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Cocoanut Jellied Peaches
Drain syrup from firm canned peaches and wipe off with a cheesecloth. Arrange on a serving-dish and pour slowly over each one, melted currant or plum jelly. (Packaged gelatines may be used.) As the jelly hardens cover thickly with Dromedary Cocoanut, and put a small spoonful of whipped cream on top of each. Set in cold place until ready to serve. "EXHIBITION" CREAM TAPIOCA PUDDING 1 quart milk 4 tablespoonfuls Dromedary Tapioca 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs Pinch of salt Flavor to taste Cook tapioca in milk till clear, add yolks of eggs and sugar beaten together, then flavor to taste. Lastly, add the whites of eggs beaten to stiff froth. Serve with cream. 12 a Orange and Date Salad Recipe Page 16 Baked Apple Recipe Cocoanut Cream Rocks Recipe Page 19 Plain and Recip Exhibition Cream Tapioca Recipe Page 12a Date E Recipe P G With Cocoanut Page 11 Stuffed Dates e Page 23 Sugarless Cocoanut Patties Recipe Page 23 Coffee Cocoanut Tapioca Recipe Page 10 read age 12a Dates with Cereal Recipe Page 12a
Two recipes have run together on this page, plus a fragment of the booklet's plate index at the end. The peaches are an assembly job; the tapioca pudding is a stirred custard and needs more attention.
- The hinge: jelly temperatureMelt the currant or plum jelly over low heat only until it is pourable, then let it cool until it just coats a spoon. Jelly poured hot runs straight off the peach halves and pools on the dish.
- Canned peachesThe wording ('each one', 'on top of each') implies halves rather than slices; choose a firm-textured brand. Blot them dry with paper towel rather than cheesecloth; any clinging syrup keeps the jelly from setting on the surface.
- "Packaged gelatines"Probably flavored gelatin dessert powder, though plain granulated gelatin is also possible. If using a flavored powder, mix it at about half the water called for on the box so it sets firmly as a glaze.
- Dromedary CocoanutPackaged shredded coconut of this kind was typically moist and sweetened. Sweetened flake coconut is the closest match; unsweetened desiccated will taste dry and dusty against the jelly.
- Yield and servingFigure one peach half per person. Assemble no more than two or three hours ahead, and add the whipped cream just before serving or it will weep into the coconut.
- Tapioca: which kindThe quantity and the 'cook till clear' method suit a granulated tapioca rather than large pearl, though the booklet does not say. Four tablespoons to a quart of milk gives a loose, pourable pudding; if you want it spoonable, use six.
- Cooking the tapioca"Till clear" is the doneness test and takes about 10 to 15 minutes over low heat or in a double boiler, stirring often. Milk and tapioca both catch on a bare pan bottom.
- The custard stepTemper the beaten yolks and sugar with a ladle of the hot tapioca before returning them to the pan, then cook to about 170F without boiling. The whites are folded in off the heat, which lightens the pudding as it cools.
- Flavoring"Flavor to taste" is unspecified; vanilla, or lemon extract with a grating of nutmeg, would suit.
Both recipes come from an advertising booklet issued for the Dromedary line, a brand best known for packaged dates and later for shredded coconut, tapioca and cake mixes; the name and the camel trademark traded on the association between dates and the Middle East. Booklets like this one existed to find new uses for a pantry product. The jellied peaches belong to a whole family of early twentieth-century desserts built on canned fruit, glossy melted jelly and a dab of whipped cream, dishes valued for looking composed on a platter without any baking. The plain tapioca pudding here carries the word "Exhibition" in quotation marks: the same custard, dressed up with stiffly beaten whites.