Ginger — It’s the spice of the season

Ginger, the spicy and aromatic spice that adds a special flavor to foods, will be in use more with the cooler fall season in full swing. It adds a special flavor to foods and is best if used fresh, as it is available year-round in the produce section of the market.

Fresh ginger is covered with a brownish thin or thick skin, depending on when it was harvested.

You probably have heard in all your squeamish, younger years that drinking ginger ale would relieve an upset tummy and is effective for gastrointestinal distress with its antioxidant effects. Besides being safe for the younger generation, it is safe for the morning sickness of mothers-to-be during pregnancy.

Pumpkin pie has a big call for the use of the spice in a tin or glass container that awaits bakers and is found on the grocer's shelf in the baking aisle.

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With pumpkin pie being in big demand for the Halloween and Thanksgiving seasons, we will start with the custard-type recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook that is a rich, brown, spicy pie.

For lighter color and milder flavor, use all granulated (white) sugar and omit the cloves. This is an old recipe and is flavorful with spices. The cookbook quotes the verse of a poem that goes like this: "For pottage, and puddings, and custards and pies, our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies. We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon. If it were not for pumpkins, we should be undoon." For those who are wondering, a potage is a thick soup.

Pumpkin Pie

9-inch pastry shell

1 3/4 cups cooked and mashed pumpkin or from the can

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups milk

2 large eggs, 1/2 cup, or 4 egg yolks

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Combine pumpkin, salt, milk and eggs. Beat with a whisk or electric beater until combined. Combine all dry ingredients, mixing them together well. Beat into the wet ingredients until the sugar is dissolved and the spices are incorporated and distributed well. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place the pastry shell on the oven shelf where the pie will bake and pour in the filling. This will keep it from sloshing out when carrying it to the oven. Bake at 425 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or until a knife inserted into the side of the filling comes out clean. The center will be soft but will set as it cools.

Note: To make a ginger-flavored, whipped cream, beat 1/2 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ginger, depending on how spicy you like it, until it stands up in a peak when the beater is lifted. Spread a thin layer on the cooled pie and sprinkle chopped nuts over the top just before serving.

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This is a recipe I got off the computer for a soft ginger cookie where the dough is made into balls, rolled in granulated or any colored sugar and flattened with the bottom on a flat glass. It is suggested that the dough balls should be pressed down well.

Big, Soft, Ginger Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup margarine, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon water

1/4 cup molasses

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour and all dry ingredients together and set aside. In a large bowl, cream margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Stir in water and molasses. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until well combined. Refrigerate for 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the cold and shape into balls the size of a walnut. Roll in the 2 tablespoons sugar and put 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Flatten well with the bottom of a drinking glass. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and place on a wire rack to complete cooling.

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This is another of Betty Crocker's recipes. They are a true, old-fashioned, rolled, ginger and molasses cookie. This recipe was a tradition at the famous Girard College in Philadelphia and called Gingies, but they easily can be made into gingerbread boys.

Gingies

1/2 cup soft shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups dark molasses

1/2 cup cold water

7 cups sifted all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 3 tablespoons cold water

Mix the shortening, brown sugar and molasses together thoroughly. Stir in cold water. Sift the dry ingredients together and stir in the sugar and molasses mixture. Add the baking soda that has been dissolved in cold water. Chill the dough for an hour.

Roll out very thick, 1/2 inch. Use a large gingerbread boy cutter and with a pancake turner carefully transfer the cut-out dough to a lightly greased baking sheet. Press raisins into dough for eyes, nose and mouth, bits of candied cherries can be used for coat buttons and strips of citron for a tie. Bake for 12 minutes or until fat and puffy. Carefully remove from baking sheet when slightly cool. Put simple white frosting through a pastry bag and make outlines for the collar, cuffs, belt and shoes or any other decoration you care to make. Makes about 12 gingerbread boys. Note: Blend 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and enough milk or water to make an icing that will not run when forced through a pastry bag.

(McCoy can be contacted at emccoy@heraldstaronline.com.)

The best part of helping to make gingerbread boy cookies for the Unionport Apple Stirrin' cookie cabin is tasting one. Olivia Ault, 9, left, and her sister, Amelia, 7, give a big smile of approval for the huge gingerbread boys that are coated with crystal sugar and decorated with raisin eyes and buttons. It was told that the recipe is more than 100 years old and from the kitchen of Grandma Peterson, a deceased relative of some of the festival and Unionport Grange members. — Esther McCoy