all
smooth; then set on the stove and cook three or four minutes, stirring
all the time; when cool, add one tablespoonful of the best olive oil,
taking care to get it all thoroughly worked in and smooth. You will
find this very nice. _Mrs. D. Riegel_.

KITCHEN PEPPER.

Mix one ounce of ground ginger, half an ounce each of black pepper,
ground cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, one teaspoonful of ground
cloves, and six ounces of salt. Keep in a tightly corked bottle. _The
Caterer_.

PREPARED COCOANUT. (For Pies, Puddings, etc.)

To prepare cocoanut for future use, first cut a hole through the meat
at one of the holes in the end, draw off the milk, then loosen the
meat by pounding the nut well on all sides. Crack the nut and take out
the meat, and place the pieces of meat in a cool open oven over night,
or for a few hours, to dry; then grate it. If there is more grated
than is needed for present use, sprinkle it with sugar, and spread out
in a cool dry place. When dry enough put away in dry cans or bottles.
Will keep for weeks.

SPICES.

Ginger is the root of a shrub first known in Asia, and now cultivated
in the West Indies and Sierra Leone. The stem grows three or four feet
high and dies every year. There are two varieties of ginger--the white
and black--caused by taking more or less care in selecting and
preparing the roots, which are always dug in winter, when the stems
are withered. The white is the best.

_Cinnamon_ is the inner bark of a beautiful tree, a native of Ceylon,
that grows from twenty to thirty feet in height and lives to be
centuries old.

_Cloves_.--Native to the Molucca Islands, and so called from
resemblance to a nail (_clavis_). The East Indians call them
"changkek" from the Chinese "techengkia" (fragrant nails). They grow
on a straight, smooth-barked tree, about forty feet high. Cloves are
not fruits, but blossoms, gathered before they are quite unfolded.

_Allspice_.--A berry so called because it combines the flavor of
several spices--grows abundantly on the allspice or bayberry tree;
native of South America and the West Indies. A single tree has been
known to produce one hundred and fifty pounds of berries. They are
purple when ripe.

_Black pepper_ is made by grinding the dried berry of a climbing vine,
native to the East Indies. White pepper is obtained from the same
berries, freed from their husk or rind. Red or cayenne pepper is
obtained by grinding the scarlet pod or seed-v