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Show shopper's! CORNER By DOROTHY BARCLAY fRUlT FOR THE FREEZER KE YOU feasting these days on A that fresh, tender rhubarb your erocer is offering so generously and cheaply? Having rhubarb sauce the family, rhubarb tarts and oie for company? There's plenty of v it, and it's cheap r : ; for a little while A longer so why not ' ?ffJ look ahead to the '""" coming winter, and STREET bring the taste of rrnTURF spring into it, by 1 freezing rhubarb f while you can get f aU you want? Don't wait for the really hot weather. Freeze it right away! You will get the best results if you grab it while it's young, tender and light red or pink in color. Select, for the freezing, well-formed stalks in solid condition. Trim the stalks, discard- 'jig about an inch below the leaf,, ) and wash thoroughly. Cut the stalks to your taste or the capacity ot your carton and pick without sugar, and get on with your freezing job. I Happy day, when you take it out : lor a winter treat of rhubarb piel ' And strawberries! Do you know that the current crop coming more' 1 and more into your market, is the oiggest in nine long years? So now's the time to buy them in quantity 4e quality you can be sure of and i provide for the future as well as the present, by freezing them as you buy. For freezing purposes, pick medi-am-sized berries of solid red color with fresh green caps and stems. Be ure they're firm and plant-ripened, t Wash, hull, and slice your ber- ries vertically, for better appear-1 appear-1 ance and. taste, and cover with e sugar. A 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 pack is L your best bet. That is, 3 or 4 pounds of fruit to a pound of sugar, depend- ing on your own or your family's ' sweet tooth. It's best to weigh the fruit before proportioning fruit to sugar. Spread the berries in a large flat pan, add the desired sugar, and keep turning the fruit with a pan-' cake turner until the ingredients are 1 thoroughly mixed, and let the sugar stand on the berries until there's enough juice to cover, then I pack into your containers. If you should use glass jars, be sure to leave plenty of head space. ' NOTHING WASTED While most of the berries in your boxes will be just what you want for freezing, there might be a few strays that were picked prematurely, premature-ly, and show white spots especially on the tips. Don't throw them out you can use them for jams and pre-" serves, so that there's no waste. And while the getting's good on i both rhubarb and strawberries, why i not combine the two in jam, a perennial favorite? The proportions of the two are alike a pound of rhubarb to a pound of berries. Wash j the strawberries, drain and remove "PS, and cut the rhubarb in one-inch one-inch pieces, not removing the skin. AUow 1 to 2 pounds of sugar to 2 pounds of the combined fruits. Cover tte rhubarb with part of the sugar, and let it stand for from one to two bours. Crush the strawberries and nut with the rest of the sugar, and join the two. Heat the mixture slowly until the sugar is completely dissolved, and I ste constantly while boiling slowly , lr 15 or 20 minutes, until the jam "aches the desired consistency, ihen pour into hot sterilized jars, ( d seal them up. And here's a saving tip which noios good for any fruit-canning or Preserving job. The excess juice left over can be frozen for future use as in n.erbct! Just pour the overflow I . ",the ,reezer tray, and place in er top or bottom shelf of the i mS compartment. Freeze to the shy stagei remove from the tray i whip With a rotary beater and " back to freeze until firm, nemt s ready for any sudden caU lor sherbeUr fruit cocktail topping! |