Apple dumpling

“ Thompson has enumerated upwards of 1400 varieties of the apple alone, the greater portion of which, however, are proved to be unworthy of cultivation for any purpose whatever.
The apple is a very wholesome fruit. In its raw state it is highly esteemed in the dessert, and when either roasted, boiled, or in pies, it forms an excellent and nutritious food. Dr. Johnson says he knew a clergyman, of small income, who brought up a family very reputably, which he chiefly fed on apple dumplings! ”

“ Baked Apple Dumplings.
Ingredients, one pound of flour, four ounces of chopped suet, half a pint of water, a pinch of salt, eight or ten large apples peeled. With the above ingredients prepare some suet paste, as directed in No. 97; divide the paste into about eight equal [54] parts, first make these into balls with the hand, and then roll them out with a rolling-pin to the size of a large saucer, envelop an apple in each flat of paste, and, wetting the edges with water, gather them round in a purse-like form, and twist the ends tightly together to fasten them securely. ”

“ Whilst cooking is going on they will dry nicely on sheets of paper on the plate-rack. When the apples are quite dry, which is when the outside is not moist at all, fill them into brown paper bags and hang them up in an airy, dry place. The apples will be found delicious in flavour when stewed, and most acceptable when fresh fruit is scarce. I have dried several bushels of apples in this way every year.
APPLE DUMPLINGS.
Core as many apples as may be required. Fill the holes with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon; make a paste for a short crust, roll it out, and wrap each apple in it. ”

“ The apples grown in the vicinity of New York are universally admitted to be the finest of any; but unless selected and packed with great care, they are apt to spoil before reaching England.
BOILED APPLE DUMPLINGS. 1227. INGREDIENTS.—6 apples, 3/4 lb. of suet-crust No. 1215, sugar to taste.
Mode.—Pare and take out the cores of the apples without dividing them; sweeten, and roll each apple in a piece of crust, made by recipe No. 1211; be particular that the paste is nicely joined; put the dumplings into floured cloths, tie them securely, and put them into boiling water. ”

“ Uncle Bainbridge is very fond of apple dumplings. His final test of a woman is her ability to make good apple dumplings. Several women might have married him had they been able to pass that examination. He can pay no higher compliment to a woman than to be willing to believe her able to make good dumplings.
“Aggie, in there!” he roared again, impatient because I was slow in answering. “Dumplings! That kind of woman—could have made—good dumplings!”
I felt, somehow, that it was going a bit too far to imagine Lady Agatha at so plebeian a task as making apple dumplings. ”

“ The polished shiny apples of the fruit-stands are a delusion. The practice of burnishing the fruits produces a most inartistic result, destroying the natural bloom and violating the appearance of a natural apple. It is one thing to clean a fruit if it is soiled (which is seldom the case with boxed or barreled apples) ; it is quite another thing to rub and furbish an apple as if it were a billiard ball or glass marble and not a living object that grew on a tree,—it sets false standards before the children. ”

“ This is an especially important fact in the American product, because our foreign trade in fresh apples is very large and constantly [334] growing. It is useless to attempt to send a bruised or decaying apple on a long journey, since it will arrive in a condition unfit for consumption and, further than this, the organisms which are active in decay are conveyed to the sound fruit, and thus a whole package may be infected from a single apple in bad condition. ”

“ Tin pails, wooden buckets and boxes are used to too great an extent. These naturally bruise more or less of the apples as they are put into the pails, especially if extreme care is not used. The pouring of the fruit from one receptacle into another is still another source of injury.
The small fruit grower usually handles his fruit with greater care than the apple grower does, for the simple reason that improper handling of these fruits soon shows itself, and the grower may find that he is unable to dispose of his fruit. The most common cause of injury to small fruit is over-ripeness. ”

“ Small sweet apples make very poor dumplings. Having pared the apples, extract the cores with a tin apple-corer, so as to leave them smooth and whole. Why is it that so many families "have never had an apple corer in their house?" They cost, at the utmost, but twenty-five cents, are to be had at all the tinsmiths' and furnishing stores; and they screw out an apple core in a minute; saving time and trouble. The apples being ready, make a nice paste in the proportion of a small pint of finely-minced suet, to a large quart of flour ”

“ The various leaf worms attack the life of the tree also. The grape-leaf skeletonizer eats every particle of green from the leaves, leaving only the veins. The canker-worms and the destructive tent-caterpillars also cause the death of many fruit trees.
Of insects which attack the fruit, the list is long. The codling-moth of the apple causes a greater money loss than any other enemy of fruits. Various estimates of the loss have been made, and in general it is believed that it causes the loss of one-fourth to one-half of the apple crop of the United States each year. ”

“ My trees are troubled with canker-worms, and my apples with codling-moth. I spray with London purple and Paris green three times, when we have the time and water to spare. Think I have reduced the codling-moth. I pick my fruit by hand and sell some apples to the neighbors in the orchard. I feed culls to pigs. I never tried distant markets. I have apples dried on shares for family use. It does not pay to dry for market. I am partially successful in storing apples in barrels in a cellar under the house. I find Rhode Island Greening, Ben Davis, Duchess of Oldenburg and Emperor keep best. ”

“ As a rule, at the time of picking the apple is not yet mature, and unless intended for immediate consumption the utmost care should be exercised that the skin be not broken or the flesh bruised. Wherever the flesh of the apple is bruised it lessens its vitality and decay soon begins. This is shown very conclusively in the studies in the Bureau of Chemistry, where it was found that the starch which is still present in apples at the time of picking is gradually converted into sugar during the storage of the apple, thus increasing the palatability of the fruit. ”

“ Those who have apple-trees are often at a loss to know what to do with the windfalls. The apples come down on some days by the bushel, and it is impossible to use them all up for apple pie, puddings, or jelly. An excellent way to keep them for winter use is to dry them. It gives a little trouble, but one is well repaid for it, for the home-dried apples are superior in flavour to any bought apple-rings or pippins. Peel your apples, cut away the cores and all the worm-eaten parts—for nearly the whole of the windfalls are more or less worm-eaten. ”

“ In the very childhood of mankind it must have been noticed that fruit harsh and sour became mellow with keeping, just as now we know that a Baldwin apple harvested in October will be all the better for cellarage until Christmas, the ripening process continuing long after the apple has left its bough. Grains and seeds when newly gathered are usually soft and, at times, somewhat damp; exposed to the sun and dry air for a few days they become hard and remain sound for months or even years of careful storage. ”

“ Its stem may have been broken close to the fruit or pulled out from it, or over the surface specks and scabs may have formed during the season of growth that have so destroyed the skin as to furnish a ready entrance for other more destructive germs. Bruises of the pulp and breaks in the skin expose the soft, highly decomposable flesh to the "seeds" of decay, and as one contemplates what an apple is made of and its many enemies, it seems almost a marvel that fruit keeps at all until it is cooked to kill the germs within it and then canned to prevent the entrance of those that are without. ”

“ When the paste is rolled, cut it into squares, and in the centre of each square place the four parts of an apple; add to each apple a piece of butter the size of a chestnut and a small sprinkle of sugar and ground cinnamon.
Envelop the apple in the paste, pressing the cut edges together. Place the dumplings thus prepared into a well-greased baking-pan, cut edges downwards.
Bake a half to three-fourths of an hour in a moderate oven. When a fork will penetrate the dumplings they are cooked. Apples dried by the Alden process may be used. ”

“ Fruit Thinning.—A matter which is quite nearly related to pruning is thinning the fruit, and may properly be treated here. That this is not as common a practice with most fruit-growers as it should be, the great lack of uniformity in our ordinary market apples is ample evidence. Many persons will at once raise the question as to whether or not it is practicable to thin the fruit on large apple trees. The answer is that many growers find it not only practicable, but most profitable to do so. ”

“ The removal of the fruit itself is usually performed after the "June-drop," when the extent of the crop is evident. The fruits are pulled off by hand or cut with thinning-shears, the latter practice being the better since it is not so likely to break the fruit-spurs. The least promising fruits are taken away and the remaining apples are left at least five or six inches apart in most varieties. The extent of thinning must be governed by the variety, thrift of the tree, result desired, and other conditions. To secure the best results, the apples should be thinned when still small. ”

“ Some people like little dumplings, made by rolling up one apple, pared and cored, in a piece of crust, and tying them up in spots all over the bag. These do not need to be boiled more than an hour: three quarters is enough, if the apples are tender. ”

“ A number of varieties, such as the Mammoth Black Twig, Arkansas Black, Muklen, Rome Beauty, I have not fruited, and cannot tell as to their qualities in this locality. In all my experience in the apple line I find that no orchard will grow and bear without attention, and constant attention at that. The apple tree requires as much interest from its owner as cattle do from the stock-raiser. From a tiny seed, it is subject to disease and pests which, if not destroyed, will destroy it. I would say in conclusion that success in apple raising comes only through eternal vigilance. ”

“ One would expect the best summer and fall apples to come from nearby local orchards, but practically this is not the case because the grower will not allow them to remain on the tree until they are fit. Of course the really ripe apple will not keep long and it does not stand rough handling, but this does not affect the fact that, for eating, an apple should be naturally ripe. In every city, small or large, a good trade can be built up for local ripe hand-picked fruit of the first quality, in competition with the best commercial supply. ”

“ Don’t let apples darken. Raw apple when cut often darkens from exposure to air. Some nuts also make raw apple darken, especially if the fruit has come in contact with iron in a knife blade or chopper.
So, when cutting apples for salad, protect them from darkening by mixing the pieces with fruit juice—lemon, orange, grapefruit, or pineapple—before adding other ingredients. Or, mix with salad dressing at once, for a protective coating.
Some like it tart. To give a sharper tang to a salad, especially if apples are mild in flavor, use a tart oil dressing, lemon juice, or a sour cream dressing. ”

“ The subject of the ripening of fruits like the apple has been extensively studied, as has also that of the subsequent decay. According to recent researches, early varieties of apples contain little starch when picked, and do not keep well. The season, soil, and age of the tree affect the composition of the fruit. It has been shown that sugar is sure to be formed from the starch in the process of ripening, after the fruit is taken from the tree, and during the winter the cane sugar is gradually, and finally almost entirely, changed to directly-reducing sugar. ”

“ It also comes early into bearing, and every other year yields large crops. The apples are above medium size, very regularly and handsomely formed, quite uniform, and very free from blemishes of any kind. The skin of the fruit is smooth, yellow, washed and streaked very beautifully with red, and covered with a light-blue bloom, which gives it such an attractive and showy appearance, that it will command at all times a ready sale in the markets. The flesh is yellowish-white, tender, juicy, and of a brisk sub-acid flavor. It is a splendid cooking apple, there being none to rival it in its season. ”

“ A few quotations from his paper will serve to show the vast amount of damage to the fruit grower that it does in sections where it is abundant, mainly in summer and fall. He says that Prof. Beal (1911) “mentions one case in Washington wherein the birds tore the paper at the corners of packed boxes of apples left in the orchard over night, picking into every apple within reach, and necessitating the repacking of every box attacked.”
S. D. Hill wrote to Mr. Neff:
In some sections and seasons they will destroy carloads of fruit, especially in orchards near timber. ”