The sea coast echo., 1895-10-12
keEplNa ERulr EREsn.
Dry Closets and Cool Cellars Are Better
Than IsefrlEerators.

/ DRY Closets and Cool Cellars Are Bettel
Than RefrlEerators.
A vast deal OF fruit is wasted
throughout this country because, ms d
rule, people are ignorant Of the best
way of caring for or preserving IL.
/ For example, no fruits should ever
be put into ice closets orrefrigerat tors.
what nonsense" some will say, why
everybody does it." True, yet it is
nevertheless a pernicious and wasteful
custom.
| Our grandmothers, splendid, eco
nomicnl houseleepers as they were,
kept fruit zresher and longer than VIC
do, with our ice chests and coolers. In
| cool, wels-otred pantrics or closets, or
well-stoned dry cellars, luscious
peaches. plums, pears, apples were
kept for months undeca ycd and whole.
some.
Some of the best housekeepers after
storing ripe or cooked fruits in ice
closets year after year and finding
them mildewed and spoiled, have
changed the errors OF their ways and
returned to grandma's excellent,
thrifty habit of keeping fruits in cool
| chests, or the store room In the cellar.
Why does fruit keep fresher and
sounder In well-cured pantrics than in
ice chests? Because that Is natures
way of preserving it. Every ripe
fruit that falls to the ground in
natures domains, drops to cool dews,
is hidden in the tall shielding grass or
covered by fallen leaves. Try ripe
pear that has lain on the ground all
night, at half past six in the morn.
ing. No ice-llept fruit begins to
compare with its rich, JUICY freshness.
Then, too, when fruit kept for homes
in the moist, ley temperature OF re-
frigerators is taken out chilled or half
frozen, and suddenly exposed to the
heat of kitchens or dining-rooms in
weather, decay sets in with terrible
force and rapidity. .
No doubt much of the poor indi.
gestion prevalent in summer is direct.
ly due to our national habit OF eating
frnit no longer fresh or wholesome,
which has been kept all day or night
in refrigerators.
How appetizing the remnants of
yesterdays fruit looli withered pen.
ny-saving housekeepers. You would
save more fruit, besides the family
health, by keeping such materials In
pantries or closets, Or, better still,
stew Strawberries, raspberries, cur
rants and blackberries, left
over after they have once
been offered fresh to the family
or guests. II nobody cares for them
stewed, with sugar, of course, why
just strain them, and put the juice in
to clear jars or bottles.
My word for it, the family will
clamor for more of the delicious.
healthful, cooling drinks these fruits
make, added to water, and spend less
for harmful compounds at soda-water
fountains.
Fruits are often served in poor con-
dition, either too green or decaying.
Bananas, when green or unripc,
should be kepta day or two in a warm,
dark place. Then take them out, and
the mellow, rich flavor will we'll repay
the trouble. The are very nourishing.
Try salt with them If they seem in
digestible; the salt brings out the
flavor and assist digestion.
Dry your lemon and orange peels un-
der the stove in tin pans or platters,
and they will then kindle fires splen-
didly; there is so much oil in the rind.
Pineapples arc more often eaten half
ripe than any other fruit, because SO
few have ever eaten them where they
grow, and know not how delicious they
are when fully ripe. To test them try
to pull off the stiff, green leaflets at
the top of the fruit. If it comes out
easily, the pineapple Is ripe; IL not,
keep it in cool, dark place until it
mellows. People in the tropics are cx-
tremely careful to remove every speck
of the eyes of the rind, and never eat
the round, hard core in the middle of
the pineapple. A delicious preserve
can be made of pineapple stewed with
sugar.-Detroit Free Press.