Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-06-19

The d" Why IN VEGETABLE COOKERY
Mrs. Warren supplies the following to the
Treasury of Literature
Why should soda be boiled with greens,
cabbages, brodcoti and turnip green's BE
cause the oil which all vegetables contain
more or les the soda extracts, and leaves the
green's sweet and wholesome but the water
is, after boiling the greens with soda, most
unwholesome, and perhaps poisonous. How
wrong then it is to eat greens not cooked
with soda. piece of soda, flbert size, is
sufficient for a large saucepan Of boiling wa
ter. Turnip green's have scarcely any oil in
them, but are nevertheless much more whole
some for eating when cooked with little
soda. From the seed of cabbage the colza-oil
is manufactured.
Why should vegetables be washed in
rather warm water first, then IN cold, to
cleanse them from sand and insects THE hot
water, which must be hotter than tepid,
causes the insects and sand to fall out at once.
Insects do not always dislike cold water and
salt, but the hot water kills them. 1t must
be understood that only small handful of
greens or one head of a cabbage at a time
must be washed, and then instantly thrown
into the cold water which crisps and thor
oughly cleanses them. Spinach, leeks, eel
cry, seakale, are thus rendered very clean,
and moreover, are very rapidly cleansed- 1t
is worse than useless TO attempt to cleanse
vegetables in salt and water. The hardness
which salt creates in the water prevents all
cleansing properties. The salt may kill the
insects 1T does not always do this), but they
stick on hard and fast the hot water makes
them fall out at once, and the cold water
crisps and also blanches them.
Why should Savoy cabbages, white heart
D !, 49, hat how
been a long time gro wing, be cut across the
ribs of the leaves and not lengthwise Be
cause all cabbages that have been a long
time coming to maturity have extremely
tough fbers If these are cut lengthwise,
one has to chop the fbers with the teath in
eating them, and, moreover, such cabbages
take a longer time to boil, and are often
served a tasteless, OverdOne, watery mass
If such greens be cut across the stem, In cir
ces of two inches in width, be washed IN
in warm water, then in cold, and be boiled
in boiling water with salt ami little soda
for from fifteen to twenty minutes, not a mo-
ment longer, if so long, the greens are sweet
and exceedingly tender and wholesome, puri-
flying the blood and promoting health. \
dish Of badly cooked green's is enough to Gre
ate a severe fit of Indigestion in those who
eat them.
w by should the stems OF ndrQ Nnitc cab
bages never be cooked with other parts OF the
cabbage because they take twice as long
to cook as the soft parts, 50 that the latter Is
an unwholesome paste before the stalks are
done and if they are thrown away either
before or after cooking them, is is waste.
The stems Of cabbages that are crisp
should have the soft green part cut from
them to be cooked by itself; the stems
when stripped from the green be tied in
small bundles, cooked for from twenty to
twenty FIVE minutes in plenty of boiling wa
ter, salt and a little soda, and be served with
butter sauce over them. Then a dish Of
seakale is not more delicious. These cabbage
stems may be called - chardoons, - and Will
crafty the palates of all who taste them
thus cooked. Young spring cabbages, Of
course, do not need this treatment.
Why should turnips be cut across the h5er
in rings Of less than half an inch in thick
ness For three reasons first, the turnip
need only be peeled very thin, instead Of in
the usual manner, thickly and wastetully
secondly, by 50 cutting them the tibers are
cut across, so that however old the turnip is,
it is never stringy; thirdly, they require
only fourteen minutes 10 boil in DIcutv Of
boiling icater and salt, and thus the delicate
flavor of the turnip Is preserved. also they
can be more easily mashed. The thinner
the circles Of turnips are cut, the quicker
they cook and the less fiber they Will have.