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Page 34
HERBACEOUS ARTICLES follow; and, though we are not accustomed to consider
_Cabbage_ as an herb, it began existence as cole-wort, a shrub or herb on
the south coast of England. Cultivation has developed it into a firm round
head; and as a vegetable, abounding as it does in nitrogen, it ranks next
to beans as a food. _Cauliflower_ is a very delicate and highly prized
form of cabbage, but cabbage itself can be so cooked as to strongly
resemble it.
_Onions_ are next in value, being much milder and sweeter when grown in a
warm climate, but used chiefly as a flavoring. _Lettuce_ and _Celery_ are
especially valuable; the former for salads, the latter to be eaten without
dressing though it is excellent cooked. _Tomatoes_ are really a fruit,
though eaten as a vegetable, and are of especial value as a cooling food.
Egg-plant, cucumbers, &c., all demand space; and so with edible fungi,
mushrooms, and truffles, the latter the property of the epicure, and
really not so desirable as that fact would indicate.
FRUITS are last in order; and among these stands first of all the apple.
While in actual analysis fruits have less nutritive value than vegetables,
their acids and salts give to them the power of counteracting the
unhealthy states brought about by the long use of dried or salted
provisions. They are a corrective also of the many evils arising from
profuse meat-eating, the citric acid of lemons and grape-fruit being an
antidote to rheumatic and gouty difficulties. Cold storage now enables one
to command grapes long after their actual season has ended, and they are
invaluable food. The brain-worker is learning to depend more and more on
fruit in all its forms; and apples lead the list, containing more solid
nutriment than any other form. While considered less digestible raw than
baked, they are still one of the most attractive, life-giving forms of
food, and if eaten daily would prove a standard antidote to patent
medicine. The list of fruits is too long for mention here; but all have
their specific uses, and are necessary to perfect health.
SUGAR and HONEY follow in the stores of the vegetable kingdom. Cane-sugar
and glucose, or grape-sugar, are the two recognized varieties, though the
making of beet-sugar has become an industry here as well as in France.
Grape-sugar requires to be used in five times the amount of cane, to
secure the same degree of sweetness. Honey also is a food,--a concentrated
solution of sugar, mixed with odorous, gummy, and waxy matters. It
possesses much the same food value as sugar, and is easily digested.
With the various FARINACEOUS PREPARATIONS, _Sago_, _Tapioca_,_
Arrow-root_, &c, the vegetable dietary ends. All are light, digestible
foods, principally starchy in character, but with little nutriment unless
united with milk or eggs. Their chief use is in the sick-room.
Restricted as comment must be, each topic introduced will well reward
study; and the story of each of these varied ingredients in cookery, if
well learned, will give one an unsuspected range of thought, and a new
sense of the wealth that may be hidden in very common things.
CHAPTER XII.
CONDIMENTS AND BEVERAGES.
Condiments are simply seasoning or flavoring agents, and, though hardly
coming under the head of food, yet have an important part to play. As food
by their use is rendered more tempting, a larger amount is consumed, and
thus a delicate or uncertain appetite is often aided. In some cases they
have the power of correcting the injurious character of some foods.
Salt stands foremost. Vinegar, lemon-juice, and pickles owe their value to
acidity; while mustard, pepper black and red, ginger, curry-powder, and
horse-radish all depend chiefly upon pungency. Under the head of aromatic
condiments are ranged cinnamon, nutmegs, cloves, allspice, mint, thyme,
fennel, sage, parsley, vanilla, leeks, onions, shallots, garlic, and
others, all of them entering into the composition of various sauces in
general use.
Salt is the one thing indispensable. The old Dutch law condemned criminals
to a diet of unsalted food, the effects being said to be those of the
severest physical torture. Years ago an experiment tried near Paris
demonstrated the necessity of its use. A number of cattle were fed without
the ration of salt; an equal number received it regularly. At the end of a
specified time, the unsalted animals were found rough of coat, the hair
falling off in spots, the eyes wild, and the flesh hardly half the amount
of those naturally fed.
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