It would be interesting to know how many million dollars American
farmers earn every year by raising melons. The Rocky Ford district in
Colorado alone ships about 1,500 carloads of cantaloupes, and these
are but a drop in the bucket. Nobody would dream of buying melons
for food; their commercial value is entirely a matter of Flavor. And
in proportion as the Flavor was improved has the raising of melons
become more profitable. Time was when the old-fashioned "mushmelon"
was tolerated; but compared with the choice varieties of cantaloupes
now in the market it was but one remove from the pumpkin. Many insipid
melons still find their way into our markets, but gradually they will
be eliminated; and the sooner this is done, the better it will be for
the dealer's purse as well as the consumer's palate.
The manufacturer who advertises that "there is only one way to make
a cigarette permanently popular and that is to make it permanently
good," knew what he was talking about. In that respect there is no
difference between cigarettes and foodstuffs. Read what is said on this
point in Farmers' Bulletin 193: "An explanation of the popularity of
the Rocky Ford melons is that they are well graded and usually uniform
in quality. As Mr. Blinn explains, the Rocky Ford cantaloupe is a
product of years of systematic selection, and it requires the same
methods to maintain its excellence as were employed in its development.
Without care in selection of seed, the natural tendency to vary
will soon cause a good strain of Rocky Ford melons to revert to an
undesirable type."
Sweet as honey are the best cantaloupes; yet how different! The
sweetness in them is the same, for there is only one kind of sweet in
the world. What makes them differ is the Flavor. Were it not for its
Flavor, there would be no honey in the market, for sugar is a much
cheaper sweet. Thanks to its Flavor, honey is worth to the beekeepers
of the United States $20,000,000 a year. New York State alone has
30,000 beekeepers, and it is said that "even when eggs sell at 50 cents
a dozen the hen stands below the bee as a payer of dividends." And bees
need no expensive feed; one man says he has not fed his in twenty years.
Twenty millions a year is a goodly sum, yet it is a mere fraction
of what honey will yield when its merits for diverse uses are more
generally understood. There are many varieties of it, their Flavor
depending on the fragrance of the flowers from which the bees collect
them--clover, linden, sage, horsemint, buckwheat, magnolia, etc., but
all are agreeable to most persons. American children would hail with
delight the Swiss custom of eating honey with their bread and butter,
and it would do them good, for honey is one of the most wholesome
sweets--much more than most of the candies the boys and girls buy. It
is nutritious, too, a tablespoonful having the same food value as an
egg. But beware of adulterations!
Some of the best cakes and confections are made of or with honey.
Girls often make their own fudge--why not all their candies? The
manufacturers would still prosper even if one-half the girls should
take to making their own sweets; some of these men are millionaires;
and what made them so is the fact that they realized the Commercial
Value of Flavors. The sale of plain, unflavored sugar is also
profitable, but the percentage of gain is not nearly so great as in the
case of candy.
Flavoring extracts have been called an American specialty; for while
they are used considerably by foreign cooks and bakers, ours are much
more addicted to their use. The most popular of all the flavoring
extracts is vanilla; its home is Mexico, and we take nearly all the
vanilla beans harvested there; but that does not cover the demand. Many
firms get rich by making imitation vanilla and other flavors. Some of
these are strong medicines. The safest place to eat vanilla ice cream
is at home where you know it is made of the deliciously fragrant bean
and not of coal tar products.
Most appetizing, also, is caramel, or burnt sugar, for flavoring
desserts. Liqueurs are used, and nuts, but most desirable and wholesome
of all are the flavors made of fruit. Think of the commercial value of
these fruit flavors--natural or artificial--to thousands of druggists
whenever the weather creates a demand for soda water!