[Sca-cooks] Re: Mustard, wine issues, fruit sweets.

[Ruth Frey]

> When using wine, you also must be careful of wine-related allergies;

     That was one of the "uncooked alcohol issues" I referred to obliquely in my post; there's a lady locally who cannot take uncooked wine in anything, but when it's cooked (as in a heated sauce), she's fine.  Don't know if it's a result of driving the alcohol off with heat, or the heat breaking down some other compound she's allergic to.  She's OK with vinegar, at least.

      As for kids and alcohol, no matter how teeny the amount, some people are funny about their kids consuming *any*thing of an alcoholic nature -- though, ironically, I bet the same parents wouldn't have any trouble with, say, a frosting containing uncooked vanilla extract, which would have the same booze content as Sabina's mustard.  But I play it safe.

      Finally, as for fruit sweets, I had very good luck once with an apple jelly candy recipe from _The Medieval Kitchen_ (don't remember which original source it was in, though) made from equal weights pureed fresh apples and honey, with spices added.  It took *forever* to cook down to the point where it would "gel" when it cooled (the mix has to be really coming away from the sides and bottom of the pan, and it has to be on high-medium heat and stirred constantly to keep it from burning, for, oh, a couple hours), but it was very, very good.  I bet one could do the same thing with pears.  (Not necessarily in the same line as the other pear sweets being discussed, but the comment jogged my memory about the apple jellies, so I thought I'd share . . .).  :)

                   -- Ruth