pouring over them a quart of boiling water, and when the skins soften,
rubbing them off with a coarse towel. Pound the almonds in a mortar, a
few at a time, adding four or five drops of milk occasionally, to
prevent their oiling. About one tablespoonful of milk in all will be
sufficient. When finely pounded, mix the almonds with a pint of milk,
two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and a little piece of lemon rind. Place the
whole over the fire to simmer for a little time. Strain, if preferred,
and serve cold.
APPLE BEVERAGE.--Pare and slice very thin a juicy tart apple into a
china bowl. Cover with boiling water, put a saucer over the bowl, and
allow the water to get cold. Strain and drink. Crab apples may be used
in the same way.
APPLE BEVERAGE NO. 2.--Bake two large, sour apples, and when
tender, sprinkle a tablespoonful of sugar over them, and return to the
oven until the sugar is slightly browned. Break and mash the apples with
a silver spoon, pour over them a pint of boiling water; cover and let
stand until cold; then strain and serve.
APPLE TOAST WATER.--Break a slice of zwieback into small pieces,
and mix with them two or three well-baked tart apples. Pour over all a
quart of boiling water, cover, and let stand until cold, stirring
occasionally. When cold, strain, add sugar to sweeten if desired, and
serve.
BAKED MILK.--Put a quart of new milk in a stone jar, tie a white
paper over it, and let it stand in a moderately heated oven eight or ten
hours. It becomes of a creamy consistency.
BARLEY LEMONADE.--Put a half cup of pearl barley into a quart of
cold water, and simmer gently until the water has become mucilaginous
and quite thick. This will take from an hour to an hour and a half. The
barley will absorb most of the water, but the quantity given should make
a teacupful of good, thick barley water. Add to this two teaspoonfuls of
lemon juice and a tablespoonful of sugar. Let it get cold before
serving. By returning the barley to the stewpan with another quart of
cold water, and simmering for an hour or an hour and a half longer, a
second cap of barley water may be obtained, almost as good as the first.
BARLEY AND FRUIT DRINK.--Prepare a barley water as above, and add
to each cupful a tablespoonful or two of cranberry, grape, raspberry, or
any tart fruit syrup. The pure juice sweetened will answer just as well;
or a little fruit jelly may be dissolved and added.
BARLEY MILK.--Wash two tablespoonfuls of pearl barley in cold water
until the water is clear. Put it to cook in a double boiler, with a
quart of milk, and boil till the milk is reduced to a pint. Strain off
the milk, and sweeten if desired.
CRANBERRY DRINK.--Mash carefully selected, ripe cranberries
thoroughly in an earthen dish, and pour boiling water over them. Let the
mixture stand until cold, strain off the water, and sweeten to taste.
Barberries prepared in the same manner make a nice drink.
CURRANTADE.--Mash thoroughly a pint of ripe, red currants, and one
half the quantity of red raspberries; add sugar to sweeten and two
quarts of cold water. Stir, strain, cool on ice, and serve.
CRUST COFFEE.--Brown slices of Graham bread in a slow oven until
very ark in color. Break in pieces and roll fine with a rolling pin. A
quantity of this material may be prepared at one time and stored in
glass fruit cans for use. When needed, pour a cupful of actively boiling
water over a dessertspoonful of the prepared crumbs, let it steep for a
few moments, then strain and serve.
EGG CREAM.--Beat the white of an egg to a stiff froth, add one
tablespoonful of white sugar, then beat again. Next add the yolk, and
beat; then a tablespoonful of milk, one of cold water, and one of any
fruit juice desired.
EGG CREAM NO. 2.--Prepare as above, using two tablespoonfuls of
water instead of one of water and one of milk, and a teaspoonful of
lemon juice in place of other fruit juice.
EGG CREAM NO. 3.--Beat the yolk of a freshly laid egg with a
tablespoonful of sugar until it is light and creamy; add to this, one
half cup of hot milk and stir in lightly the stiffly beaten white of the
egg. Serve at once.
EGG LEMONADE.--Beat the white of an egg to a stiff froth, then mix
with it the juice of a small lemon, and one tablespoonful of sugar. Add
a half pint of cold water. Or, beat together with an egg beater a
tablespoonful of lemon juice, a teaspoonful of sugar, the white of an
egg and a cup of cold water, until thoroughly mingled, then serve at
once.
FLAXSEED TEA.--Take an ounce of whole flaxseed, half an ounce of
crushed licorice root, an ounce of refined sugar, and four
tablespoonfuls of lemon juice. Pour a quart of boiling water over them;
keep near the fire for four hours, and then strain off the liquid. The
flaxseed should not be crushed, as the mucilage is in the outer part of
the kernel, and if braised, the boiling water will extract the oil of
the seed, and render the decoction nauseous. Make fresh daily.
GUM ARABIC WATER.--Pour a pint of boiling water over an ounce of
clean gum arabic. When dissolved, add the juice of one lemon and a
teaspoonful of sugar, and strain.
HOT WATER.--Put good, fresh water into a perfectly clean
granite-ware kettle, already warmed; let it come to a boil very quickly,
and use at once. Do not leave it to simmer until it has become insipid
through the loss of the air which it contains.
HOT LEMONADE.--Put in a glass a thin slice of lemon and the juice
of half a small lemon, being careful to remove all seeds; mix with it
one dessertspoonful of white sugar, and fill the glass with boiling
water. Or, remove the peel of a lemon in very thin parings, turn one
pint of boiling water over them, letting it stand for a few moments
covered. Remove the peel, add the juice of a lemon and one tablespoonful
of sugar, and serve.
IRISH MOSS LEMONADE.--Soak one fourth of a cup of Irish moss in
cold water until it begins to soften; then work it free from sand and
tiny shells likely to be on it, and thoroughly wash. Put it in a
granite-ware basin, and pour over it two cups of boiling water. Leave on
the back of the range where it will keep hot, but not boil, for half an
hour; strain, add the juice of one lemon, and sugar to taste. Drink hot
or cold, as preferred.
ORANGEADE.--Rub lightly two ounces of lump sugar on the rind of two
nice, fresh oranges, to extract the flavor; put this sugar into a
pitcher, to which add the juice expressed from the oranges, and that
from one lemon. Pour over all one pint of cold water, stir thoroughly,
and serve.
PLAIN LEMONADE.--For one glass of lemonade squeeze the juice of
half a small lemon into the glass; carefully remove all seeds and
particles. Add a dessertspoonful of sugar, and fill the glass with cold
water.
SLIPPERY ELM TEA.--Pour boiling water over bits of slippery elm
bark or slippery elm powder, cool, and strain, if desired, a little
lemon juice and sugar may be added to flavor.
TOAST WATER.--Toast a pint of whole-wheat or Graham bread crusts
very brown, but do not burn. Cover with a pint of cold water. Let it
stand an hour, strain, and use. Sugar and a little cream may be added if
allowed.
TAMARIND WATER.--Boil four ounces of tamarinds and the same of
raisins slowly, in three quarts of water, for fifteen or twenty minutes,
or until the water is reduced nearly one fourth; strain while hot into a
bowl with a small slice of lemon peel in it. Set away until cold before
using.
BREAD.
For invalids who are able to partake of solid foods, the Breakfast
Rolls, Whole-wheat Puffs, Beaten Biscuit, Crisps, and other unfermented
breads, directions for the preparation of which are given in the chapter
on Bread, will be found excellent.
The various crackers, wafers, and invalid foods manufactured by the
Sanitarium Food Co., Battle Creek, Mich., are also to be recommended.
Zwieback, prepared as directed on page 289, will be found serviceable
and wholesome to be used with broths and gruels. It may be prepared so
as to look especially tempting by cutting off the crust of the bread,
and cutting the slice into fancy shapes with a cookie-cutter before
toasting. In cases where their use is allowable, many of the various
toasts given under the head of Breakfast Dishes will be relished.
_RECIPES._
DIABETIC BISCUIT.--Make a stiff dough of Graham or entire-wheat
flour and water. Knead thoroughly, and let it stand three hours; then
place on a sieve under a faucet, turn a stream of water over the dough,
and wash out the starch, kneading and working with the hands so that all
portions of the dough will be equally washed. When the starch has been
all washed out, as will be indicated by the water running off clear, the
dough will be a rubber-like, glutinous mass. It may then be cut into
long strips, and these divided into equal-sized pieces or cubes. Place
the pieces on shallow baking pans in a rather hot oven, which, after a
short time, should be allowed to cool to moderate heat, and bake for two
hours, when they should be of a dark, rich brown color and light and
crisp throughout. If tough, they need rebaking. If the oven is too hot,
the pieces will puff up, becoming mere hollow shells; if not
sufficiently hot, they will not rise properly.
DIABETIC BISCUIT NO. 2.--Prepare a dough and wash out the starch as
in the preceding. Add coarse middlings so that the dough can be rolled
into thin cakes, and bake.
GLUTEN MEAL GEMS.--Beat together one half cup of ice water, one
half cup of thick, sweet cream, and one egg; then add one cup and a
tablespoonful of the gluten meal prepared by the Sanitarium Food Co.
Turn into slightly heated gem irons, and bake in a moderately hot oven
from one half to three fourths of an hour.
JELLIES AND OTHER SIMPLE DESSERTS FOR THE SICK.
Invalids whose digestion will allow of other than the plainest foods
will find most of the desserts made with fruits and those with fruits
and grains given in the chapter on Desserts, excellent for their use.
The following are a few additional recipes of a similar character:--
_RECIPES._
ARROWROOT JELLY.--Rub two heaping teaspoonfuls of arrowroot smooth
in a very little cold water, and stir it into a cupful of boiling water,
in which should be dissolved two teaspoonfuls of sugar. Stir until
clear, allowing it to boil all the time; lastly, add a teaspoonful of
lemon juice. Serve cold, with cream and sugar if allowed.
ARROWROOT BLANCMANGE.--Rub two and a half tablespoonfuls of best
arrowroot smooth in half a cup of cold milk, and stir slowly into two
and one half cups of boiling new milk. When it begins to thicken, add
three fourths of a cup of sugar, and cook, stirring constantly for
several minutes. Turn into molds and cool. Serve with fruit juice or
fruit sauces.
CURRANT JELLY.--Soak an ounce of Cox's gelatine in half a pint of
cold water for fifteen minutes, then pour over it a teacupful of boiling
water; strain, and add one pint at currant juice, one tablespoonful of
sugar, and set on ice to cool.
ICELAND MOSS JELLY.--Wash about four ounces of moss very clean in
lukewarm water. Boil slowly in a quart of cold water. When quite
dissolved, strain it onto a tablespoonful of currant or raspberry jelly,
stirring so as to blend the jelly perfectly with the moss. Turn into a
mold, and cool.
ICELAND MOSS BLANCMANGE.--Substitute milk for the water, and
proceed as in the foregoing. Flavor with lemon or vanilla. Strain
through a muslin cloth, turn into a mold, and let stand till firm and
cold.
ORANGE WHEY.--Add the juice of one sour orange to a pint of sweet
milk. Heat very slowly until the milk is curded, then strain and cool.
WHITE CUSTARD.--Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, add
a little salt if desired, and two tablespoonfuls of sugar. A bit of
grated lemon rind may also be used for flavoring. Add lastly a pint of
new milk, little by little, beating thoroughly all the while. Bake in
cups set in a pan of hot water. When firm in the center, take out and
set in a cool place.
TABLE TOPICS.
Regimen is better than physic.--_Voltaire._
Many dishes have induced many diseases.--_Seneca._
Dr. Lyman Beecher tells the following story of his aunt, which well
illustrates a popular notion that sick people should be fed with all
sorts of dainties, no matter what the nature of the disease. When a
boy eight or nine years of age, he was one day suffering in the
throes of indigestion, as the result of having swallowed a large
amount of indigestible mince pie. His kind-hearted aunt noticed the
pale and distressed look on his face, and said to him, with genuine
sympathy in her voice, "Lyman, you look sick. You may go into the
pantry and help yourself to a nice piece of fruit cake just warm
from the oven."
Fix on that course of life which is the most excellent, and custom
will render it the most delightful.--_Pythagoras._
A MERE indigestion can temporarily metamorphose the character. The
eel stews of Mohammed II. kept the whole empire in a state of
nervous excitement, and one of the meat-pies which King Philip
failed to digest caused the revolt of the Netherlands.--_Oswald._
Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.
Man's habitual words and acts imply that they are at liberty to
treat their bodies as they please. The fact is, that all breaches of
the laws of health are physical sins.--_Herbert Spencer._
Practical right and good conduct are much more dependent on health
of body than on health of mind.--_Prof. Schneider._
Dr. Abernathy's reply to the Duke of York when consulted about his
health was, "Cut off the supplies and the enemy will soon leave the
citadel."
FOOD FOR THE AGED AND THE VERY YOUNG.
FOOD FOR THE AGED
One of the first requisites of food for the aged is that it shall be
easy of digestion, since with advancing age and decreasing physical
energy, digestion and assimilation may be taken with impunity at an
earlier period of life, overtax the enfeebled organs and prove highly
injurious. The fact that the vital machinery is worn and weakened with
age has led to the popular notion that old people require a stimulating
diet as a "support" for their declining forces. That this is an error is
apparent from the fact that stimulation either by drink or food lessens
instead of reinforces vital strength, thus defeating the very purpose
desired. Flesh food in quantities is a peculiarly unsuitable diet for
the aged, not alone because it is stimulating, but because it produces a
tendency to plethora, a condition which is especially inimical to the
health of old persons. Eminent authorities on diet also reason that the
loss of the teeth at this period, whereby thorough mastication of flesh
food is done with difficulty, even with the best artificial aids, should
be considered a sign that nature intends such foods to be discarded by
the old.
A milk, grain, and fruit diet is undoubtedly the one best suited to the
average person in old age. Vegetables and legumes in well-prepared soups
may also be used to advantage. Directions for such soups, as also for
cooking grains and grain products, will be found in the preceding pages.
The following bills of fare, one for each season of the year, will
perhaps serve to illustrate how a varied and appetizing regimen may be
provided without the use of flesh foods:--
BREAKFAST
Fresh Fruits
Graham Grits and Cream
Prune Toast
Graham Puffs
Cream Crisps
Strawberries
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
DINNER
Vegetable Broth with Toasted Rolls
Baked Potato with Pease Gravy
Stewed Asparagus
Cracked Wheat and Cream
Whole-Wheat Bread
Canned Berries
Manioca with Fruit
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
BREAKFAST
Fresh Fruits
Rolled Oats and Cream
Baked Sweet Apples
Macaroni with Cream Sauce
Whole-Wheat Puffs
Stewed Peaches
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
DINNER
Lentil Soup
Baked Potato with Cream Sauce
Escalloped Tomato
Green Corn Pulp
Browned Rice and Cream
Fruit Bread
Lemon Apple Sauce
Prune Pie
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
BREAKFAST
Fresh Fruits
Blackberry Mush and Cream
Cream Toast
Graham Crusts
Blueberries
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
DINNER
Green Pea Soup
Mashed Potato
Macaroni with Tomato Sauce
Pearl Barley and Cream
Cream Rolls
Blackberries
Stewed Fruit Pudding
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
BREAKFAST
Fresh Fruits
Rolled Wheat and Cream
Tomato Toast
Corn Bread
Graham Gems
Stewed Prunes
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
DINNER
Vegetable Oyster Soup
Baked Sweet Potato
Mashed Peas
Steamed Rice with Fig Sauce
Graham Bread
Stewed Dried Fruit
Apples
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk
In the selection of a dietary for elderly persons, much must depend
upon their physical condition, the daily amount of exercise to which
they are accustomed, their habits in earlier life, and a variety of
other circumstances.
The quantity as well as quality of food for the aged should receive
consideration. Diminished bodily activity and the fact that growth has
ceased, render a smaller amount of food necessary to supply needs; and a
decrease in the amount taken, in proportion to the age and the activity
of the subject, must be made or health will suffer. The system will
become clogged, the blood filled with imperfectly elaborated material,
and gout, rheumatism, apoplexy, or other diseased conditions will be the
inevitable result. The digestion of heavy meals is a tax upon vital
powers at any time of life, but particularly so as age advances; and for
him who has passed his first half-century, over-feeding is fraught with
great danger. Cornaro, an Italian of noble family, contemporary with
Titian in the sixteenth century, after reaching his eighty-third year
wrote several essays upon diet and regimen for the aged, in one of which
he says: "There are old lovers of feeding who say that it is necessary
that they should eat and drink a great deal to keep up their natural
heat, which is constantly diminishing as they advance in years; and that
it is therefore their duty to eat heartily and of such things as please
their palate, be they hot, cold, or temperate, and that if they were to
lead a sober life, it would be a short one. To this I answer; Our kind
Mother Nature, in order that old men may live to still greater age, has
contrived matters so that they may be able to subsist on little, as I
do; for large quantities of food cannot be digested by old and feeble
stomachs."
Cornaro lived to be one hundred years old, doubtless owing largely to
his simple, frugal habits.
DIET FOR THE YOUNG.
A very large share of the mortality among young children results from
dietetic errors which proper knowledge and care on the part of those who
have them in charge might commonly avoid. From infancy to the age of
twelve or eighteen months, milk is the natural and proper food. Milk
contains all the food elements except starch, which cannot be digested
by very young children, owing to the insufficient formation of digestive
elements of the salivary secretion during the first few months. If the
child is deprived of the milk provided by nature, the best artificial
food is cow's milk; it, however, requires very careful selection and
intelligent preparation. The animal from which the milk comes, should be
perfectly healthy and well cared for. The quality of her food should
also receive attention, as there is little doubt that disease is often
communicated to infants by milk from cows improperly fed and cared for.
An eminent medical authority offers the following important points on
this subject:--
"The cow selected for providing the food for an infant should be between
the ages of four and ten years, of mild disposition, and one which has
been giving milk from four to eight weeks. She should be fed on good,
clean grain, and hay free from must. Roots, if any are fed, should be of
good quality, and she should have plenty of good clean water from a
living spring or well. Her pasture should be timothy grass or native
grass free from weeds; clover alone is bad. She should be cleaned and
cared for like a carriage horse, and milked twice a day by the same
person and at the same time. Some cows are unfit by nature for feeding
infants."
Milk from the same animal should be used if possible. Changing from one
cow's milk to another, or the use of such milk as is usually supplied by
city milkmen, often occasions serious results. The extraction of the
heat from the milk immediately after milking and before it is used or
carried far, especially in hot weather, is essential. While the milk
itself should be clean and pure, it should also be perfectly fresh and
without any trace of decomposition. To insure all these requisites,
besides great care in its selection, it must be sterilized, and if not
intended for immediate use, bottled and kept in a cool place until
needed. It is not safe to feed young children upon unsterilized milk
that has stood a few hours. Even fresh milk from the cleanest cows,
unless drawn into bottles and sealed at once, contains many germs. These
little organisms, the cause of fermentation and decomposition, multiply
very rapidly in milk, and as they increase, dangers from the use of the
milk increase.
There is no doubt that cholera infantum and other digestive disturbances
common among young children would be greatly lessened by the use of
properly sterilized milk. Directions for sterilizing milk, and
additional suggestions respecting points to be considered in its
selection, are to be found in the chapter on Milk, etc.
Cow's milk differs from human milk in that it contains nearly three
times as much casein, but only two thirds as much fat and three fourths
as much sugar. Cow's milk is usually slightly acid, while human milk is
alkaline. The casein of cow's milk forms large, hard curds, while that
of breast milk forms fine, soft curds. These facts make it important
that some modification be made in cow's milk to render it acceptable to
the feeble stomach of an infant. Cases are rare where it is safe to feed
a child under nine months of age on pure, undiluted cow's milk. A common
method of preparing cow's milk so as to make it suitable for infant
feeding, is to dilute it with pure water, using at first only one third
or one fourth milk, the proportion of milk being gradually increased as
the child's stomach becomes accustomed to the food and able to bear it,
until at the age of four months the child should be taking equal parts
of milk and water. When sterilized milk is to be thus diluted, the water
should be first boiled or added before sterilizing. A small amount of
fine white sugar, or what is better, milk sugar, should be added to the
diluted milk. Barley water, and thin, well-boiled, and carefully
strained oatmeal gruel thoroughly blended with the milk are also used
for this purpose. A food which approximates more nearly the constituents
of mother's milk may be prepared as follows:--
ARTIFICIAL HUMAN MILK NO. 1.--Blend one fourth pint of fresh, sweet
cream and three fourths of a pint of warm water. Add one half ounce of
milk sugar and from two to ten ounces of milk, according to the age of
the infant and its digestive capacity.
ARTIFICIAL HUMAN MILK NO. 2.--Meigs's formula: Take two
tablespoonfuls of cream of medium quality, one tablespoonful of milk,
two of lime water, and three of water to which sugar of milk has been
added in the proportion of seventeen and three fourths drams to the
pint. This saccharine solution must be prepared fresh every day or two
and kept in a cool place. A child may be allowed from half a pint to
three pints of this mixture, according to age.
ARTIFICIAL HUMAN MILK NO. 3.--Prepare a barley water by adding one
pint boiling water to a pint of best pearl barley. Allow it to cool, and
strain. Mix together one third of a pint of this barley water, two
thirds of a pint of fresh, pure milk, and a teaspoonful of milk
sugar.--_Medical News._
Peptonized milk, a formula for the preparation of which may be found on
page 426, is also valuable as food for infants, especially for those of
weak digestion.
MUCILAGINOUS FOOD EXCELLENT IN GASTRO-ENTERITIS.--Wheat, one
tablespoonful; oatmeal, one half tablespoonful; barley, one half
tablespoonful; water, one quart. Boil to one pint, strain, and
sweeten.--_Dietetic Gazette._