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Mock Strawberries
Cut ripe peaches and choice well-flavored apples, in proportion of three peaches to one apple, into quarters about the size of a strawberry, place in alternate layers, sprinkle the top thickly with sugar, and add pounded ice; let stand about two hours, mix peaches and apples thoroughly, let stand an hour longer, and serve. -Miss C. B., Newburyport, Mass.
A macerated fruit salad that relies on time and sugar rather than heat. The whole point is the two-stage rest: the sugar and melting ice draw juice from the peaches, and the apple absorbs it.
- ProportionsThree peaches to one apple by count, cut into pieces roughly the size of a strawberry — think large dice or rough quarters of a peach half, about 3/4 inch.
- Pounded iceCrushed ice; in the period ice was commonly broken up by wrapping a chunk in cloth and hitting it with a mallet. A cup of crushed ice scattered over the top is enough; it chills the fruit while melting into the sugar to form the syrup.
- Sugar quantityThe original gives none; it says only to sprinkle the top thickly. Two to three tablespoons of granulated sugar to a few cups of cut fruit is about right, adjusted to how ripe the fruit is. Superfine dissolves faster in the cold.
- Choosing the apple"Choice well-flavored" suggests an aromatic eating apple rather than a cooking variety. A firm, tart-sweet apple that holds its shape works — the texture contrast against the soft peach is what suggests strawberry.
- BrowningCut apple oxidizes over the three-hour rest. Tossing the apple pieces in a little lemon juice before layering keeps them pale, and the acid sharpens the syrup.
- PeelingThe recipe does not say whether to peel; peaches were often peeled for dishes of this kind. Skin left on gives a firmer bite and some color; peel them if you want the illusion of strawberry to hold up.
- TimingTwo hours undisturbed, then mix and rest one hour more. Much beyond that and the peaches collapse into the syrup, so assemble it to land near the meal.
- ServingServe cold with the accumulated juice spooned over; cream is an optional addition, though the recipe says only "serve." It does not keep past the day it is made.
Buckeye Cookery (1877) collected contributions from housekeepers across the country, and this one, credited to a Newburyport correspondent, belongs to a small genre of Victorian "mock" dishes — mock turtle soup, mock oysters, mock mince pie — in which cheap or seasonal ingredients stood in for something scarcer or costlier. Strawberries had a short, early summer window and did not travel well before reliable refrigerated rail; peaches came later in the season, when strawberries were long gone, so the resemblance in color, size, and sweet-acid balance was worth exploiting. The recipe assumes access to ice, which by the 1870s was a commercial commodity cut from northern ponds in winter and stored in insulated icehouses.