other countries and the conse- quent restriction of trade? I would have said that in each case the answer was "No." Nor does it touch our friends who buy from us in Canada and Ails- tralia. Illusion of 'cheap' Food. TTo boast of our foresight and cunning in keeping out of any work plan to maintain a lair level of wheat prices in times of tem- porary surplus looks to be un= comfortably like shuffling out of and leaving the Americans once more to hold the baby. T ie irene pfit is that if catas- trophe does happen and the fall• in the wheat price is once more the herald of a world-wide depes- sion, none in this country will suffer moist severely than those permanent victims of the illusion of 'cheap' f o o d, the industrial wage-earners." Effects On Canada The words of The British Far- mer should be given careful con- sideration by farmers in Eastern Canada who 'have been rejoicing at lower prices of feed grains. The effects of the deteriorating wheat price a r e becoming evident in rising unemployment not only in the agricultural • implement in- dustry, but in other industries as well. A large share of the blame will go to Canada's Minister' of Trade C, D, Howe, who insisted en 1 top price of $2.05 while Britain offered $2.00 last fall when the new International Wheat Agree- ment was negotiated. On account of the difference of five cents, Britain eventually refused to sign the agreement and kept herself free to buy on.a competitive mar- ket. This column welcomes criticism, constructive or destructive, and suggestions, wise or otherwise. Address all mall to Bob Von Pills, Whitby, Ont. TELLING HIM At the time of the Jini Cor- bett -John L. ,Sullivan bout, Steve Brodie of Brooklyn Bridge fame predicted loudly that° the'cham- pion would knock Corbett out in the sixth reund, Corbett's father heard of this prediction and was violently enraged, Some days later he was introduced to Bro- die. He looked him over sourly, and finally commented, "So you're the man who jumped over Brook- lyn Bridge." "Not over it," Brodie corrected him. "I jumped off it" The elder H o r b e t t snorted. "Oh," he said smoothly. "I thought you jumped over it. Any damned fool could jump off it" Real "Sponger" -- The largest sponge ever found In south Florida waters provides a comfortable resting place for tiny Toby abets. The huge sponge was found in Biscayne Bay by Walter Thomp- son, Sr„ who hat been dragging the waters for sponges for 40 years. In the foreground is a normal size sponge. Do You Freeze Your Pies And Cakes ? Freezing is becoming a popu- lar method of preserving pies, cakes and other pre-cooked foods. Such frozen foods are a great convenience to the housewife as a supply in the freezer simpli- fies future meal preparation. An important point to remember when freezing any food — cooked or fresh — is to use only high quality ingredients. Freezing will not improve the product; it mere- ly retains quality present prior to freezing, Miss K. D. Troup, dieti- tian at the Morden Experimental Station, points out. Considerable study has been made at the Food and Vegetable Laboratory of this Station of the best methods of freezing such foods. Freezing pies for instance is no new idea. Several genera- tions ago it was common practice to bake several weeks' supplyoof pies and freeze them in the back porch or attic until they .were needed. Now, with the widespread use of home freezers, pies may be frozen th e year round. Mince, Housekeeping ,,: y P'usLh-i= utton" When it's "not the heat but the humidity," what h o u s e w i f doesn't wish she could 1411 ill el hammock and do Tier chores by pushing buttons? This summer she can actually do some of her housework by push-button if she engages a "staff" of aerosol sprays. For instance, she can give up that tedious task of con- stantly polishing silver by spray- ing every article not in constant use with a clear plastic finish. It will keep them shiny -bright and tarnish -free all summer long. She can take the same short-cut with brass, copper and chrome. The aerosol method can be used to remove spots on clothing and upholstery, thereby reducing the size of the laundry and num- ber of trips to the dry cleaner. By pushing another button, gar- den and house plants are pro- tected from insect attack. Con- sider how much energy is saved on a hot day -by just holding an insecticide spray instead of chasing flies with an old,fashioned swatter. Should one of the chil- dren return from camp with a dose of poison ivy, the druggist can supply the antidote in a con- venient cooling foam, which squirts on like whipped cream. One of the latest aerosol sprays is a direct answer to every house- wife's prayer. It is designed to allow dust mops to pick up more dirt and to prevent the particles from blowing back indoors or on to drying clothes when the mops are shaken. According to the manufacturer, this is accomplish- ed through a chemical preparation that causes the fibres in the yarn to fuzz, thereby increasing the dust absorbing stnfare of each strand.iir the mop. Another new one, which may not save much energy but will certainly make things more pleas- ant during the heat, is an aerosol to banish garbage can odors. The spray Is said to slow up the decay of food scraps as well as prevent rust of the can. The manufac- turer claims it will also prevent garbage from sticking to the sides of the container and will keep dogs, rats and other animals at a distance if a little is also directed at the outside of the garbage can. Manufacturers If aerosols are becoming so conscious of the trine- and -energy saving possibilities of their products, they are starting to make types that de jobs with the one squirt, For example, one of the largest developments is a spray that helps prevent a pain- fu1 sunburn and shoos the flies away at the same time. fruit, squash and pumpkin pies freeze successfully. Fruit pies, ex- cept apple, are of higher quality, if frozen unbaked. The pie is pre- pared as for baking, but slits are not cut in the top crust. A suit- able thickener is recommended for juicy fruit pies. To bake frozen fruit pies, sim- ply unwrap, cut vents in the top crust ,and place the pie in a pre- heated oven, allowing 10 to 15 minutes extra baking time. Apple, pumpkin• and sgpash pies are more' satisfactory if bakedbefore freez- ing. Baked pies should be cooled' to room temperature before wrap- ping in aluminum foil or some other high quality moisture - vapour -proof material A pie plate inverted over the pie will prevent the top crust from being crushed. Baked pies may be thawed in a moderate oven for twenty min- utes or at room temperature for two or three hours. With cakes, tests show that plain cake, with all its variations is a satisfactory type for f eqz- Fruit ca�es ere pparticuiarry successful as Ircizgii isri5aucts since the flavour tends to mellow with storage. The storage life of angel food and sponge cakes is more limited. Cake batters may be fro- zen and stored very successfully for a.short time and the batter, -when baked hill closely re,semb1e a rireslrly--baked cake. ren stoic age time is to exceed one month, however, cakes are generally su- perior if frozen after baking. Frostings and fillings may be ap- plied to the cake before freezing. Icing sugar frostings containing fat and fudge -type frosting freeze particularly w e 11. Baked cakes should be thawed in their original wrappings to prevent the forma- tion of moisture on the top of the cake. Tests show that products which are well wrapped in aluminum foil will retain their quality for as long as one year. But for house- hold use it is usually desirable to keep pre-cooked items for a shorter time as the freezer space can often be used more efficiently for other seasonal products. Modern Etiquette Sy' iROBEEJ A LEE Q. Is it necessary for a girt to give a gilt each time, if she .la invited to several different bad - al showers in honour of the Same bride-to-be? A. If she attends all the show- ers, she mOst certainly must bring a 'gift t0 each,. However, If she has already attended One or two of the showers, it is her privilege ivieginvitations. ecline any addl- 1 Q. When a woman enters se elevator and three or four meg remove their hats, should oho nod her acknowledgement of the courtesy? A. This is not necessary. The gesture is not at all personal. Q. If one is eating, a steak or something similar, isn't it all right to out several mouthful/0 at a time before eating? A. No; one should cut a single bite at a time. Q. Don't you consider it very bad manners for a dinner guest to be late? A. This is considered one of the most serious breaches of eti- quette. A guest who is late for a meal in one's home must have a very good excuse to justify any Pardon. Q. Is it proper to address a wedding invitation to "Mr. and Mrs. George L. Ferguson and Family"? A. No; if the children or other members of the family are old enough to be invited, a separate, invitation must be sent to each of them. Q. Should the dessert spoon or fork be placed on the table with the rest of the silver at the beginning of a Meal? A, No; they should be brought in with .the dessert plates. Q. Is it good form to type a signature on a business letter? A. Not unless it is supplement- ed by a pen signature. Some- times this is advisable when a person's signature is very iheg- ible. Q. If a man brings a gift when calling on a girl, should she open It immediately or lay it aside until he has gone? A. She would most cc -lately show better manners and more appreciation if she opened it at once. Q. If all the guests et a din- ner, with the exception of one, have refused the segond helping of a certain dish, is it all right forthat one person to accept? A pr liy lull be int - ter not o so, as This would naturally cause a delay in the serving of the next course. The well-bred person is always con- siderate of others, and that is a prime secret o p-opularity. Bearly Acting -' "That'e not the way," snarls Minnie, right, 11 bear at the London, England, zoo, os she gives her cub o lesson In how to get food from visitors, (top), Minnie sits up on her haunthes and shows her bill/by exactly how it's done (bottom).