Foods and Household Management Part 12

CHAPTER VI

FRUIT AND ITS PRESERVATION

The United States is fortunate in the native fruit supply, including as it does so many degrees of lat.i.tude and longitude with the differences in alt.i.tude, climate, and soil needed by different varieties. Now that we count Porto Rico among our possessions, a list of our fruits would include most of the varieties known in the temperate and semi-tropical zones. The United States Department of Agriculture experiments with new varieties from foreign lands that may make themselves at home in our soil, and work like that of Luther Burbank produces new species. Scientific methods of fruit growing are becoming more common, and the quality of fruit will doubtless improve in spite of fungous diseases and injurious insects. Our wild fruits are not yet entirely rooted out. The Maine blueberry, for example, is found on hundreds of acres and needs no cultivation beyond burning over every third year.

Fruit is necessary in our diet, and is not an extravagance unless we buy fancy varieties brought from a distance, or native fruits out of season.

=Composition and nutritive value.=--The chief foodstuffs in fruits are carbohydrates and mineral matter. Fresh fruit contains from 75 to 95 per cent of water, and its presence is apparent in such juicy fruits as the melon and the orange. Figure 25 shows that seemingly dry fruits like the banana and the apple also contain much water. Even fruits which have been artificially dried, like prunes and raisins, contain some water. (Fig.

26.) Although the carbohydrates of fruits are largely in the form of sugars easily digested and valuable as fuel, this kind of food is especially valuable for its rich supply of ash, including the compounds of calcium, magnesium, pota.s.sium, phosphorus, and iron. The iron is of great importance, being in a form much more useful to the normal processes of the body than that prescribed medicinally. The bulk given by cellulose, and the laxative property of fruit acids also are safeguards against constipation, especially in a meat diet. Fruit is the best possible dessert after a hearty meat dinner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 25.--Composition of fruit.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26.--Composition of fruit.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27.--100-Calorie portions of fresh and dried fruit.

_A. Fowler, Photographer._]

KIND WEIGHT OF PORTION OUNCES

Apple 7.5 Banana 5.5 Grapes 4.9 Orange 9.5 Peaches 10.5 Pears 6.3 Apricots 1.3 Dates 1.1 Prunes 1.4 Raisins 1.1

The digestibility of fruit is increased for some people by cooking. This is probably due to the softening of the fiber, to the destruction of any bacteria present, and in the case of the banana, to the cooking of the starch. Fruit juice can be taken by little children and invalids who might find the fiber troublesome. Some people cannot eat berries on account of irritation caused by the seeds. In this case, juice may be squeezed from cooked berries and used for beverages and jelly.

=How to buy.=--Since we should eat fruit daily, and not merely as a "treat," it is important to practice economy in buying it. Fresh fruits in season, and dried fruits are the cheapest. Canned fruit is economical when it is a product of one's own garden, or put up when some fruit has a low market price. Prices are so variable, even with one variety, that no definite sum can be given as a fixed price. Apples vary from fifty cents a bushel near the orchard and in season, to ten cents apiece for a fancy table variety in the winter. When you buy fresh fruit, inquire the prices of the many kinds offered, note which is cheapest, and then observe whether the cheaper kind is such because it is abundant, or because it is of inferior quality. If you chance to want apples for cooking, and the only cheap apples are spotted and bruised, then buy dried apples, or even canned. It is best to decide upon the fruit after you have studied market conditions rather than before.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Fresh Fruits

=Principles of preparation.=

Thorough cleansing in clear water.

Cleanliness, in avoiding use of the fingers.

Making convenient for eating, sometimes by paring or cutting or expressing the juices.

=Adjuncts.=--Sugar.

The juice of an acid fruit with an insipid fruit.

=Tools.=--A sharp steel knife for paring and peeling.

A silver-plated knife for cutting.

A gla.s.s lemon squeezer.

=Methods.=

_Berries._--Pick over.

Wash in colander with a gentle stream of water, and shake carefully to avoid bruising and breaking.

Chill in the refrigerator.

Sprinkle with sugar when served.

_Oranges._--Scrub the peel with a brush.

(1) Cut in two crosswise and serve.

(2) Peel with a sharp knife and remove the pith.

Cut crosswise, remove seeds, and break up the slices.

Sprinkle with sugar.

Chill in the refrigerator.

_Grapefruit._--The same method as with the orange, but in method (2) the pulp only should be served.

_Bananas._--Wash thoroughly.

(1) Cut in two lengthwise, and serve, _or_

Pour a teaspoonful of lemon juice on each half, and sprinkle with sugar.

Chill in the refrigerator.

(2) Pull off the skin, lengthwise.

Cut in slices crosswise.

Chill, and serve with sugar and cream, _or_

Pour on lemon or orange juice, add sugar, and chill.

_Peaches._--Wash gently.

Hold the peach on a fork at one end.

Peel with a plated knife, and slice.

Chill in the refrigerator for a short time only before serving, as peaches discolor quickly.