Matzoth Balls (1937); Pitted Prunes; Lahmajun

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

MATZOTH BALLS

   OED has 1950 for "matzo balls."  Is that their final answer?
   From Clementine Paddleford's column in the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 25 March 1937, pg. 24, col. 7:

_Passover Dinner Menu_
(...)
   MATZOTH BALLS
   To each tablespoon of matzoth meal, use one egg.  Beat two eggs separately, adding a dash of ground ginger, dash of cinnamon, dash of ground almond, dash of pepper, and a dash of salt, then stir in 2 tablesppons of matzoh meal and make into a paste with two teaspoons of chicken fat.  Form into small balls and boil twenty minutes in chicken soup.  Approximate yield:  twelve balls.

--------------------------------------------------------
PITTED PRUNES

"Sunsweet Prune Juice was first for the industry as were Sunsweet Pitted Prunes which the cooperative developed in 1965."
--www.sunsweet.com/sunsweethistory.cfm

   Maybe I should say "dried plums."
   OED has nothing at all for "pitted prunes."
   From Clementine Paddleford's column in the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 2 April 1937, pg. 17, col. 1:

_Pitted Prunes an Innovation_
(...)
   PITTED PRUNES--Ever since little Johnny discovered that dried prunes were as good to eat as any candy ever made you have passed half of your time being thankful for such a sensible decision and the rest evading prune pits that were likely to turn up everywhere Johnny had been.  New pitted prunes are on the market.  They are beauties, in shape, color and flavor.  They are dried form tree-ripened fruit.  Only a small opening is required to remove the pit and this opening quickly seals itself in the drying process.  All the natural contents of the fresh fruit are retained.  The fruit cooks up plump and lovely and the skin has miraculously retained a faint suggestion of its royal color.  The one-pound package at 20 cents contains 90 per cent more prunes than the (Col. 2--ed.) same carton of prune containing the pits.  We can tell you where to buy these.  Call us, PEnnsylvania 6-4000.

(Don't call.  Don't try PEnnsylvania 6-5000, either--ed.)

--------------------------------------------------------
LAHMAJUN (continued)

  Amir's Falafel, near Columbia University, is "MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD AT ITS BEST!!!"
  The menu includes the usual falafel, houmus, musakaa, shish kabab, shawarma beef, and:

"Meat pie (Lahmajun)...$1.85"

   One interesting book (for this and other Turkish foods) is EAT SMART...TURKEY.  It's part of an EAT SMART series that includes Brazil, Indonesia, and with Morocco forthcoming.  All the books are available (cheap!) at Amazon.com.
   Page after page of menu items are well-described here in English.  The series is put out by two traveling Petersons from the hick town of Madison, Wisconsin.