FRUITS.
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Pro- Etherial Carbohy- Calories
Water tein Extracts drates Ash per lb.
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Apples........... 84.6 0.4 0.5 14.2 0.3 290
Bananas.......... 75.3 1.3 0.6 22.0 0.8 460
Figs, fresh...... 79.1 1.5 ... 18.8 0.6 380
Lemons........... 89.3 1.0 0.7 8.5 0.5 205
Muskmelons....... 89.5 0.6 ... 9.3 0.6 185
Oranges.......... 86.9 0.8 0.2 11.6 0.5 240
Peaches.......... 89.4 0.7 0.1 9.4 0.4 190
Pears............ 80.9 1.0 0.5 17.2 0.4 ...
Persimmons....... 66.1 0.8 0.7 31.5 0.9 630
Rhubarb, stalk... 94.4 0.6 0.7 3.6 0.7 105
Strawberries..... 90.4 1.0 0.6 7.4 0.6 180
Watermelon....... 92.4 0.4 0.2 6.7 0.3 140
_Dried Fruits_:
Apples........... 26.1 1.6 2.2 68.1 2.0 1350
Apricots......... 29.4 4.7 1.0 62.5 2.4 1290
Citrons.......... 19.0 0.5 1.5 78.1 0.9 1525
Dates............ 15.4 2.1 2.8 78.4 1.3 1615
Figs............. 18.8 4.3 0.3 74.2 2.4 1475
Prunes........... 22.3 2.1 ... 73.3 2.3 1400
Raisins.......... 14.6 2.6 3.3 76.1 3.4 1605
Currants......... 17.2 2.4 1.7 74.2 4.5 1495
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Apricots, avocados, blackberries, cherries, cranberries, currants,
gooseberries, grapes, huckleberries, mulberries, nectarines, olives,
pineapples, plums, raspberries and whortleberries are some of the other
juicy fruits. They are much like the apple in composition, containing
much water and generally from 6 to 15 per cent of carbohydrates (sugar).
Olives and avocados are rich in oil.
You may classify rhubarb, watermelons and muskmelons as vegetables, if
you wish. On the table they seem more like fruit, which is the reason
they are given here. Melons are fine hot weather food. They are mostly
water, which is pure. During hot weather it is all right to make a meal
of melons and nothing else, at any time. The melons are so watery that
they dilute the gastric juice very much. The result is that when eaten
with concentrated foods they are liable to repeat, which indicates
indigestion.
Fruits are not generally eaten for the great amount of nourishment to be
obtained from them. They are very pleasant in flavor and contain salts
and acids which are needed by the body.
The various fluids of the body are alkaline, and the fruits furnish the
salts that help to keep them so. A few secretions and excretions are
naturally acid. Sometimes the body gets into a too acid state, but that
is very rarely due to overeating of fruit. It is generally caused by
pathological fermentation of food in the alimentary tract. The salts and
acids of fruits are broken up in the stomach and help to form alkaline
substances.
The water of the fruit is very pure, distilled by nature. The acid
fruits are refreshing and helpful to those who have a tendency to be
bilious. Fruits are cleansers, both of the alimentary tract and of the
blood.
Fruits grow most abundantly in warm climates and that is where they
should be used most. In temperate climates they should be eaten most
freely during warm weather.
Young, vigorous people can eat all the fruit they wish at all seasons,
within reason. Thin, nervous people, and those who are well advanced in
years should do most of their fruit eating in summer. In winter there is
a tendency to be chilly after a meal of acid fruit. In summer such meals
do not add to the burden of life by making the partaker unduly warm.
The apple is perhaps the best all-round fruit of all. It is grown in
many lands and climates. It is possible to get apples of various kinds,
from those that are very tart to those that are so mild that the acid is
hardly perceptible to the taste. Stout people can eat sour apples with
benefit. Thin, fidgety ones should use the milder varieties. The juice
from apples, sweet cider, freshly expressed, is a very pleasant drink,
and may be taken with fruit meals.
The avocado is a good salad fruit. It is quite oily. A combination of
avocado and lettuce makes a good salad.
Thanks to rapid transportation, the banana has become a staple. It is
quite commonly believed that bananas are very starchy and rather
indigestible. This may be true when they are green, but not when they
are ripe. Green bananas are no more fit for food than are green apples.
Ripe bananas are neither starchy nor indigestible. When the banana is
ripe it contains a trace of starch, all the rest having been changed to
sugar. A ripe banana is mellow and sweet, but firm. The skin is either
entirely black, or black in spots, but the flesh is unspotted. The best
bananas can often be purchased for one-half of the price of those that
are not yet fit to eat.
Bananas are a rich food. Weight for weight they contain more nourishment
than Irish potatoes. A few nuts or a glass of milk and bananas make a
good meal. Bananas contain so much sugar that it is not necessary to
eat bread or other starches with them. Those with normal taste will not
spoil good bananas by adding sugar and cream. When well masticated the
flavor is excellent and can not be improved by using dressings.
Be sure that the children have learned to masticate well before giving
bananas, and then give only ripe ones. The flesh of the banana is so
smooth and slippery that children often swallow it in big lumps, and
then they frequently suffer.
Lemonade may be taken with fruit or flesh meals. As usually made it is
quite nourishing, for it contains considerable sugar. Those who are
troubled with sluggish liver may take it with benefit, but the less
sugar used the better. Other fruit juices may be used likewise, but they
should be fresh. If they are bottled, be sure that no fermentation is
taking place in them. These juices may be served with the same kind of
meals as lemonade. Most of them require dilution. Grape juice is very
rich and a large glassful of the pure juice makes a good summer lunch.
It should be sipped slowly. Those who like the combination may make a
meal of fruit juice mixed with milk, half and half.
Grapes and strawberries, which are relished by most, disagree with some
people. The skin of the Concord grape should be rejected, for it
irritates many. If they are relished, the skins of most fruits may be
eaten. When peeled apples lose a part of their flavor.
Olives are generally eaten pickled. The fruit in its natural state
tastes very disagreeable to most people. The ripe olive is superior in
flavor to the green, which is not usually relished at first.
The sweet fruits, by which we mean dried currants, raisins, figs and
dates, and bananas should be classed with them, serve the body in the
same way as do the breadstuffs, and may be substituted for starches at
any time. They may be eaten at all seasons of the year, but are used
most during cold weather. A moderate amount of them may be eaten with
breadstuffs, or they may be taken alone, or with milk, or with nuts, or
with acid fruit. They are very nourishing so it does not take much of
them to make a meal. To get the full benefit, masticate thoroughly. They
contain sugar in its best form, sugar that not impoverished by being
deprived of its salts. Grape sugar needs very little preparation before
it enters the blood. Starch and sugar are of equal value as nourishment.
It seems that the sugar is available for energy sooner than the starch.
Americans generally weary quickly of sweet foods, though they consume
enormous quantities of refined sugar, but in tropical countries figs and
dates are staple in many places and the inhabitants relish them day in
and day out as we relish some of out staples. It is a matter of habit.
Those who do not surfeit themselves do not weary quickly of any
particular article of diet.
PREPARATION
Most fruits are best raw. Then their acids and salts are in their most
available form. Those who become uncomfortable after eating acid fruit
may know that they have abused their digestive organs and they should
take it as an indication to reduce their food intake, simplify their
diet, masticate better and eat more raw food. Those who overeat of
starch or partake of much alcohol cultivate irritable stomachs, which
object to the bracing fruit juices.
For the sake of a change fruits may be cooked. The more plainly they are
cooked the better. Always use sugar in moderation, no matter whether the
fruit is to be stewed or baked.
To stew fruit, clean and if necessary peel. Stew in sufficient water
until tender. When almost done add what sugar is needed. When stewed
thus less sugar is required than if the sweetening is done at the start.
Stewed fruit can be sweetened by adding raisins, figs or dates. This is
relished by many. Figs and dates stewed by themselves are too sweet for
many tastes. This can be remedied by making a sauce of figs or dates
with tart apples or any other acid fruit that appeals in such
combinations.
_Baked apple_: Place whole apples in large, deep pan; add about
one-third cup of water and one and one-half teaspoonfuls sugar to each
apple. Put into oven and bake until skins burst and the apples are well
done. Serve with all the juice.
_Boiled apple_: Place whole apples in a stewing pan; add two
teaspoonfuls sugar and one cup or more of water to each apple; use less
sugar if desired. Cover the vessel tightly and boil moderately until the
skins burst and the apples are well done.
All stewed fruits should be well done. Avoid making the fruit sauces too
sweet.
_Stewed prunes_: A good prune needs no sweetening. Stew until tender. It
is a good plan to let the prunes soak a few hours before stewing them.
Raisins may be treated in the same way.
Prunes may be washed and put into a dish; then add hot water enough to
about half cover them; cover the dish very tightly and put aside over
night. The prunes need no further preparation before being eaten. If the
covering is not tight it will be necessary to use more water. Raisins
and sundried figs may be treated in the same way.
Unfortunately, most of our dried fruit is sulphured. Sulphurous acid
fumes are employed, and you may be sure that this does the fruit no
good. If you can get unsulphured fruit, do so. The sulphuring process is
popular because it acts as a preservative and it is profitable because
it allows the fruit to retain more water without spoiling than would be
possible otherwise.
_Canning fruit_: It is very easy to can fruit, but it requires care.
Select fruit that is not overripe. The work room should be clean and so
should the cans and covers. It is not sufficient to rinse the cans in
clean water. Both the jars and the covers should be taken from boiling
water immediately before being used.
Use only sound fruit, cook it sufficiently, adding the sugar when the
fruit is almost done. If you cook the fruit in syrup, do not have a
heavy syrup. Put into jar while piping hot, filling the jar as full as
possible, put on the cover immediately, turning until it fits snugly;
turn jar upside down for a few hours to see if it leaks; tighten again
and put in cool place.
An even better way, especially for berries, is to fill the jar with
fruit, pour syrup over them, put the jars into a receptacle containing
water and let this water boil until the berries are done; then fill the
jars properly and seal. Some berries that lose their color when cooked
in syrup retain it when treated this way.
Canned fruits are not as good as the fresh ones, but better than none.
Be sure that they are not fermenting when opened. When proper care is
exercised a spoiled jar is a rarity. If there is any doubt about the
fruit, scald and cool before using. This destroys the ferments.
Fresh fruit is the best. Next comes fruit recently stewed or baked. If
other fruit can not be obtained, get good dried fruit and stew it.
COMBINATIONS.
Fruits may be combined with almost any food, except that which is rich
in starch, and even that combination may be used occasionally, although
it is not the best. I have seen people who were supposed to be incurable
get well when their breakfasts were mostly apple sauce and toast.
However, sick people should avoid such combining entirely and healthy
ones most of the time. Breakfasting on cereals and fruit is a mistake.
Those who eat thus may say that they feel no bad results, but time will
tell. Nowhere in our manner of feeding does nature demand of a healthy
human being that he walk the chalk line. All she asks is that he be
reasonable. So if you feel fine and want a shortcake for dinner take it.
But the shortcake should be the meal, not the end of one that has
already furnished too much food.
Fruit combines well with both milk and cheese. The impression to the
contrary that has been gained from both medical and lay writers is due
to false deductions based on premises not founded on facts. Milk and
fruit, and nothing else, make very good meals in summer.
_Fruit salads_: A great variety of these salads can be made. Take two or
three of the juicy fruits, slice and mix. Dress with a little sugar, or
salt and olive oil, or simply olive oil, or no dressing. Some like a
dressing of sour cream or of cottage cheese rather well thinned out.
Raisins and other sweet fruits may also be used. Ripe banana may be one
of the ingredients.
Such a salad may be eaten with a flesh or nut meal, or it may be used as
a meal by itself. Fruit and cottage cheese make a meal that is both
delicious and nourishing. A fruit salad strewed with nuts does the same.
Strawberries and sliced tomatoes dressed with cottage cheese make a good
meal.
Lettuce, celery and tomatoes may be used in fruit salads.
A few fruit salads to serve as examples are: Apples, grapes and lettuce;
peaches, strawberries and celery; bananas, pineapples and nuts;
strawberries, tomatoes and lettuce. Combine to suit taste and dress
likewise, but avoid large quantities of cream and sugar, not only on
your salads, but on all fruits. No acid should be necessary, but if it
is desired, use lemon juice or incorporate oranges as a part of the
salad.