The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-08-13
NUTRITION IN FLOWERS.
How I'll y May Be Used for Food as Wei
as Beauty.


peta have been used from time imme-
NOR il as sweetmeats, and even as daily
foodS For instance, the mountains of
India hre crowded with forests of butter
trees, from the seeds of which exudes an
oil, which hardens, like lard. The flow
ers abound with a limpid honey which
can bk made into sugar. The flower
petalf are preserved in this sugar, and
make a~nutritious article of food for
thousands of people. They also are
dEied and crystallized, like violets and
ROSE leaves.
The butter trees on the hills north
welt of Calcutta, overlooking the Plain
of Nonghye, number over 100000. Dur
ind the famine of 1873, the succulent
orbllas of the flowers, which fall in
MAJ ch and April, saved thousands from
STARVATION; A fine spirit, like brandy,
is dStilled from them. At night the
peacacks and jungle fowl feed on them,
with the deer and bear the squirrels,
monkeys and birds share the feast in
the daytirh he with the women, who
gather them, just as they do the mango
crop, for preserving.
If our ambitious housewives in the
semi-ts ' q regions of the south of Cali
for~i~* ID Florida would crystalline
their orange blossoms for the northern
market, they would do good business.
There is always steady demand for the
French candied flowers. Where the
violets of Grasse, France, are grown, all
the old stale violets are sold to manufac
turers of confectionery. In Roumania
violets, roses and lime flowers are util-
lied largely for fiavoring preserves Of
different kinds. The most esteemed
sherbet in Egypt is prepared by pound
ing violets and boiling them in sugar.
This violet sherbet is of green color
and is called the Grand Signor's Sher-
bet"
Capers are the flower buds of a bram-
bic like plant which grows on walls and
fences in southern Europe. They are
prepared simply by picking the buds
in vinegar. Most Of the capers that sup
ply the market come from Sicily,
though they are also cultivated largely
III luC SOuIll VI l. dlICts IL 10 tS llllAd Ntu
that 100000 pounds of them are col
lected annually in Europe.
The edible of ordinary green nastur-
tiums, prepared as a salad, is more fa-
mhiar here. They have a delicious,
spicy taste. Primroses likewise are
utilized in Europe, and marigolds fur
nish an ingredient of soup and broths.
The flowers of the Judas tree are made
into fritters, with butter added, or
mixed with salad, or sometimes the
flower buds are picked in vinegar.
Artichokes are immature flower heads,
and cauliflowers are a sort of flower.
Cowslips are sometimes fermentcd
with sugar for wine, communicating to
the latter an aromatic flavor like that of
Muscate! Meadowsweet is likewise
utilized by wine merchants to improve
the flavor of their goods. Ambition is
an article of diet that is rare in this
country; in Brazil it is a common vege-
table.
The Saffron of commerce is the dried
stigmas of a species of crocus. From
a remote period it has been highly
priced for coloring and fiavoring fluids,
1t is largely employed in India in this
way.
In India the young flowers of the ba-
mana plant are eaten. The Chinese pre-
pare them by picking them in vinegar.
In India the flowers of a kind of sorrel,
which have n pleasant, acid taste, are
made into tarts and jellies. The bios
SONS of the shaddock are used for flaw
oring sweetmeats in the same country.
The beautiful, bright red flowers CT
the Quassia amara are valued in Jamaica
for the help they give to digestion when
infused in wine and water. A power
full alcoholic beverage, somewhat re-
sembling Irish whisky in flavor, is dis
titled from them.
The species of lily known to botanists
as Thunbergi is one of the choicest deli
cacies OF the Chinese kitchen. In China
dried rosebu1s are used as a condiment.
Rosebuds boiled in sugar and made into
preserve are eaten by Arabian women.
Rose petals are candied like violets, aud
so likewise are jasmines. The common
yellow pond lilies make delightful pre-
serves, and from them the Turks pre-
pare cooling drink. These flowers
have perfume like that of brandy, and
hence are sometimes called brandy
bottles"
The flower petals of species of GUS
tard apple, called Anona Senegalensis,
are used on the Niger for favoring
dishes.
The petals of roses thrown upon cold,
light wine, float away from the lips N
drinking. Every lover of cool and frag-
rant beverages knows the luxury Of
plunging the heated face into bunch of
fragrant green mint.
Not only must the form and flavor of
foods be considered, but also the ma
turc of the elements they bring into The
system, the proper proportion of chem
ical substances and their laxative or
constipating nature. For we do not re-
quire food of either too concentrated or
too bulky nature. 1t requires also a
due admixture of foods. Thus, pure
albumen is not desirable. We may be
made to starve on cheese. Experiments
as to the relative solubility of animal
and vegetable albumen, may be in the
highest degree deceptive.
Tho or,o,,rt of :. l1,,roa,, x,.I,;oI, ,,,o