To those very fond of tea, ice-cream made with it is very acceptable, and is very much used at English garden parties.

Tea Ice-Cream.—To one pound of granulated sugar put a pint of strong green tea, a pint and a half of cream, and two quarts of rich milk, and a very little cinnamon water. Let the whole simmer one minute, not stirring, but keeping the mixture in motion by gently swinging the saucepan. Freeze as usual. This recipe may be used for coffee and chocolate; it will make a large quantity, and for a medium-sized family one quarter will suffice.

Chinese Ice.—Beat the yolks of fifteen eggs with three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar; pound four ounces of pistachio-nuts (blanched) with the white of an egg; put to it three gills of water; stir it over the fire in a double boiler till it is as thick as cream; take great care that it does not boil. Color it green, or part green and part yellow; flavor as you please; cut up a couple of candied Chinese oranges small and a little preserved ginger, and freeze.

Water-Ices.—These are exceedingly simple, and no more elegant form of refreshment can be offered than a plate of well-frozen or a tumbler of half-frozen water-ice. It is acceptable when ice-cream would be too heavy, and can be offered at the simplest country afternoon tea, or during a call, without the seeming ostentation of ice-cream.

Ginger Water-Ice (to serve as a beverage if preferred).—Take six ounces of preserved ginger, free from fibre; pound it; make two quarts of lemonade by paring eight or ten lemons so thinly that the knife-blade shows through the yellow; put the peel of three in a pitcher with a pound and a quarter of sugar; pour two quarts of boiling water on them, and cover; squeeze and strain the juice from the lemons, add to the water, and when cold stir in the pounded ginger, with the mÉringue paste made with the whites of four eggs. Freeze it. If for drinking, only half freeze, work only enough to make it like half-melting snow, and use only sugar enough to make a refreshing drink. Italians call this granito, and it is a form of ice not often met with in this country.

Pineapple Water-Ice.—This can be readily made of canned pineapple when the fresh fruit is out of season. Peel a pineapple; grate it into a mortar; then pound it well with six ounces of sugar; let it stand covered for an hour; add the juice of five oranges, and a pint and a half of syrup boiled to the little thread, or À lissÉ. (This syrup is much used in making water-ices, punches, etc. It is sugar and water boiled till it forms a little thread between thumb and finger.) Mix well and freeze. If canned fruit is used, you need less sugar, and substitute lemon for half the orange juice.

Almond Water-Ice.—Take one pound of almond paste, a pint and a half of water, and three quarters of a pound of sugar; grate the paste; then stir till quite dissolved. Flavor with vanilla or raspberry; stir in the whites of two eggs and some candied fruits cut up small. Freeze as usual.

Cinnamon Water-Ice.—This is a German ice, and very much liked by those who are fond of the flavor. Pound an ounce of the finest quality of cinnamon in the stick, put it into a pint and a half of boiling water, and cover it well; when it is cold add a quart of syrup (the little thread) and the well-beaten whites of two eggs, and freeze it.

Pistachio Water-Ice.—Blanch and pound a pound of pistachio-nuts, using the white of an egg to moisten; mix with a quart of syrup À lissÉ. Heighten the color, if too pale, with spinach coloring, and flavor to taste. (Pistachio-nuts have no flavor of their own, astonishing as the fact may seem to those who have heard frequently of pistachio flavor.) Freeze as usual.

Apricot Water-Ice.—There is no more delicious water-ice than this if fine-flavored apricots are used. The canned ones are excellent for the purpose. Pulp two pounds of apricots through a sieve or jelly press; grate or pound very fine five or six bitter almonds; mix with the pulp the juice of the apricots (from the can), and a pint and a half of syrup, and the beaten whites of three eggs made into a paste with three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar; stir all well, and freeze. This ice ought to be the color of apricots; if too pale, add a very little saffron coloring.

Currant Water-Ice.—A pint of currant juice, a pint of syrup, and the whites of three eggs made into mÉringue paste. Freeze as usual. Any of these water-ices can be half frozen as graniti, and served in glasses as granito, the only exceptions being the almond and pistachio water-ices.Graniti are also made of various kinds of light punches by adding to a quart of the usual punch recipe a quart of sweetened water. Any summer beverage made from fruit juice can be turned into a granito, by half freezing, in either of the following ways:

To Freeze Graniti.—Mix the beverage you intend to freeze, for instance, we will say, a pint of very strong, clear, bright coffee and half a pint of syrup À lissÉ. Put them into the freezer and turn; as it becomes frozen up the sides, scrape it down with a spoon, and remember, as soon as it resembles snowy water (not white, of course) it is frozen enough. It must be just liquid enough to pour out.

There is a second way of freezing graniti by which they can be put on the table in the vessel in which they were frozen. Place the mixture in wide-mouthed water-bottles, twirl them round in ice and salt, and, as the contents become frozen on the inside of the bottle, scrape down with a narrow wooden stick or spatula. When frozen in perfection the bottle should seem half filled with tiny crystals.

Claret Granito.—To one pint of orangeade add a bottle of claret. Half freeze.

Sherry Granito.—To one quart of lemonade add a bottle of sherry, and freeze.

The housekeeper who lives far from a large city will need materials for many of the recipes given in these papers and others which she will meet with in books on high-class cooking. Many of these can be sent for by mail, and all, of course, by express; but it will often not seem worth while to send perhaps for one small bottle that we may lack. For this reason I give a few directions for preparing very tolerable imitations of liqueurs, which, however, unless it were a question of economy, it might not be worth while doing if within reach of stores.

CuraÇoa.—Pare a dozen and a half of dead-ripe oranges so thin that you can see the knife pass under the rind; pound one dram of finest cinnamon and half a dram of mace; put them to steep for fifteen days in a gallon of pure alcohol, shaking it every day. Make a clarified syrup of four pounds of sugar and one quart of water well boiled and skimmed; add this to the curaÇoa. Rub up in a mortar one dram of potash with a teaspoonful of the liqueur; when well mixed add it, and then do the same with a dram of alum. Shake well, and in an hour or two filter through thin muslin. It will be ready for use in a a week.

Maraschino.—Bruise two ounces of cherry kernels and one of bitter almonds; put them in a deep jar with the thin outer rind of twelve oranges and five lemons. Steep in one gallon of English gin or alcohol. Let the whole stand a fortnight, then filter and bottle.

Ratafia.—Blanch the kernels of uncooked peaches or apricots, and when you have two ounces pound them, and pour to them a quart of gin or alcohol and the thin yellow rind of two lemons. Sweeten with a pound of white sugar-candy, and leave the whole for two months; then filter and bottle for use.

Candied Orange and Lemon Peels.—These are invaluable both as decoration for certain desserts and for culinary purposes, and as they are not always to be found except in the larger cities, the method of preparing them is here given: Throw the peels into salt and water, all pulp being removed, but the white part must be left untouched; in fact, the thicker the peel the better for the purpose, thin-skinned oranges being of no use for candying. Let them remain in the salt and water from nine days to three weeks; then wash them, put them on the fire in cold water, and let them boil till perfectly tender, yet they must not be mushy. During the time they are boiling change the water until it no longer tastes salt. Lemon-peels may take from three to four hours’ boiling, orange-peels less; but remember, should the lemon-peel not be quite tender, it will harden when it goes into syrup, and instead of a rich sweetmeat there will be only woody chips. Drain the peels, and make a thin syrup of a pint of water to each pound of sugar. Let it boil five minutes; then throw in the peels; they must boil gently in this until they are clear and the syrup has become thick—almost boiled away, in fact. Now make another syrup, half a pint of water to two pounds of sugar; let it boil till clear and till there is a short hair from the fork. Now put in the peels (which must have been drained from the other syrup); remove from the fire; stir them round till the syrup looks whitish; then lift each piece out and lay it on a dish on which granulated sugar has been freely sprinkled.

Both orange and lemon peels are candied by the same process, but they must never be put in the same vessel of salt and water, nor must they be candied together, or the distinctive flavors would be lost.