The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-12-28
HOUSEWIFELY CHATS.
BY Marion Harland.

THE BEST FRUIT THAT GROWS
Is, OF course, the apple. The finest APP
Piles in the world flourish abundantly in
the United States. AS our national fruit
It should take the place in commerce and
in our dietary, OF the olive in Syria, the
date in Arabia, the potato in Ireland.
For every poorly tended and lightly
esteemed apple orchard in our country
there should be fifty strong, prolific, and
cultivated with the Jealous care the
Floridan bestows upon his orange grove.
For every barrel of hand-picked apples
garnered for domestic consumption. l
would have twenty-five I'm the root cell
lar. The children should have all they
can eat, and be RECALLED with them to the
exclusion of cakes and candles.
Apples are an Incompatible brain food.
containing more phosphoric acid, and in
a more agreeable form. than any other
fruit known. 1t is more valuable for
brain-workers than the much Wanted
fish. Apples eaten at bedtime induce
healthful slumber and often cure obsti-
nate constipation. When partaken of
freely after meals they move the liver
kindly and purify the blood In the
stomach the apple is disinfectant, and
aids the action of the gastric Juices; it
of the kidneys and averts the danger of
calculi. The grateful acid is healing to
sore throats and tempers feverish colds
Now and then an exceptional individ-
ual is so unfortunate as not to be able to
digest the flavorous pippin, the tender
snow apple, or the purple-red gilly-1ow
er. Even the king" dong may he liveD
lies hard upon the diaphragm for hours
after 1t is masticated. l have yet to
meet the human creature SO abnormal
that his digestive apparatus cannot take
care-and perfectly-of apples when
properly cooked.
To cook them improperly Is a culinary
sin, a sanitary outrage.
Take, for example,
APPLE SAUCE.
Pare and slice the fruit, rejecting
tough, knotty and decayed portions.
Drop each piece into cold water as it is
cut The precaution prevents dscolora-
ton and keeps the fruit from souring by
exposure to the air. Drain quickly; put
the slices with the water that adheres
to them, into porcelain, nickelsteel-
plated, or agate-iron, saucepan tnever
Into tln) and bring gently to boil, stir
ring up from the bottom every few min
utes until the fruit is heated thorough
and begins to break. If you are too bus
to watch them, set the sauce pan in a
pot of boiling water until you have
enough juice to keep the apples from
scorching. Increase the heat, then, and
stew quite fast for twenty minutes Slow
cooking darkens fruit always. Rub
while hot. through a nickel-steel- plated
or agate-iron, or percelain-l lined, col
lander into bowl, sweeten to taste, and
set aside to cool.
The product viii be what an enthusi-
astic eater once called, "sublimated ap
fle-sauce," as dissimilar as one can
imagine from the thin subacid, watery
compound too often served under this
name, or the semi-preserve that clogs
upon the tongue and stomach because
the sugar is cooked with it, and a syrup
evolved that has little of the taste and
few of the healthful properties, of the
fruit.
BAKED APPLES.
| Sweet apples are less wholesome than
those which are pleasantly acid. The
texture is tougher, and some varieties
leave a brownsh deposit upon tongue
and teeth, betraying chemical combi-
nations that are not healthful. The best
use to be made of the sweeting is to bake
it-and then you will find that it requires
longer cooking than it's tart brother.
Dig out blossoms and stem ends with
small, sharp blade, but do not pare the
apples. Pack together in deep pud-
ding dish, fill the cavities with sugar
soaked in lemon juice; pour in cup OF
water, cover closely, and bake in a mod
crate oven until a straw will pierce the
fruit easily. Do not uncover the dish
until the contents are cold. Eat with
sugar and cream. NJ H.