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The Seaforth News, 1960-09-15, Page 2TABLE TALKS Jane tisaws Some rules to ;follow in mak- g cucumber pickles are these: lideleet fresh, firm cucumbers, Soman to medium in size. Use Onamelled, g 1 a s s, aluminum, etainloss- steel, or stoneware letensiis, When possible use dairy or pickling salt. Granulated and drake salt have the sante strength, but do not measure the carne, \Viten using flake salt, increase the measure by a scant one-half. 'rise high-grade cider or white distilled vinegar. Spices should - be fresh and of the highest quality, Dee whole spices unless the recipe calls for them to be ground. Tie spices in a cloth so they may be removed before pickles are canned. Seal jars of pickles while boiling hot or else process them in a water bath acenrding to recipe directions. ldrre are the gensral dir'ectir s .for preparing cucumbers fur. p'kkhng. FOR SOUR. OR SWEET PICKLES 48 small cucumbers 1 cup salt 3 cups vinegar Wash and dry fresh 2bz-3-inch cucumbers. Put in stone jar or enamelled -ware kettle. Dissolve gait in 1 gallon water, Pour over eucumbers. Cover with dinner plate or glass pie plate weighted to hold plate below brine. Let stand 24 hours, Drain. Rinse con- tainer and put cucumbers back into it. Add vinegar to enough water to cover cucumbers. Let stand 24 hours. Drain cucumbers. SOUK PICKLES 5 cups vinegar 1 cup sugar 11„ tablespoons mixed spices Add vinegar, sugar and spices (tied in a bag) to 1 cup water. Simmer 15 minutes. Pack pre- pared cucumbers into hot jars. Cover with hot pickling syrup. Process pints and quarts 15 min- utes in boiling -water bath. * * * SWEET PICKLES 2-4 cups sugar 5 eups vinegar 11,1 tablespodns mixed spices Add 11/2 cups sugar to 112 eups water. Boil until sugar dis- xtolves. Add vinegar and spices Stied in a bag). Simmer•15 min- utes. While syrup is cooking, split cucumbers into halves. Pour into stone jar or enamel- led -ware kettle. Pour hot syrup over cucumbers. Let stand about 12 hours. Drain syrup into an- other kettle; add remaining au - gar. Boil until sugar is dissolved. our hot syrup over cucumbers. Let stand 12-24 hours. Pack cu - 3umbers into hot jars. Boil syrup -3 minutes. (If you want to add garlic, do it when syrup begins to boil.) Pour hot over cucum- bers. Process pints and quarts 15 minutes in boiling water bath. Note: For extra crispness, add 14 teaspoon powdered alum to each cup syrup before pour- ing over cucumbers in jar. BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES 5 cups thinly sliced cucumbers 2 cups thinly sliced small onions '4, cup salt 2 cups cider vinegar t cup sugar 3 teaspoons whole mustard seed iii teaspoon whsle celery seed 2.s teaspoon ground turmeric Arrange alternate layers cu- cumbers, onions and salt. Let stand overnight or six to eight i,ours. Mix remaining ingredi- NUNS FIND FUN IN SURF -- Sister Ruth, left, and Sister Agnew don't mind gelling their habits wet in the surf. The Benedictine nuns spent a week at the shore as part of a new vacation p ograrn, ents in a four -quart preserving kettle. Bring to boiling point, Add cucumbers and onions. Cook until clear — five to ten minutes. Pack in hot, sterilized jars. Seal air tight, Makes three pints. µ MIXED PICKLES 4 cups cut encumbers 2 cups cut carrots 2 cups cut celery 2 red sweet peppers 1 pod hit red pepper 1 cauliflower 2 cups pickling onions 1 cup salt 4 tablespoons mustard seed 2 tablespoons celery seed 1' cups sugar 5 cups vinegar Wash, rinse, drain, and cut vegetables as wanted. Dissolve salt in 1 gallon of water. Pour over vegetables. Let stand about 15 hours, Drain. Add seeds (also spices if you want to use them) and sugar to the vinegar, Boil 3 minutes. Add vegetables. Sim- mer until heated through, then bring to boiling. Pack, boiling hot ,into hot jars; seal at once, t * * CRYSTAL PICKLES 11 gallons green tomatoes 1 cup slaked lime t cups sugar 5 small sticks cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon ginger 11's tablespoons salt 5 cups vinegar Wash, drain and cut small to- matoes (about 1% inches across) into ' -inch slices. Dissolve lime in 1 gallon cool water. Pour over tomatoes, Let stand about 24 hours in a cool place. Rinse through several changes of cool water. Drain. Add sugar, spices (tied in bag), salt and 1 cup water to vinegar, (Add more salt if wanted.) Boil 3 minutes. Let stand until cold. Add toma- toes. Boil until tomatoes are clear and syrup is thick. Pack, hot, into hot jars. Process pints and quarts 10 minutes in boil- ing -water bath. TOMATO CHUNKS Wash, drain and remove core from slightly ripe tomatoes. Cut tomatoes into 1 -inch chunks. Measure. For each quart chunks, make syrup of 34 cup vinegar, aa cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon whole mixed spices, 11/2 tea- spoons salt. Boil 5 minutes. Add tomatoes. Boil 5 minutes. Pack, boiling hot, into hot jars; seal at once. A few slices of onion may be added to each jar if you desire. >FUN -POWERED -- Solar furnace with meticulously finished reflecting mirror turns sunshine into 7,000 degrees F. at the Avco company. The furnace tests new materials developed kr missile nose cones, rocket engine nozzles and space craft that must withstand enormous heat. A Lesson Learned Mn Blueberry Time The vibrant blueberry is now bursting from the pod, and the white tablecloth trembles in despair. This, also, is a good time of year, and he who comes home to a blueberry pie is hap- py among men and is glad. The most interesting conse- quence of the present season is the decision by the blueberry people to engage in special pro- motion, and to attract attention to their product so it will gain in public esteem and become popular. Just what modern soci- ety had done to draw away from the blueberry as a self -promoted vegetable should give us pause, and we should be greatly alarm- ed if it turns out the creature has slacked off in esteem so the industry is unstable. Indeed, there is something un- fortunate in the news that there is a blueberry industry well enough organized to attempt such hired thumping of the tub. The blueberry was undoubtedly designed without a monopply, in mind, and should never travel the same commercial highway as the banana, pineapple, bunch carrot, and the subsidized potato. But, alas, The blueberry that bloomed :free and unpossessed is now pretty generally posted, and cannot be picked with im- punity and a lard pail, People whose back pastures ran to- ward public domain in blue- berry time now have little signs up, and they dicker over "stump- age." A man will come by and make you an offer, then gather the berries with a crew he brings in a truck. The old-fash- ioned kind who think they can whistle for the dog and strike out at random to gather enough for a pie find the dreary aspects of crass commercialism have en- tered the picture. Bluelherries are money. When I was rather small, blueberries taught me a lesson, but I never knew just what to do with it. I had taken my lard pail — in thane days everybody had a two -pound lard pail to pick in, and it was his very own property --- and 1 had gone down by the ice pond to glean. About the time I had found a patch and settled to work on it, a large and sharply delineat- ed scream arose from a clump of bushes nearby, and a woman same leaping forth in every guise of distress. She was hit- ting the ground about every thirty feet. She pained neat me. and explained. it turned out that she had been calmly gathering blueber ries in a 14 -quart milk pail, and had something like 13 quarts of blueberries in it when the mov- ed over another foot or two and aislocated a prosperous nest of yellow -jacket hornets. Yellow. jacket hornets, to give then their due, are excellent judges of blueberry ground, and wher- ever you find a nest, you will find very fine blueberries which !sequently last out the season and dry up on the cines, and 1Vat41t' their fr'a;'I'ance on the ^crt air. There is something ;,bout nowt of yellow -jackets which discourages close picking. This woman, upon milking ibis interesting discovery. ha,cl ga- ihexcd herself into a departure surd come forth. The pail of blue- berries was aitting on the around right betide the hornet's nest, and when she pointed 1 could sec it shining in the puck- crbush, Comments evolved, and one thing led to another, and this woman at lag agreed to divide the pail of berries with rile if T would go in and re- trieve them. In after. years I have won- dered, myself, about my evalua- tions of the gentlemanly cus- toms at that time. I have, now and then, been thrust by chance into certain situations where I might aid and abet the fairer sex without making any bar- gains about it, doing kindly things just for the good feeling It gave me, and to enhance my reputation as a great boon to humanity. But I suppose I was young, and hadn't properly equated the amenities. There is also the possibility that hornets are a special factor in negotiations, It is true that circumstances alter cases, and of all the circumstances a me- thodical mind can assemble to insure full consideration I guess a hornet's nest is pretty good. Anyway, this woman and I made a bargain, and I was to get hall the blueberries if I would bring out the whole of thein, I thereupon walked over, picked up the milk pail, and brought it forth, doing so with- out involving the hornets'in any way, and arriving back at our bargaining ground intact and unspoiled.' The woman seemed disappointed. She acted as if I had abused her in some way, and had not fulfilled the •obliga- tions of contract. It had been too easy. Therefore, she announced that the bargain was off, and there would be no dividing of the spoils, I remonstrated, citing the sanctity of open covenants open- ly arrived at, and suggested she was not playing fair. With what I have since learned is feminine logic, she reversed this decision, and pointed out that I was the one resorting to subterfuge and chicanery, since I had no hornet trouble. If I had been stung a few times, she pointed out, it would be different. • While her logic prompted thought, there was one loophole in it. She had not yet regained possession, and it was I who still held the bail of the bucket. "Very well," I said. And I car- ried the pail back into the bushes and set it beside the hor- net's nest, and passed by on the other side and went to picking blueberries with neither cark 11 o r care. Afterwards I went home and mother made a blue- berry cake a yard square, and I ate it with gusto and butter, and sat back happily to reflect on affairs and their causes, and I don't know to this day if the woman ever got her blueberries or not. As my public service for this 'fine afternoon in blueberry time, 1 wish to append herewith my mother's recipe, which should delight the nations and make this a better world: THE DEACON'S BLUEBERRY CAKE I egg, whipped light 1 cup sweet milk 3 tablespoons sugar Butter size of an egg Some salt 1 teaspoon socia 2 teaspoons cream tartar 3 Cups flour cups blueberries tTix the sugar with the egg, melt the butter, and add all to the flour. You'll need a pan about eight by twelve inches, and bake at about 375 degrees for about a half hour, or until browned. Then serve with plenty of but- ter. and allerwardl write 010 a totter a;ying thank you. By John Gould in the Chrkiion Sol two Monitnr. Are You Taking Too Many Pills? '1'o chronic vitamin -pill nxntch- rrs, the American Medical Asso- ciation last month issued a warn- ing: Don't munch too many. There is a widespread belief, said The Journal of the AMA, that to keep healthy, people must con- sume Multivitamin pills. "On the contrary," The Journal pointed out, "only in a deficiency state or in an anticipated deficiency state are vitamin supplements neces- sary." An overdose of vitamins, added The Journal, can cause loss of appetite, irritability, skin eruptions, liver enlargement, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Untrierwceter Fight With A Crocodile A sixty, -year-old aboriginal, Samuel poochemunka, was cruis- ing off the coast 01 Cape York, Queensland, In a dug -out canoe with his daughter-in-law, Beu- lah, and her ten -month-old baby, when the girl suddenly scream- ed with terror as huge claws and teeth gripped her body from behind. Looking round, Samuel saw that a large crocodile had crept up and struck at her through an out -rigger, The next moment both mother and baby were Snatched overboard. Without hesitation, Samuel dived headlong into the swirling water. He knew instinctively what to do. Feeling for the crocodile's body, he got an iron grip on its twisting tail, moved gradually on until he reached its head. Then he plunged his thumbs into its eyes—something no croc can endure. The monster writhed, lel go of the girl—still clutching her baby—and dived, Quickly Sam- uel swam back to the canoe, dragging the mother and child with him. When they reached the shore, first-aid was render- ed at a nearby mission, Then the woman was flown to Cairns Hospital in an ambulance 'plane. Amazingly, both she and the baby recovered, Samuel was awarded the Royal humane So- ciety's silver medal for his heroic rescue. Coralie and 'Leslie Rees in "Coasts of Cape York", say that when they visited Beulah, she showed the wide scars of claw and teeth marks on her arms and back, One man, hunting across a river, shot two wallabies. Pad- dling back in his frail skin -bark canoe a croc swam out to him, doubtless smelling the carcasses' blood. Alarmed, he increased speed. But when the croc came on and nosed round the canoe he de- cided to throw a wallaby over- board, hoping that would satisfy the creature. It rapidly disposed of the wal- laby, then made for the canoe again. At desperation, the man threw the second one overboard. But still the croc wasn't satis- fied, .It began snapping and tearing at the end of the canoe, ile saw only a grim death ahead if he stayed with the wa- terlogged skin -bark, so leaped overboard; hoping the monster woud pause to lick up any con- gealed blood while he swam away. Luckily, some of his friends saw his plight and drag- ged him ashore before the croc attacked again. Rees says that when out walk- ing he always bore in mind the advice: "Never turn your back en a river, for a crocodile may creep up and swish its tail round you." But there were graver perils than crocs. They were told of a white rascal, Wini, who once set up a one-man reign of terror on an island in Torres Strait. A runaway convict, he arrived in a l : t, ;.old the natives he'd killed • hi, companions, -and became the is ce`P of tree tribe by murdering 1c c, 1.1:i rivals and intimidate 11.:1% ut1 1)11x5 rs', L'.:hunts es a warrior, Ile won several wives, a canoe and land He was said to be a compound of villainy and cunning, plus the ferocity and headstrong passions of a thorough savage. Becaus of him, every European who foil into the Badu people's hande was likely to meet with violent death. This happened when a vessel from Sydney came looking for tortoiseshell off the island. The skipper scant a crew ashore to barter for shell. The natives at first seethed friendly, but the crew, suspicious, decided to pass the night on a small sandbank about a mile oi'f. Four landed, leaving 1350 in the boat. About midnight the natives attacked. Three were killed; the fourth cried soon after being rescued by the two in the boat. The small force aboard the schooner didn't clare try to catch the murderers, Wini was said to have wanted a local white woman to help him Sound a line of white rulers for Torres Strait, but she preferred the headman of another island to this depraved European. Irresponsible white pearlers and fishermen inade raids an the women of another island, Ma- buiag, whose men eventually had to hide them in a cave on nearby Pulu, When c,ne of their craft struck a Pulu reef, the natives took their revenge by killing all the crew except one. 141abuiag's most bloodthirsty story concerned a chieftain's son, Gators, who went off one day with seven companions because his pregnant wife said she was tired of vegetable food and craved meat. While trying to harpoon a shark he was caught by the line and drowned. Driven by the wind, the canoe reached Dauan, where the local chief, Kngea, killed all but two of its occupants. These . two escaped and drifted to Belga. There, the friendly chief gave them food and enabled them to reach home on a favourable wind, When they met Gatori's father and told him of his son's death he was so enraged that he slew them with his stone club, for without them Gatori would not have gone to the reef. Then he slew the pregnant wife who was the real cause of Gatori's death. Having vented his anger, he began to regret his hasty action. Seized with remorse, he rush- ed up a hill, decked himself with leaves and branches, and danced alone. On his return he asked his wife to light a big fire, fixed a spear in the flames, point up- wards, threw himself on it and perished. The same day Gatori's body floated ashore in Mabuiag and was buried there. The book is a graphic account of life in this wild Australian seaboard, its settlers, seafarers and aboriginals, and the adven- tures that befell the authors. It makes engrossing reading. Alt THE GIRL IN THE GLASS HOUSE -- Washington, kr some time location of the "World's largest Chair," now has a glass house resting on the outsize seat and a pretty girl in the glctss house. 'Lynn Arnold is shown waving at spar.;stars from the house which is 12 fact by 12 feet and p.vritiuned 16 feet above rhe ground. It's a parking lot publicity gimmick, ii �.w