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Corn Meal Tutti Frutti
1 Cup Corn Meal Mush 1/4 Cup Corn Syrup (light) 1 Teaspoon Corn Oil 1/4 Cup Nut Meats 2 Tablespoons Chopped Dates 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice 3/4 Tablespoon Granulated Gelatine 2 Tablespoons Cold Water 1 Cup Boiling Water Cup Corn Syrup 1/2 Cup Fruit Add syrup, corn oil, nuts, and chopped dates to mush. Pour into the bottom of a flat dish, making a layer about one inch thick. Soak gelatine in cold water for 10 minutes, add boiling water, syrup and lemon juice. Strain. Cool, add fruit, as shredded oranges, candied cherries, and sliced bananas.
Pour over chilled mush mixture. Chill until gelatine becomes firm. Cut into squares and serve. (Makes six servings.)
A two-layer molded dessert: a sweetened cornmeal base under a clear lemon jelly studded with fruit. It sets up firm enough to cut into squares, and the corn syrup keeps both layers soft rather than rubbery.
- The missing measurementThe ingredient list gives "Cup Corn Syrup" for the gelatine layer with no quantity — almost certainly a typesetting slip for 1/4 or 1/2 cup. Start with 1/4 cup, taste the liquid before it sets, and add more if the lemon is sharp.
- Corn meal mushPlain cooked cornmeal porridge, no sugar or dairy — about 1/4 cup cornmeal simmered in a cup of water with a pinch of salt until thick, then cooled.
- Gelatine quantityThree-quarters of a tablespoon of granulated gelatine is about 2 1/4 teaspoons, which is one standard 1/4-ounce envelope. That sets roughly 1 1/2 cups of liquid to a firm, sliceable jelly rather than a soft spoon jelly.
- Strain, and whyThe instruction to strain after dissolving is not fussiness — undissolved gelatine grains and lemon pulp both leave a cloudy, gritty top layer. Pour through a fine sieve while the mixture is still hot.
- Cool before the fruit goes inLet the gelatine cool to room temperature and just begin to thicken before adding fruit and pouring. Hot liquid poured onto chilled mush will loosen the surface and muddy the line between the layers, and sliced bananas will float in thin liquid.
- Fruit that will not setFresh pineapple, kiwi, papaya and fresh ginger contain enzymes that break down gelatine and will leave the top layer liquid. Canned pineapple is heat-treated and safe to use; the oranges, candied cherries and bananas named here are all fine.
- Vessel and yieldThe mush layer comes to roughly 1 3/4 cups; spread one inch thick as directed, that covers about a 5-inch square, with the gelatine poured over it. Chill at least four hours, and cut with a thin knife dipped in hot water.
Tutti frutti is simply Italian for "all fruits," a name that attached itself in America to anything studded with mixed candied and fresh fruit — ice creams, preserves, chewing gum. What marks this version is the ingredient list: cornmeal, corn syrup and corn oil, three products of the same industry, in a single dessert. Cookbooks of the early twentieth century were often produced or subsidised by manufacturers, and a recipe built around one company's product line may point that way, though nothing here identifies the book or a sponsor. Gelatine desserts belonged to the same moment: granulated gelatine sold in measured envelopes turned a laborious dish, once made by boiling calves' feet, into something a beginner could set in an afternoon.