which during ripening is changed into sugar, and generally some
proportion of tannic acid, which gives them their astringency. The
characteristic constituent of unripe fruit, however, is pectose, an
element insoluble in water, but which, as maturation proceeds, is
transformed into pectic and pectosic acids. These are soluble in boiling
water, and upon cooling, yield gelatinous solutions. Their presence
makes it possible to convert the juice of ripe fruits into jelly. Raw
starch in any form is indigestible, hence unripe fruit should never be
eaten uncooked. As fruit matures, the changes it undergoes are such as
best fit for consumption and digestion. The following table shows the
composition of the fruits in common use:--
ANALYSIS.
Water. Albumen. Sugar. Free Acid. Pectose. Cellulose Mineral
Matter.
Apples 83.0 0.4 6.8 1.0 5.2 3.2 0.4
Pears 84.0 0.3 7.0 0.1 4.6 3.7 0.3
Peaches 85.0 0.5 1.8 0.7 8.0 3.4 0.6
Grapes 80.0 0.7 Glucose. Tartaric. 3.1 2.0 0.4
13.0 0.8
Plums 82.0 0.2 3.6 0.5 5.7 ... 0.6
Gooseberries 86.0 0.4 7.0 1.5 1.9 2.7 0.5
Strawberries 87.6 0.5 4.5 1.3 0.1 ... 0.6
Raspberries 86.+ 0.5 4.7 1.3 1.7 ... 0.4
Currants 85.2 0.4 6.4 1.8 0.2 ... 0.5
Blackberries 86.4 0.5 4.4 1.1 1.4 ... 0.4
Cherries 75.0 0.9 13.1 0.3 2.2 ... 0.6
Apricots 85.0 .08 1.0 ... 5.9 ... 0.8
Oranges 86.0 [A] 8 to 10 ... ... ... ...
Dates 20.8 6.6 54.0 Fat. 12.3 5.5 1.6
0.2
Bananas 73.9 4.8 19.7[B] Fat. ... 0.2 0.8
0.6
Turkey Figs 17.5 6.1 57.5 Fat. 8.4[C] 7.3 2.3
0.9
[Table Note A: Small quantities of albumen, citric acid, citrate of
potash, cellulose, etc.]
[Table Note B: Sugar and pectose.]
[Table Note C: Starch, pectose, etc.]
There is a prevailing notion that the free use of fruits, especially in
summer, excites derangement of the digestive organs. When such
derangement occurs, it is far more likely to have been occasioned by the
way in which the fruit was eaten than by the fruit itself. Perhaps it
was taken as a surfeit dish at the end of a meal. It may have been eaten
in combination with rich, oily foods, pastry, strong coffee, and other
indigestible viands, which, in themselves, often excite an attack of
indigestion. Possibly it was partaken of between meals, or late at
night, with ice cream and other confections, or it was swallowed without
sufficient mastication. Certainly, it is not marvelous that stomach and
bowel disorders do result under such circumstances. The innocent fruit,
like many other good things, being found in "bad company," is blamed
accordingly. An excess of any food at meals or between meals, is likely
to prove injurious, and fruits present no exception to this rule. Fruit
taken at seasonable times and in suitable quantities, alone or in
combination with proper foods, gives us one of the most agreeable and
healthful articles of diet. Fruit, fats, and meats do not affiliate, and
they are liable to create a disturbance whenever taken together.
Partially decayed, stale, and over-ripe, as well as unripe fruit, should
never be eaten. According to M. Pasteur, the French scientist, all
fruits and vegetables, when undergoing even incipient decay, contain
numerous germs, which, introduced into the system, are liable to produce
disturbances or disease. Perfectly fresh, ripe fruit, with proper
limitations as to quantity and occasion, may be taken into a normal
stomach with impunity at any season.
It is especially important that all fruits to be eaten should not only
be sound in quality, but should be made perfectly clean by washing if
necessary, since fruit grown near the ground is liable to be covered
with dangerous bacteria (such as cause typhoid fever or diphtheria),
which exist in the soil or in the material used in fertilizing it.
Most fruits, properly used, aid digestion either directly or indirectly.
The juicy ones act as dilutents, and their free use lessens the desire
for alcohol and other stimulants. According to German analysts, the
apple contains a larger percentage of phosphorus than any other fruit,
or than any vegetable. In warm weather and in warm climates, when foods
are not needed for a heat-producing purpose, the diet may well consist
largely of fruits and succulent vegetables, eaten in combination with
bread and grains. In case of liver and kidney affections, rheumatism,
and gout, the use of fruit is considered very beneficial by many
scientific authorities.
To serve its best purpose, raw fruit should be eaten without sugar or
other condiments, or with the addition of as small a quantity as
possible.
It is a disputed question whether fruits should begin or end the meal;
but it is generally conceded by those who have given the matter
attention, that fruit eaten at the beginning of a meal is itself the
more readily digested, and aids in the digestion of other foods, since
fruits, like soups, have the property of stimulating the flow of the
digestive juices. Something, however, must depend upon the character of
the fruit; oranges, melons, and like juicy fruits, are especially useful
as appetizers to begin the meal, while bananas and similar fruits agree
better if taken with other food, so as to secure thorough mixture with
saliva. This is true of all fruits, except such pulpy fruits as
strawberries, peaches, melons, grapes, and oranges. It is often
erroneously asserted that fruit as dessert is injurious to digestion.
For those people, however, who regulate their bill of fare in accordance
with the principles of hygiene, a simple course of fruit is not only
wholesome, but is all that is needed after a dinner; and much time,
labor, and health will be saved when housekeepers are content to serve
desserts which nature supplies all ready for use, instead of those
harmful combinations in the preparing of which they spend hours of
tiresome toil.
DESCRIPTION.--For convenience, fruits may be grouped together; as,
_pomaceous_ fruits, including the apple, quince, pear, etc.; the
_drupaceous_ fruits, those provided with a hard stone surrounded by a
fleshy pulp, as the peach, apricot, plum, cherry, olive, and date; the
orange or citron group, including the orange, lemon, lime, citron, grape
fruit, shaddock, and pomegranate; the _baccate_ or berry kind,
comprising the grape, gooseberry, currant, cranberry, whortleberry,
blueberry, and others; the _arterio_ group, to which belong raspberries,
strawberries, dewberries, and blackberries; the fig group; the gourd
group, including--melons and cantaloupes; and foreign fruits.
It is impossible, in the brief scope of this work, to enumerate the
infinite varieties of fruit; but we will briefly speak of some of the
most common found in the gardens and markets of this latitude.
APPLES.--The origin and first home of the apple, is unknown. If
tradition is to be believed, it was the inauspicious fruit to which may
be traced all the miseries of mankind. In pictures of the temptation in
the garden of Eden, our mother Eve is generally represented as holding
an apple in her hand.
We find the apple mentioned in the mythologies of the Greeks, Druids,
and Scandinavians. The Thebans offered apples instead of sheep as a
sacrifice to Hercules, a custom derived from the following
circumstance:--
"At one time, when a sacrifice was necessary, the river Asopus had so
inundated the country that it was impossible to take a sheep across it
for the purpose, when some youths, recollecting that the Greek word
_melon_ signified both sheep and an apple, stuck wooden pegs into the
fruit to represent legs, and brought this vegetable quadruped as a
substitute for the usual offering. After this date, the apple was
considered as especially devoted to Hercules."
In ancient times, Greece produced most excellent apples. They were the
favorite dessert of Phillip of Macedon and Alexander the Great, the
latter causing them to be served at all meals. Doubtless they came to be
used to excess; for it is recorded of the Athenian lawgiver, Solon, that
he made a decree prohibiting a bridegroom from partaking of more than
one at his marriage banquet, a law which was zealously kept by the
Greeks, and finally adopted by the Persians. In Homer's time the apple
was regarded as one of the precious fruits. It was extensively
cultivated by the Romans, who gave to new varieties the names of many
eminent citizens, and after the conquest of Gaul, introduced its culture
into Southwestern Europe, whence it has come to be widely diffused
throughout all parts of the temperate zone.
Apples were introduced into the United States by the early settlers,
and the first trees were planted on an island in Boston Harbor, which
still retains the name of Apple Island. The wild crab tree is the parent
of most of the cultivated varieties.
THE PEAR.--The origin of the pear, like that of the apple, is
shrouded in obscurity, though Egypt, Greece, and Palestine dispute for
the honor of having given birth to the tree which bears this prince of
fruits. Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher of the fourth century, speaks
of the pear in terms of highest praise; and Galen, the father of medical
science, mentions the pear in his writings as possessing "qualities
which benefit the stomach." The pear tree is one of the most hardy of
all fruit trees, and has been known to live several hundred years.
THE QUINCE.--This fruit appears to have been a native of Crete,
from whence it was introduced into ancient Greece; and was largely
cultivated by both Greeks and Romans. In Persia, the fruit is edible in
its raw state; but in this country it never ripens sufficiently to be
palatable without being cooked. The fruit is highly fragrant and
exceedingly acid, and for these reasons it is largely employed to flavor
other fruits.
THE PEACH.--This fruit, as its botanical name, _prinus Persica_,
indicates, is a native of Persia, and was brought from that country to
Greece, from whence it passed into Italy. It is frequently mentioned by
ancient writers, and was regarded with much esteem by the people of
Asia. The Romans, however, had the singular notion that peaches gathered
in Persia contained a deadly poison, but if once transplanted to another
soil, this injurious effect was lost. In composition, the peach is
notable for the small quantity of saccharine matter it contains in
comparison with other fruits.
THE PLUM.--The plum is one of the earliest of known fruits. Thebes,
Memphis, and Damascus were noted for the great number of their plum
trees in the early centuries. Plum trees grow wild in Asia, America, and
the South of Europe, and from these a large variety of domestic plum
fruits have been cultivated.
Plums are more liable than most other fruits to produce disorders of
digestion, and when eaten raw should be carefully selected, that they be
neither unripe nor unripe. Cooking renders them less objectionable.
THE PRUNE.--The plum when dried is often called by its French
cognomen, _prune_. The larger and sweeter varieties are generally
selected for drying, and when good and properly cooked, are the most
wholesome of prepared fruits.
THE APRICOT.--This fruit seems to be intermediate between the peach
and the plum, resembling the former externally, while the stone is like
that of the plum. The apricot originated in Armenia, and the tree which
bears the fruit was termed by the Romans "the tree of Armenia." It was
introduced into England in the time of Henry VIII. The apricot is
cultivated to some extent in the United States, but it requires too much
care to permit of its being largely grown, except in certain sections.
THE CHERRY.--The common garden cherry is supposed to have been
derived from the two species of wild fruit, and historians tell us that
we are indebted to the agricultural experiments of Mithridates, the
great king of ancient Pontus, for this much esteemed fruit. It is a
native of Asia Minor, and its birthplace.
THE OLIVE.--From time immemorial the olive has been associated with
history. The Scriptures make frequent reference to it, and its
cultivation was considered of first importance among the Jews, who used
its oil for culinary and a great variety of other purposes. Ancient
mythology venerated the olive tree above all others, and invested it
with many charming bits of fiction. Grecian poets sang its praises, and
early Roman writers speak of it with high esteem. In appearance and size
the fruit is much like the plum; when ripe, it is very dark green,
almost black, and possesses a strong, and, to many people, disagreeable
flavor. The pulp abounds in a bland oil, for the production of which it
is extensively cultivated in Syria, Egypt, Italy, Spain, and Southern
France. The fruit itself is also pickled and preserved in various ways,
but, like all other similar commodities when thus prepared, it is by no
means a wholesome article of food.
THE DATE.--The date is the fruit of the palm tree so often
mentioned in the Sacred Writings, and is indigenous to Africa and
portions of Asia. The fruit grows in bunches which often weigh from
twenty to twenty-five pounds, and a single tree will bear from one to
three thousand pounds in a season. The date is very sweet and
nutritious. It forms a stable article of diet for the inhabitants of
some parts of Egypt, Arabia, and Persia, and frequently forms the chief
food of their horses, dogs, and camels. The Arabs reduce dried dates to
a meal, and make therefrom a bread, which often constitutes their sole
food on long journeys through the Great Desert. The inhabitants of the
countries where the date tree flourishes, put its various productions to
innumerable uses. From its leaves they make baskets, bags, mats, combs,
and brushes; from its stalks, fences for their gardens; from its fibers,
thread, rope, and rigging; from its sap, a spirituous liquor; from its
fruit, food for man and beast; while the body of the tree furnishes them
with fuel. The prepared fruit is largely imported to this country. That
which is large, smooth, and of a soft reddish yellow tinge, with a
whitish membrane between the flesh and stone, is considered the best.
THE ORANGE.--According to some authors, the far-famed "golden fruit
of the Hesperides," which Hercules stole, was the orange; but it seems
highly improbable that it was known to writers of antiquity. It is
supposed to be indigenous to Central and Eastern Asia. Whatever its
nativity, it has now spread over all the warmer regions of the earth.
The orange tree is very hardy in its own habitat, and is one of the most
prolific of all fruit-bearing trees, a single tree having been known to
produce twenty thousand good oranges in a season. Orange trees attain
great age. There are those in Italy and Spain which are known to have
flourished for six hundred years. Numerous varieties of the orange are
grown, and are imported to our markets from every part of the globe.
Florida oranges are among the best, and when obtained in their
perfection, are the most luscious of all fruits.
THE LEMON.--This fruit is supposed to be a native of the North of
India, although it is grown in nearly all sub-tropical climates. In
general, the fruit is very acid, but in a variety known as the sweet
lemon, or bergamot (said to be a hybrid of the orange and lemon), the
juice is sweet. The sour lemon is highly valued for its antiscorbutic
properties, and is largely employed as a flavoring ingredient in
culinary preparations, and in making a popular refreshing beverage.
THE CITRON.--The citron is a fruit very similar to the lemon,
though larger in size and less succulent. It is supposed to be identical
with the Hebrew _tappuach_, and to be the fruit which is mentioned in
the English version of the Old Testament as "apple." The citron is not
suitable for eating in its raw state, though its juice is used in
connection with water and sugar to form an excellent acid drink. Its
rind, which is very thick, with a warty and furrowed exterior, is
prepared in sugar and largely used for flavoring purposes.
THE LIME.--The fruit of the lime is similar to the lemon, though
much smaller in size. It is a native of Eastern Asia, but has long been
cultivated in the South of Europe and other sub-tropical countries. The
fruit is seldom used except for making acidulous drinks, for which it is
often given the preference over the lemon.
THE GRAPE FRUIT.--This fruit, a variety of shaddock, belongs to the
great _citrus_ family, of which there are one hundred and sixty-nine
known varieties. The shaddock proper, however, is a much larger fruit,
frequently weighing from ten to fourteen pounds. Although a certain
quantity of grape fruit is brought from the West Indies, our principal
supply is derived from Florida. It is from two to four times the size of
an ordinary orange, and grows in clusters. It is rapidly gaining in
favor with fruit lovers. Its juice has a moderately acid taste and makes
a pleasing beverage. The pulp, carefully separated, is also much
esteemed.
THE POMEGRANATE.--This fruit has been cultivated in Asia from
earliest antiquity, and is still quite generally grown in most tropical
climes. In the Scriptures it is mentioned with the vine, fig, and olive,
among the pleasant fruits of the promised land. It is about the size of
a large peach, of a fine golden color, with a rosy tinge on one side.
The rind is thick and leathery. The central portion is composed of
little globules of pulp and seeds inclosed in a thin membrane, each seed
being about the size of a red currant. It is sub-acid, and slightly
bitter in taste. The rind is strongly astringent, and often used as a
medicine.
THE GRAPE.--Undoubtedly the grape was one of the first fruits eaten
by mankind, and one highly valued from antiquity down to the present
time. Although this fruit is often sadly perverted in the manufacture of
wine, when rightly used it is one of the most excellent of all fruits.
The skins and seeds are indigestible and should be rejected, but the
fresh, juicy pulp is particularly wholesome and refreshing. Several
hundred varieties of the grape are cultivated. Some particularly sweet
varieties are made into raisins, by exposure to the sun or to artificial
heat. Sun-dried grapes make the best raisins. The so-called English or
Zante currant belongs to the grape family, and is the dried fruit of a
vine which grows in the Ionian Islands and yields a very small berry.
The name _currant_, as applied to these fruits, is a corruption of the
word _Corinth_, where the fruit was formerly grown.
THE GOOSEBERRY.--The gooseberry probably derives its name from
gorse or goss, a prickly shrub that grows wild in thickets and on
hillsides in Europe, Asia, and America. It was known to the ancients,
and is mentioned in the writings of Theocritus and Pliny. Gooseberries
were a favorite dish with some of the emperors, and were extensively
cultivated in gardens during the Middle Ages. The gooseberry is a
wholesome and agreeable fruit, and by cultivation may be brought to a
high state of perfection in size and flavor.
THE CURRANT.--This fruit derives its name from its resemblance to
the small grapes of Corinth, sometimes called Corinthus, and is
indigenous to America, Asia, and Europe. The fruit is sharply acid,
though very pleasant to the taste. Cultivation has produced white
currants from the red, and in a distinct species of the fruit grown in
Northern Europe and Russia, the currants are black or yellow.
THE WHORTLEBERRY AND BLUEBERRY.--These are both species of the same
fruit, which grows in woods and waste places in the North of Europe and
America. Of the latter species there are two varieties, the high-bush
and the low-bush, which are equally palatable. The fruit is very sweet
and pleasant to the taste, and is one of the most wholesome of all
berries.
THE CRANBERRY.--A German writer of note insists that the original
name of this fruit was cram-berry, because after dinner, when one was
filled with other food, such was its pleasant and seductive flavor that
he could still "cram" quite a quantity thereof, in defiance of all
dietetic laws. Other writers consider the name a corruption of
craneberry, so called because it is eagerly sought after by the cranes
and other birds which frequent the swamps and marshes where it chiefly
grows. The fruit is extremely acid, and is highly valued for sauces and
jellies. Cranberries are among the most convenient fruits for keeping.
Freezing does not seem to hurt them, and they may be kept frozen all
winter, or in water without freezing, in the cellar, or other cool
places, for a long period.
THE STRAWBERRY.--The flavor of antiquity rests upon the wild
strawberry. Its fruit was peddled by itinerant dealers about the streets
of ancient Grecian and Roman cities. Virgil sings of it in pastoral
poems, and Ovid mentions it in words of praise. The name by which the
fruit was known to the Greeks indicates its size; with the Latins its
name was symbolic of its perfume. The name _strawberry_ probably came
from the old Saxon _streawberige_, either from some resemblance of the
stems to straw, of from the fact that the berries have the appearance
when growing of being strewn upon the ground. In olden times, children
strung the berries upon straws, and sold so many "straws of berries" for
a penny, from which fact it is possible the name may have been derived.
The strawberry is indigenous to the temperate regions of both the
Eastern and Western Hemispheres, but it seems to have been matured in
gardens, only within the last two centuries.
THE RASPBERRY.--This fruit grows in both a wild and a cultivated
state. It derives its name from the rough rasps or spines with which the
bushes are covered. Among the ancients it was called "the bramble of Mt.
Ida," because it was abundant upon that mountain. It is a hardy fruit,
found in most parts of the world, and is of two special varieties, the
black and the red.
THE BLACKBERRY.--This fruit is a native of America and the greater
part of Europe. There are one hundred and fifty-one named species,
although the high-blackberry and the low-blackberry, or dewberry, are
said to have furnished the best cultivated varieties.
THE MULBERRY.--Different varieties of the mulberry tree produce
white, red, and black mulberries of fine aromatic flavor, and acidulous
or sweet taste. Persia is supposed to be the native home of this fruit,
from whence it was carried, at an early date, to Asia Minor and to
Greece. The Hebrews were evidently well acquainted with it. It was also
cultivated by the farmers of Attica and Peloponnesus. The ancient
mulberry was considered the wisest and most prudent of trees, because it
took care not to put forth the smallest bud until the cold of winter had
disappeared, not to return. Then, however, it lost no time, but budded
and blossomed in a day. Several varieties are found in the United
States.
THE MELON.--This is the generic name for all the members of the
gourd tribe known as cantaloupes, muskmelons, and watermelons. The fruit
varies greatly in size and color, and in the character of the rind. When
fresh and perfectly ripe, melons are among the most delicious of edible
fruits.
THE FIG.--In the most ancient histories, the fig tree is referred
to as among the most desirable productions of the earth. It was the
only tree in the garden of Eden of which the Sacred Writings make
particular mention. Among the inhabitants of ancient Syria and Greece,
it formed one of the principal articles of food. Its cultivation was,
and is still, extensively carried on in nearly all Eastern countries;
also in Spain, Southern France, and some portions of the United States.
The fruit is pear-shaped, and consists of a pulpy mass full of little
seeds. Dried and compressed figs are largely imported, and are to be
found in all markets. Those brought from Smyrna are reputed to be the
best.